Raspberry pi5 lost all web access after installing whatsapp link. Interested in comments

General
1

I installed Whatsapp link on Node-red V4.0.8. Opened the admin node and it permanently crashed node-red. I could see that Mqtt was running but could not see any web pages. stopping and starting node-red gave the following errors..

5 Apr 20:19:39 - [red] Uncaught Exception:
5 Apr 20:19:39 - [error] Error: Failed to launch the browser process:  Code: 2
stderr:
/home/brain/.cache/puppeteer/chrome/linux_arm-146.0.7680.153/chrome-linux64/chrome: 1: Syntax error: ";" unexpected
TROUBLESHOOTING: https://pptr.dev/troubleshooting
    at ChildProcess.onClose (/home/brain/.node-red/node_modules/@puppeteer/browsers/lib/cjs/launch.js:350:24)
    at ChildProcess.emit (node:events:536:35)
    at ChildProcess._handle.onexit (node:internal/child_process:293:12)
nodered.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
nodered.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
nodered.service: Consumed 4.445s CPU time.

The only way I could recover was "cd .node-red/node_modules" then "rm -r Whatsapp-Link" and restart. I did find a reference at "Failed to launch the browser process - #5 by grotesmurf10" but it gave little info. (Age 70 and learning). Is this a fluke or a warning? Any thoughts?

2

Just offering an option.

Open a terminal/shell and stop node-red.

node-red-stop

Then

node-red --safe

Paste what is shown.

(When pasting - or about to - before actually pasting)
Click the button at the top </> and follow the prompts.

That will be nicer for people to read.

Not sure it is going to help. But it is more information and that is a good thing.

1 Like
3

I have not used this node so can't comment on it's quality.
However, according to Github it was last updated 3 years ago, though the Readme says

Currently in developing mode, Continous update[s] may encounter.

There are quite a few unresolved issues, apparently not identical to what you see.

It kind of looks like abandonware - unless someone knows otherwise?

Telegram seems to be the Node-red messaging application of choice these days.

1 Like
4

That is not the right way to do that, the module will likely be re-installed by npm the next time it gets a chance. A better way is to start node-red using node-red --safe, which will start the editor without starting the flows, then you can uninstall it using the Palette Manager. Alternatively, if you want to use the command line then, assuming the node you installed was node-red-contrib-whatsapp-link, go into the .node-red folder and run
npm remove node-red-contrib-whatsapp-link
Then restart node-red.

1 Like
5

Thanks for all the suggestions. I have followed them and now cannot see any reference to Whatsapp anywhere on the RPI. There was nothing untoward showing in Safe mode or after full reboot and everything seems to be running fine. If i get time I may try installing it on a spare RPI. Meanwhile, thanks to all for suggestions :slight_smile: