Isn't it insane that we have to "revive" 4 year old devices? How is it unthinkable that even 10 year old device would just work out of the box even if it hasn't seen light of day since it was purchased?
The problem was: out-of-sync device clock prevented software updates which in turn prevented cloud syncing. You don't need software updates or cloud syncing for the device to work.
The fix is to set the clock and do the software updates.
It is a bit sensationalist to say this is reviving it though, which makes this sound like some wild issue.
Defaults that make sense to servers with dedicated ops don't make sense for consumer products. Don't just run a default-config NTP client in a consumer product.
This does seem to be caused by a badly set up Linux system though. The clock loses sync and the system can’t recover.