Arlo Base Station VMB4000 stopped connecting to the Internet beginning July 24th

[Loopie]

New VMB4000 base station. When I try to add it in the app or using the web, nothing shows up after the search. The lights on the base station are as follows:

Power - solid green

Internet - solid green

Camera(s) - solid amber

I think it may be bad. The camera light shouldn't be solid amber with no cameras added, should it? Any ideas?

Lou

[BrookeN]

The issues you're experiencing could be due to a hardware issue. We ask that you reach out to support for more information. You can get to support by going  within the app on your mobile device click on the silhouette on the top left ~ support center ~ the device that you are needing assistance with then choose the behavior you are seeing. If by chance you do not have a subscription and are unable to reach out to support please send me a dm and I will create a ticket for you. You send a dm by clicking on the envelope icon on the top right of the forum page.

[DannyBearAgain]

From your description it would suggest that the base station has failed. The power led should remain green unless the base is having issues with booting up.

There is a possibility that the dc power adapter attached to the base is faulty instead and causing the Base fail behaviour,  suggest you risk buy and swap it out for a compatible adapter unit.

[Greenn]

I have the VMB400 base station with two cameras connected. It went offline after a power shutdown in my area and I could not get it connected to the internet again once the power was backup.

The power and camera lights were solid green, but the internet light was amber. So i tried the below steps so far but no luck. I have the base station connected to a Netgear router and I changed the ethernet cable to rule out any issues with cable. All my other devices are connected to the internet via this router. 

1. Rebooted the modem, router and base. Internet light was still amber. 

2. Removed the device from my arlo account and tried to add it again but it did not work. 

3. Reset the base, all lights blinked amber and after a while the power light is green. But internet is amber and so is camera light. 

Any help?

[jguerdat]

The amber Internet LED means it's connected to the router (has an IP address) but can't connect to the servers. This can be any number of things starting with the router but can be an ISP issue or anything else via the Internet. You may want to check with your ISP as well as check settings in the router to see if something is blocking access.

[commodon]

Update. Today, I happened to walk by the Base Station, and it now shows the Power and Camera LEDs to be solid green and the Internet LED is blank (off). Obviously, there is something amiss.

Going to try another Reset to see what happens

[StephenB]

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@commodon wrote:

 it now shows the Power and Camera LEDs to be solid green and the Internet LED is blank (off).

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That suggests that the ethernet hardware in the base failed.  If that is the case, then a reset won't help.  That said, it does no harm either, so you might as well try it.

[commodon]

Follow-up to the dilemma with my VMB4000 going offline, failing to connect to the Internet, etc.

Since my last post from several days ago, I've left the Base Station powered off, but having had the time today to revisit the issue. This time, I fired up Wireshark (a network packet capture software program if you're unfamiliar) to look to see what the Base Station is doing when it's powered on.

It reflected the Base Station requesting an IP address from the local DHCP server. Once assigned, it began communicating with the local DNS server to resolve a number of records associated with arlo.com, etc. Minutes later, all three LEDs were solid green.

I have no idea what changed, but the issue appears to be resolved.

[procamera]

I am trying to setup a new Arlo VMB4000 base station. I have synced an Arlo Pro2  VMC4030 camera and base station using the sync buttons. All 3 lights on the front of VMB4000 are green but when trying to onboard the base station using Arlo App OR my.arlo.com it can not find the base station. Base station is broadcasting a WIFI signal named NTGR_VMB_xxxxxxxxxx. My router shows VMB4000 has acquired an IP address from the router. Everything is on the same subnet. Base station has been reset to factory defaults using the reset hole in the back, held for 15 seconds. My phone and base station are connected to the WIFI router on 2.4GHZ. Main router, VMB4000 and smartphone/computer are all within 4ft of each other. WIFI SSID is netgear2. Please help.

[DannyBearAgain]

If you’re new Base has been previously used by another user account and was not removed from that account then it can’t be added to another account.

To perform a factory reset of the base you need to press and hold the rear reset button using the paper clip until the base LEDs begin flashing Amber.

 The base should restore with green, green, Amber to show it is ready to be claimed by an account.

[procamera]

Thank you for your reply.  Base station has been reset to factory defaults using the reset hole in the back, held for 15 seconds. The lights are now GREEN GREEN OFF (no color). The base station should now be able to be added. But it cannot be added. Error msg is "no base station found"

[StephenB]

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@procamera wrote:

Thank you for your reply.  Base station has been reset to factory defaults using the reset hole in the back, held for 15 seconds. The lights are now GREEN GREEN OFF (no color). The base station should now be able to be added. But it cannot be added. Error msg is "no base station found"

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As @DannyBearAgain said, if this is a used base then it can only be added to your account if the previous owner removed it from their account.  It'd be useful to know if that is a possibility here.

[procamera]

This is a new base station. Never used and never installed by anyone else. It came with two new Arlo Pro2 camera. Everything was factory sealed. I know Arlo Pro 2 camera has not been made for a few years, but this kit was never used or installed.

AFAIK, the 3rd LED on the right is a sync signal showing camera and base station have synced. It is not intended to show base station is ready to be onboarded?

Although this base station has never been installed before, can someone from Arlo support confirm that a previously installed base station that was not removed by the previous owner, cannot be activated by a new user. I see too many users are reporting the same problem in varying forms. I though resetting the unit using the reset button in the back erased all prior configurations such as an IP address etc.

[DannyBearAgain]

@procamera 

While I am not a arlo person I am aware of how the base behaves relating to the led behaviour.

While the arlo documentation does not specify the need for the camera led to show amber post a factory reset my own observations are that the base cannot be added to an account unless the camera led is illuminated with a Amber colour.

Arlo has previously highlighted a cause for the inability to add stale base stations due to the base not being updated to a newer firmware version which can’t be achieved without it being attached to a mobile account.

[procamera]

Thank you @DannyBearAgain  . The unit is broadcasting a WIFI signal that is password encrypted by Arlo. Unfortunately, there is no way to log into the base station to see what firmware version it is running. My guess is the first released version. I have a lot of experience with Netgear routers and repeaters. Many of the factory sealed repeaters that had the original firmware had issues connecting to the main router or maintaining connection until they were updated to the latest version. Netgear repeater WIFI signal is not password protected. This base station may be suffering from the same old firmware issue in addition to the 3rd LED not lighting up orange.

[BrookeN]

The issues you're experiencing could be due to a hardware issue. We ask that you reach out to support for more information. You can get to support by going  within the app on your mobile device click on the silhouette on the top left ~ support center ~ the device that you are needing assistance with then choose the behavior you are seeing. If by chance you do not have a subscription and are unable to reach out to support please send me a dm and I will create a ticket for you. You send a dm by clicking on the envelope icon on the top right of the forum page.

[StephenB]

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@procamera wrote:

Unfortunately, there is no way to log into the base station to see what firmware version it is running.  

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Yes, unfortunately there is no way to tell.  It would be nice if you could see the firmware somehow after a factory reset (before the hub is added to an account).  Or maybe put a removable label on the hub identifying the firmware it shipped with.

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@procamera wrote:

Many of the factory sealed repeaters that had the original firmware had issues connecting to the main router or maintaining connection until they were updated to the latest version. 

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I don't think that's the issue here.   If you look at your router's attached device list, you should see the hub in the list.

I think over time they've modified the install, and the app is expecting responses that it isn't getting.  

Hopefully @BrookeN can help.

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