Nest Cam (outdoor or indoor, battery) recording continuously (plugged in) but no live feed.

[localoptimist]

Hello,

I have 6 cameras 3 Nest IQ models and 3 Nest Cam Battery models. They had all been working fine for several months, all my cameras are powered via 120v. Recently, 2 Nest Cam Battery models suddenly stopped displaying live feeds. What is curious is they are still recording continuously with no interruptions. 

I tried restarting wifi, disconnecting/reconnecting them via my router software. No change. I have not attempted to factory reset yet because I am away.

One of these cameras is 15 ft away from a router with no obstructions. The other is 25 feet with some walls between. I suspected bandwidth could be causing the problem but I also tested prioritizing these devices via my router and I show they are uploading continuously but I cannot see a feed. I called support and they told me this is an unknown issue, they do not have a troubleshoot for this other than a factory reset and/or warranty replacement. 

[SteveT1]

Hi there,

Sorry to hear about that. Do you have the case number for your support interaction? A replacement is the only solution if the issue is within the device itself. I would suggest to try and setup the devices near the router or try to sign in your account on a different phone to further isolate.

Regards,

Steve

[SteveT1]

Hi there,

It's me again. I wanted to check back in to see if you have other questions and concerns. Feel free to let me know.

Thanks,
Steve

[localoptimist]

Hi @SteveT1 

I just found time to start working on this. The problem did not resolve itself and I am suspecting it may have had something to do with an apparent firmware update that pushed over the air recently. It was resolved by holding the reset button for 5 seconds for a soft reset. I assume the button is behind the camera to deter a thief from resetting cameras on the spot, but still, it is cumbersome to climb a ladder, remove the camera from the base, reset it, but not be able to confirm the reset resolved the issue until the camera is mounted again. I would strongly suggest the product team look into a simple software reset option. In this case, I was able to turn on and off my camera, why couldn't a restart command be sent to the device via the app? 

I still have no understanding why the cameras suddenly stopped working while I was traveling. It bothers me to see that the support team had no interest in investigating the issue. I can imagine there are thousands of calls coming in for similar things and if support just tells people to "factory reset it" and sends them on their way, these problems never get fully resolved. What is the point of support if the answer to every troubleshooting issue is "hard reset it"?