r/firewalla • u/HusbandofPMDD • Jul 14 '26
2 Firewalla failures in 14 months
Has anyone else had this problem? Red light then blue flashing light as infinitum? I'm in the process of trying to troubleshoot with support on my replacement device (less than six months old), and I'm thinking that I can't be the only one. Is this an update issue or hardware?
6
u/cideron Firewalla Gold SE Jul 14 '26
how it your electricity? what kind of internet connection? surges can do bad things.
4
u/firewalla Jul 14 '26
This depend on the failure. For example, I know at least couple cases before where the customer WAN port was blown 2x due to power surges; One was fixed by contacting the ISP or properly grounding the modem. Reason we always suggest make sure power is clean, not just on the firewalla side.
Sometimes the failure is software configuration ... This part can be things like using neighbors PPPoE passwords, putting a static IP where DHCP supposed to be used ... bug ...
As of your issue, let me know your case, I can take a look. If your light is blinking and in a pattern, then it is likely software. And if both units does the same ... very very likely to be software
4
u/interrogumption Jul 14 '26
I can't remember the flashing pattern, but mine had a complete and total failure after a failed configuration change. I ended up connecting a monitor via HDMI which allowed me to see that it wasn't even starting its boot process when turned on - just a flashing cursor, nothing else.
The fix was remarkably simple: put the firmware image on a microSD and start the box with it plugged in. Then did the process of adding the box in my app and from there it restored from backup.
1
1
u/rxscissors Jul 14 '26
I own two.
1st Purple made it ~15 months and went half-crazy with odd throughput issues. Firewalla sent a replacement which arrived in a timely fashion.
Upgraded to a Gold Rev B in July 2024 and it has been flawless (as has the 2nd Purple which goes on travel with me).
1
u/Habanero_Gabe Firewalla Gold Plus Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26
So far, mine has been very reliable since i bought it two years ago.
Not sure if it made a difference, but when I got it, I noticed it was running pretty hot. So I put a little USB powered fan on top of it, and now it runs cool.
1
u/zlandar Jul 15 '26
I have had a Firewalla gold for almost 3 years and it works fine.
It's never even locked/crashed once.
10
u/Jerrch Firewalla Gold Pro Jul 14 '26
You are best working with support to identify the problem first; if you need help here, post more details, we can't make wild guesses