Camera on Wifi but app cannot find it

[aeturnum]

Hey,

I know there are similar threads for this problem but I did not see one for the Essential line of cameras.

I can see the Arlo on my network (it joins with the name VMC2030-A1379) - but the app never finds it. I've tried both having the camera join my house wifi and having the camera join the adhoc network on my phone. In both cases the camera connects, but the app just scans forever and then reports it could not find the camera.

Camera in Router Interface 

Is there any way to manually tell the app what IP address the camera is at? I could do that.

Edit:
Just to add - I have already factory reset the camera several times before I found it in the wifi client list.
We have a mesh wifi network with Asus routers - which I know can be problematic for Arlo cameras. If there are any settings that prevent setup after connection I'm happy to change them.

[StephenB]

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@aeturnum wrote:

I can see the Arlo on my network (it joins with the name VMC2030-A1379) - but the app never finds it

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The next step is to try using a PC to onboard (browse to my.arlo.com).  If the PC has ethernet, then connect it up with ethernet to the router.

[aeturnum]

Hey Stephen,

Thank you for the tip! The web page also fails to find the camera - both on wifi and on ethernet. I tried on two different computers (one mac and one windows).

[StephenB]

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@aeturnum wrote:

Thank you for the tip! The web page also fails to find the camera - both on wifi and on ethernet. I tried on two different computers (one mac and one windows).

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Maybe try again, after turning off the mesh elements (only leaving the main router wifi on).

[aeturnum]

Hey Stephen,

Thank you again - I would really prefer not to do that. We have a mesh network because we need one to provide connectivity to the house and the people who live in it.

I also do not see why it would help? The camera is connected (and 'pinned') to the main router - as is my Ethernet cable. When I am running the tests it is ~1 foot from the router it's connected to. I can reach the camera on the network (it responds to pings) and the router can see the camera sending and receiving data. I just do not believe this is a network problem as nothing suggests it is (other than the app & website not working).

[StephenB]

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@aeturnum wrote:

Thank you again - I would really prefer not to do that. We have a mesh network because we need one to provide connectivity to the house and the people who live in it.

I also do not see why it would help?

The suggestion was only during onboarding, you'd turn the mesh back on as soon as that was completed.

Since the camera is showing up in your router's device list, we know that the QR code was successfully read, and that the camera was able to join the network.

The final step is that the app needs to find the camera on the network.  Arlo hasn't ever said what mechanism they use to do that.  However, it likely is using IP broadcast packets in some way.  Those packets sometimes aren't forwarded across network segments (wifi might not forward them between 2.4 ghz and 5 ghz, they might not be forwarded via the mesh backhaul, etc).

Another thing you could try is moving the camera out-of-range from your local network.  Then try setting up a hotspot on your phone that uses the same network name and password as your mesh.  If that onboards, you can turn off the hotspot, and then move the camera back into range.  It should then connect to the asus mesh, and you should see it in the app, since it is onboarded.

[Morrelldrm]

I have tried multiple troubleshooting processes, I have yet to see the QSR code, and it always times out to "can't find the camera".

I have check all compatibilities, and cannot get the camera to sync to my Smarthub.  Any ideas.

I have been charging this camera for hours now, and it has yet to fully charge, the best I can tell, since it's not in my app. Where do I go from here?

[aeturnum]

Thank you agian Stephen,

I keep trying to respond but the responses keep getting filtered as spam.

I don't think it's a multicast thing - web APIs generally can't send multicast packets. In any case, I've enabled multicast on the network, but the camera still won't add using any method.

I understood you were saying to just disable the mesh for onboarding. I meant what I said - people use the network, it's hard to find a time to fully disable it.

I've tried the phone-network technique. The camera joins the local network just fine, but the app doesn't find it.

I can look for a chance to try disabling all the other nodes - but do you have any other ideas?

[StephenB]

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@aeturnum wrote:

 I've enabled multicast on the network

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IP broadcast isn't the same as multicast, so no need to enable multicast.  The IP broadcast address is the highest address in the subnet (for instance, 192.168.1.255), though 255.255.255.255 also works.

It is also possible to send a broadcast packet on wifi/ethernet (layer 2 broadcast, below IP), using FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF as the destination MAC address. 

These can be used together - for example DHCPDISCOVER packets are sent by DHCP clients to IP address 255.255.255.255 with the destination MAC address set to FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF.  Broadcast is needed because the client doesn't yet have an IP address and has no idea what subnet it is connected to.

While I don't know what Arlo is doing, generally discovering a new device on the network would be done by either having the camera send broadcast packets that the app is listening for, or by having the app/web interface send broadcast packets that the camera is listening for. 

Security software (either in the router or in the PC/phone) can filter out unknown broadcast packets, so if you have security software running, you should try disabling it.  Turning off the mesh elements temporarily can also help, since sometimes meshes will selectively route broadcast packets (not sending them to clients on other network segments).  That is also why Arlo recommends connecting the phone to 2.4 ghz WiFi (since occasionally the broadcast packet won't be forwarded from the 2.4 ghz wifi to the 5 ghz wifi).

Another scenario is that if the camera was onboarded to a different account (and never removed), then the app will refuse to add it.  That sometimes happens with used cameras.  In that scenario, the app will find the camera, but will report "device not found" when it determines the camera is already claimed by another account.

[aeturnum]

Ah, gotcha.

This camera is used so it's probably the second scenario. It's possible that some combination of the other problems is occurring but I would be surprised.

[bwainscott77]

I was having the exact same issues, but enabling the "Mulitcast Enhancement" on my 2G wireless settings of my Ubiquiti controller for all AP's, IT WORKED! So frustrating, thanks for the posts StephenB.