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Home Assistant Isn't Responding

If you're unsure about any step, it's always fine to contact Daniel first.

Home Assistant controls the smart home — lights, heating, automations.

📱 Step 1 — Try connecting to Home Assistant another way

Sometimes the app loses its connection but Home Assistant itself is fine. Try reaching it via a different method:

Wait 2 minutes — it may still be starting after a power cut.

How you know it's working: The app connects and shows your devices. Seeing a login screen is also a good sign — it means the core programme is up and running, it just needs you to sign in.

🖥️ Step 2 — Go and look at Pacific

Home Assistant runs on a small mini PC called Pacific, in the bedroom wardrobe next to the router. If something has gone wrong, the power button on the front will tell you what's happening — it has a small status light built into it.

Bedroom wardrobe showing Vodafone modem, UCG Ultra router, and Pacific NUC
The bedroom wardrobe — Pacific NUC is on the right.
Power button light What it means What to do
Off No power, or the NUC needs switching on Press the power button once and wait 5 minutes
Flashing orange A problem — Pacific can't start up properly Contact Daniel — this is not a straightforward fix
Solid blue Pacific is on and healthy See below
Pacific NUC with solid blue ring light showing healthy state
Solid blue ring = Pacific is on and healthy.

If the light is solid blue

Pacific is running normally — the issue is likely that Home Assistant is still starting up. It can take 10–15 minutes after Pacific boots before Home Assistant is fully ready.

You can check its progress by opening the Proxmox page:

→ https://192.168.1.10:8006 (your browser may warn about the security certificate — tap Advanced then Proceed)

If the login page loads, Home Assistant is probably still starting — give it the full 15 minutes and try again.

If you want to check the status more closely, you can log in using the password saved in Bitwarden under Proxmox local. Once in, find HomeAssistant in the left panel — it will show whether the VM is running or stopped. If it's stopped, you can press Start. (See also the video in Step 3, which shows this check.)

⚠️ Step 3 — If Home Assistant still won't start

If it's been more than 15 minutes and you still can't reach Home Assistant — or if Pacific has no light or a flashing orange light — there is a backup Home Assistant set up on the main storage box (Lotus).

Note: Daniel can do this switchover remotely if the internet is working. If you're not comfortable with the steps below, just let him know and he can handle it.

⚠️ Important: Only one version of Home Assistant should run at a time. Do not start the backup unless the main one (on Pacific) is definitely not running.

The video below shows how to confirm Pacific's Home Assistant is stopped, then how to start the backup on Lotus:

  1. Open a browser and go to: http://192.168.1.80 (this is Lotus, the main storage box)
  2. Log in using the password saved in Bitwarden under Unraid Lotus
  3. Click the VMs tab at the top
  4. Find the Home Assistant VM and click Start
  5. Wait 10–15 minutes, then try connecting to Home Assistant as normal

The backup is set up to use the same address as the main version, so everything should connect automatically once it's running.

❓ If Home Assistant is working but something specific isn't