Arlo Ultra not recording activities

[HazzMatt]

I've spent hours per day over the last week trying to figure out why some of my Arlo Ultra Cameras stopped recording on motion.  I have two different Ultra systems on two different accounts in two different states and both systems have this problem. Symptoms are:  Arlo app shows last activity hours ago on some cameras, when I know there was activity during this time that should have been recorded.  No recordings in the library for those certain cameras either, no surprise there.  I've spent hours resetting batteries in cameras, rebooting the base station and even factory reset the base station and then rebuilding my cameras from scratch. The problem re-appears and it isn't always a specific camera that stops recording. The problem moves to different cameras. I do have some cameras that have a weaker signal that the others, but it isn't the weakest camera that always goes to sleep.  Sometimes the weaker one will stay working but the stronger cameras can also be the one that goes to sleep instead. The only way to "wake up the camera" seems to be to either remove and resync the camera or reboot the base station. Despite a short restoral period, the problem appears again.  After hours with Arlo Chat, going through the painful processes they must ask you to do or try - nothing got fixed. I finally got escalated to Level 2 support. Finally I was informed that the Ultra Base station received a firmware update on July 29th -the "exact day" that my problems started.  My fault for not checking the Arlo website for a list of recent updates - it was there, Arlo Ultra Base update on July 29th.  Unfortunately, Arlo cannot revert to the previous firmware version.  At present, they don't know what came out in that update that "broke things".  Anyway, I hope this report helps others to avoid the painful amount of wasted time troubleshooting that I've spent.  Oh, another thing - I also have Arlo Pro cameras at the same location and they all work fine, they don't have this problem.    Last thing: I've seen many claim that the Arlo Ultra systems don't have the range to cameras that the Arlo Pro has/had.  I also have seen this.  An Arlo Level 2 technician told me today that is absolutely not possible or true. If the power and sensitivity isn't less, the antenna pattern must be different. The result -not as good of range.  I hope this helps at least one person! Take care and Good Luck!   Matt

[HazzMatt]

JamesC, Are you saying that removing and re-inserting the micro SD card is supposed to be a possible solution to the failed Ultra Base Station Firmware update on July 29th?

[HazzMatt]

Hello, there are actually 2-3 different threads on here.  Many of those reporting issues discovered that the motion recording to the library was fine until July 29th.  Arlo pushed out an Arlo Ultra Base Firmware on July 29th and that's when the problems started.  Can you confirm your problems started then too?

[HazzMatt]

JamesC,  Yes I have used the SD Card for local recordings. Yes, I disabled that feature as part of the troubleshooting process.  Yes, I tried operating without the SD card inserted at all.   Question:  Why cannot Arlo admit that the Ultra Base Firmware that was pushed out on July 29th is the problem.  My motion recording to the libary was working fine until that update was pushed out.  We are now at two weeks plus since the problems started and the problem is still ongoing.

[Kammfam]

I honestly don't know when this issue started for me. I've been having so many other issues, it's hard to keep them straight.

edit: I just looked back, and my thread is from 7/16, so I was having this issue well before the last firmware update (which broke my audio and infrared...)

[Mjbeuke]

Any updates on this??! My frikking base station has to be rebooted 3-4 times a day just to regain the Ultra’s ability to motion trigger recording.....

Which is stupid considering every time it gets rebooted my doorbell will not resync itself with the base until someone presses the button.....

COME ON ALREADY....

[HazzMatt]

Rebooting doesn't really do anything for me. If Arlo or the moderator here starts thinking that rebooting helps, they might publish that as the solution. It's Not!! Yikes

[bstone01]

Same problem here. I just upgraded to the Ultra 4 camera system and have 6 original Arlo cameras connected to the new hub also. One of the new Ultras won’t record. 

[PT805]

I'd say return it. Because my system started with 3 of my 5 cameras not recording. Now none of them record. I spoke to arlo customer service today, they said they have no timeline as to when they would have a solution.

[Qia]

Do you mean “ active” , on?

I don’t have Sd , because! I get the PVC plan, 

[Qia]

Firts, I like to appreciate all the people that participate, and all the impressions shared with my about this issue.

I scale to 2 level “ Arlo , and they told me to “ restart “ the base station, And, I did it.

then we synced all the cameras ( 4) to the base, and the star wok perfect, and then suddenly one stop working.

I disconnect( unplugged)  the base from the power for a few seconds ( like 45 seconds ), reconnecting the base and until this moment ( 24 hours later) still working all good ( cameras) , now detecting motions and recorded to the library.

But I want to download any video from the library the system give me this error.

Cocoa- error( see screenshot attached)

Still persists the error, that Arlo smart don’t “ know “ the different between a Animal,and , vehicle, and this error happens de 96 % of the time during the night,

please give , share with me your experience about this problem.

[Amin_afs]

Ok so literally I have the same problem as you all described. I even talked to the tech support and nothing new came out of it! They said they’ll investigate it further!
Anyways, just for those who haven’t tried it, I have done all possible troubleshootings. From a simple reboot to removing and re-pairing the cameras, checking the sensors, and even I tried the hard reset (factory reset) the result of all were the same. Working for 2-4 hours then stopped recording.
I do believe it a firmware issue as its a little chance that both my smart hubs and all 10 cameras hardware defect at the same time!

[Mjbeuke]

You’re absolutely right - rebooting is NOT a solution. Nor is having to spend money on a smart switch socket to do so anyways.

This is a $700 system of paper weights currently and I am fed up with it. Too bad I can’t return this garbage now

[HazzMatt]

I talked to Level 2 support again last night and this time they told me that they have a proposed base station firmware being tested now. We might actually finally be on a road to recovery here - after more than two weeks since the last firmware change on July 29 caused all this. Fingers crossed. Although this restoral will hopefully ease our pain, there will be no other compensation for our two weeks of troubleshooting and frustrations. Good Luck to us all.

[LandJS]

Aspirant that is something in this tech age isn't it when it calls a dog a person and a person a vehicle or animal and once even a bee was a person and a person 10 feet from the camera is just motion.  Good thing they can't be used for face recognition.  If this system did work as advertised it would be a awsome system and they wouldn't be able to keep them in stock.       IF

[Amin_afs]

I just got off the phone with the tech. They have come to realize this is a firmware issue.
Looks like they are working on it and what he told me was they expect a firmware push update sometime soon to fix the issue.
So keep checking your libraries for newly recorded videos.

[LandJS]

Well it's certainly good news they have come to that conclusion, that it took near 3 weeks considering the number of posts on this dedicated community, not so good.  If they all were as quick to respond as James is, then I would be gratefull.

[PT805]

It's kinda ridiculous that they just realized it's a firmware issue. I'm sure everyone here realized it was a firmware issue when it first happened to them.

[michaelooooooo]

This is not just affecting Ultra. I have Arlo Pro 2 and same exact issues.

[HazzMatt]

When did your Pro 2 issues start? The Ultra base update that caused my issues was July 29th. My Arlo Pro cameras were not affected.

[Qia]

JamesC.

Do you have any solution for this issue? 

Can you be so kind and share any information related with the subject, that generate all these debate?

[xt328]

Same problem here. No detection, no video recording since a few hours.

[bbeagle]

I’ll chime in here and follow this thread. All our cameras are also not recording motion events since the last update. I haven’t opened up a ticket at Arlo, but will tomorrow if there is no update.

if I reboot the main unit, turn off cameras, restart them, etc once in a while I’ll get an alert or two then they’ll all go dead again. One time, one camera was active for about 12 hours and had about 120 motion alerts that day. It hasn’t worked since about a week ago when that happened despite restarting it, unpairing repairing it, etc etc 

[VCG]

I've  had the ultra since 1/16/19 they have been nothing but trouble. Almost every update is a mess, some thing is always different and not working as should. I'm having the same problems as you. Sometimes it picks up motion about 50 % of the time lately.  I have been rebooting, remove device, install device. I'm about done. Remember you have a year to return people.

[LandJS]

question on the 1 year return apprentice, I thought the Best Buy policy was 30 days.  I'm hoping to get it working but if they can't fix the android app to handle doze mode it's useless to me.

[SuperZwu]

Today I received a notification that my support-task has been closed what is leaving me behind without knowing how to continue ... have the software development team found the issue or not? 

Will there be a fix for it soon or are the not even investigating it any more?

I'm willing to wait for a fix but if there's nobody actively working on it I doubt it will come back to a working condition just by itself magically and in that case I would imediatelly return my Ultra-System and buy a different one!

Would be really cool to know what's going on ...