You will find a variety of LED patterns the SkyBell will produce that may not be addressed here
Step 1, Device Booting (Yellow Green Color): After enough power is obtained by the SkyBell, or a hard reset has been done, the SkyBell will bootup just like any other tiny linux device. This will take around a minute in this stage before moving on to the next. If the SkyBell locks up in this mode without change, there could be only a few things causing the condition.
Power: A lack of power to the device can cause it to lock up in this state. Pull the device of its mount and let it discharge until the LED's are dark. Examine power prongs ensuring they make good contact with the power screws. Remount device. Test the SkyBell with a known good transformer, also test without anything else on the circuit, and original transformer.
Hardware Failure: Pull device from the mount for physical examination. Notice any physical damage or possible bulging. Ask the customer about prior SkyBell behavior, has it malfunctioned in the past? For example, it has it while recording reset itself then ended up in a different LED pattern. Have symptoms increased in frequency over time? If the condition is persistent, then proceed to replace the device.
Items that aren't likely an issue here: Customers internet speed, router configuration, extender
Step 2, AP Mode (Red/Green Alternating): Device is in AP (Access Point) mode. If SkyBell skips this step continuing on, then it needs to be Hard Reset. Reboot will follow, then if done properly, we will arrive here. In order to sync, the SkyBell must be flashing these colors. When the SkyBell is flashing red/green you will find it within the list of available networks on the mobile device’s WiFi settings. The SkyBell is an open Access Point and ready to be joined. After the SkyBell has been joined by your phone, the App will show you a list of networks detected by the SkyBell, in order to point the SkyBell in the direction you wish (your home network). After network selection and password requirements are fulfilled, the device will move on to Step 3. Note failure to progress from this step can be caused by the following.
Configuration issues and Hardware Failure:
The SkyBell is hardcoded to roll back into AP mode if no route to the cloud is found upon configuration. This means the SkyBell may progress through the next few steps landing on Blue/Green. If the SkyBell stays in Blue/Green long enough without advancing, it will fall back to Green/Red. This is could be due to a few situations. Note, though we are discussing items relevant to step 4, we want to note that these steps connect through each other, thus they are tied.
A. Network configuration issues would largely come into play here. Since the SkyBell has proceeded by the blinking Orange stage, device has been provided an IP address, but Double NAT, Firewall(s), Strict security controls, QoS settings, and more, can stop the SkyBell at Blue/Green, thus pushing us back to step 2 Red/Green at first sync. If an extender is in use, please make sure it is using a different SSID than the access point it is extending. Isolating the extender by going around it, thus connecting to the primary WiFi source it was extending would be a solid troubleshooting step for this problem. Some extenders have been known to manipulate information going through them in an order to effort speed up data transmission, and sadly at the same time produce issues with the SkyBell.
B. If after joining the SkyBell the networks listed are wildly different from your handset, meaning you see only a few wireless printers and maybe a TV, rather than the dozen you see from the phone. Then most likely the WiFi antenna has come loose from its plug on the inside, or it is damaged. Replace the device.
App configuration issues: Any misuse of the app or error in the app's operation could strand us here. Make sure the app is up to date on a supported up to date OS and un-jailbroken phone.
Items that aren't likely an issue here: Customers internet speed, wifi password, power, mechanical chime, digital chime, login timeout.
Step 3, Blinking Orange (Negotiating WiFI security, obtaining IP)
The device has been joined as an AP and pointed at a WiFi network. If Device stays in this state without traversing to the next, then there is a problem with WiFi authentification, encryption settings or the DHCP server has not, or cannot pass proper IP address information to the SkyBell. Troubleshooting should be pursued systematically from router/wifi configuration outward.
Configuration: Wifi authentification should be verified. Without a proper password, the router will not allow SkyBell access. Encryption type within the router also needs to be set to WPA/WPA2. Mac address filtering will also need to be turned off for as least as long as the device gets synced, then with the newly available MAC address, it can be added to the allow list for MAC filtering. All these possible issues are router centric. Beyond the router, we have seen some extenders block some DHCP data the SkyBell needs to set up properly. When troubleshooting this issue against extender, please bypass the extender to the source network to troubleshoot.
Items that aren't likely an issue here: App, Power, Chime, Digital Chime, Login timeout, Internet Speed.
Step 4, Blue/Green (Alternating): The SkyBell is connected to the home network and attempting to successfully connect to our server. Consider this step as halfway through the customer's router, meaning it represents the path through the Firewall and out the WAN plug and through the Internet to AWS. It is important to note that on setup sync if this step is not passed, the SkyBell will walk back to Green/Red.
Configuration: This step can be challenging to troubleshoot depending on the customer's network layout. We have discovered a few particular settings or tricks employed by the router/modem manufacturers can cause issues in this step as they have been engineered.
- Power Cycle the SkyBell, the modem, and router, and any extender/access point if applicable
- Verify if a firewall is configured properly
- Check for Double NAT
- Disable SIP ALG
- Check for Flood Burst/TX Burst
- Bypass extender to test
You can find an in-depth description of other issues related to Blue-Green flashing by clicking here.
Items that aren't likely an issue here: App, Power, Chime, Digital Chime, Login timeout
Step 5, SkyBell is synced. Unless the device has a customer color selected in the App, the SkyBell will be Forest Green. IN this phase the SkyBell should be fully functional.
