Hue Motion Sensors (9290030675) blinks red on every motion event after firmware 20251031 update despite working Zigbee communication

[alexsaas]

What happened?

After updating my 3 Philips Hue Motion Sensors (model 9290030675) to firmware 20251031 (It was made available via OTA two days ago), the devices started blinking red on every motion event, even though all Zigbee communication works perfectly.

This behavior did not occur before the firmware update.

The issue appears to be caused by an internal firmware error state, not by Zigbee2MQTT or the coordinator.

• Model: Philips Hue Motion Sensor (9290030675)
• Firmware: 20251031

• The devices blinks red on every motion detection.
• All sensor values are reported correctly:

• occupancy
• illuminance
• temperature
• battery

• last_seen updates normally.
• No errors appear in the Zigbee2MQTT logs.
• The sensors stays online and stable.
• led_indication: false is shown in the device state but is ignored by the device.
• Re‑pairing does not change the behavior.
• Removing the battery for 30+ seconds and re‑pairing does not fix the issue.

This strongly suggests that the internal Hue firmware state machine is stuck in an error/standalone mode, even though Zigbee communication is fully functional.

Request

Since the firmware appears to be the cause and no newer version is available:

Please make the previous firmware version available in the Zigbee2MQTT OTA repository so users can downgrade.

This would allow affected users to restore normal behavior until Signify releases a fixed firmware version.

What did you expect to happen?

• The devices should not blink red when motion is detected if Zigbee communication is working and APS ACKs are being received.
• led_indication: false should be respected.

How to reproduce it (minimal and precise)

No response

Zigbee2MQTT version

2.9.1

Adapter firmware version

20221226

Adapter

Sonoff Dongle P

Setup

Add-On on Home Assistant OS as VM Proxmox VE

Device database.db entry

No response

Debug log

No response

Notes

It is highly likely that firmware 20251031 contains a bug that causes the devices to incorrectly enter or remain in an internal error/standalone mode.

[andrei-lazarov]

Downgrade should be available. Just check the box and 'update'

[andrei-lazarov]

I wanted to investigate, but my unit is 9290012607, which runs different firmware, so it's not affected

[agoode]

I have 3 of the outdoor sensors (SML004) and see the same issue. I am attempting the firmware downgrade.

[agoode]

The downgrade didn't seem to work on one of my three devices (it is unresponsive). I'll have to try resetting. It might not be a good idea to try to downgrade, though 2 of my sensors successfully downgraded.

Update: I reset the 3rd device and it's fine. It looks like the downgrade works.

[alexsaas]

Downgrade should be available. Just check the box and 'update'

OMG! I totally missed the option to downgrade because I'm still using (or was using) the old frontend and haven't switched to winfront yet. 🤦🏻‍♂️

The downgrade worked, the red light has stopped blinking on every motion event, and everything is running as usual. Thank you so much for this important tip! 🙏🏻

Perhaps the affected firmware should no longer be distributed via Zigbee2MQTT for the time being?

[alexsaas]

The downgrade didn't seem to work on one of my three devices (it is unresponsive). I'll have to try resetting. It might not be a good idea to try to downgrade, though 2 of my sensors successfully downgraded.

Update: I reset the 3rd device and it's fine. It looks like the downgrade works.

I had a similar experience after the downgrade; the devices didn't respond, and I receive error messages indicating that the interview had failed or that the device couldn't be configured.

It helped to start the pairing (joining) process and click "Re-interview" for each of these devices in the frontend. After the interview was successful, I also clicked "Re-configure," and that worked successfully as well. Since then, everything has been back to normal.

[bjornfor]

Downgrade should be available. Just check the box and 'update'

I thought the device rejected FW downgrades. Happy it does not!

Perhaps the affected firmware should no longer be distributed via Zigbee2MQTT for the time being?

The new firmware does fix motion sensitivity, which is also an important feature. Also, by having the new version available, we can move forward; It's not like the old firmware is perfect, so I'd like the option to be able to upgrade to the latest firmware.

BTW, are we sure that the firmware is the problem, and not an interaction between firmware and z2m? Anyone with a Hue Bridge that can check the behaviour there?

[bjornfor]

@alexsaas: Why did you close the issue? Because you could downgrade the FW? I don't think that's a good criteria for closing -- for example, the old version doesn't have working motion sensitivity settings. And I worry that this issue only affects z2m users -- it'd be great if anyone has a Hue Bridge to check against.

[alexsaas]

Okay, I've reopened it. I had closed it because the flashing error I reported has actually been fixed with the downgrade. I haven't had any problems with the old firmware.

Of course, it’s possible that z2m, in combination with the new firmware, caused the problem. But it could also be a bug in the firmware.

If others would like to contribute, I'll leave the issue open.