topic Re: Q Reset not working; constant amber LED in Arlo Q

Q Reset not working; constant amber LED

JimAnd — Sat, 06 Jun 2020 15:17:13 GMT

Two Chat sessions with ARLO technicians were worthless, and this board is my last resort to remedy the issue.

I have two 3040's, purchased together 18 months ago. One has been powered and the other has been unplugged for at least the past 9 months. An amber light appeared on the powered one about 5 months ago. I finally got around resetting the cameras when preparing for a holiday. I plugged in the unpowered unit and attempted to reset both cameras. Both exhibit the same problem. When powered, both illuminate Amber LED. There is no response to either cam when attempting to sync or when the reset button is depressed. The amber color remains unchanged. My two Chat sessions were a waste of time. The technician walked me through the published reset procedure and agreed, yes, they are not working properly.

Could ARLO have changed the behavior of the reset function thru a software or other upgrade? It is unusual because one of the cams was not plugged in or powered for many months, so a power surge could not have caused the failure. ARLO does not have a repair depot I can send these to for a factory repair or reset, so unless I can resolve this issue on this board, I have 2 pieces of junk, and ARLO loses a customer, and will get several bad reviews on social media.

Thank you,

JimA

Re: Q Reset not working; constant amber LED

jguerdat — Sun, 07 Jun 2020 14:45:49 GMT

No but the first thing I would do is to use a different power supply. Any 5v/2A charger should work. Obviously, use of either of the supplies that came with the cameras should work although one is certainly suspect.

Re: Q Reset not working; constant amber LED

Kasse — Mon, 08 Jun 2020 07:52:55 GMT

I have the same problem with my 12,5 months old Arlo Q. The camera stopped recording and showing status 2 weeks ago, finally got the restart it yesterday - but now a constant amber LED is on. Nothing happens when trying to Reset or Sync...

Seems that many users are having the same problems, hope ARLO is taking an action on this ASAP.

Re: Q Reset not working; constant amber LED

JimAnd — Tue, 09 Jun 2020 15:35:59 GMT

@jguerdat and @Kasse - I tried using my phone charger and cable. At first, no change when resetting. After 5 or so attempts to sync, the light changed to blinking blue. I scanned it the QR code, and light changed to solid blue. The cam worked for about 20 seconds, until I moved it and the charge cable loosened. Then the cam reverted to amber only. I tried other charge cables that fit tighter, but to no avail, the Cam continued showing amber. I unplugged for the night. This AM the Arlo software recognized the cam and said it was offline. I tried to sync several times then gave up as the amber remained unchanged. I put the cam down and walked away. My phone was with me and the Arlo software was open. Then, the phone vibrated and showed video! It somehow restarted and now shows a solid blue light. It is operating and recording movement and sound events. I have not touched or moved the cam for several hours. I will try a different charger for the 2nd cam. Both of the original Q chargers and cables are outputting 5v and can charge my phone.

Re: Q Reset not working; constant amber LED

ShayneS — Wed, 10 Jun 2020 16:08:05 GMT

Please contact the Support Team to further investigate this issue. You will find several options for contacting support in the provided link. Arlo Tech Support

Re: Q Reset not working; constant amber LED

JimAnd — Tue, 16 Jun 2020 15:04:25 GMT

Hi Shane,

I have spent combined, almost 4 hours with Arlo support on Chat, and done everything from restarting my network to trying different power supplies, several attempted resets, and sync's to no avail. I tried unplugging for >48 hours and attempted to restart while chatting. The one Q that temporarily worked (mentioned previously) now shows solid amber light again.

Can I send these back to Arlo for calibration or firmware correction? Since the problem is the same among two cameras, (one had been unplugged and not powered for several months) I suspect a Arlo firmware/software update is the issue. FYI... I tried to install these on 3 different networks, and all exhibited the same result...amber light solid with no change when resetting or syncing.

These are only 18 months old and kept indoor, vibration free at 70 deg F +/- 4 deg.

Did Arlo S/W updates turn these two cameras into unusable junk?

Do you have a failure analysis lab or repair depot that can fix these?

Thank you,

Jim

Re: Q Reset not working; constant amber LED

Kasse — Wed, 17 Jun 2020 04:49:20 GMT

Would also quess it is an update issue. Have recieved one message from support asking for reset the device according to the normal instruction. Not surprisingly this didn't work the 101st time either.

Working in the customer experience field myself have to wonder the total lack from Arlos side to take care of the customers. Based on this I can not recommend them to anyone. Hope really i get to change my opinion!