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A Zigbee device that worked fine for months and then starts dropping offline intermittently is almost never actually broken — it’s a network problem, and Zigbee networks have a specific, diagnosable set of failure patterns once you know what to check.
Check for 2.4GHz WiFi interference first
Zigbee operates in the same 2.4GHz band as WiFi, and a router broadcasting on channel 1, 6, or 11 near your Zigbee coordinator can cause real interference. If your dropped devices cluster near your router or a WiFi access point, try shifting your Zigbee channel to one that doesn’t overlap with your WiFi channels, rather than assuming the devices themselves are failing.
USB 3.0 ports are a documented, specific cause of dropouts
USB 3.0 controllers emit broadband interference that lands right in Zigbee’s frequency range, and a coordinator dongle plugged directly into a USB 3.0 port on a home server is a genuinely common cause of exactly this symptom. Move the dongle to a USB extension cable positioned at least a foot away from the server case, or use a USB 2.0 port if one is available.
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Mesh strength depends on mains-powered repeaters, not just the coordinator
Battery-powered Zigbee devices (most sensors) don’t repeat signal for other devices — only mains-powered devices like smart plugs and bulbs do that job. A network with mostly battery sensors and few mains-powered devices has a genuinely weak mesh regardless of how good your coordinator is, and the fix is adding repeaters, not replacing the coordinator.
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Rule out a specific bad device before blaming the whole network
If only one device drops while everything else stays stable, check that device’s firmware version and battery level before touching network settings — a single failing device is a different problem than network-wide interference, and treating it as one wastes real troubleshooting time.
Work through interference, then USB port placement, then mesh density, in that order — most persistent dropout problems get solved by the first two steps before repeaters ever become necessary.