Arlo Pro 2 Base not reconnecting to internet after power outage (internet light off)

[Anne70]

Hello all

A couple of weeks ago I installed my Arlo Pro 2 with 3 cameras. It's was really easy, no problems.

Then last night a power outage, and since then the base (VMS4330P) has refused to reconnect to the internet. The middle light (internet) is off completely. I tried:

- power rebooting

- rebooting my router (netgear nigthhawk)

- updating router firmware + rebooting

- factory reset on the Arlo base, several times

- changing ethernet cable

- more rebooting (base, router)

Nothing works. I have a fairly large network at home with devices which are wifi and others hard wired. Everything else was working fine after the power outage, ONLY the arlo base denies to reconnect to internet.

I chated with arlo support and eventually they told me I had to open ports 443 and 123. Ok. But how can a power outage close ports? That sounds a bit strange? Have anybody experienced this?

I have searched for solutions in the forum. Seems power outage was an issue, but I have not found anyone having this problem with VMS4330P. Only previous models.

Any tips appreciated!

Thanks a lot in advance

Anne

[brh]

@Anne70

Since you said the middle light on your base station is not lighting up I am sending you the link to this article:

https://kb.arlo.com/000039100/What-do-the-LEDs-on-my-Arlo-or-Arlo-Pro-base-station-mean

Which means for some reason the base station is not connecting to the router. Of course you knew that, but it is possible that whatever caused the power outage damaged the base station. I doubt if it changed the port settings, but you could check with your internet provider or instruction manual on your router.

Power outages seldom affect the base station and the station usually comes on and connects to the internet automatically or by doing a power cycle.

Another thing is to purchase a different base station, say, from Best Buy and if it works, then you know you have a defective base station. If not then return it.

Brian

[Anne70]

Hello Brian and thanks for taking the time to answer.

Yes as you metionned I figured out that it was an issue with connection towards my router. The documentation you are refering to is confirming that 🙂

The annoyement is that I cannot even see my arlo base from my router configuration app since the base is offline. I tried to wire the base to the router with ethernet cable, but this didn't help. I have logged on my router and checked the settings in details, but so far I saw nothing that looked it had been modified or nullified by the power outage.

Me too I am very suspicious about this port resetting when a power outage happens. Especially that all the rest of my devices are working fine.

I think you suggestion to contact my internet provider is a good idea. They might give me a general sequence for rebooting things. 

Before I did a factory reset on the arlo base (10 seconds on the reset button until lights are flashing amber), my cameras were still connected to the base. Only the base was offline (no light in the middle).

Have a nice day or evening,

Cheers

Anne

[brh]

@Anne70

Troubleshooting can be a real pain but it is necessary to find out what has failed. It seems you have about narrowed things down to a defective or non responsive base station. It is possible that the boot up sequence did not complete.

My first suggestion is to unplug the power to the base station along with the ethernet cable. Leave the base unpluggged for several minutes then plug the ethernet cable back in followed by plugging the power cable back in and see if the base tries to reboot. If the reboot is successful, I believe that the middle LED on the base should turn amber in color. If it does, that means that you have a connection between the base and router and let it continue until the middle LED turns green.

If the LED never lights up again then you either have a defective port on your router, a defective ethernet cable or a defective base station.

If you continue to try to work with Arlo Support it could take weeks for them to approve and ship you a new unit. Meanwhile you want to get your system back up and running as soon as possible. That is why I recommended purchasing a new base. If the new one works, you have a strong case for support to replace the unit under warranty. Then you can return the new base or keep it for later use if you expand your Arlo system. If it doesn't work, then you know that the problem is on the router end. That is when I would call my ISP and ask for a technician to come out and see what is wrong.

Brian

[Anne70]

Hello again Brian,

Yes I also tried this rebooting sequence. Also with a new ethernet cable.

That didn't help. The middle light on my base is still switched off.

I also connected the base directly to my router with ethernet cable. But again, nothing improved.

If the base had been 'power shocked' after the power outage, it would be totally dead (no lights at all). But the power light (left) is on and green, and the camera light (right) is amber. And again, all my other devices are fine (wifi or hard wired). So if it was a 'power surge', other stuff would have stopped working too.

But it might be that the base is defect anyway. It certainly didn't like that power outage!

Thanks again for your help

Cheers 🙂

[jguerdat]

The Internet LED being off means one of three things - bad port on the base, bad port on the router, or bad Ethernet cable. While you've already tried this before, I would turn the base off and plug into a different port on the router (swap with another device if needed). Try a different cable (again, swap with another device if needed). If still no good, it's a problem with the base. Open a case with support here for an RMA.

[Anne70 · Accepted solution]

Thank you all for your help, but here what happened today, quite err, interesting.

Ok I went to work today, and in the afternoon I got a text message from my bf telling me: 'Guess what? the light in the middle on the Arlo base is now green, flashing lightly every now and then'. Me: (excuse my language): WTF??

So I got back home and after dinner I resynched my cams with the base, and all is working tip-top again.

We didn't touch the base the whole day, and from being totally dead (no connection to router at all, middle light switched off) it became -spontaneously- fully operative again...

What has happened?

Maybe the Arlo servers were down all day yesterday until today afternoon, and by pure coincidence it started the same night we had the power cut? Or maybe my internet provider rebooted some things in our local network? My whole neighbourhood was affected by this power cut.

I don't know.

I wish Arlo would be a bit more transparent about the status of their servers, including in Europe, since I live in Norway. There is no shame to share information which shows where there are issues. Then as users we could see if a malfunction in our cameras is a server problem or a 'hardware' problem at home. Could you please do that for us Arlo?

I found this online map showing areas with Arlo issues. I am not sure how the issues are reported though, and if they are fully reliable? I can see that my area in Norway is in light yellow. So that could make sense...

http://downdetector.com/status/arlo/map/

[brh]

@Anne70

Great to hear you are online again.

Brian

[Marcus55555]

Last month I ordered a Arlo from HSN.  It took a few weeks to get it in the mail. I tried setting it up and it did not work.  I returned the first one and they replaced it couple weeks later again and when I tried setting up the second one the power light would stay amber and nothing turn green. I called Arlo customer support and it was terrible. She couldn't really communicate very well. A lot of what she said didn't make much sense. There obviously is a communication barrier. She told me to return it to HSN and then she hung up on me.  I have tried to install 2 Arlo's already and return both. So far Arlo products are not good and their customer service isn't very good either. I wonder if anyone else had this problem.

[jguerdat]

If the power LED remains amber something is wrong with the base or the power supply. Since it happened to two systems, I have to question whether it has something to do with your outlet or power. Where are you located and what are the power specs listed on the power supply?

Also, I'm not at all sure that HSN is an authorized Arlo dealer so getting warranty help may be an issue.