Can't connect to or find Dahua cams

[freddyq]

Hi all,

I've recently had two Dahua IPC-HFW5442E-ZE cams installed and connected to CAT6, however I'm having no luck connecting to them via the web interface or discovering them using the Dahua ConfigTool. A few months back I setup a T5442TM-AS using the same process and had no issues.

The process I followed is:

• Cams both connected to PoE ports on a Netgear switch which is wired to a wall outlet which in turn is wired to my internet router (I've tested and I'm getting perfectly good connection from the wall outlet and also via the switch)
• I then connect my laptop to the same switch via CAT6 and change the IP address settings of the network adapter on my laptop to be as follows so that my laptop is on the same subnet as the camera:
  • IP address: 192.168.1.2
  • Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
• I then open my Chrome browser and type in 192.168.1.108 which is meant to be the default IP address the Dahuas come with but it tries and eventually comes back with not being able to connect to anything
• In the ConfigTool, I click the 'Search setting' button and tick the 'Other Segment search' box and then enter the following:
  • Start IP: 192.168.1.0
  • End IP: 192.168.1.255
  • default username and password
  • All options on the main screen ticked
• The search returns nothing.

Any ideas what might be wrong? The only thing I can't properly check is connection to the cameras but one signal I do get is when I plug the cables coming from the cameras into my Netgear switch, the LED goes solid Green which I think is indicating that the switch is detecting something on the other end? I should really have setup and initialized the cameras before installing but they were installed as part of a bigger home extension project so I didn't really get the time.

Any help would be much appreciated...

 

[Kitsap]

Each camera needs to have a unique IP address on your network. If you have both of your new cameras connected and powered up they are both on the same default IP address and are a conflict on your network. Disconnect one of the two and try again. Did you change the IP address of your original camera to something other than the default?

 

[freddyq]

Each camera needs to have a unique IP address on your network. If you have both of your new cameras connected and powered up they are both on the same default IP address and are a conflict on your network. Disconnect one of the two and try again. Did you change the IP address of your original camera to something other than the default?

Ah yes I did think that so I disconnected the second one from the switch and left just one camera connected. Rebooted the switch and then tried again but no luck - although thinking about it now maybe I should have rebooted my router rather than the switch?

And yes, the other cam which I setup a few months ago has a fixed reserved IP address so I changed that from the default as part of the setup.

 

[sebastiantombs]

If that doesn't solve your problem, disconnect both cameras, take one down and bring it inside. Connect it directly to the PoE switch with a known, good, cable. Also try connecting a PC, or the laptop via a cable, directly to the switch. Avoid going through your router until you get things working.

 

[freddyq]

Keeping just one cam connected to the switch, shutting down, rebooting both my main router and switch and then re-attempting connection still didn't work.

Guess I'll have to take them both down and bring them in.

Also try connecting a PC, or the laptop via a cable, directly to the switch. Avoid going through your router until you get things working

I have got my laptop connected directly to the switch, and the camera connected directly to the switch. Do you mean just remove the cable connecting my switch to the wall socket which in turn is connected to my router?

 

[sebastiantombs]

No, what I mean is to have the camera and PC on the same, physical, switch. That eliminates any potential problems that may be introduced by the router. In practice, it is best to keep all camera traffic off the router because a router, the type supplied by cable companies, is not particularly capable of handling high throughput.

 

[freddyq]

No, what I mean is to have the camera and PC on the same, physical, switch. That eliminates any potential problems that may be introduced by the router. In practice, it is best to keep all camera traffic off the router because a router, the type supplied by cable companies, is not particularly capable of handling high throughput.

They are on the same physical switch though...both connected to it via cable. What am I missing here...?

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

 

[sebastiantombs]

That's exactly what I am saying.

 

[freddyq]

That's exactly what I am saying.

Oh OK so they are already connected like that. Cable from cam into poe port on switch. Another cable connects my laptop to the same switch.

I followed this exact process for the cam I setup before so I don't get why its not now working but I think I need to get the cams down now...

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

 

[sebastiantombs]

That's the next logical step.

 

[samplenhold]

So you did not test them prior to installing?

I always connect a new cam to the '1' subnet, initialize it with the Config tool, and then open the cam web interface to set up all of the parameters and give it a unique IP address on my cam subnet. I then connect it to my cam subnet and make sure it works, setting it up in BlueIris all BEFORE I actually mount it in it's permanent home.

 

[freddyq]

So you did not test them prior to installing?

I always connect a new cam to the '1' subnet, initialize it with the Config tool, and then open the cam web interface to set up all of the parameters and give it a unique IP address on my cam subnet. I then connect it to my cam subnet and make sure it works, setting it up in BlueIris all BEFORE I actually mount it in it's permanent home.

The one I did before I did test because I had the time then. These two new ones were installed as part of a bigger project of work as mentioned before, so I didn't have the time to test before mounting.

I'll take them down tomorrow and figure out that way and report back.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

 

[SouthernYankee]

1) what is the IP address of your laptop ?
2) \What is the Ip address of your router ?
3) What is the IP address of the original camera ?
4) Is the switch smart and configurable or is it a dumb switch ?
5) what is make and model of switch ?
6) what is make and model of router ?
7) in the router is IP address 192.168.1.108 assigned to any devices ? if so what is it ?

 

[freddyq]

1) what is the IP address of your laptop ? 192.168.1.2 (that's when I manually set it to try and connect to the camera. Otherwise it is assigned an IP address by my router using DHCP and my home network subnet is 192.168.0.X)
2) What is the Ip address of your router ? 192.168.0.1
3) What is the IP address of the original camera ? If you mean the camera I previously setup successfully it's 192.168.0.59
4) Is the switch smart and configurable or is it a dumb switch ? I believe it's a dumb switch, link is here.
5) what is make and model of switch ? See link above
6) what is make and model of router ? It's a Virgin Media super hub 3 (I'm in the UK)
7) in the router is IP address 192.168.1.108 assigned to any devices ? if so what is it ? Nope - all devices connected to the router are in the 192.168.0.X subnet.

 

[samplenhold]

4) Is the switch smart and configurable or is it a dumb switch ? I believe it's a dumb switch, link is here.

That is not a managed switch. So it is a dumb switch. I have one of these. It is a good switch.

So you plug the cam into one of the POE ports (1-4) on this switch. Does the POE light (Right light) come on? Does the left light show Link? It should come up yellow.

You plug your laptop in to one of the non-POE ports (5-8) right? Does the link light turn green?

 

[freddyq]

So you plug the cam into one of the POE ports (1-4) on this switch. Does the POE light (Right light) come on? Does the left light show Link? It should come up yellow.

Yes into one of the PoE ports. The right light comes on and stays solid. The left light does not come on at all. But I would have thought that is because until the camera is initialized and ready there won't be any data flowing through the link...?

You plug your laptop in to one of the non-POE ports (5-8) right? Does the link light turn green?

Correct into one of the non-POE ports. The link light blinks Green yes.

 

[samplenhold]

But I would have thought that is because until the camera is initialized and ready there won't be any data flowing through the link...?

That is a good question. I have never noticed if the link light comes on before the cam is initialized. Well the POE light comes on so the camera is probably getting power. Did you test the cabling when it was installed? For continuity on strands 1-8?

So your cam gets power and your laptop has connection. Can you ping 192.168.1.108 from your laptop? Does it respond?

 

[samplenhold]

Also, this may have been covered, but make sure that this POE switch is not connected in any way to your router.

 

[freddyq]

Did you test the cabling when it was installed? For continuity on strands 1-8?

No I didn't - it wasn't done by me. The electrician doing all the other wiring did it. He also did the wall socket so although I know that's no guarantee he did the camera cable wrong it's lower down my list of possible causes, particularly because both cameras are experiencing this issue.

So your cam gets power and your laptop has connection. Can you ping 192.168.1.108 from your laptop? Does it respond?

Doesn't respond. Request times out every time.

Also, this may have been covered, but make sure that this POE switch is not connected in any way to your router.

I've disconnected the cable going from my wall socket into one of the non-POE ports of the switch. So it's not connected to the router in any way now.

 

[samplenhold]

Sorry to say this, but it looks like you will have to pull the cam and use a short line to directly connect it to the POE switch. You have tried each POE port, right?