No more links to my cameras?

[lookdenfer]

Hi,
I try to connect my 8 cameras yesterday. I'm using an NVR Hikvision DS-7716NI-I4/16p. All cams are Hikvision. When I start the NVR, no link can be established with any cam. It was still working a few weeks ago and never failed for the last 5 years! When I look to the cams configuration on the NVR, they are all "disconnected". It seems that the NVR cannot find corresponding IP addresses. The POE internal address of the NVR itself is 192.268.254.1 and the IP addresses of the cams use the following IPs (192.168.254.2 up to 192.168.254.9). All the PW of the cams are correct. The NVR itself is recognized on the local LAN.
Any idea how to reset the connection?
Thank you in advance for advice.

 

[David]

Hi,
I try to connect my 8 cameras yesterday. I'm using an NVR Hikvision DS-7716NI-I4/16p. All cams are Hikvision. When I start the NVR, no link can be established with any cam. It was still working a few weeks ago and never failed for the last 5 years! When I look to the cams configuration on the NVR, they are all "disconnected". It seems that the NVR cannot find corresponding IP addresses. The POE internal address of the NVR itself is 192.268.254.1 and the IP addresses of the cams use the following IPs (192.168.254.2 up to 192.168.254.9). All the PW of the cams are correct. The NVR itself is recognized on the local LAN.
Any idea how to reset the connection?
Thank you in advance for advice.

Are the camera port lights lit up on the back of the NVR?

 

[lookdenfer]

Hi David,

Thank you for your answer (I miss it for a while since the mail advertizing for it went to my spam box!)
I checked the back of the NVR for the port lights. To do this I had to move the NVR to have a visual access to the back. All the lights are blinking. During this operation, I noticed on the screen connected to my NVR that all the cameras were back, connected! I ignore the reason for that (I checked at least 5 times, several days apart, without success before). Is it due to the fact that I moved the NVR? I cannot imagine a contact problem on the 8 connections at the back of the NVR at the same time. Hopefully, it will stay like that now.
Regards.

 

[David]

Hi @lookdenfer,
I would definitely check all the camera cables. Are they factory made cables? Post a good photo here if you want

 

[lookdenfer]

Hi David,

There are three connections for each camera dispatched in the house:
- a connection with a RJ45 0.5M commercial patch cable (cat 7; not necessary to go to cat7 but available patch cables for me) from the back of the NVR to a hub collecting the 8 cams cables. High quality patch cables. I don't suspect any connection trouble in the cables. Only fault possibility would be a contact problem for the plugs of the cable either with the hub entry or with the NVR entry. Low probability though that a contact fault would develop for the eight connections simultaneously. No defect for the connnections since end of 2017 before recent problem!
- a connection between the cams and the hub near the NVR. Home made cables, CAT6 S/FTP, sometimes 30m+ long. Wired connection within a Cat5e/6 plug box on the cam side since those cables are pretty stiff. Wired connection within the hub, compatible with the stiffness of the S/FTP cable. Each cable including connections tested end to end with a Netscout Linksprinter for gigabit transmission (future has to be protected!).
- then a home made patch cable with more flexible cable (two cat 6 RJ45 plugs, both ends) between the upward plug box and the camera. Each home made patch cable also tested with Netscout Linksprinter to prove the RJ45 plugs connections at both ends.
Each cam full connection end to end tested with a Netscout Linksprinter for Gigabit transmission.

Some pictures of the back of the NVR, the hub collecting the cams cables, the connection at cam side.

 

[David]

@lookdenfer as you say it is unlikely to be the 8 ethernet cables having a connection problem at the same time. The only common point I can think of is the PoE supply to each camera ethernet port from the NVR. If you remember the date and time it happened check the NVR logs.

 

[lookdenfer]

Hi David,
I agree with you that it looks more like a NVR default for power supply (all cams IP addresses were still correct as well as all PW in the NVR settings, so the network was still ok from the NVR side) A lack of power supply from the NVR outputs could effectively explain why no link could be established with any cam and this could be effectively related to a unique event, and thus not unlikely. Unfortunately, I did not have the good idee to look at the back of the NVR to check for the lights of the ports (access a little bit complicated and I powered the NVR just before leaving home for one week).
What remains strange for me is the spontaneous restore of the power supply. Except maybe from one point: during the week I was away from home, there was a heavy storm and the main differential of my electric installation went down, leading to a complete electricity shut down in the house for a few days. May be this complete shutoff led to a kind of a reset for the NVR. Before leaving, when the sytem was not operating properly, I shut down the NVR using the NVR switch but without disconnecting the NVR fully from the electric network.
I will try to explore the NVR logs (never did that before so I will have a look in the NVR app/manual).
I will let you know if I can find something there.

 

[lookdenfer]

The only thing I know for sure from my experience from systems ( nearly 40 years in the aircraft business) is that an unexplained failure will happen again. So I would feel more comfortable If I could find a sound explanation for the adverse event. I will continue to try investigating...

 

[David]

The only thing I know for sure from my experience from systems ( nearly 40 years in the aircraft business) is that an unexplained failure will happen again. So I would feel more comfortable If I could find a sound explanation for the adverse event. I will continue to try investigating...

Check the NVR PoE load from the monitor connected to the NVR, I can't see it on the web GUI. On my DS7608 its under Camera> PoE, you can see the power budget and tweak cable length parameters.

There is also a minor alarm called PoE Power Overload, try searching for it.

David

 

[lookdenfer]

Up to now, I could not find anything significant in the log at the day of the first failure. Exceptions logs are there, recording each cam not connected ("non existing cam", probably due to a power default as we anticipate), but without additional log info on other or related event that could lead to a diagnostic).
Beside that, I found some strange infos when looking to the NVR log for another few days. At some stage, I had numerous (a high number) log alert of illegal login attempts, with a variation of user names (like resulting from a systematic letter by letter change in the user name) attempting to log without success (strong PW). It seems that undesired web user are trying to enter the NVR control !!! Not nice news...
I will check your suggestion about PoE load...
Claude

 

[David]

I had numerous (a high number) log alert of illegal login attempts, with a variation of user names (like resulting from a systematic letter by letter change in the user name) attempting to log without success (strong PW).

Morning Claude,
Sounds like a brute force attack, do others have remote access to your network? If not, I would.....

Change your NVR and router admin passwords. At a minimum check your router logs for failed logins.

if enabled, disable upnp on router and NVR.

do you use port forwarding, DDNS, Hikconnect for remote access?

Check your router WAN (public) interface blocks remote router access.

If you need help let me know your router model and version (V1, V2, V3)

David

 

[lookdenfer]

Hi David,
The situation for my router WAN (BBox) is the following.
The remote access to my router WAN itself is not allowed. But remote access to the NVR and the home alarm panel is allowed. So some ports need to be open, at the price of some safety of course.
Some ports are mapped to the NVR internal LAN address to allow remote access to the cams. This external access is possible through DDNS or through Hikconnect.
Two home devices are in fact accessible through external supplier server: the home alarm (to be able to remotely communicate with the house alarm panel) and the NVR (to allow remote access to the cam through IVMS-4500 (iphone) or through IVMS-4200 (pc)). It is true that I was always not very confident on the Hikconnect access. But I decide to keep it since sometimes my dyndns connection to the NVR is down and I prefer to have a backup solution when on travel to access the cams, when I receive a home alarm message.
UPNP on router is enable for 2 internal host (my computer and my Synology NAS). Corresponding Port mapping for the Synology NAS was done during the installation of the NAS, to allow access to the NAS on my network and my iphone, by the synology installation software I think (after installation, I found the port mapping for UPNP service activated in the router access control panel).
I do not have access to the log on my router WAN (no admin privilege permitted by the IT provider (Proximus) owning the modem). So I can connect to my router only as "user" and not as "admin". I also cannot change the PW of the router.
I could change the NVR PW but up to now, all the illegal login trials failed in the NVR log. So not sure a new one will increase access protection.
Regards.

Claude

 

[David]

Hi Claude,
Understood, best to leave as is. At least you know what is going on with your network. I never enable UPnP and setup port forwarding as needed.

When I'm away I access my routers VPN server, I find it more reliable than HikConnects "free" service. Notifications are via email.

Let us know if you do find the root cause of all cameras losing the link connections.

 

[lookdenfer]

Let us know if you do find the root cause of all cameras losing the link connections.

Hi David, will do that! Let's hope...
Regards and thanks for support.

Claude