Please Read: Issue with Latest K-series v4 E-UI Firmware when Updating from v4.21.005 Firmware

[Dan]

Several forum users have made us aware of problems with the latest v4.30.005 firmware, not everyone seems to be experiencing problems and the linking factor between those experiencing issues appears to be that they had updated from the old v4.21.005 firmware. This firmware was made public late last year on the Hikvision portal but then swiftly removed as Hikvision said that the K-series were not designed for and could not properly support the full v4 firmware, which was why they have now brought out the v4 lite E-UI instead.

We asked our contact at Hikvision support if they thought these issues may relate to updating from that old v4.21.005 firmware and they said that although they had not tested it themselves the fact that this old v4 firmware was not properly compatible with the K-series NVRs could now be causing problems when transitioning between the V4 GUI and the Lite E-UI.

Hikvision support has advised that if you are still running v4.21.005 on a [76 77 86 NI-K2 K4 K8] NVR that you should downgrade to the last v3 firmware (v3.4.112) before then updating to the new v4.30.005 E-IU firmware.

If you have already updated to v4.30.005 and are experiencing issues then we would also recommend downgrading to the last v3 firmware before then reinstalling the v4 E-UI firmware.

 

[pdampier]

Thanks - and to confirm - downgrading first to 3.4.112 should keep settings from v4.21.005 and then upgrading to 4.30.005 keeps the same settings?

 

[Dan]

Yes, as far as we are aware you shouldn't lose any settings by doing this, but some users have reported that when they updated to v4.30.005 the NVR did reset so if you want to be safe you can go to the Maintenance page and export the NVR & camera config files in case the NVR is reset.

 

[pdampier]

Good tip thank you!

 

[JB1970]

I'm sure that last time I downgraded a 7608 NI-K2/P from V4 to the (then) latest available V3 firmware, it did reset completely back to deactivated status. However all settings were saved upgrading from V3 to V4

 

[pdampier]

All seems very inconclusive as to what to do here I'd rather not downgrade if I can just go straight to the new version.

 

[mantonl]

Yes, as far as we are aware you shouldn't lose any settings by doing this, but some users have reported that when they updated to v4.30.005 the NVR did reset so if you want to be safe you can go to the Maintenance page and export the NVR & camera config files in case the NVR is reset.

Hi Dan, when you say "Maintenance page" are you referring to the Maintenance page through the NVR GUI or the Web Browser access Maintenance page? Thanks...

 

[Dan]

Maintenance page I refer to is the one seen when accessing with a browser, but if you are upgrading from v3 and are using a direct monitor then you will find the config files under Maintenance > Import/Export > and you will need to connect a USB storage device to the NVR before exporting the config files.

 

[santi_cazorla]

Thanks - and to confirm - downgrading first to 3.4.112 should keep settings from v4.21.005 and then upgrading to 4.30.005 keeps the same settings?

Not in my case. Downgrading from the pulled back v4.21.005 always resulted in the NVR being reset back to factory defaults. It's best to go in with the view that it will be reset and back up beforehand. Although there have been recommendations made not to restore from the backup, as this could potentially import corrupted configs back into the older version (better to manually apply the changes again - or so I've heard)

 

[mantonl]

Just done another upgrade to V4.30.005 on an NVR that was on v4.21.005, so I started by downgrading to v3.4.112 and it lost all setting during the downgrade. Now this wasn't an issue for me as I was quite happy to input the settings again, I then just did the bare minimum to get through to the menu option to do the upgrade to v4.30.005, upgrade went okay and I then set everything up, all worked fine except the push notifications refused to send to the phone. I could see the camera and all the options for the smart events like buzzer or full screen popup worked except the notifications and viewing the cameras on the phone was fine. I tried removing the NVR from the Hik account and re-scanning the QR code but nothing would make it send the notifications. In the end I did a fully factory restore on the NVR and then setup as before and then it started sending the notifications so I'm happy now. One thing I did notice that was a fully factory restore on v4.30.005 doesn't reset all the settings on the NVR as it had remembered the sensitivity I had set on some of the cameras and also the boxes I drew in the smart events were still drawn but all other settings seemed to be as per the factory.... I have three more NVR's to upgrade yet from v4.21.005 to V4.30.005, so with the next one I'll try doing a factory restore after each downgrade and upgrade to see if that gets everything working as it should on the first attempt.

 

[Woodyz82]

Interesting read. My NVR has only ever been on V3, going to make the jump when I get a spare hour. Currently on V3.4.112

Has anyone else gone to V3 to V4? If so how was your experience?

Maybe the bugs lay in 4.21.005?

 

[pdampier]

I've been runnning 4.21.005 since it came out without any issues.

Mantonl - thanks for all the feedback good to read!

Given I am going to lose all settings anyway I wonder if I can just go from 4.21.005 to 4.30.005 and then do a factory reset as you have done and save myself some steps?

 

[mantonl]

I've been runnning 4.21.005 since it came out without any issues.

Mantonl - thanks for all the feedback good to read!

Given I am going to lose all settings anyway I wonder if I can just go from 4.21.005 to 4.30.005 and then do a factory reset as you have done and save myself some steps?

Hi, I've done that jump as well but without the factory reset and results are here Firmware - Latest HikVision Firmware for K-Series [76 77 86 NI-K2 K4 K8] NVRs - V4.30.005 build200628 (V4 Lite with E-UI) Lee...

 

[Woodyz82]

Has anyone updated from just V3, having never been on the pulled V4 firmware before?

Be glad to hear of your experiences and if it’s big free etc

Still not took the plunge yet!

 

[Yupowert]

... it had remembered the sensitivity I had set on some of the cameras and also the boxes I drew in the smart events were still drawn but all other settings seemed to be as per the factory....

I believe those settings (and many others) are stored within the cameras themselves. The NVR only reads the values, displays them on the screen, and requests the camera saves changes when you click save. So a factory reset on the NVR would simply delete the camera from the list. You'd need to factory reset each camera via its own web interface to truly reset everything.

 

[mantonl]

I believe those settings (and many others) are stored within the cameras themselves. The NVR only reads the values, displays them on the screen, and requests the camera saves changes when you click save. So a factory reset on the NVR would simply delete the camera from the list. You'd need to factory reset each camera via its own web interface to truly reset everything.

Ah that makes sense, thank you

 

[GoldChip]

I've been keeping an eye on this forum for a couple of months, found it when I was looking for a solution.
I have a DS-7604NI-K1/4P(B), and it arrived with V3.4.100 installed. last week after seeing the posts here I applied 4.30.000, but had major issues with stability - not responding to web requests (not sure what server it uses, but it got very flaky, it replied to ping's though), local access either let me reboot it, or it froze whilst entering unlock pattern. It also randomly rebooted, and the logs just show "abnormal shutdown". So..... after reading it's possible to backwards-flash I reverted it to original, then up to 3.4.112, then up to 4.3.0.000. it rebooted randomly today, which is the first problem for 3 days. I lost most but not all settings going back to original firmware, camera's kept their settings as expected. This obviously suggests updates need to be applied sequentially.

 

[dsa]

What do you think, is it ok upgrade from 3.4.107 to 4.30.005 firmware before first setup? NVR is new, never used. Or better stay on current fw?

 

[dsa]

Nobody?

 

[Dan]

Hi @dsa

If it is a new NVR with little or no settings/recordings in place then I would give updating the firmware a go, most of the above issues have come from the initial issue mentioned in the first post. As this is a new NVR running a v3 firmware you should be fine to go straight up to the new v4 firmware.