IP Camera resetting to DHCP

johnstjs

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Hello

I have a few cameras set up and one is being my problem child, Dahua IPC-HFW4239T-ASE-NI. About once or twice a week, it will reset from a static IP to DHCP so I lose insight into it until I hunt down the new IP and change it back. For background, I have both a Dahua NVR and a Blue Iris PC monitoring this camera (multiple reasons for having both). The reason I have it set up static vs reserved DHCP lease is I'm currently using a crappy Comcast router for my DHCP server and that kept dropping the reserved leases and/or giving our IPs that were reserved to other devices. Got tired of fooling with it so I shrunk the scope size and put the static IPs outside of it. Switching to FIOs in the near future so all of this "may" go away if I can switch back to DHCP, but I'd still like to figure out what is going on.

I can't figure out if the issue is coming from the camera itself (it's not resetting to defaults or it would be getting a 192.168.xxx.xxx address and I'm using 10.1.10.xxx), the NVR, or Blue Iris. I don't believe I'm pushing any configs from either BI or the NVR unless there's a hidden config I don't know about. Anyone have any insight into why this is happening? Thanks!
 

The Automation Guy

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I can't explain why it is happening. I just wanted to suggest that you try assigning your reserved IP address in a range that doesn't fall into the regular DHCP range. What I am trying to say is that if your Comcast router is set up to assign DHCP addresses in the 192.168.1.50 to 192.168.1.200 range, you don't want to reserve an IP address in that range. Instead, you would reserve an address outside of that range - perhaps 192.168.1.40 - for the camera. This will likely prevent the router from reassigning the reserved address to another device.

The router should be smart enough to prevent this from happening, but you never know with these service provided devices.
 

Dramus

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To each their own, but I've never allowed an ISP's border device to be the border security for my networks. Not at work, where I did this for a living, nor at home.

So, recommendation: Stop using the crappy Comcast router for routing, DHCP, etc. Take control of your own Internet border destiny. Acquire a capable router to do the heavy lifting. Set the crappy Comcast router to stupid mode, letting it handle being a cable modem only.
 

johnstjs

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I can't explain why it is happening. I just wanted to suggest that you try assigning your reserved IP address in a range that doesn't fall into the regular DHCP range. What I am trying to say is that if your Comcast router is set up to assign DHCP addresses in the 192.168.1.50 to 192.168.1.200 range, you don't want to reserve an IP address in that range. Instead, you would reserve an address outside of that range - perhaps 192.168.1.40 - for the camera. This will likely prevent the router from reassigning the reserved address to another device.

The router should be smart enough to prevent this from happening, but you never know with these service provided devices.
Thanks

Unfortunately, the Comcast router (at least the one I have) will not let you set up a reservation outside of it's scope. Hopefully the FIOs router has a bit better DHCP server than the comcast one and this issue goes away as I will be able to go back to DHCP reserved leases. But I'd like to figure out what is causing this. If it's a config push from either BI or the NVR it could be changing other things as well that I am not aware of.
 

johnstjs

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To each their own, but I've never allowed an ISP's border device to be the border security for my networks. Not at work, where I did this for a living, nor at home.

So, recommendation: Stop using the crappy Comcast router for routing, DHCP, etc. Take control of your own Internet border destiny. Acquire a capable router to do the heavy lifting. Set the crappy Comcast router to stupid mode, letting it handle being a cable modem only.
I don't disagree (I'm an old network geek by trade). But this is for a small boat club that I'm on the Board of Directors for. I'm the only network guy we have and I'm trying to use the KISS principle so when I'm not there just about anyone can handle it. Explaining where and why I have the L2 switches set up is bad enough, but they are set-and-forget with little or no config. Adding a true router would mean I'm on the hook forever for support.
 

Dramus

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I don't disagree (I'm an old network geek by trade). But this is for a small boat club that I'm on the Board of Directors for. I'm the only network guy we have ...
Ha! I got hooked into that, once. I honestly think that's part of the reason we no longer have a sailboat. If I ever again join any kind of club I'll tell them I'm a retired garbage man or something :rofl:
 

sebastiantombs

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If you're getting FiOS you don't need the crappy router. Get an Asus or whatever router you like and a MoCA adapter for the TVs. I have FiOS, an Asus AC-RT68U and a Motorola MoCA adapter hanging off of it and it works fine. This laptop connects at 1.3Gb/PS with no problem. Up and down speed on it are in the 400MbPS range.
 

johnstjs

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If you're getting FiOS you don't need the crappy router. Get an Asus or whatever router you like and a MoCA adapter for the TVs. I have FiOS, an Asus AC-RT68U and a Motorola MoCA adapter hanging off of it and it works fine. This laptop connects at 1.3Gb/PS with no problem. Up and down speed on it are in the 400MbPS range.
Thanks for the reply

We're keeping Comcast for the TV (currently FIOS only offers internet and phone in my town - they don't have the rights to offer tv yet). As for getting a different router - see my post above. I'm not against it but for various reasons I'd like to get the stock out of the box working.

But to my original point - what I'm trying to figure out is why this one camera keeps setting to DHCP from a static address I have assigned. It's not resetting to factory (Dahua factory reset would put it at 192.168.xxx.xxx) so something is changing it and I don't know what.
 

sebastiantombs

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Out of curiosity what browser are you using? Some models of Dahua have problems with holding settings from Edge and other browsers. If you're running Win10, type "iexplore" in the search box on the tool bar. That'll bring up Internet Explorer so you can give that a try. IE seems to be the browser that Dahua likes for some reason even though it's at end of life.
 

wittaj

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You should have the cameras isolated from the internet. Having them run through the router is a recipe for disaster. Sounds like maybe that one camera is hacked.

Since you have Blue Iris, install another NIC on it and do the dual NIC system where all of your cameras are on a different IP address range and not going through your router.

Are you using IE as some Dahua settings will not stick unless IE browser is used.
 

Dramus

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Are you using IE as some Dahua settings will not stick unless IE browser is used.
Ok, browser incompatibility I can see could result in settings not sticking at all, but a setting that sticks and then magically un-sticks a couple days later? I'm sorry, but that makes no sense to me at all.
 

The Automation Guy

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But to my original point - what I'm trying to figure out is why this one camera keeps setting to DHCP from a static address I have assigned. It's not resetting to factory (Dahua factory reset would put it at 192.168.xxx.xxx) so something is changing it and I don't know what.
If I had to guess, the camera is rebooting for some reason and this particular setting is not being retained through that process due to some bug/issue with the software.
 

wittaj

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Ok, browser incompatibility I can see could result in settings not sticking at all, but a setting that sticks and then magically un-sticks a couple days later? I'm sorry, but that makes no sense to me at all.
See the first part about isolating cameras from the internet and maybe it is hacked...

Plus some here have seen that happen when not using IE. Defies all logic, but it has happened (but could be a result of a reboot or the NVR is sending conflicting info to the camera days later).

I have seen some of these Dahua cams reset something after a reboot a couple days later. One of my Dahua cams will revert from a customized bitrate to something else after a reboot regardless of the browser used.

This is simply troubleshooting suggestions that myself or others have posted...you made clear you steer away from Hik and Dahua, so until you have one and experience these LOL....
 

Dramus

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If I had to guess, the camera is rebooting for some reason and this particular setting is not being retained through that process due to some bug/issue with the software.
That seems a reasonable hypothesis. I wonder if a Factory Reset and re-config from scratch would persuade it to straighten-out and fly right?

...you made clear you steer away from Hik and Dahua, so until you have one and experience these LOL....
1. I have five (5) Dahua cams in service. Some have been in service for up to 2-1/2 years. 2. You keep making assumptions about my level of expertise. You know what they say about what happens when you "assume," right? ;)
 

Mike A.

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We're keeping Comcast for the TV (currently FIOS only offers internet and phone in my town - they don't have the rights to offer tv yet). As for getting a different router - see my post above. I'm not against it but for various reasons I'd like to get the stock out of the box working.
Internet-only and no TV makes it much easier. Assuming that they run Cat 5/6 cable from the ONT then you can plop pretty much any old router down without any problems. They should for new service these days but check to make sure they do on install. The new routers that they have aren't all that great (e.g., no in-coming VPN, remote diagnostics/management on, many ports open, etc.) but not terrible either in terms of basic functions. You should be able to reserve a MAC/IP address for the cam. I'd replace it with something better myself (and have done that). Might save you some trouble in the end. Doing some things isn't as straightforward with theirs. And if using VPN for remote access, which you should, then you'll need to. One advantage their router provides is that they can do remote diagnostics/management if there are problems but they're used to dealing with people using their own now and will support up to a point .
 

wittaj

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That seems a reasonable hypothesis. I wonder if a Factory Reset and re-config from scratch would persuade it to straighten-out and fly right?


1. I have five (5) Dahua cams in service. Some have been in service for up to 2-1/2 years. 2. You keep making assumptions about my level of expertise. You know what they say about what happens when you "assume," right? ;)
Yep about assume LOL....but given your recent threads about not wanting to get a Dahua PTZ due to browser concerns, it is an easy speculation to conclude you thus do not have any Dahua cams! I/m not questions your level of expertise as you outlined a serious issue with the Chrome IE tab for Apple issues that I was not aware of....but I am not an Apple person either LOL.
 

Teken

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This would be a good time to review the logs. This should have been done at the onset which could have affirmed if the camera was rebooting or other. I don’t know what kind of logs are provided in the router / modem.

But if there is the ability to enable verbose logging - do so.

It will also provide more insight as to if the router / modem has a hand in this issue. Lastly, I would highly suggest you measure the power at the camera and check all the connectors.

As low power, bad connectivity, high resistance, lack of PSU power all can create unstable operations.
 

Dramus

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... you outlined a serious issue with the Chrome IE tab for Apple issues that I was not aware of....but I am not an Apple person either LOL.
No, not a Chrome IE tab for Apple issue, but a Chrome, Firefox, or whatever IE Tab issue for any non-MS-Win system. I am not really an "Apple person," either. Though, since we have Apple mobile devices and Apple TVs, and the rather unusable MS-Win7 Pro system my wife used to use will almost certainly be replaced with a Mac desktop, I guess we're close to being "Apple people" :)

Other than that I'm a Linux/Unix guy, mostly. If I replace my Linux desktop with a Mac, I'll still regard myself as being primarily a Unix/Linux guy. (Only reason for the Mac, in my case, will be the tight integration with our other Apple stuff--including, eventually, Apple HomeKit. Home server will remain a Linux box.)
 

johnstjs

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Thanks for all of the responses.

I regularly use Chrome except for a few certain items that don't play well with it. I've had no other issues with the other cameras and while I see using a non-standard browser may cause saved setting to not truly be saved, I have a hard time believing that it would save the settings thru a reboot and then change later. But I will try to configure it with IE to see what happens. As I mentioned - this only happens anywhere from twice a week to once every other week or so so it is hard for me to see any pattern.

I will also try a factory reset and start over again for this camera.

No logs - as I said I am currently using the standard comcast router and we are not plugged directly into it (and the internal camera logs aren't showing any changes). It is connected to a PoE switch on the edge of the network. I already replaced the switch. Don't think it's a power issue. It's a 16-port switch, not sure of the exact power supply - I do know it's capable of 802.3at per port and the only things connected to it are 2 cameras and a ubiquiti UAP-AC-M mesh AP. I don't think it's a power issue. Tomorrow I plan to get on a ladder and triple check the physical connection (not an easy location but I checked it previously). But even a poor connection and a reboot "shouldn't" cause just this one setting to change. If poor power or poor e-net connection throwing garbage down the line, it would change everything (or different things at different times).

The cameras themselves aren't directly accessible via the internet. For various reasons we do have a need to view them from the outside, but we accomplish this with port forwarding to the BlueIris server and using that to view the cameras.

I'm still leaning toward it being something within either the BI server or the Dahua NVR overwriting the config, but I'll be damned if I can find it anywhere. I've even checked the PCs that are connected to the network to see if there were any leftover Dahua configurator software still on there. We used to have some a long time ago, but a firmware on the NVR allows us to see and configure a camera that's on the same broadcast domain but has a different IP address (i.e plug the Dahua camera into the network with it's address of 192.168.xxx.xxx and the NVR on 10.1.10.xxx can find it and reconfigure it - and we set it to static when we first did this with this camera).

Any BI or NVR experts that might know of a hidden setting somewhere I'm missing? Currently we use the web GUI to get into the NVR, maybe it's a setting that I have to get to via console?

Thanks again for all of the help!!!!

Jeff
 
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