Firmware Update Problem (Original Arlo Camera)

[matyee]

I am having an issue when I try to manually update the firmware on my Arlo Camera as it always fails and as result to drains the battery to zero.  This is occuring on the camera that has Firmware 1.2.10342 and is trying to update to 1.2.16720.  I have placed brand new batteries in the Arlo as well, but that hasn't help.

Here are the steps to reproduce.

1.  I attempt to update the device on both web as well as the iOS app. Settings->My Devices->Camera->Device Info->Firmware->Update

2.  The update process starts and the camera immediately starts blinking amber and blue

3.  I let it run for about 10-15 mins and then eventually get a error message saying "Upgrade Failed - Camera Update Timed Out"

4.  The camera light continues blinking amber and blue until the device then shows up as offline. 

Is there something that I can do to force the firmware update or is there a way to hard reset the camera to factory settings?  I'd like to get this resolved ASAP as I've been trying for several months to resolve this issue.

[brh]

Take a look at this link:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Arlo/Camera-firmware-will-not-update/td-p/7365

Brian

[matyee]

Thanks for sharing, but I've tried all of the suggested solutions in the link from the post you shared, but none of those things have worked.  I've reset the base station many times while also resyncing the cameras and nothing has been working.  The firmware updates times out and then the camera is stuck in the mode with blue and amber LEDs blinking. 

Any other thoughts on how to fix this issue?  

[brh]

Here is a link to the owner's manual:

https://www.arlo.com/en-us/images/Documents/Arlo_Wirefree/arlo_wirefree_um.pdf

Towards the bottom of the manual is a troubleshooting section. There are two things to try here, the power cycle and the factory reset. I would try to do the power cycle first as it is the easiest. If that doesn't work, try the factory reset.

I don't know how long you have owned your system, so I don't know if this is a new problem or not. Remember that the base station and the cameras have radios in them to communicate with each other. Interferrence is highly likely to be the culprit here and the easiest thing to try is to move your base station as far away from the router as the ethernet cable allows.

Brian

[jguerdat]

And if it continues to be an issue, use the Contact Support link at the bottom here and then again on the next page to open a case with support.

[matyee]

So I've owned my Arlo for a little over a year now and this is the original Arlo camera (not Arlo Pro) set that was sold through Costco as a 2 pack.  The other thing that I forgot to mention is that one of my camera's updated just fine with the newest firmware, but it is the 2nd camera that continues to be a problem.  I actually just set it up again with a new battery last night and placed it outside and it worked just fine picking up motion and recording video, but wasn't able to live stream video.  However, this morning the device is no longer online and I'm thinking that it tried to update the firmware and wasn't able to do so and now has likely drained the battery as a result.  I'm going to contact Arlo support directly and see if there's any other suggestions as I've become very frustrated with the second camera and the fact that I can't find a solution for this issue.  

[JamesC]

matyee,

It could be due to the cameras placement. If the camera has poor signal strength or is too far from the base station, this could cause the update to fail. Try bringing the camera close to the base station temporarily (within a few feet) and see if that allows the update to complete.

JamesC

[matyee]

I put the camera right next to the base station and manually launch a firmware update and that still didn't work.  The good news is that I got in contact with Arlo Support and they're going to send me a replacement camera, but I need to cover the cost of shipping my defective camera back to them.  So hopefully this is the end of this firmware update issue for me.