Dec 2nd firmware update

[Dbensette]

Is anybody having problems with the most recent ultra base station firmware?

I noticed my cameras which were connected to the ultra base station didn’t have any recording and kept going offline for some reason. I narrowed it down to only happening since the dec 2nd firmware update, and after some testing I realized that the base station will go online but goes offline as soon as any camera is triggered to record.

This is completely the opposite I would like a security camera to work. Why would I want a camera to go offline as soon as it’s triggered. Then no recording is saved afterwards?

I have been having geofence issues which I have relied on for over a year since iOS 13 and I am told it is being worked on and should be fixed in the next app update. Now, they have another “update” which is another step backwards.

Anybody else having this issue with the ultra? My arlo pro base is still working as expected, minus the geofence issue...

[Dbensette]

@JamesC I already have.

I have been in contact with Russel. I wanted to see if others are experiencing the same issues, and clearly they are.

It’s pretty obvious to me there is an issue with the latest firmware.

Will you confirm? Fix coming soon?

[Nathan-aus]

@JamesC It is quite clear that this is a widespread issue. It would be beneficial for everyone if you could provide an update here. 

[Br11183]

I see that a 4 December firmware update has been released--does this correct the issues in the 2 December firmware release?  If it does--firstly--thank you for the quick turnaround on it.

Assuming so, if our device remains offline, how do we update the firmware to the 4 December version?  I have a solid orange light, except when I initially restart it, however even then, I do not have a chance to turn all of my cameras off before it changes from blue to orange (which is almost immediate). 

[Br11183]

I actually misspoke, my LED goes from solid orange when it starts and the goes straight to an orange blinking light.

[surfer1000]

I don't see that firmware

[RB321]

Sadly, you are not alone.

I thought however it was related to something else. I have an Ultra & a Pro 2 Camera on an Ultra base. Yesterday the camera did a firmware upgrade (camera was off when I logged into the portal, and had a firmware upgrade required (or similar) on the thumbnail). After that upgrade I am experiencing exactly what you are, it hasn't recorded since and keeps going off line as soon as motion is detected. I can do a live view, but it simply wont record movement,. So much for an "upgrade" it was working fine before that. Here we go again with untested BS firmware upgrades!

[surfer1000]

I can't for the life of me get my doorbell to sync now been trying for last 2hrs, it appears to sync but never shows as found when trying to add to app/system yet it can chime my chime when pressed!

[MMILLER-ME]

I am having the same issues . Both of my VMB5000 hubs started not working properly immediately after this week's firmware update. They are constantly going offline and they are not saving any videos. My Arlo Video Doorbell and VMB4000 hub are all still working perfectly - it is only the VMB5000 hubs that appear to be affected.

PLEASE HELP! These systems are completely useless right now until the firmware is fixed.

[JehovasFitness]

Yes, my App will show blank status when armed. Desktop shows armed.

No alerts, no recordings, WTF

[JamesC]

The issues being reported here have been escalated to the development team and are currently being investigated. I will provide an update as soon as I have more information.

JamesC

[RB321]

James

Thanks for the post, however I recall last time you posted a similar comment with the VMB4000 random reboot and time zone shift fiasco earlier in the year, we never heard from you again! I took weeks even months to find a solution.

Please treat this issue with a matter of urgency, and please make sure you follow through this time, thanks.

My expensive VMB5000 portion of my system is completely useless after this firmware "upgrade"... REALLY frustrating, to say the least.

[MMILLER-ME]

Same here. There is clearly an issue with the updated firmware as immediately after I did the firmware update on my 2 different VMB5000's they both stopped working properly, while my VMB4000 and Arlo Video Doorbell still work perfectly. 

[LandJS]

WOW now here's a new one that started today.  A notification comes through, the video is in the library showing a vehicle but when you click on the video to play it, the vehicle is missing.  This is like the last 8 videos involving a vehicle.  The vehicle is either parked or down the driveway when it shows up.  It's like it takes a snapshot when first triggered and that shows up in the library until you hit play,  then it's as if the first 5 to 7 seconds are gone when you hit play.

[n1976jmk]

This basically means we will be lucky if it is fixed in two to three weeks 😞 

[LandJS]

I did some more checking and see that clips that are the 45 sec I have my recording set for seem fine but the clips that trigger and then lose the time in the library snapshot are 7 to 19 seconds.  This would appear to back up that the first 21 to 38 seconds from trigger are indeed missing in the library even though the trigger snapshot is there in some recordings.

[RB321]

That's very positive of you!

I hope you are right, and it is only weeks, hopefully only days, experience tells me it will actually be months!

Lets see if Arlo do actually give a sh1t!

[silverado44]

They have screwed up all the cameras from the regular Arlo to the ultras don't count on any of the mods or employees getting back to us not going to happen.

I would like to know just how much these techs know about there product and ill bet they don't even own there own system from the CEO on down.

[RB321]

Dont bother contacting tech support, it will make you angry....check this out!

Emyrie A

Before we start, may I have the email address associated to your Arlo account?1:11:37 PM

Me

 1:11:49 PM

Emyrie A

May I have the serial number of the hub?1:12:06 PM

Me

 1:13:00 PM

Emyrie A

Thank you! May I ask for the error message?1:13:40 PM

Me

???1:13:49 PM

Emyrie A

That will pop-up on the app or what happened to the hub?1:14:03 PM

Me

Every time a camera detects motion, it goes offline, records nothing, and sends no alerts.1:14:43 PM

You are not aware of this problem?1:14:57 PM

Where have you been? Its all over the community for the last 48 hrs!1:15:18 PM

Emyrie A

Please be informed that we need to perform some troubleshooting steps.1:15:33 PM

Me

Ive done all that, more than once!...humour me...1:16:09 PM

Emyrie A

May I know the steps that you did ?1:16:28 PM

Me

Cycled power1:16:54 PM

(On the hub)1:17:11 PM

Power cycled cameras1:17:22 PM

Before we go off on a tangent, its tied up with the firmware update1:17:48 PM

My VMB4000 works fine1:18:08 PM

Emyrie A

Can we remove the hub from the account and reset it?1:18:53 PM

Me

No!1:19:03 PM

Emyrie A

As I checked here, the hub has its latest firmware.1:19:06 PM

Me

That means I need to set everything up again1:19:20 PM

Yes I know that, that is where it went wrong1:19:36 PM

Emyrie A

Because we actually need to perform some steps so that we can test and once of the recommended steps would be removing the hub from the account and re-syncing it.1:19:43 PM

Me

It was working fine before that1:19:44 PM

Emyrie A

I understand you. That's why we need to refresh the data first and re-add the hub.1:20:11 PM

Me

Someone posted that on the community, it didnt fix it1:20:27 PM

Still.....its tied up with the firmware update!1:20:54 PM

Emyrie A

What do you see at the moment?1:22:09 PM

You may check this link for the incidents reported for a specific date :

https://status.arlo.com/1:22:35 PM

Me

I can live view with the two cameras on that hub1:22:46 PM

Emyrie A

And there are no reports for that issue, so that's why we will just going to isolate the case and test the system.1:22:56 PM

Please check if they are detecting motions.1:23:20 PM

Me

Thats BS!!!!!!1:23:24 PM

It is not isolated...can you not read?1:23:40 PM

Emyrie A

I am willing to help you and fix this problem, your cooperation will be highly appreciated.1:23:48 PM

Me

Again...its all over the community for the last 48 hrs1:24:06 PM

Emyrie A

Please give us a chance to assist you to isolate the case. We cannot conclude that it is an issue if we will not perform some troubleshooting steps.1:24:24 PM

Me

James C...your community manager, has escalated the issue1:24:45 PM

Emyrie A

That's why we need to isolate to determine what causes the problem.1:24:53 PM

Can you test the cameras if they are detecting motions?1:25:07 PM

Me

It was the firmware update FFS !!!!1:25:21 PM

Emyrie A

If they are not detecting motion, that's the reason why there are no recordings.1:25:34 PM

Me

they are detecting motion1:25:51 PM

Emyrie A

I do apologize and I understand you, That's why since its started after the firmware update we will just refresh the system first and then observe.1:26:11 PM

Me

but as soon as they do, the base station shuts down...did you not read that bit?1:26:20 PM

Emyrie A

I have some cases that help to resolved by following the recommend troubleshooting steps.1:26:36 PM

I read that and I understand you.1:26:46 PM

I really understand iyt.1:26:51 PM

I really understand it.1:26:55 PM

Me

I have cycled the base station...already told you that1:27:03 PM

Emyrie A

If you would just allow me to help you with some steps.1:27:12 PM

Me

Like?1:27:20 PM

Emyrie A

What I mean , we will remove the hub, reset it and re-add it.1:27:32 PM

By doing a factory reset.1:27:52 PM

Me

Is that going to change the firmware version?1:28:12 PM

And if not, how will that actually help?1:28:27 PM

Emyrie A

That's why we need to perform that so we can test and isolate the case, okay?1:29:07 PM

Me

Again, someone already tried that, it didnt work1:29:12 PM

Isolate what exactly?1:29:29 PM

Emyrie A

I understand however we need to do it with your system. They are using different system with different network.1:29:40 PM

Can we do that?1:29:46 PM

For isolation.1:29:54 PM

Me

Are you typing your responses out of a book?1:30:02 PM

Isolation of what?1:30:18 PM

Emyrie A

By the way, can you please tell me if the cameras are detecting motion?1:30:26 PM

I'll be asking some information to connect the dots.1:30:38 PM

Me

FFS, I already did!1:30:41 PM

YES1:30:57 PM

[Dbensette]

That whole conversation with support should be extremely embarrassing for Arlo.

There should be more communication within the company when there are problems. There should be more communication with customers when there are problems (customers are likely to understand with an explanation and timeline on fixing it). There also needs to be more proper testing before updates get launched, this company is notorious for sending out updates that break things.

Again, it’s not my company to run, and they can take my free advise if they want, it’s up to them. I won’t be purchasing anymore of their products with how things are going, and I suggest others to follow.

[Nathan-aus]

Why is the status page not updated for this issue?

status.arlo.com 

[Dbensette]

I can answer that one!!!

It’s because they don’t list the actual firmware status on that site...

It’s only for cloud based things which are working. If the firmware is broken, they don’t want to admit it! Just like with the tech support...

Arlo would be better off acknowledging problems and fixing them in a timely matter than being deceptive and making it sound as everything is fine all the time...

[surfer1000]

Something else, the cameras are eating through batteries while there not working! Fitted a new battery to my ultra 16hrs ago and now it's at 75%

[surfer1000]

We shouldn't be waiting for anything...just re-issue previous firmware!

[53Crusher]

Arlo Smart Hub Base Station VMB5000r4 with firmware 1.15.0.1_244_c345a43

Four Arlo Ultra H6 Cameras with firmware 1.070.50.0_197_09137a0

Arlo non-video doorbell HW 1.2 with firmware 1.2.0.0_309_283

Arlo Chime HW 1.2 with firmware 1.2.0.0_297_266

Arlo Android App version 2.11.1_26080 Released 12/02/19

The status of the SmartHub is "armed". Every device is reported as online with a solid blue led on the base station. One possible improvement is I have now been able to re-attach a camera to my doorbell and it functions as expected. Even rings the remote chime.

Unfortunately, the system has recorded my dogs in the backyard one time since Midnight. Usually there are 100+ videos on this one camera. This is the only video I have. My wife left this morning, no notification or video. I went to two cameras, waved my arms, no notification and no video. There are only 16 total videos in my library for yesterday 12/5. I have 39 videos in my library from the 4th. On Dec 1st I have 142 videos in the library. It seems to be getting worse everyday.

Have unplugged my base station too many times to count. It seems like a triggering event will cause the hub to go offline with flashing orange LED. Have noticed this a number of times in the last few days. This new firmware has essentially made my $1500 security camera investment worthless. I was one of the very first buyers of this system and have been forced to act like a beta tester for Arlo for over a year now. Sometimes it works and then you wake up and a new firmware patch has broken the system again. No advance notice of firmware updates.

Sure do hope the engineers are working overtime on fixing this colossal mess. Porch pirates can have a heyday with Arlo system owners right now.

[Br11183]

So, I have not only rebooted my system numerous times over the past few days, but this morning, I removed my none-responsive hub from my network and tried to re-add it. LED stayed flashing orange, and I cannot re-add. I did a factory reset (pushing the reset button on the back of the hub) and then tried to re-add. I have also been unsuccessful in doing that. The hub now has a steady orange light on it. Tried rebooting again, as well as another factory reset--no change to the end result.