VMB3500 Arlo Base Station power light stuck on amber

[G_Slither_Gold]

Arlo VMB3500 base station power light stuck on amber.  Brand new Arlo Pro system I just bought.  Opened box, plugged it in, getting solid amber power light.  Factory reset does nothing.  Power cycling does nothing. Been fiddling with it for a couple hours.  Reading support threads.  Tried all the recommended actions in the posts I found here in the Arlo Community.  Checked to make certain ports are open on my home router.  Checked with another device my ethernet hardwire connection is good on my router (can get internet).  Check VPN status on router to see if it was on or off.  Power cycled router.  Power cycled Arlo Base Station.  Tried factory reset button for 10 seconds multiple times on Arlo Base Station (factory reset does nothing - not flashing lights).  Nothing seems to work in solving the solid amber power light.  Unable to setup Base Station or cameras as a result.   I'm thinking this is a hardware return but wanted to post here before I send it back.

[G_Slither_Gold]

Quck update.  Just off a chat with online Arlo Support.  They say it's a hardware issue on base station.  They do not have the VMB3500 to send me but have offered an older version of the base station as a replacement.

[G_Slither_Gold]

Arlo Support has intiated a request with their warehouse to send me a replacement base station.  They are sending me a VMB3000, not a VMB3500 (what I bought) because the support person indicated they do not have the VMB3500 in the warehouse.  I said okay.  Now waiting for the replacement.

[G_Slither_Gold]

Oh, I did this entire support communication via the Arlo online chat feature.  Was a bit slow, but worked.  They responded in the chat fairly quick after I finally got a support person in the chat window.

[jguerdat]

A quick swap at the store would have been faster than waiting and putzing with a broken system.

There's no functional difference between the 3000 and 3500 bases. I actually prefer the 3000 in spite of it being somewhat larger.

[G_Slither_Gold]

Thanks for the suggestion but I have a self inflicted problem that prevents a quick return.

I bought the system in Seattle, Washington and hauled with me to Houston, Texas in my luggage for installation at a Houston property. Problem is, I took all the contents out of the original box in Seattle to fit in my luggage before I flew to Houston.  Yep, my blunder and I own that.

Even though I bought it on Walmart.com (which allows you to take returns to a Walmart near you - which is way cool - and is something Amazon can't do), I don't have the original packaging for the return.  I have 3 cameras, a base station, a power supply, ethernet cable, batteries, mounting devices and all the fasterners with me in Texas but no original boxes.  I brought all the items with me stuffed in my shoes, boots, pants pockets and socks in my suitcase.  It was a space issue.

So, a quick swap at the store was not possible since not in original boxes.

Thanks for the comments though.  Much appreciated.

[jguerdat · Accepted solution]

Buy a new system and use the new packaging to return the old.

[G_Slither_Gold]

Excellent idea on how to return. Genius. Thanks so much man.