Hello - my Glowforge Pro has been stuck on Offline/Homing or Scanning for about 2 weeks now. Occasionally, I can get some work done but today, not so much. I have tried cleaning all the lenses and surfaces, removing everything from the bed, resetting all WIFI connections, logging in and out of the app and restarting/unplugging multiple times.
Is there anyone who has other suggestions or can help at GF? Thank you!
Sibyl
Try turning it off, then gently move the head under the lid camera and then turn it back on. This may or may not work, but it’s a shot…
I think you have a wifi problem. The Glowforge is extremely picky about its signal.
You’re welcome, I was hoping for you…
Just got the “ready” prompt, so I am currently printing. (yay!) But, I know that this will happen again - so I just need to figure out what’s going on. Thank you for your response!
You are very welcome and @beerfaced is right, the GF is very picky about the signal strength and it must be a 2.5 Ghz channel of the Wi-FI. I had to install a booster right next to mine when I moved into my shop.
That it’s working on and off pretty solidly posts to an issue with your WiFi. You need a solid connection, not so much a fast one. There are online tools - or you can call your ISP - and find out what your db latency is. You’re looking for one under ~60 (the lower the better). Also, a lot of ISPs are “upgrading” routers to 5G whenever that signal is stronger, but the 
only works on 2.5G, so possibly see if that’s the issue. Folks have had success creating a private 2.5G network that only the logs into to solve that particular issue.
@beerfaced and @gamn1958 - I hope you’re right because that would be a much easier solution. With 3 kids at home schooling and hubby working, etc… our WIFI is just not the same anymore. Thank you so much!
@deirdrebeth - thank you so much - we will be looking into all of this. (we have a family of 6 who have been using WIFI like crazy this year.)
Our was working for everything but one of us couldn’t zoom…which is just odd. We had a tech come out and it turns out we still had the modem from when the house was first purchased…15 years ago? They upgraded that and despite no difference in our speeds our latency went down by like 10 points and she’s now able to zoom.
Sometimes it’s weird things!
I am guessing your WiFi router isn’t working well with the Glowforge.
Your internet connection and your WiFi aren’t the same thing, in case you aren’t aware of that. Your Glowforge is very picky about interference on the radio frequencies that are used for the WiFi and this often causes errors like this.
Sources of interference can range from your microwave oven, a 2.4 GHz cordless phone, other WiFi devices, your neighbors’ WiFi signals, and more.
In addition, if your WiFi router that creates the WiFi signal is not able to handle the number of devices that are asking for the WiFi access and the traffic they generate, the Glowforge may be getting errors from the router as the router attempts to prioritize what it sees as more important traffic.
With six users on the WiFi, you may need to look into a different router with better multi-connection ability or a mesh WiFi system that can help handle the load.
In my experience, the ISP has only looked at the speed or stability of the internet connection between my modem and their system and doesn’t deal with the WiFi signal, but depending on your service they may be able to look at the signal inside the house.
If not, there are WiFi signal strength apps for smartphones. If you get one of these, you are looking for a consistent signal strength of -55 dB or higher at the Glowforge. If your signal is lower, the Glowforge will have trouble keeping the connection to the servers and will have problems.
I use a Plume mesh WiFi system and it is rock solid. My Glowforge is about 6 feet from one of the nodes and has never had a hiccup in the entire time I have used it. I also have other 2.4 GHz-only devices and they also handle the Plume mesh WiFi easily and are stable.
Hi @sibylsmith,
Thank you for reaching out. I’m sorry to hear your Glowforge is having connectivity trouble.
I just took a look at the logs from your unit, and the group consensus is correct, the issue is your WIFI connection. I can see your Glowforge is able to connect successfully to your network, but is having trouble maintaining a stable connection. When this is the case, you won’t need to go through Wi-Fi setup again, but you may see an “Offline” message.
I’ve extracted some data from the last few days of use in order to investigate. In these logs we have a record of the average signal strength the Glowforge is capturing from the network it’s connected to.
On average, this signal strength has been low over the last week, with average strength at around -74dBm as of today. For more context, on networks with very good signal strength, this will often run closer to -30dBm. A signal strength at -70dBm or lower would be very difficult to stay connected to.
The most common solution to Wi-Fi challenges is to restart all the devices involved in connecting to the internet.
If that doesn’t work, I have a couple of suggestions that often make a big difference:
I hope this helps. Please let us know how it goes.
@ben1 - thanks so much for taking the time to explain - we will look into all of this and are hoping for a quick resolution!
Hi @sibylsmith,
It has been a few days since we heard from you so I wanted to check in and see how things are going. I just took a look at the logs from your Glowforge and see that you were able to successfully connect and print yesterday, but that you network signal strength is still low.
Were you able to try the steps I provided previously? If so, did you notice any improvement?
Hi @MorganW - thanks so much for checking in. Interestingly enough, I have not had issues these past few days, but, we are prepared to deal with WIFI issues with another network, etc. in the near future. I will definitely let you now if I have further questions/issues and I appreciate you checking back in. Happy New Year! ~Sibyl
Hey @sibylsmith,
That’s great news! Since things are going good, I’m going to close this thread. If you run into any other trouble, please start a new topic, or email us at support@glowforge.com. We’re here to help!