Trouble connecting. Tried resetting but makes a buzzing sound and flashes amber. Connecting to 5GHz.

[Gary_Berg]

I've got a Q which I've been using 2-3 years that suddenly decided to lose it's connection to WiFi. I've reset it using a paper clip in the little hole, and gotten the blue flashing LED after pressing the sync button. I scan the QR code and get a chime, but it never connects to the phone.

Eventually the Q makes a buzzing sound and flashes amber again, and later on the phone says it couldn't find the Q. I've tried several times.

I'm trying to connect to 5Ghz WiFi, which is what it used to use.

Any suggestions?

[jguerdat]

The Q camera has never used the 5GHz band, only the 2.4GHz one. In addition, be sure to remove the camera from Settings, My Devices since you've reset it.

It may also be worthwhile to force your phone to use the 2.4GHz SSID or a computer for pairing purposes.

[Gary_Berg]

OK, I've experimented a bit more.

I put my phone on the 2.4GHz band. I have removed the device from my Arlo account, so it should be free, I went through the process of connecting the Q to the WiFi. Eventually it chimed while flashing blue.

I told the app that I heard the chime and it tried to connect. The Q flashed blue while the phone searched. After 45 seconds or so the Q made a "blatting" sound and started flashing yellow. About 30 seconds after that the phone gave up.

I quickly checked my router for a list of connected devices and the Q showed up as connected to WiFi. A minute or so later it disappeared from the list, but I just checked again and it now shows up again

Since it was showing connected, I tried joining from the web from my desktop, but that didn't work. It was solid amber when I stared that process, I also saw flashing purple later on. And later still it went to flashing amber.

[jguerdat]

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@jguerdat wrote:

The Q camera has never used the 5GHz band, only the 2.4GHz one.

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I was politely reminded offline that the Q does in fact support the 5GHz band. My bad.

[jguerdat]

I've had issues in the past of seemingly not syncing properly but a force close/logout and reopening of the app/browser showed the camera there. That doesn't seem to be the case here, though.

Since it may be a hardware problem, use the Contact Support link at the bottom here. You seem to have exhausted normal troubleshooting.

[Gary_Berg]

As I recall, this camera is over 2 years old. Which means it is out of warranty. In fact, as I recall correctly I would even have to pay to get support?

[jguerdat]

No cost to talk to support but no free replacement if it's determined as faulty.

[Gary_Berg · Accepted solution]

As a final follow up:

I discovered I have a Q Plus, with a micro SD card. I knew the card was present, I didn't know that made it a Plus.

I finally determined that a faulty micro SD card was the cause. I tried to move the card to a Wyze cam and got a lot of trouble which led me to trying to reformat the card.

I had lots of trouble trying to format the card. Tried two different PCs, Windows and Linux. Decided the card was bad. Finally retried the Q and it came right up.

So pulling a card out should always be part of debugging.