What To Do When a Nest Camera Doesn’t Power On – Troubleshooting Hacks

It’s annoying when your smart home technology doesn’t work as it’s supposed to.

With the advent of Google’s smart home products, this includes the Nest and Nest Cameras.

What do you do when your Nest Camera doesn’t turn on?

When your Nest Cam won’t turn on, first check its power source—the outlet for wired models and the batteries for wireless models. If the power isn’t the problem, consider performing a factory reset on the device with the reset pin on the back of the camera.

In this article, I’ll be going over several solutions for fixing a Nest Camera that won’t power on, as well as a couple of other relevant issues that can plague the device.

What Is Google Nest Camera?

Google Nest Camera, or Nest Cam, is a relatively new brand of indoor and outdoor security cameras. These cameras are part of Google’s smart home ecosystem, connecting to your smart devices for video playback. They can be configured to notify you when motion is detected on your feed.

Nest Cameras can stream video to the user indefinitely for free, or you can purchase subscriptions for cloud-based recordings.

The convenience of monitoring your home when away is invaluable for people leading busy lives, and provides peace of mind.

Possible Fixes When Nest Cam Won’t Turn On

It’s frustrating when our devices don’t work, but it’s usually something easily fixed.

There are several possible fixes for your Nest Cam not powering on.

If It’s Wired, Try Another Outlet

Wired Nest Cams depend on an electrical outlet to record and stream video.

If the outlet doesn’t work, the camera won’t turn on.

To fix this, unplug the Nest Cam from the outlet.

Then try plugging a known working device into the outlet, like a phone charger. 

To perform a simple reset on the Nest Cam, unplug it from the wall for 10 to 15 seconds and plug it back in.

This won’t wipe your data like a factory reset but might help purge any glitches that may have occurred in the software.

If that device doesn’t work either, you’ll have to find a different place to plug in your Nest Cam.

You should try plugging it into a neighboring outlet or installing a power strip to power multiple devices.

If It’s Wireless, Check the Batteries

Wireless Nest Cam models rely on batteries, and they don’t last forever.

Try inserting a fresh set of batteries into your camera and see if that fixes the issue.

Low-quality batteries usually run out faster than premium brands, so that may be worth looking into to fix this in the future. 

Investing in a battery charger and rechargeable batteries helps to maintain a steady supply of fresh batteries for your Nest Cam and any other devices that take batteries.

Check Your WiFi

If your WiFi network doesn’t have connectivity, the Nest Cam won’t work as intended.

It won’t be able to connect to your smart devices and could show as ‘Offline.’

This can lead you to believe it’s not on when it actually is.

First, check that your WiFi network has access to the internet with a smart device like a phone or laptop.

If not, unplug your router for 30 seconds and plug it back in to reset it.

Wait a few minutes before seeing if your Nest Cam has connected.

Do a Factory Reset

Sometimes it’s not apparent why the Nest Cam won’t turn on.

In that case, doing a complete factory reset on the device may help.

This involves wiping all data on the camera, including your WiFi password, Google connectivity, and so on.

You’ll have to set the camera up from scratch afterward.

Here are the steps on how you can factory reset your Nest cam:

1. Turn the Nest Cam around and locate the reset button. This is a very small button on the back of the camera.
2. Use a paperclip or needle to press and hold the button for 10 seconds or until the light comes on.
3. Wait for the light to stop blinking a few seconds later. This confirms the factory reset.
4. Release the button and the reset will be complete.
5. In your Nest app, remove the newly ‘Offline’ camera.
6. Reinitialize setup with your Nest app and camera.

Other Common Nest Camera Problems

In addition to not turning on, Nest Cams have a few other common issues that may bother users.

In most cases, they’re pretty simple to fix, but it may take a little fiddling.

Nest Cam Won’t Connect to WiFi

This is a common issue and usually has to do with the WiFi network.

Your password may have changed and never got updated on the camera, your network isn’t working at the moment, or the device may have been blocked by an internal firewall within your network.

When the Nest Cam won’t connect to your WiFi, you should make sure it has the most current version of your WiFi password, and that any settings on your router haven’t blocked it from accessing the network.

You can also try resetting your modem and router if your WiFi network isn’t working at all.

Nest Video Isn’t Playing

Video from your Nest Cam might not play for several reasons.

These can range from problems with your network to trying to access history without a subscription.

Some of these are:

• Low connection speed or bandwidth
• Your app is out of date
• Trying to access video history without a Nest Aware subscription

You should first make sure that your home internet network is working, then check if your Nest app or camera needs an update.

You can reference this page from Google to check how to update your Nest Cam, or read a short guide.

Here’s how you can check your Nest Cam version:

1. Select your Nest Cam within the Nest app.
2. Tap Settings.
3. Tap Technical Info.
4. Your Nest Cam version will show beside Software.

Final Thoughts

Google Nest Cameras are a great way to monitor the security of your home, but sometimes they don’t work as they should.

Thankfully, it’s pretty simple to figure out what the problem is.