Arlo|Smart Home Security|Wireless HD Security Cameras

Restart device frequently

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Ksw
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Star
I have 2 Arlo Pro 2 cameras and 2 Arlo Q Plus cameras. What is happening is that the Q Plus devices need to be rebooted/restarted frequently as they become unresponsive when trying to view live feeds as well as stop recording from motion alerts. What is up with the Arlo Q Plus? Is a firmware update on the way?

Thank you.
55 REPLIES 55
JamesC
Community Manager
Community Manager

Ksw,

 

How far away from your router are the cameras? Are you getting any error messages when attempting to live view?

 

JamesC

Ksw
Star
Star

One is connected via ethernet cable (POE), the other is connected via WIFI and is about 12-15 feet from the router. But both seem to show similar symptoms of needing to be rebooted in order to restore them to normal functioning every so often. Not every day, but fequent enough to make me question whether there is some bug needing to be addressed.  Live view will typically not be a problem.

JamesC
Community Manager
Community Manager

Ksw,

 

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

 

JamesC

Jakelson
Initiate
Initiate
I have this exact problem. Mine is a Wi-Fi only and the constant connnection problem is very bad. I’m confident it isn’t a Wi-Fi issues, or at least the device always has a steady blue led indicator.
Ksw
Star
Star
Yeah the Arlo Q Plus needs a restart about every couple days regardless of whether it is hard-wired or using WiFi. Sometimes the audio just cuts out, other times it just stops recording movement, and other times you just cannot connect to the camera through the app. The Arlo Pro 2's do not have this issue. Seems like a bug that a firmware update would address.
Smxcan
Apprentice
Apprentice
I have the same problem with my Arlo Q Plus. After 12 or more hours it stops recording to the cloud when motion/audio is detected. Live view and manual recording works during this time. I have to restart the camera by tapping the Restart button in the app or by unplugging/plugging the power cord.

Arlo Q Plus Installed:
12/28 6:52pm

Stopped Recording / Restarted:
12/29 8:24pm / 9:44pm
12/30 11:19am / 12:19pm
12/31 12:19am / 1:14am

The camera is connected to a strong Wi-Fi connection. Two other Arlo Q cameras are also on the same Wi-Fi network and they never require restarting.

Does anyone know how to fix this?
Ksw
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Star
I think you hit on the issue more precisely than I have! This is how it happens with both of my Q Plus devices also. I've since hardwired both via Ethernet but same issues. Very frustrating and hoping for a fix soon.
jguerdat
Guru Guru
Guru

I would think that hardwiring would help the problem unless there's a hardware issue. In either case, is the camera LED showing anything?

Ksw
Star
Star

As with Jakelson above, the LED inidicator does not show an issue.  Smxcan describes the problem accurately.  At least 3 of us seem to be having the same issue with the Arlo Q Plus.  And it is consistent across both my Arlo Q Plus devices as well.

Smxcan
Apprentice
Apprentice
I started a chat with netgear/arlo suppprt and they told me to try resetting the camera and then sync it again. I haven’t tried this yet because I want to first see if the camera stops recording again before attempting the reset.

In the mean time if anyone else wants to give this a try, feel free to do so and let us know if it stops recording the next day or so. I’ll post my results soon.

I think the following steps should factory reset the camera:


1. Go to Settings > My Devices > select the Arlo Q Plus camera > Remove device.

2. Reset the camera by pressing and holding a paper clip in the reset hole in the camera until the camera reboots. And you see a amber LED.

3. Log in to your Arlo account and click "Add Device." Select Arlo Q Plus and follow the on screen instructions to add the camera.
Bobbynroo
Tutor
Tutor

I have the same problem! And for me as well, the problem seems to be that they freeze just when motion is detected. I actually just posted a thread in the Arlo Q section (wrong one apparently) before I found this. I'll have to try this out and report back.

Smxcan
Apprentice
Apprentice
Recording to cloud stopped again today 1/1 at 9:15am on my Arlo Q Plus. The LED light remained solid blue and my other two Arlo Q cameras continued to record.

This time Live View didn’t work and it only displayed the spinning icon in the center.
Recording to the SD card likely continued to work because the remaining capacity of the card slowly decreased throughout the 2 hours that cloud recording had stopped.

I factory reset the camera (using the steps above) at 11:35am, removed it from My Devices list, and set it up again. Instead of connecting to the same 2.4GHz Wi-Fi that my other two Arlo Q are connected to, I connected the Q Plus to a 5GHz Wi-Fi.

I don’t think the issue is due to a home network issue since no other wireless device experiences a drop or delay. I’m using a Linksys EA9500 (AC5400) router that has a very strong signal that’s visible on devices almost 300 ft away, yet my cameras are only about 20 ft away. Internet speed is 250Mbps for download and 20 Mbps for upload.

Waiting to see if the factory reset or switching to the 5GHz Wi-Fi has any impact.
Ksw
Star
Star

Great, I was going to do the same reset too the next time mine have the issue.  Looking forward to hearing how it goes!  

Ksw
Star
Star
One of mine had audio stop working this morning, so I just went ahead and did the remove-reset-readd for both my Q Plus devices. Will report back.
Smxcan
Apprentice
Apprentice

It looks like removing, resetting, and adding the device may have fixed the issue!

 

I reset it on 1/1 at 11:35 am, and as of right now, 1/3 12:30 pm, over 48 hours have passed without any interruptions in recording to the cloud. Prior to the reset, the longest stretch I had before recording stopped was about 25 hours.

 

When I did the reset, I had also switched from 2.4 to 5 GHz, but I'm guessing it was the reset that actually fixed it. I'll keep it running for a few more days just to make sure it doesn't stop recording, then I'll reset it again over the weekend to switch it back to 2.4 GHz to rule that out.

Ksw
Star
Star
I was hoping for the same but I just had to restart one of mine just now after doing the reset earlier this week because it became unresponsive...
Smxcan
Apprentice
Apprentice
I spoke a few hours too soon in my last post. The Q Plus stopped recording to the cloud again. This was the longest period it worked so far. There’s always activity every couple minutes in front of the camera, but it just stopped recording.

The difference this time was that I didn’t reset or restart it. It started recording on its own in a little over an hour.

It stopped recording on 1/3 at 4:46pm and started recording on its own at 6:03pm.

From the Library I could see recordings from other cameras throughout this period.

Back to the drawing board. I’ll have to contact support again. Unless if anyone has other suggestions, I may try a new Q Plus to rule out a hardware issue.
Ksw
Star
Star
I'm not sure that will help. Both of mine are new and both have the same issue.
Bobbynroo
Tutor
Tutor

I'm trying to find a pattern here. For me, it's either when motion is detected, or when I download a video off of the cloud. Those two cases are when they seem to freeze up. Very occasionally they come back online on their own, but most of the time they remain frozen and I need to power cycle.

Ksw
Star
Star
I don't think I'm doing anything out of the ordinary. Just using it normally. So I'm surprised if Netgear themselves are unable to reproduce the issue.
jguerdat
Guru Guru
Guru

If it's hardware, it may be individual units that cause this - only having one of them would be capable of reproducing the issue. As for firmware, that seemingly would be more easily reproduced. And then there's something about your installation, whether it's consruction, WiFi connection, whatever which would be difficult to duplicate without being at your house.

Ksw
Star
Star
I've purchased multiple at different times. They're both hardwired PoE. They both exhibit the same issues. How lucky am I to get two faulty units at different times of this is a hardware issue. All of us here having the exact same issues.
jguerdat
Guru Guru
Guru

Of course, the folks who post here likely don't reflect the whole installed population. We simply don't have enough information to make blanket statements. I can certainly sypathize with you  but I have to strongly suggest opening or continuing with open cases to help force  resolution.

Smxcan
Apprentice
Apprentice
The following thread is just one of several where people stated they regularly have to restart their camera because it stops recording, hangs, or audio stops.

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Arlo-Q/Horrible-Arlo-Q-stops-CVR-audio-rec-amp-ARLO-Support-says-LI...

Here’s another thread with the same theme:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Arlo-Q/Issues-with-CVR-on-Arlo-Q/td-p/1332612

No root cause or a solution is ever found, including from Netgear support or engineering.

One user came up with a creative work around. He plugged his cameras power adapter into a timer that switches the power off and on within a minute a few times a day so the camera doesn’t stop recording for hours. It only stops recording for a couple minutes a few times a day.

I’m considering this, but mainly so I can try out a the TP-Link HS110 Smart Plug. It would also let me set a daily 1 min timer, remotely reboot the power to the camera if the app fails, and would also monitor its electricity usage.

There were also many users complaining that the Arlo Baby cam regularly disconnected in the following thread.

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Arlo-Baby/Intermittent-Arlo-Baby-Camera-Disconnections/m-p/1386836#...

For that, Netgear fixed it after 5 months with an updated app. So I’m thinking we may need something similar for the Arlo Q Plus or Arlo Q with CVR.

Back to finding an actual fix, I am regularly following up with NETGEAR Support - Case #‪29511450.‬ Still trying to figure it out.


————

Here’s some more info on my issue:

My camera has never been set to record on a schedule and has always been set to a custom mode, which is set to record all the time with the highest sensitivity for motion (level 9) and audio (level 5). Occasionally I’ve lowered the audio setting to a 4 for testing. The camera is located in an area where there’s motion and audio occurring very frequently; at least every couple minutes throughout the day and night. As a result I see video clips in the library throughout the day except occasionally when recording to the cloud stops. My Arlo Q cameras, which are further away, continue to record when the Q Plus stops.

Here’s a time line of my Q Plus:

Installed:
12/28 6:52 pm

Stopped Recording / Restarted:
12/29 8:24 pm / 9:44 pm
12/30 11:19 am / 12:19 pm
12/31 12:19 am / 1:14 am

Stopped Recording / Factory Reset:
1/1 9:15 am / 11:35 am

Stopped Recording / Started Recording Automatically:
1/3 4:46 pm / 6:03 pm
1/7 3:23 pm / 4:50 pm

Stopped Recording / Restarted:
1/8 1:44 am / 9:39 am