I have a couple of IPC-HDBW4831E-ASE cameras. I thought it was good practice to keep the firmware up to date but now I'm not so sure!
I tried to update one of them with the Config Tool using the file DH_IPC-HX5X3X-Rhea_MultiLang_PN_Stream3_V2.800.0000032.0.R.250224.bin which, according to the Dahua site, is supposed to be the correct one for this camera. It seemed to complete the update at 100% but now the camera is stuck in a constant cycle. The green LED on the circuit board comes on for 30s and then off for 10s, then back on for 30s and so on... It looks as if it is constantly restarting and it happens both with a 12V PS and with PoE. Most of the camera functions actually seem to be working in the short time before the reboot. I have copied at the end of the post the results of some tests I have been able to do to check this.
I have been reading through some of the posts here and elsewhere and it seems that this sort of thing is fairly common and I should have a good chance of fixing it using the "easy" TFTP method.
However, I have some questions for clarity:
1) When the TFTP process starts early in the boot sequence do other processes still continue in the background or does the TFTP process have exclusive control? If the latter, I should be OK but, if the former, then it is highly likely that the camera will reboot before the update has completed. Can I get round this by putting something like "setenv appauto 0" at the top of the list in commands.txt and then "setenv appauto 1" at the bottom? If not, e.g. if the app will already have started, is there a way to stop the rebooting to allow the update to proceed?
2) Which firmware version should I use for this camera? I have identified three options:
a) The other camera I have which is identical (except that it works) has DH_IPC-HX2X3X-Rhea_MultiLang_PN_Stream2_V2.800.0000005.0.R.190325. Presumably this would be the lowest risk option but I might lose out on some bug fixes, security fixes etc.
b) In this forum the most recent recommendation I have found is DH_IPC-HX5X3X-Rhea_MultiLang_NP_Stream3_V2.800.0000018.0.R.210707. From what I have read it seems fairly stable and would include a number of fixes and might be a better option..
c) I could try again the one recommended by Dahua (mentioned above) but I am not sure if it is worth the risk. Could things go even worse if I tried it again?
I would be interested in any advice or recommendation.
3) I have seen varying advice on which .img files to include in the commands.txt file. There is a comment that if I have a working bootloader I shouldn't include the dhboot files. However, in other places it says that I should include everything because otherwise the signature will be wrong. Should I include everything including the dhboot files and the smaller check.img and sign.img?
4) Which files do I need in the TFTP folder. Obviously I need all the .img files and the upgrade_info_7db780a713a4.txt file. I read somewhere that I should include a file called FLASHING_DONE_STOP_TFTP_NOW. Is this necessary and what should be in it or where do I find a copy? Do I need anything else?
I would really welcome any insights on how to answer these four questions and I am happy to provide any further information if I have left out anything important.
If it helps I have some comments here on what I have found working on the camera:
I did a reset using the button on the circuit board and plugged the camera into my router. Then I found if I started the Config Tool at about 20s after the green LED came on, the Config Tool would find the camera. I had just enough time to initialise the camera before it rebooted.
On the next cycle I waited again for about 20s after the LED came on and I was able to find the camera again using the new password.
On the next cycle I was able to change the IP address to DHCP.
On the next cycle the camera picked up an IP address from the router.
I wasn't able to get to the web GUI.
I was able to perform other functions in the Config Tool such as getting an image from the camera and doing a factory reset.
I did a port scan and compared it with the working camera. The working camera had the following ports open: 80, 554, 1935, 5000 and 37777. The faulty camera had all of these except 1935. Also, the faulty camera had port 22 open earlier in the start up.
If I got the timing right I was able to get ONVIF Device Manager to connect to the camera, correctly identify it and report everything correctly in "get capabilities".
I tried to update one of them with the Config Tool using the file DH_IPC-HX5X3X-Rhea_MultiLang_PN_Stream3_V2.800.0000032.0.R.250224.bin which, according to the Dahua site, is supposed to be the correct one for this camera. It seemed to complete the update at 100% but now the camera is stuck in a constant cycle. The green LED on the circuit board comes on for 30s and then off for 10s, then back on for 30s and so on... It looks as if it is constantly restarting and it happens both with a 12V PS and with PoE. Most of the camera functions actually seem to be working in the short time before the reboot. I have copied at the end of the post the results of some tests I have been able to do to check this.
I have been reading through some of the posts here and elsewhere and it seems that this sort of thing is fairly common and I should have a good chance of fixing it using the "easy" TFTP method.
However, I have some questions for clarity:
1) When the TFTP process starts early in the boot sequence do other processes still continue in the background or does the TFTP process have exclusive control? If the latter, I should be OK but, if the former, then it is highly likely that the camera will reboot before the update has completed. Can I get round this by putting something like "setenv appauto 0" at the top of the list in commands.txt and then "setenv appauto 1" at the bottom? If not, e.g. if the app will already have started, is there a way to stop the rebooting to allow the update to proceed?
2) Which firmware version should I use for this camera? I have identified three options:
a) The other camera I have which is identical (except that it works) has DH_IPC-HX2X3X-Rhea_MultiLang_PN_Stream2_V2.800.0000005.0.R.190325. Presumably this would be the lowest risk option but I might lose out on some bug fixes, security fixes etc.
b) In this forum the most recent recommendation I have found is DH_IPC-HX5X3X-Rhea_MultiLang_NP_Stream3_V2.800.0000018.0.R.210707. From what I have read it seems fairly stable and would include a number of fixes and might be a better option..
c) I could try again the one recommended by Dahua (mentioned above) but I am not sure if it is worth the risk. Could things go even worse if I tried it again?
I would be interested in any advice or recommendation.
3) I have seen varying advice on which .img files to include in the commands.txt file. There is a comment that if I have a working bootloader I shouldn't include the dhboot files. However, in other places it says that I should include everything because otherwise the signature will be wrong. Should I include everything including the dhboot files and the smaller check.img and sign.img?
4) Which files do I need in the TFTP folder. Obviously I need all the .img files and the upgrade_info_7db780a713a4.txt file. I read somewhere that I should include a file called FLASHING_DONE_STOP_TFTP_NOW. Is this necessary and what should be in it or where do I find a copy? Do I need anything else?
I would really welcome any insights on how to answer these four questions and I am happy to provide any further information if I have left out anything important.
If it helps I have some comments here on what I have found working on the camera:
I did a reset using the button on the circuit board and plugged the camera into my router. Then I found if I started the Config Tool at about 20s after the green LED came on, the Config Tool would find the camera. I had just enough time to initialise the camera before it rebooted.
On the next cycle I waited again for about 20s after the LED came on and I was able to find the camera again using the new password.
On the next cycle I was able to change the IP address to DHCP.
On the next cycle the camera picked up an IP address from the router.
I wasn't able to get to the web GUI.
I was able to perform other functions in the Config Tool such as getting an image from the camera and doing a factory reset.
I did a port scan and compared it with the working camera. The working camera had the following ports open: 80, 554, 1935, 5000 and 37777. The faulty camera had all of these except 1935. Also, the faulty camera had port 22 open earlier in the start up.
If I got the timing right I was able to get ONVIF Device Manager to connect to the camera, correctly identify it and report everything correctly in "get capabilities".
