Ring Security Cameras

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T
No video or live view for DAYS

Starting several days ago my solar spotlight cam went black. Video playback is black and live view just says Activating Device. I have done speed tests - over 60mbps at the camera. I uninstalled and reinstalled the app on my iPhone. Verified on the computer that the video is black. Rebooted my router a million times and moved my WiFi pods around a few times. I created port forwarding. I put the camera in the DMZ. Checked device health over and over - RSSI is -57 or -58 most times. I tried contacting Ring support and it gave me the option to Chat but then chat says setup and troubleshooting isn’t available. Any other ideas how I can get my camera working again? Nothing changed at my house, but the camera just turned black - but still lets me knows there was motion detected.

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15-07-2020 16:43:56

Responses (2)

  • C

    Hi @Tsiawd. If the video on your Spotlight Cam is black and the Live View is not playing back correctly, I'd recommend reviewing our Help Center Article on correcting black video errors [here](https://support.ring.com/hc/en-us/articles/360023439472-Fixing-Black-Video-Errors-by-Adjusting-Your-Router). While you may not have manually made any changes to your router or network, there may have been an update that affected some of these settings which could be causing the black video. If you've checked over the settings and suggestions in that Help Center Article and the black video concern persists, please give our support team a call at one of the numbers available[here](https://support.ring.com/hc/en-us/articles/213608406). They can take a deeper look at your Camera to determine the cause of this concern. We’re taking additional steps to protect our team and help reduce the spread of COVID-19, so this has resulted in longer than normal wait times. If you are outside of the US, please read our response to COVID-19[here](https://support.ring.com/hc/en-gb/articles/360041597471) to see how to contact support.

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    15-07-2020 17:22:12

    • B

      Tsiawd,Have you tried to do a hard "Factory Reset" on the Spotlight cam? Although I do not have a Solar Spotlight cam, I had encountered this similiar "Blackness Effect" on my outdoor Stick-Up plug-in cam. The Device Health showed everything was normal, the cam online, and yet it just recorded blackness. I did a Hard Factory Reset on my cam and it has been working normally ever since. I have several cams and have done several initial setups and hard resets. I kind of found out what gave me the best results ... at least this worked for me. The initial ‘Set-up” of your cam, and same for a “Set-up” after a hard reset, can be the most delicate process to ensure a glitch-free download process of updated firmware.First insure your phone’s Location feature is activated on your smartphone. I even go outside so my phone can establish a good GPS satellite connection. Once your phone ‘knows’ where it is located, you can continue. On your cam, depress & hold the Orange reset button for least 30 seconds while power is on it. After you have released the orange button, the cam should enter set up mode again. Before you scan the 'code', check to see if your phone app is still displaying this Stick-up cam (from any previous set-up) and if it is still displayed, remove/delete that cam off your app. Note: For a clean firmware update, when the cam enters the phase of Updating the firmware, don't do anything ... even if it says it is ready! Wait until your phone app steps by itself to the next part of the step-up process. Also check the Blue Cam light is no longer flashing, ..... and then wait a minute longer. I've just had better luck waiting ... I'm just guessing, but I think the full/complete firmware update can take longer than expected (I've waited over 6 minutes) and I've had less future camera issues by waiting long enough before continuing the set-up, since the firmware still might be downloading. It's just a gut feel .... at least I've had better luck & less future issues with my cams by waiting (I have quite a few cams). I hope the hard reset helps you.

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      16-07-2020 06:59:35

        T

        Thank you. I tried a hard reset. I’m not sure how to tell if it actually reset. I have to physically remove it from the app and I physically remove it from my WiFi. I went through the whole setup and waited for it to step through on its own even though it says I can skip. Device health says RSSI-5

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        20-07-2020 19:15:17

        B

        > @Tsiawd wrote: > Thank you. I tried a hard reset. I’m not sure how to tell if it actually reset. I have to physically remove it from the app and I physically remove it from my WiFi. I went through the whole setup and waited for it to step through on its own even though it says I can skip. > De

        0

        20-07-2020 23:29:48

        B

        > @Boone wrote: > > > @Tsiawd wrote: > > Thank you. I tried a hard reset. I’m not sure how to tell if it actually reset. I have to physically remove it from the app and I physically remove it from my WiFi. I went through the whole setup and waited for it to step through on its own even though i

        1

        21-07-2020 05:47:02

        T

        Well.... still no video. I completely factory reset my WiFi/router. Remove the camera from the app and did the 30 second “reboot” and went through the setup steps again - but I noticed that during setup it asked if I wanted to connect to the same WiFi I connected to in a previous step. This makes me

        0

        23-07-2020 15:12:41

        C

        @Tsiawd Thank you for sharing that update on how the suggestions from @Boone worked for you. You may want to try a new setup but choose the option not to connect to the same wifi network used in a previous setup. This will prompt you to select your wifi network and manually enter in the password, an

        0

        23-07-2020 15:28:55

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