HIK Connect lost after firmware update

[p5taylor]

Hi all
Stupidly I decided to upgrade the firmware on my NVR to the latest version from the Hikvision UK portal (V4.61.000 build220507). What a big mistake that was, not all cameras would come back online and the NVR kept rebooting and to add to it I can no longer view any of my cameras on the HIK Connect app, I have already spent 20-30 hrs trying to get them back. I tried deleting the NVR from the HIK connect software both the online and mobile app and re-adding via the serial number hoping this might correct things but with no joy I now just get offline as shown in the screenshot below.​

I am running DS-7608NI-I2 / 8P NVR with 6 IP cameras (DS-2CD2142FWD-I) running the latest firmware (V5.5.82 build 190909) connected through the NVR - full spec below:

Things I have tried up to this point:

Reverted the NVR firmware back to its original version (V4.51.025 build 210927) hoping this might fix things back to how I originally had them, but unfortunately it hasn't. The cameras and NVR now appear to be back to stable and working as they should be but no connection to HIK Connect.

Pinging the Hik connect servers I get no response the only one I do is "litedev.sgp.hik-connect.com"

Using the SADP tool shows the NVR as online and HIK connect is enabled!

Web login for the NVR HIK connect always shows as offline regardless of server address entered, if I am correct from what i have read and from previous experience this will say online, then i should be able to use the phone app to add the NVR.​

At no point has any of my IP details/gateway or router port forwarding settings been changed (Router not touched) and all still look identical as reported back from ipconfig, everything went wrong after I did the NVR firmware upgrade to the latest version, I did loose a lot of the camera/NVR settings but had a backup from a prior original working setup.

Question:
Do i have to setup and enable platform access also on my IP camera configuration page or not or only on the NVR?

Conclusion:
I am a little perplexed as to what is going wrong or what has changed, any help/thoughts to get HIK Connect back online would be much appreciated.​

 

[David]

@p5taylor
you may have to unbind your nvr / cameras from the hikconnect servers and then add them again. I would wait a few hours before re-adding them.

When I used hikconnect I had the NVR and cameras connected to hikconnect as I found it more reliable.

 

[p5taylor]

@p5taylor
you may have to unbind your nvr / cameras from the hikconnect servers and then add them again. I would wait a few hours before re-adding them.

When I used hikconnect I had the NVR and cameras connected to hikconnect as I found it more reliable.

Hi David i had already tried this in SADP and it says this:

 

[David]

@p5taylor,
looking at your ping tests some are resolving to amazon web services servers, what dns does your NVR use?

I used to use 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4, there is also cloudflare 1.1.1.1, 1.0.0.1

 

[p5taylor]

@p5taylor,
looking at your ping tests some are resolving to amazon web services servers, what dns does your NVR use?

I used to use 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4, there is also cloudflare 1.1.1.1, 1.0.0.1

Originally before the firmware update I used 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 with no probs i have also tried my router gateway as primary and 8.8.8.8 since after reading off the net with no joy, desperate times calls for desperate measures lol.

Did read somewhere that somebody asked if the HIK connect servers can block IP addresses and they contacted Hikvision who then released it and within couple hours was back online?

Hik-Connect - Can hikconnect server domain block access?

Does anyone know if you can be blocked from Hikvision server end for using Hikconnect? I was experiencing in my Hikconnect app notifications - upon playback after about 3 seconds it would freeze on any clip/camera. (this was on the latest Hikconnect app version) I would also get maximum...

www.use-ip.co.uk

 

[David]

Did read somewhere that somebody asked if the HIK connect servers can block IP addresses and they contacted Hikvision who then released it and within couple hours was back online?

Interesting, I read the link. do you see the same error code "Registration status Offline(0xe0020008)"
The hikconnect servers could've seen your activity as unusual and put a temporary block in place, leave it a while.

I've not used hikconnect servers for a long time now, I use the app and remotely connect to my vpn server.

 

[p5taylor]

Interesting, I read the link. do you see the same error code "Registration status Offline(0xe0020008)"
The hikconnect servers could've seen your activity as unusual and put a temporary block in place, leave it a while.

I've not used hikconnect servers for a long time now, I use the app and remotely connect to my vpn server.

Hi David, No i dont get the error code but everything else ties in with pinging servers, firmware update ect., I have just tried calling the UK technical support number listed on the Hikvison uk site and what a waste of time that was "Is only for business" so no joy there. I have asked the original poster for the contact details they used, I can not think of anything else but this as I have tried every other combination and still not working.

 

[David]

Hi David, No i dont get the error code but everything else ties in with pinging servers, firmware update ect., I have just tried calling the UK technical support number listed on the Hikvison uk site and what a waste of time that was "Is only for business" so no joy there. I have asked the original poster for the contact details they used, I can not think of anything else but this as I have tried every other combination and still not working.

Contact the supplier of your NVR.

 

[p5taylor]

I bought my whole setup about 5-7 years ago and installed it all myself and unfortunately now don't remember who i purchased it from.

Lesson learnt never do firmware updates.

 

[David]

I bought my whole setup about 5-7 years ago and installed it all myself and unfortunately now don't remember who i purchased it from.

Lesson learnt never do firmware updates.

I'm wondering if your firmware rollback still retained bits of the new firmware, some updates are partial. On some devices we had to wipe the existing firmware before going back, the older firmware was then uploaded via tftp or serial cli. I'm not sure if this is possible with hikvision.

 

[p5taylor]

I'm wondering if your firmware rollback still retained bits of the new firmware, some updates are partial. On some devices we had to wipe the existing firmware before going back, the older firmware was then uploaded via tftp or serial cli. I'm not sure if this is possible with hikvision.

God that would be stretching my skills a bit! i am going to hook directly up to the NVR later today and see what we see in there.

 

[David]

God that would be stretching my skills a bit! i am going to hook directly up to the NVR later today and see what we see in there.

tftp firmware upgrades are probably safer that using the web gui.

does hikconnect work on your cameras?

 

[p5taylor]

tftp firmware upgrades are probably safer that using the web gui.

does hikconnect work on your cameras?

My cameras are hooked up through my NVR then to the internet so no, probably would if i connected them directly to the router.

 

[David]

My cameras are hooked up through my NVR then to the internet so no, probably would if i connected them directly to the router.

What if you set the camera DNS to 8.8.8.8 etc. I know the cameras are on the NVR private subnet but not sure if they have access to the LAN / WAN.

 

[p5taylor]

Hi David, I did already have the DNS server on all the cameras set to primary 1.1.1.1 and secondary 8.8.8.8 for what it is worth as I don't think it would make any difference, I think I read a long time back that the IP cameras connected to the NVR are unable to have access to the LAN/WAN. Its the same as do i need the access platform mode ticked in the cameras? i have tried both but with no joy also.

Been connected using monitor and keyboard/mouse directly into the NVR tonight, everything looked pretty much in order in there, i still think my IP has been blocked to start with i did wonder if it was my IP provider but convinced now it is HIK Connect.

 

[David]

I think I read a long time back that the IP cameras connected to the NVR are unable to have access to the LAN/WAN.

The NVR subnet is not completely isolated from your LAN, it sounds as though you already have the NVR virtual host activated.

 

[KamirZG]

Did you maybe do a factory default of NVR? FW 4.51 and 4.61 doesn't have completly same GUI, maybe that is where the problem is.
Try with that and use litedev.eu.hik-connect.com as server address.

And also, like you have here (Please Read: - Newest I-Series NVR firmware - please do not upgrade to V4.61.000_220507), some I series NVR's really have problem with newest FW. Recently i had NVR 7608NI-I2 with 4.61 and it didn't wanted to record motion.
After replacing NVR worked like a charm.

 

[p5taylor]

The NVR subnet is not completely isolated from your LAN, it sounds as though you already have the NVR virtual host activated.

Yes I do have virtual host on, interestingly while in the NVR last night I took a screenshot of the platform access page and I do have the same error code as the other poster had of 0xe0020008, now who do I contact to get this released.

 

[David]

Yes I do have virtual host on, interestingly while in the NVR last night I took a screenshot of the platform access page and I do have the same error code as the other poster had of 0xe0020008, now who do I contact to get this released.

I've seen threads that mention rebooting the NVR after making changes to the hikconnect platform access. The restart may flush the internal DNS cache, make sure your primary and secondary DNS settings are the same for the NVR / cameras / router. Again restart the devices after making the changes. There's an element of straw clutching here but I know that dns cache conflicts can cause weird dns resolution problems.

As you've rolled back on the firmware a factory reset to default may be needed.

 

[p5taylor]

Did you maybe do a factory default of NVR? FW 4.51 and 4.61 doesn't have completly same GUI, maybe that is where the problem is.
Try with that and use litedev.eu.hik-connect.com as server address.

And also, like you have here (Please Read: - Newest I-Series NVR firmware - please do not upgrade to V4.61.000_220507), some I series NVR's really have problem with newest FW. Recently i had NVR 7608NI-I2 with 4.61 and it didn't wanted to record motion.
After replacing NVR worked like a charm.

Hi Kamir thanks for the link made good reading and is the same issues as i was seeing, I could get 2-3 cameras connected then it would reboot, I managed to downgrade firmware with out to much of an issue. I think i will just leave the firmware upgrades now just to much grief, not unless serous security issues.

Hikvision should adopt similar practices to Netgear so you have Beta, Stable and supported version of firmware and you can set which you want you system to download, it seems to me that all new firmware from Hikvision are like beta and not fully tested and this is done in the field causing users endless hours of debugging and playing around to try get there systems back to some sort of stable condition. Then when you call there technical support they wont offer any assistance only for business or that was what i was told yesterday.