Arlo set-up suddenly no longer works - cameras don't connect to base station

[mj123]

Hi,

I have had a Netgear Arlo set-up for approximately 4 months and up until a week ago it all worked - when suddenly all 3 cameras started double-flashing amber at regular intervals (probably every 30 seconds or so). Today I finally had a chance to look at the problem and discovered that the base station had lost connectivity with all the cameras.

I also noticed with wifi analyzer that the base station wifi had changed name from e.g. "NetGear84" to "NTGR_VMB_<number>" where number appeared to be a recent time in ms since epoch.

I attempted to sync all 3 cameras to base station (within a meter) - with no luck; for reference the last update in app was that all 3 cameras had 2/3 power bars. We live out in the sticks but I ensured that none of my other 2 wifi networks overlapped Netgear wifi channel - still no luck.

In the end I gave up and did a factory reset. I then removed and added the base station in the app. I then tried to sync cameras; again no luck. Now I have 0 connected cameras - whereas before factory reset at least I had 3 connected cameras with status "offline".

Finally, I can confirm that none of the network set-up has changed throughout the house for literally many months. The base station does connect to the Internet according to the 2 left LED indicators having solid green.

To me these symptoms suggest a systemic issue and I bet this issue is soft/firm-ware related as it happened for all cameras and base station at the same time. Firmware is listed in app as 1.6.2_4344 and hardware version is listed as VMB3010r2.

I wonder if others have (had) the same issue; and how to resolve them? After all, this is really crap as the whole set-up is effectively bricked and puts us in a position of having no monitoring inside and outside our house in place.

Thanks.

Morten

[JamesC]

mj123,

A flashing amber LED on the cameras is an indication that the batteries need to be replaced. Consider replacing the cameras with a fresh set and attempt to sync again. For tips on battery life and conservation take a look at the following article: What is the battery life for NETGEAR Arlo wireless cameras and how can I extend their life?

JamesC

[jrt10]

I have the same issue.  Out of the blue the system is no longe working.  Base power is on and internet is connected and light is on.  Cameras will not sinc and computer will not detect base station?

What can be done?

[mj123]

I ended up having to buy completely new set of batteries for ALL cameras at great cost after only 3-4 months operation. My theory goes that the software upgrade directly caused:

A) near total drainage of batteries in ALL cameras at the same time during update (perhaps cameras were actively searching for a base station that took on a different name/setup, which drained them)

B) altered battery power level detection

Netgear support were less than useless and wouldn't admit wrongdoing with update nor tell me what the root cause was in usual corporate liability style. I was sorely tempted to just return the kit and get a refund.

While the kit is now operating I shall not be buying another from netgear. To my knowledge there's still no bulletin on this issue.

[TomMac]

---

Yes , ( BTW this thread started in dec '15 ) there was a big sw upgrade back at the end of the year and it did mess things up.

And, yes it is a known fact that the cameras ON but not connected/lost syc to the base drains the batteries a bit faster.

Also , as a final the battery display algorithm was changed at that sw update to make similar reading across the OS platforms..

But a usage "approximately 4 months" is not uncommon with certain setups.... so the batteries would have been some where near the end of life / or at least half depleted.

There were also notes released re the above under Announcements...

Sorry your not pleased, but at this point ( March, 3 months later ) most of the system has stablized