USB drive causes base station to go offline

[jmace57]

Recently (within the last month), my Arlo base station (VMB4000r3) goes offline.  After much experimentation, I have learned that it appears to be related to the USB drive.  I found an old thread here from 2019 describing almost the identical issue, with multiple people reporting the same issue.  But ZERO response from Arlo.  One of the users in that thread said they believed it was related to a firmware update.  In another forum, a person had contacted Arlo about the issue of the Base Station going offline and they suggested removing the USB drive.   

Each time this happens it is showing all 3 green lights and "flickering" of the internet light acting as if there is activity.  I have duplicated this issue 3 times.   Each time I have to completely hard reset the base station and re-pair all cameras.  It works fine until I plug in a USB, and an hour or two later, the base station is off-line again.  With no USB drive, it will work (as far as I can tell) continuously - as it has for the past 3 1/2 years.   

I have successfully used the app to format the USB drive (and I have tried several, all of 16GB or greater)

I find it suspicious that this occurred  just after the recent EOL announcement came out.

So, I am not hopeful for a response from Arlo based on the past thread that went unanswered and closed.  

Anyone else experiencing this issue?

[DannyBearAgain]

I also recall that bug although it didn’t directly impact my system because I was power cycling the base station daily and it would take a few days to reappear.

I don’t recall Arlo ever admitting to a problem, it just magically disappeared so likely a server patch was rolled out to their regional servers impacted.

[StephenB]

What model drive are you using?

If it is a mechanical disk or SSD, then it is possible that it exceeds the USB 2.0 power specs.

[jmace57]

It is a Kingston DataTraveler G4 (16 GB) thumb drive.  It is identical to one I used for the previous several years.

[StephenB]

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@jmace57 wrote:

It is a Kingston DataTraveler G4 (16 GB) thumb drive.  It is identical to one I used for the previous several years.

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So not power-related then.

Did you format it from the app?  Or in a PC?

Is anything being recorded on it?

[jmace57]

Yes - I formatted through the app.   I removed the drive and checked it in Windows Explorer to see the drive and there is a directory called "Arlo" and a subdirectory called "000000" with no contents.

There is nothing else on the drive.

By the way, thanks for your responses.

[StephenB]

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@jmace57 wrote:

I formatted through the app.   I removed the drive and checked it in Windows Explorer to see the drive and there is a directory called "Arlo" and a subdirectory called "000000" with no contents.

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Are there any issues writing to the drive from Windows?

[jmace57]

No,  No problems at all writing from Windows.

[ShayneS]

Do the base and cameras appear offline over the web portal as well when the issue appears? 

[jmace57]

Yes, it gives the same error message(s) for the app and the web portal.  [It appears your base station is offline]

[ShayneS]

Thanks, I have provided this info to the team and I will report back as soon as possible. 

[ShayneS]

@jmace57 

The team is investigating this issue and had a question. Can you plug the USB drive in and replicate the issue and  provide me with the time/timestamp & (Time Zone) of when you the base goes offline?

Thanks 

[jmace57]

This time when I plugged the USB drive in, the base station IMMEDIATELY went to an amber light (on the power indicator), and the app says the device appears to be offline.    15 minutes later, I have a single amber light on the power light.

This is new behavior.  Before, I might get a few hours of everything working before it went offline.

SO, I unplugged the USB drive again and re-booted the base station.  BEFORE, all cameras would be offline and I would have to hard-reset the base station and re-configure the base station and re-link all cameras.  THIS TIME, the base station came up normally and all of the cameras automatically re-linked.

[ShayneS]

Did you happen to note the time of occurrence so I can have the development team investigate?

[jmace57]

Yes.  It was 3:12PM Central Standard Time

[ShayneS]

Thanks, I will update you as soon as possible. 

[ShayneS]

@jmace57 

It looks like that log file was corrupted for some reason, any chance you can send another?

Sorry, thanks

[jmace57]

I plugged the same USB drive back in at 3:16PM CST.  In the app (storage settings for the base), it says the ESD-USM status is "Ready" with a green light.  Further in, it says Local Storage Status is "Good" and that 48KB has been used (presumably for the directory structure).  This is not what I was seeing before.  I believe it said "Not Ready" before.

Everything worked fine and at EXACTLY 4:00PM CST, the amber light popped on and it shows Arlo as being offline.

[jmace57]

Follow up - at about 5PM CST the base station started working again.

[ShayneS]

Did you happen to receive the private message I sent you?

[jmace57]

I did, and have responded.  Many thanks