Ultra 2: Your Arlo Device Appears Offline

[techniq]

This is an old topic with many solutions according to the forum, but I seem to have found a new version of it.

I am using an iPhone, O/S 16.  The Arlo base (VBM5000) firmware is 1.21.1.0_1431_9611cf3.  This is my outside camera system, with 3 cameras.  I also have a 4-camera indoor camera system (base VMB3000).  We also have the Arlo Doorbell.  The doorbell just uses the LAN, but both camera systems share the internet, the LAN, the iPhone and the iPhone app.  That sounds like a recipe for data collisions, but it is a standard setup and Arlo designed them to work that way.  Most of the time, they do.

Problem:  The outdoor camera base unit randomly crashes, bringing down all 3 outdoor cameras and issuing the "your Arlo device appears to be offline” error on all outdoor cameras.  This happens whether the individual outside cameras are in live feed or not and whether their signals are strong or weak. 

Neither the indoor cameras nor the doorbell are affected in any way.  The outdoor cameras stay down for about 15 minutes, then come back if I do nothing.  If I close/open the iPhone app, that seems to fix the problem until the base unit decides to go down again -- within 30 minutes, generally.  When the crash happens, the base LED on the VMB5000 starts out flashing amber, then turns to blinking blue and to solid blue just as it should while the cameras pair with the base.

To prevent interference, I have at least 8 feet of separation of the VMB5000 from the Orbi router, the Orbi satellite, and the Arlo base station for the indoor cameras (VMB3000).  The outdoor cameras are all separated from each other and from the VMB5000 by at least 100 feet.

I have been trying to reach tech support for over a week but no one seems to want to answer the phone.  I did reach a chat support agent.  He tried to help, but he had me using my iPhone to both troubleshoot and to manage the telephone.  I am not smart enough to do that for very long.  I inevitably wind up hanging up by an accidental slip of the finger.  I am willing to try it again, but so far I have not been able to get connected again.  I have fond memories of the days when you could talk to a tech support agent.

[StephenB]

I am wondering how the base is connected.  Is it connected directly to the orbi router, or are you connecting it to a satellite?  

If a satellite, then the issue might actually be that the Orbi backhaul connection is dropping (or that the satellite is rebooting for some reason).   One test is to connect the base directly to the router ethernet - if the cameras are too far away from that location, then also move one camera to a spot fairly close to the base.  Then see if the base remains up.

If the base is actually crashing, then the next step would be to remove the base and the outdoor cameras from your account. 

Then do a factory reset of the base using a paper clip:

• https://kb.arlo.com/1057976/How-can-I-reset-my-Arlo-SmartHub-or-base-station-to-the-default-values

Add the base back to the account, and then onboard the cameras again.

If this fails to fix it, then you likely need a new base.