How to Troubleshoot Cox Homelife Touchscreen Device

Authored by: Support.com Tech Pro Team

1. Introduction

  This Guide will provide instructions on How to troubleshoot the Cox Homelife Touchscreen device.

2. Identifying Touchscreen issues

Known issues are identified problems impacting the customer's services. 

Below are the most know issues with Touchscreen:

• Capture Screenshot
• Upgrade Touchscreen
• Unable to Automatically recognize previously paired Cameras
• Clock and Calculator not displaying
• An issue with CPE firmware 9.5.2 has been identified
• Touchscreen Unresponsive / Frozen
• Zigbee zone 0 on install
• WiFi network error displays in Management Portal
• TCA301 touchscreen displays Battery Bad error
• Communication issues with connected Zigbee devices
• Low Battery

Capture Screenshot

The agent will not be able to take a screenshot of the Touchscreen screen in any scenario.

 Issue:

The ability to capture screenshots of the Touchscreen screen will be removed while an issue is being resolved with the screenshot capability.

 Work around/ Fix:

Continue to troubleshoot with all other existing tools and escalate issues as normal.

For more details and images of the new 10.4 Firmware Touchscreen UI, refer below:

Homelife Security Touchscreen New User Interface:

The Homelife Security Touchscreen has been redesigned to provide a more user-friendly experience that will pave the way for more features in the future.

New Home Screen Features

The table below provides information about the features available on the new home screen. Click the links to learn more about the feature.

Option / ImageDetails

Dashboard

Click here to learn more about this feature

The Dashboard allows the customer to see the current status of their system devices and manage their devices.

Emergency

Click here to learn more about this feature

Emergency enables the customers to sound an immediate audible alarm and to send an emergency police alarm to the Central Monitoring Station.

Certain models have a hardware emergency button. 

Notification

Click here to learn more about this feature

Notification displays a blue dot when there is a problem with the customer's system. 

For example system power, connection, communication, or sensors. 

Weather

Click here to learn more about this feature

Weather provides current weather information and a five-day forecast.

Settings

Click here to learn more about this feature

Settings opens additional options for the following features.

• Display
• Volume Control
• Devices
• Help and Support
• Sleep Mode

Activity

Click here to learn more about this feature

Activity provides a view of recent events.

Security Status

Security Status provides an overview of the customer's security status of the system and allows them to arm and disarm their security system.

New Home Screen Options

In the Settings section of the touchscreen, the customers can change the display of the home screen to one of the displays listed in the table below.

Display TypeExampleDefault

Clock

Weather

Multiple Cameras

Dashboard

The Dashboard screen shows the system’s armed status and lists the devices installed.

From this screen, the customers can perform the following actions.

• Arm or disarm their system
• View live video from cameras
• Control smart home devices like lights, door locks, and thermostats
• View detailed device information

Emergency Alarm

Emergency Alarm can be accessed by tapping the emergency icon on the Home screen.

Certain models have a hardware emergency button on the Touchscreen. 

When the alarm is triggered, the following actions happen.

• An immediate audible alarm sound
• The Disarm keypad displays on the touchscreen
• Enter the keypad code to cancel the alarm

If the customers do not cancel the alarm, the Central Monitoring Station will call them to verify the emergency and send the police. They will need to dial 911 to call the fire department or an ambulance.

• Once disarmed, the Summary Report screen shows the alarm details

Notification

Tapping on the Notification icon from the Home screen will display the Trouble Alerts screen.

• Tap an alert to view more details
• Snooze the notification for four hours
• Notification will reappear if the issue persists

Weather

The Current Details screen shows the current weather conditions and forecast for today for the location where the customer's touchscreen is located.

• Swipe right to see a five-day forecast
• Swipe left to return to the Current Details screen

Settings

The Settings menu provides options for display, volume control, security, devices, help & support, and sleep mode.

Activity

The Activity screen shows recent events.

This is the same on the Activity tab in the mobile app.

Upgrade Touchscreen

There will be an activity input in the Homelife Mobile App at the time and date of the touchscreen’s upgrade to 10.4 that states: "Touchscreen Alarm Service Unreachable"

 Issue:

During the transition and upgrade of Touchscreens to 10.4 Firmware, there will be an erroneous alert stating that alarm service delivery is impacted.

 Work around/ Fix:

There is no impact to alarm service delivery, but the error message in the Management Portal will persist until the transition to 10.4 is complete.  

If a customer calls about an issue with alarm delivery or wants to confirm alarm delivery, confirm in the Management Portal the Alarm_Service2_OFF package is added to the account.

If not, manually add the package onto the account from the Management Portal. 
 
If, during this transition period, the Alarm_Service2_OFF package is on the account and alarm delivery is still failing,

follow existing alarm delivery troubleshooting and escalations.

Alarm_Service2_OFF package and the error message will be removed from the account once the transition is complete. 

Unable to Automatically recognize previously paired Cameras

 Issue:

After an RMA, the TCA400 touchscreen does not automatically recognize previously paired cameras.

 Work around/ Fix:

Reboot the touchscreen and then re-pair the cameras

Refer this Guided Path to Reboot the touchscreen manually

Clicking this shortcut will mark this step as "Completed," and if you complete the next Guided Path, this Guided Path will be completed automatically

Refer this Guided pathe to Re-pair the cameras

Clicking this shortcut will mark this step as "Completed," and if you complete the next Guided Path, this Guided Path will be completed automatically

Clock and Calculator not displaying

 Issue:

The clock and calculator not displaying.

 Work around/ Fix:

Reboot the touchscreen and allow for the app to load.

Refer this guided path to reboot Cox Homelife touchscreen device manually

Clicking this shortcut will mark this step as "Completed," and if you complete the next Guided Path, this Guided Path will be completed automatically

An issue with CPE firmware 9.5.2 has been identified

There will be an activity input in the Homelife Mobile App at the time and date of the touchscreen’s upgrade to 10.4 that states: Touchscreen Alarm Service Unreachable

 Issue:

An issue with CPE firmware 9.5.2 has been identified 

 Work around/ Fix:

Change the firmware to 9.4.

Refer to "Homelife Touchscreen or Hub Firmware Updates Using the Management Portal"

Touchscreen Unresponsive / Frozen

Unable to perform any actions from the touchscreen including arming, disarming, or rebooting their systems. 

 Issue:

Touchscreen Unresponsive / Frozen. The touchscreen may become unresponsive and the screen remains black or frozen.

 Work around/ Fix:

• From the Management Portal, reboot the Touchscreen
• If the issue is not resolved, then instruct the customer to manually reboot the Touchscreen
• If the customer is not able to manually reboot their screen or restore service,
• or they are unable to disarm via the mobile app, schedule a Trouble Call (TC) for a field tech to either physically reboot their system (unplug from the wall and remove battery) or swap out their screen for a new one 

Refer this guided path to reboot Cox Homelife touchscreen device manually

Clicking this shortcut will mark this step as "Completed," and if you complete the next Guided Path, this Guided Path will be completed automatically

Disarming the Cox Homelife System With Mobile App

> Follow the below steps to disarm your Homelife system on your mobile device:

1. The customer needs to enter their credentials and Sign in to the Cox Homelife mobile app.

2. From the Overview screen, the customer needs to tap the red Security icon.

3. From the Disarm screen, they need to enter their 4-digit security keypad code or use Touch ID.

4. The Security icon turns green and displays Disarmed.

Zigbee zone 0 on install

Field tech is unable to pair any sensors.  

 Issue:

Zigbee zone 0 on install 

 Work around/ Fix:

SSH tunnel and complete a Zigbee channel change.

WiFi network error displays in Management Portal

The customer does not see the error on their Touchscreen.

 Issue:

The following WiFi network error is displayed in Management Portal. 
Error Message: “The WiFi network used by this account is on a managed router/gateway with a passphrase length of less than 63 characters.” 

 Work around/ Fix:

The error does not change the troubleshooting process.

Continue troubleshooting steps. 

TCA301 touchscreen displays Battery Bad error

The touchscreen will stop charging and the battery will die. The error is visible on the screen for the customer. 

 Issue:

TCA301 touchscreen displays Battery Bad error.  

 Work around/ Fix:

• A truck roll is required to resolve the issue
• Ask the customer to disconnect and then reconnect the battery
• Ask the customer to move the touchscreen from direct sunlight and place it in an AC-controlled environment if possible

Communication issues with connected Zigbee devices

The touchscreen will stop charging and the battery will die. The error is visible on the screen for the customer. 

The customer can see the following messages:

• In-app notification center: “Security System (Touchscreen) Possible Signal Interference” 
• Activity section in the app: “Touchscreen Possible Signal Interference” 
• Push, email, or text, if the customer has set up the system trouble rule: “Sensor Jamming Warning” 
• Touchscreen notification: “Detected potential signal interference”

 Issue:

The Homelife touchscreen can now detect sustained signal interference by an external device that could cause communication issues with connected Zigbee devices, and the customer can now be notified of the potential interference

 Work around/ Fix:

• Have the customer review any devices, such as microwaves, cordless phones, baby monitors, or any other device that emits 2.4 GHz frequency, in their home that are close to their Homelife Security touchscreen that could be causing the interference.

•  If possible, request them to move the interfering devices further away from the touchscreen

• The message will clear on the touchscreen and the in-app notification center between 5-10 minutes after the interference is no longer present

• If the signal interference error does not go away or continues to come back, schedule a truck roll for a technician to assess the system setup

If the customer selects OK on the touchscreen trouble notification, then they are NOT resolving the issue.

This only means that the notification is acknowledged.

Low Battery 

A low battery warning message appears within the Security customer’s touchscreen trouble header to alert them of a device with low battery power. 

Touchscreens only apply to Security customers. 

 Issue:

Touchscreen battery low.

 Work around/ Fix:

If the touchscreen battery is low, complete the following steps. 

1. Pull a diagnostic file. 

2. Reboot the touchscreen. 

How to Reboot COX Homelife Touchscreen Device Manually

Clicking this shortcut will mark this step as "Completed," and if you complete the next Guided Path, this Guided Path will be completed automatically

3. Pull the diagnostic file again.

4. If the device is still showing low battery, schedule a Trouble Call.