ARLO ULTRA Camera set keeps in OFFLINE mode.

[JOELYANG]

Hi Arlo team,

My Arlo Ultra cameras have been shown 'offline' for more than one week. I was chatting to your support team (Case Number: 41567430). Now the current situation is: 1. Both Arlo smart hub/base station and Ultra cameras have 'offline' status on APP. 2. The Smart Hub LED shows solid AMBER and solid GREEN/BLUE in regular sequence (between couple of minutes). I have been tried reset smart hub, reboot my home internet model for many times, but still no luck. I was also trying to do it via laptop other than mobile app, and got the same 'offline'. Could you please help me?
I have following info that may help your diagnose:

Ultra Cameras (x4), but one one been added to smart hub. Because it is in 'offline' mode.
The camber does not record any video because cannot set to 'armed' due to 'offline' issue.
i am using Apple iphone app (V2.14) and Apple macbook laptop.

Thank you very much for your help! 

Regards,

Joel Yang

[JamesC]

JOELYANG,

An Amber LED on the SmartHub means a connectivity error has occurred. Given you indicate seeing both cameras and the SmartHub offline within your account settings, I would recommend removing all devices and starting over fresh.

Log in to your Arlo account and navigate to Settings > My Devices > select your SmartHub > Remove device. After you've removed it from your account, press and hold the reset button on the back of the SmartHub until the LED flashes and the SmartHub reboots. Allow the SmartHub to come back online, log back in to your Arlo account and tap Add New Device, select Base Station/SmartHub and follow the on-screen instructions.

JamesC

[JOELYANG]

Hi James, 

Thanks for your message! As per your instruction, I have removed the device and reset the Smart hub, however, this this I cannot add the Smart hub this time. I cannot even get the flash AMBER while I  use a pin into the 'Reset' button at the bottom of the Ultra smart hub. I also tried power on and off, and the LED shows solid green/blue now. However, my modem shows it is not connecting which is very weird.  Could you please help?

Thanks,

Joel Yang

[JamesC]

JOELYANG,

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

JamesC

[Jankovichs]

Arlo cameras going offline one after other ... first one camera was playing up... and now another one is offline as well ...
as they go offline turns out they are completely flat ... they are always on power but still manages to run flat and then don't charge !
Every time have to reset charging to make them charge again ..

[Mad_cow]

I have the exact same problem. It started happening within the last week or 2. Was there a firmware update released recently?

My system has become totally useless. Please fix this as a priority.

I resync the cameras they worked for a few hours then the die again. Nothing in my system has changed.

Also please fix the SD Card filling up issue.

firmware: 1.16.1.1_475_71659aa

[Jankovichs]

This is what happening to cameras that goes offline ...
this was my next camera that went offline and likely i caught it doing this ...
blue light flashing and some weird noise coming out from it !
See link for bideo
https://youtu.be/xeminNz5PtU

[ArnieLittle]

This is also happening to me. Problems started about a month or so ago with the base station flickering on and off between blue and amber. I use x3 ultra cameras, all hooked up to a constant power supply. Camera 1 is now offline most of the time and/ or regularly freezes. Camera 2 has progressed to not picking up any motion at all despite being a heavy trafficked area. Camera 3 works ok (e.g. records, can watch live feed) however sends erroneous notifications to my mobile phone. Have done all the hard resets on the hub and cameras multiple times, rebooted the internet connection (there is a strong internet connection), changed camera positions to no avail. Please help Arlo, I’m at my wits end!  

Details: Brand new Arlo Ultra 4K purchased in June 2019, has been running fine up until Feb 2020, model: VMB5000r4, firmware: 1.16.1.1_475_71659aa

[GrantLeffler]

There was a  "New" Firmware installed on April 1st.  My cameras have not recorded since that Evening.  It's now been 10 days with no realistic fix date in sight..  No response from Arlo whatsoever even though I was told this would be resolved in 24-48 hours.  Their Help Desk was able to verify my Base had the latest update yet it still wouldn't Record.  My Base shows a Blue color stating it's connected but I get Offline Errors.  I can watch through the Cameras for about a Min. and then they all lock up with an Offline Error Message.  Even when they're on I can't adjust the Settings, that tab shows them as Offline yet I can still see through them for a short time.  

What I did next was look into the company.  Their Stock is selling for $2 a share.  :).  They use to sell their Stock for $20+ a share all of 2 yrs. ago.  What happened????   Crap product with crap support.  If my system can't record what's the point of having it?   

[Mad_cow]

@JamesC  Can we please get some idea on what is going on?

I had to manually pull out my hub from the power to get it working again! This is about the 3rd time I have had to do it.

[GrantLeffler]

Folks don’t even waste your time removing the device(s) it doesn’t resolve the issues They Are having.  

I’ve removed my Base Station and 8 cameras 4 times now and the end result is always the same.  I’ve also unplugged the Base Station and pushed the Factory Reset and Sync Buttons.  None of it resolves the issues.  If you’re lucky you might get a camera to record for 2, 4 maybe 8 hours at the most and then you’re right back to the Offline Errors.  Generally around 8:00 PM PST any Partially Working Camera stops working.  And no, Live Mode doesn’t work even if the Cameras are recording.  

I will say this though.  I’ve seen a couple of instances where the Cameras show as Offline but they’re still recording clips.  That’s how hosed this system is.     

Crapping programming and a lack of knowledge about their own product is what the issue is and it won’t be resolved anytime soon.  

Look at the other Threads on the forum regarding errors and you’ll see these aren’t new, they just way more frequent now.  What’s changed, it’s the “Update” they did.  The one they didn’t tell their Customers about.  There’s no way I’m going to remove my Base Station and Cameras on a Daily bases just to get 2-8 hours of video recordings.    

I spent 2 hours working with one of their Online Assistants sending screen shots of the issues and the best I got was a Case Number, a Commitment that it would be resolved in 24-48 hours and a follow up e-mail a week later saying if my Case Number is inactive for 7 days it gets closed.  Thats right folks.  You’re looking at weeks possibly months before this gets resolved and you’re only going to be contacted once a week to see how things are going (on solutions or dates for a fix).

My best advice is document and let your Family, Friends, Neighbors, Co-workers, etc, know to steer clear of this product.  I think eventually there will be a lawsuit which is why documenting things now is important.  After 2 weeks of not working correctly and no end insight I’ve already started looking at other video systems.  This one is a loss, I’ll document in hopes of recouping some of my money in a lawsuit.

Best of Luck Folks!  

[GrantLeffler]

For what it’s worth….  The only way I can get the Cameras to Record and not lock up is to follow these tips:

Remove all the Devices and add them back.

Once you’ve done that:

Don’t use Live Mode.  

Don’t select the “Audio is detected” Button in the Mode Tab.  Only select “Motion is detected”.

And when you Log Out of the Website.  Use the “Log Out” Feature on the Website.   Don’t jump to another Website or close the Tab without “Exiting” the website first by using the “Log Out” Feature in the upper right of your screen.

By following these ……“Knock on Wood”…….  The System doesn’t seem to lock up and go into Offline mode.  

I’ve had roughly 24 hrs. Of recoding and no locking up.  I did have 1 camera stop recoding, it gave me a 0:00:00 Video Clip but still showed as Online and it did not record for 9 hrs. But to be fair it wasn’t positioned correctly to pick up Motion.  Once I climbed my ladder it picked me up and started recording again.  I adjusted the camera angle and now it’s been recording regularly to motion with no issues as well.  

Something else that may or may not have helped was I left the Timezone to it’s default of Baja California when I set up the Base Station.  I show Arlo is in California, their “Q/A” testing is lacking big time and I’m guessing they’re not testing the different “Time Zones” as well.  They just assume if it works for one “Time Zone” it works for them all.

Yes it would be nice to use the Live Mode and Audio Detection Features as intended but they seem to throw the system into a hissy trying to determine if the Audio is valid and how to classify it or it chokes trying to let you View Live Mode and Record at the same time if the Motion or Audio Features are triggered while you’re watching In Live Mode.

Sometimes “Over Thinking/Over Engineering causes more damage than good.  Enhancements are anything but and cause more harm than good (like product/feature stability).  There’s a saying in many industries….. “KISS”…..    Keep It Simple Stupid.  Let's make sure we have a solid product and that it's thoroughly tested before deploying into Production.  If your Test Environment is not Synced properly with your Production Environment you end up with what he have now.