RESOLVED: Arlo Base Station Appearing Offline

[AngeloM]

Hello Arlo Customers,

We are aware of a reported issue for some customers where the Arlo Base Station is appearing offline. We are actively investigating this issue and working to resolve it.

If you are currently experiencing this issue please reply to this thread with the following details so we can further isolate the issue:

Base Station firmware:

Device type showing offline (Arlo, Arlo Pro, Arlo Pro 2, Arlo Baby, Arlo Q, etc.):

Internet Service Provider:

Exact error message:

The application used (iOS, Android, Web):

We apologize for the inconvenience,

Arlo Team

[FlCottage]

I really don't want to spend another night without my exterior cameras, please. When will this issue be resolved? It has been well over 24hours!

Thanks

[AG67]

I agree with the frustrated comments that people are making here. Arlo is failing to support their customers properly. They should have identified the problem by now and be providing updates on when the fix will be available instead of just leaving people hanging.

[meizydavid]

I here this will be reported on Fox Business later today

to many secrets at Netgear.....

I have Vuezone camera system, and just one day they say will not support anymore

and the IOS app stopped working,,,Netgear Ive had enough  !

your products are good but your support sucks, and no notifications

we have to gi to this comminuty to find out something is down or problem

Put the old FIRMWARE back in, this update is bad !!!!!!!!!!

[jayoma]

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@chiper wrote:

... 

I think we just have to accept that Netgear have become a low margin high volume consumer product organisation and in that model customer service and quality control are always minimum viable effort.  

---

But the beauty is.. in this internet age, where users are given the platform to unite and be vocal (thanks for this platform, Netgear ), we don't have to just sit quietly. I could have (and maybe should have?) spent my $ elsewhere. But the fact is, I did tons of research and settled on Arlo for a reason. When the system works, it's awesome. I tend to show it off to my friends/coworkers. The completely wireless feature, ease-of-use within the app and ability to customize modes/IFTTT - it's all very cool. There are just a couple fatal flaws: their system must be online and fully functional, and they've got to stop pushing bad firmware/software upgrades to us, for it all to work! And I don't think any of that is too much to ask.

I encourage you all to keep the line of communication open with Netgear. If nothing else, send the Community Managers within this thread PMs with what you expect them to change moving forward.

[CandS]

2 our of 4 Arlo Pro Cameras offline since yesterday, we have four cameras, 3 linked to one base station (only 2 of the cameras are online, 1 offline) and 1 camera linked to another base station., this camera is offline.
VMB4000 basestations x 2
Firmware 1.10.0.4_20963
Arlo Pro cameras
Firmware: 1.092.0.13_19715
Service provider BT
iOS
All lights are green and basestations appear to be working normally. However, yesterday 1 camera repeatedly went offline, the message stating: This arlo device is offline, please make sure it is connected to the internet. Now 1 of the trio of cameras linked to the other base is periodically going offline too with the same error message. This just isn’t good enough, these cameras are extremely expensive here in the UK and we expect a better service for something that cost so much in the first place, stating ‘resolved’ on the post when it so obviously isn’t is only going to make your customers even more frustrated than they already are! The fact that I have spent most of the day up and down ladders, rebooting basestations and logging into the modem only to find this post, has made me even more annoyed than I was to start with! When can we expect a fix that actually works?

[velociped]

Arlo Base: VMB4000r3

attempted update from 1.9.8.0_16666 to 1.10.0.4_20963

Arlo Pro 2 (x2)

Arlo Pro

Verizon/Frontier FiOS

various error messages over the past 24 hours; current message: that the cameras and base are all "offline"

attempted access from both iOS app and web interface

[AG67]

Mine seems to be resolved now, as far as I can tell.

[DamienT]

Mine seem to work as well except it asked to reformat an usb drive.
In my opinion, netgear/Arlo should have handled this matter in much better and quicker way. And the Firmware should have been tested thoroughly before releasing it to the public. Very disappointed!

[Swstrib]

Mine came up and the only choice I had was to update the firmware.  It was offline and I tried to go through some of the online help but nothing would work so I called the help desk.  They did as they have the last time I called and walked me through to delete every thing I have that now I have to go through and reinstall everything and make my custom modes again and redo my schedule.  I am so ticked about this I want to make a video of me catepulting the entire system into the side of the brick wall and post it on every tech review site I can think of.  I'm so mad at myself for not buying a better HD wired system with cameras I don't have to take down and charge all the time.  It would have cost me less but a little longer to set up, but I would have only had to do the set up once.  This will be the 3rd time I've had to readd all my cameras and redo all my settings.  What a waste!

Base Station firmware:  Whatever is the latest

Device type showing offline: Arlo Pro

Internet Service Provider: Cableone

Exact error message: I don't know exact message since IT already had me delete my device but I think it showed Device Offline on all cameras.

The application used (iOS, Android, Web):  Web and iOS.

[JamesC]

Hello Arlo Customers,

Thank you for your continued patience as we continue to investigate issues that select customers are currently experiencing with their base station being offline. 

For those of you who have reported your case and provided us with your serial number, please check your base station to confirm that it is now online. 

If you still have an open case with your Arlo device, please know that our team is continuing to work around the clock to investigate and will provide updates as soon as possible.

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this has caused and appreciate your understanding.

The Arlo Team

[WilliamSchwartz]

After 36 hour my system started working. Hope it will be ok.

[mocodi]

Mine's apparently back up as well, after a downtime of something between 13 and 35 hours as best I can determine.

[gmb99]

Mine began working today (after sending serial number to Arlo).
Didn’t like having had the issue but give credit to the company for a quick response. Thank you!

[FlCottage]

Why are there people that are reporting that their systems are now working?  Mine is still offline and has been so for well over 24 hours. When is the fix going to be for all?

[Bah0482]

This is unacceptable. Mine has been out all day while at work. What's the point.

[chiper]

Hello Again,

I am based in Australia and my base station and cameras are all back online and working as expected complete with motion detection/alerting.

Mine was out for approximately 36hrs and I have no recordings from Monday evening through to Wednesday morning.

This is despite the cameras being online, connected to the base station via wifi and having a USB drive plugged in. Fairly ordinary that the cameras and base station must be connected to Netgear in order to record!

Surely it should have some type of offline/stand alone mode in which I writes the recordings to the USB and then uploads back to the cloud once the Netgear servers are back online?

Can we get some response from Netgear on this? Is their plans to develop this in th future and if not can we suggest it as a new feature?

Finally, still no word on the root cause nor what Netgear are doing to prevent a similar incident thus we can only suspect another outage like this is highly likely given past performance.

Personally I use the cameras at my place for convenience (not easy to run cables) so I can check on the pets not as a true security solution. All those complaining because their security is compromised you may want to consider a proper surveillance solution from the likes of Mobotix or Axis.

It’s also not advisable to use wifi cameras for a true surveillance solution as they are susceptible to signal jamming and obviously if your home loses internet or power (and you don’t have UPS), they won’t work.

Remember Netgear is a high volume, low margin manufacturer and their customer service and product quality will reflect that. Their customer service is quite honestly the worst in the industry and this is likely a reflection of the organisations internal company culture.

For those still experiencing issues all I can suggest is you private message one of the forum moderators and be patient. Mine did eventually come back online without me having to do anything (reboot etc).

[mocodi]

@chiper, from what I've read on these forums previously, if you have USB recording set up and the Internet connection is cut, motion detection and recording to USB will continue to function. Should be easy to test it yourself to confirm if this is the case.

But whatever got screwed up here was of a different nature to the Internet connection going down.

[FlCottage]

I checked on the USB Drive it it stopped recording as of somewhere around 2am EST on the 14th. It should work when internet goes down but in this situation the internet was not down as all 3 lights were green. It is kind of spooky that our security could be comprimised like this. What is to stop someone from causing this type of problem with our Arlo Systems and replicate whatever has happened to all of us here because of a programming glitch, virus or a server issue. What if someone with bad intentions could jam these systems this way? It is almost as if something has control over the base stations and they are not functioning as intended. The middle green light keeps blinking intermittently as if it is working... YIKES!

[Totten59]

Nearly 48 hours and still no arlo. We've had this system for 60 days and it's looking like we will not be buying another thing from netgear. There is no excuse for this type of service. Beyond pissed off.

[Shuya]

I have the same issue as others.
What can I do ?
Thanks in advance

[AndrewD604]

After posting earlier today, only indicating that my Arlo Pro base station w/ 2 cameras was down (did not provide serial# or anything), it appears simply by my username that it was enough information for Netgear to go in and fix something. I received no correspondence from Netgear but the cameras are back up and running. Thanks?

[macjohn]

Hello,

I am still offline now for 2 days. Error message states: Base Station is Offline

Firmware: unknown - base station is offline

Model: VMB 4000r3

ISP: Wave Broadband

Devices connected: 5 cameras (2 Arlo Pro, 3 Arlo)

Applications used: iOS, MacOS

LED lights on Base station are green for the Internet and Power icons, solid amber for Camera icon.

Thank you for any help you can provide

[gmb99]

Did you send the base Serial number to support (directly and not on the public string)? That's usually what it takes to get the fix. I did that and it was fixed the same day. 

[gmb99]

My issue was fixed after submitting my serial number to support directly. I'm happy with the quick response but agree with others that the firmware update should not have had this issue. Also I didn't appreciate the generic response from their support rep (who apparently wasn't involved in the fix). Here is what they sent... which would have accomplished nothing since the issue was with the firmware update!!

Don't do this to fix the problem!

You may perform the workarounds that our engineering suggested. 

1. Reset the base station 
- Press and hold the reset button at the back using a paper clip until all the lights turn amber 
2. Wait for the lights ( power and internet) turn green and camera turn amber. 
3. Log in to your account using a computer that is connected to the same network. 
4. Go to DEVICES > ADD DEVICE > Select Arlo Base Station. 
5. Once Serial Number is detected, rename it and click "Continue" 
6. Power cycle the cameras. 
Remove the batteries and re insert after 2 minutes. 
7. Re sync the cameras one at a time. 
Press the Sync button on the Base station once and let go. Third light will flash on the Base Station, you then press the Sync button on the camera, once and then let go. 
8. Log out and log back in to your Arlo account and check if you can stream all cameras.

I hope this will help you. 

What an exercise in futility! Glad someone there knows the firmware issue and was able to fix it. 

[FlCottage]

Support...My system has been down 48+ hours. Will you please provide information to us. Should we continue to wait? How do we supply the serial number to you privately? When will the fix be rolled out to all? Is there anything that we should be doing to help the system work again.

Some of the users claim that the system came back without doing anything and others claim that they have provided a serial number and their system was fixed the same day. Will you please clarify and update us? I don't understand why some have been fixed and not all

I have already tried most of the steps that other users have provided and nothing has worked!

Thanks