Article Summary:
It’s normal for the Nest Learning Thermostat to display eight blue rotating dots during start up. But if this screen doesn’t go away after a minute or two, there may be a problem. This article provides the troubleshooting steps needed to get your Nest Thermostat up and running.

1) Check your wires

The first thing to check is if the heating and cooling wires are inserted into the Nest Thermostat base correctly. You’ll need to check that all of the wires connected to the Nest Thermostat base are fully inserted into the connectors.

If any wire tips are bent or less than 1/3 inch of copper wire is exposed, the wires may need to be straightened and/or re-stripped.

For more details, watch our installation video.

Installing the 2nd generation Nest Learning Thermostat (video)

2) Reseat the Nest Thermostat display

Make sure the Nest Thermostat display is seated well on it’s base. Try removing the display from the base and use your thumb to gently push the heating and cooling wires back into the wall.

If you used screws other than the ones included with the Nest Thermostat to mount the base to your wall, they may prevent the display from attaching properly to the base.

3) Restart your Nest Learning Thermostat

If reconnecting the heating and cooling wires or reseating the display didn’t help, you should try restarting your Nest Thermostat. Press and hold the Nest Thermostat ring until the display turns off.  Release the ring and then press it once to start up the Nest Thermostat again.  

After five seconds, the Nest Thermostat display will turn on and start up (note: the display brightness may be low during startup).

If that doesn’t resolve the issue, please contact Nest Support. We'll help isolate the problem.