Firmware for IPC‑Color4K‑T180 now I have a non working camera; help!

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marklyn

Pulling my weight
Jun 13, 2015
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I downloaded the most current General_IPC-HX5(4)XXX-Taurus_MultiLang_PN_Stream3_V3.140.0000000.43.R.251212.bin file to flash my IPC‑Color4K‑T180
I reviewed all of the upgrade notes and determined this update would help with some IVS issues (and other 'fixes' included).
The camera is being used for security in the front of my house and the improvements since my last firmware update (General_IPC-HX5(4)XXX-Taurus_MultiLang_PN_Stream3_V3.140.0000000.7.R.231224) seemed reasonable and useful.
The flash went well and I did get the successful upgrade but I was never able to connect to the IP (192.168.0.42) via config tool or through a browser.
So I factory reset it back to 192.168.1.108 which was successful but I still cannot connect via browser or config tool.
Config tool 'sees' the IP/camera but I cannot effect any change. Pinging it works fine. It shows up in the arp -a list too.
I've tried power cycling, additional factory resets, connecting it up to a laptop (set to 192.168.1.x subnet) and I still cannot get the camera to boot to a login screen.
I've also tried the upgrade again with config tool and I immediately get an orange triangle.
I've emailed Andy but hoping someone here has a solution as well.

What else can I try? This is one of my best cameras and I sure want to bring it back to life!
 
marklyn said:
The flash went well and I did get the successful upgrade but I was never able to connect to the IP (192.168.0.42) via config tool or through a browser.
So I factory reset it back to 192.168.1.108 which was successful but I still cannot connect via browser or config tool.
Click to expand...
Did you temporarily change the PC IP address to something in the 192.168.1.x range from the presumed 192.168.0.x range it was on for the original camera IP address range prior to the factory reset? For the camera web GUI access, to change the camera IP back to what it used to be..
 
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Yes, I changed my computer to the 192.168.1.x subnet. It would "see" the camera to allow me to ping it and arp -a but cannot get to the 192.168.1.108 default ip (and trying various ports: 443, 80, 37777, etc.)
 
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With the caveat that I don't know if ONVIF is supported / enabled on that camera model -
As a long shot, maybe see if ONVIF Device Manager (ODM) can find the camera, and show the web GUI / ports etc.
With the PC IP address set to the 192.168.1.x subnet.
 
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alastairstevenson said:
With the caveat that I don't know if ONVIF is supported / enabled on that camera model -
As a long shot, maybe see if ONVIF Device Manager (ODM) can find the camera, and show the web GUI / ports etc.
With the PC IP address set to the 192.168.1.x subnet.
Click to expand...
Good thought, and yes, I did that, but ODM never found it. I even 'added' it into ODM but still never connected. Sorry, I forgot I tried that step, might have missed a couple other things I tried too :)
 
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marklyn said:
The flash went well and I did get the successful upgrade but I was never able to connect to the IP (192.168.0.42) via config tool or through a browser.
So I factory reset it back to 192.168.1.108 which was successful but I still cannot connect via browser or config tool.
Click to expand...

Which browser(s) have you tried?
 
Chrome and Edge
 
I had a similar situation with a different camera and with power provided I held the reset button in for 2 minutes and it came back to life.

Try Internet Explorer. Yeah we know but it is still native to Windows.
 
Last edited:
hell, I'd piss on a electric plug if someone thought it would fix it. I'm sick that a new fw update did this from Andy's site... but I'll try that!
 
marklyn said:
I downloaded the most current General_IPC-HX5(4)XXX-Taurus_MultiLang_PN_Stream3_V3.140.0000000.43.R.251212.bin file to flash my IPC‑Color4K‑T180
I reviewed all of the upgrade notes and determined this update would help with some IVS issues (and other 'fixes' included).
Click to expand...
A guide for firmware updates:
DH_IPC- is for Dahua branded devices
General_IPC- is for OEM / white label brands.
However: Empiretech and many other OEMs have highly customised program versions. This can cause issues when updating 'General_IPC' firmware.

Ask Empiretech for help. They'll likely be using SSH into it for recovery.


Sounds to me like the boot loader was successful (can show in ConfigTool) but the 'new' firmware is not starting for some reason.
 
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I am also having issues with the latest firmware from Empiretech for the Color-T180 cam. Not network related, but I get constant motion detection in BI 6, every couple of seconds like motion detection is enabled in the camera, when it is not. It makes no difference if I use ONVIF or BI motion detection. One thing I did not do after the firmware update is a factory reset. I'll go that route, next, and see how it goes.
 
DahuaTechnicalMan said:
A guide for firmware updates:
DH_IPC- is for Dahua branded devices
General_IPC- is for OEM / white label brands.
However: Empiretech and many other OEMs have highly customised program versions. This can cause issues when updating 'General_IPC' firmware.

Ask Empiretech for help. They'll likely be using SSH into it for recovery.


Sounds to me like the boot loader was successful (can show in ConfigTool) but the 'new' firmware is not starting for some reason.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your thoughts on this and your assessment seems correct. Bootloader seems to be running, letting me ping the address, but GUI doesn't want to load.
So after many (and I mean many) reboots/factory resets, out of the blue doing nothing really different than I've done many times before, the camera GUI came up last night under the 192.168.1.108 subnet.
I quickly logged in and made some basic IP changes to my 192.168.0.x network exported the config file, saved the device info file, and all setting or config changes seemed fine. Then I rebooted to see if it was a fluke.
Yep. Back to square 1 again, but at least the IP change to 192.168.0.42 is on my subnet and I did verify the firmware had updated to the most current 2025-12-12 ver.
ConfigTool 'sees' the camera but if I try to 'upgrade' the the current fw again, I immediately get the orange triangle that says connection failed.
So, right now I'm wondering why sometimes on a rare occasion, after fiddling with many power cycles it rarely comes up but if it does should I attempt a fw update again or a fw downgrade to my old version?
Andy is aware of this but based on how long he takes to respond he's either super busy or has other priorities, which I understand and that's why I'm reaching out here.
I am intrigued about using SSH to recover... is there any documentation on this I could try?
Thanks!
 
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Yes, looks like the camera bricked after the update, you are in US? Have to send to our guy to fix up use serial port flash. Sometimes the camera firmware big gap will brick the camera, just send you a DM.
 
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EMPIRETECANDY said:
Yes, looks like the camera bricked after the update, you are in US? Have to send to our guy to fix up use serial port flash. Sometimes the camera firmware big gap will brick the camera, just send you a DM.
Click to expand...
Yes, I'm in the US and willing to send camera out if necessary.
 
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EMPIRETECANDY said:
Yes, easy to fix up by serial, i will send you where send to fix up.
Click to expand...
Thanks. I'm willing to try the serial fix if you feel that will be successful. Question. When I upgraded to the current version everything reported 'ok'/successful. Until I get the serial fix instructions, if the camera comes up again (I keep restarting it in hopes it comes up once more), should I attempt a FW upgrade/downgrade via the camera's GUI?
 
Update:
I have learned that (most of the time) when I hold the camera reset button for 60-120 seconds when plugging in the power, sometimes it will finally boot up to the initialize screen. (not consistently though)
This happened about 3 times over the past few hours and each time I would initialize it, set a local IP, and successfully updated the current firmware again, but ultimately on reboot, it wouldn't come back to the GUI screen.
On another occasion I was able to factory reset, re-initialize, and downgrade to my previous firmware R.231224, but restarting the camera would never bring the web gui screen again.
It does always respond to pings and configtool does occasionally 'see' the camera but gets a communication failure when I try to do something with it.
So I think I've proven I don't need to serial connect and upload another firmware because I've been doing that now, but it never survives a reboot.
I would like to avoid replacing the camera because of the $$ and the camera EmpireTech have appears to be the exact same one I had that was working until I did the FW upgrade.
I'm still working on it so I appreciate any eyes on this and suggestions.
 
does anyone, who has this camera (IPC-Color4K-t180) possibly have one of the more recent firmware versions from 2025 that I could get from you?
 
marklyn said:
does anyone, who has this camera (IPC-Color4K-t180) possibly have one of the more recent firmware versions from 2025 that I could get from you?
Click to expand...
I have the following firmware for the T-180:
General_IPC-HX5(4)XXX-Taurus_MultiLang_PN_Stream3_V3.140.0000000.43.R.251212
DH_IPC-HX5(4)XXX-Taurus_MultiLang_PN_Stream3_V3.140.0000000.39.R.250718
General_IPC-HX5(4)XXX-Taurus_MultiLang_PN_Stream3_V3.140.0000000.22.R.240618
General_IPC-HX5(4)XXX-Taurus_MultiLang_PN_Stream3_V3.140.0000000.7.R.231224
EmpireTech_IPC-HX5(4)XXX-Taurus_MultiLang_PN_Stream3_V3.120.0000000.39.R.230918
General_IPC-HX5(4)XXX-Taurus_MultiLang_PN_Stream3_V3.120.0000000.21.R.230418
General_IPC-HX5(4)XXX-Taurus_MultiLang_PN_Stream3_V3.140.0000000.7.R.231224
 
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tmxv4128, would you mind dropping the 230918 and the 240618 (general_ipc's) to my onedrive here: transfer

Also, did you upgrade your t180 with the General...251212 version?
Thanks
 
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