[Resolved] Cameras - no signal then back on

[saltwater]

I've been running BI for over 2 years, I have 13 cameras and up until today, not an issue. Today, each of my cameras, at different times, display the 'No signal' message then turn back on. Then another camera displays the 'No signal' message. It seems to cycle through all of them. Also, the BI system seems to have slowed down. I use sub-streams for all my cameras and they seem to stop and then jerk back to the current time. Some BI video images are static and then revert back to video.

I'm on BI version 5.6.5.2 (Current version is 5.6.5.3 was on that but decided to drop back see if the same was occurring, it is).

I have a HP Prodesk computer, 8TB harddrive, I've allocated 7.2TB to BI, have 562gb free space. The CPU seems to idle about 7%.

I've attached some screenshots. I'm not sure why the whole system seems to have slowed down. I de-bloated windows two years ago and the primary purpose is Blue Iris. From the task manager window I've noticed the 'Network' is at 100%, can't recall if it's always been at 100%.

Every Monday at 3.00 am I have the computer power off and turn back on and BI starts as a service.

Any suggestions?

Thanks
Steve.

 

[TonyR]

100% network is a definite issue.

A sketch of your network layout would help a lot.

There's a possibility of an intermittent cable or network device between the BI server and the first switch, I'd think, because it's affecting ALL cams, right?

 

[saltwater]

I'm within the Ubiquiti universe. I'll detail something later, but in short, each camera goes to a Ubiquiti 24 port 500 watt switch, from the switch one network cable to my study, where the Blue Iris computer is. The cameras are on their own VLAN, only the Blue Iris computer has access to the internet. The 24 port switch is hooked up to a UDM Pro, but the cameras do not route through the UDM Pro.

I'll now open up the Unifi web interface, check things out there and look at replacing the cable as per your suggestion.

 

[Old Timer]

I'm within the Ubiquiti universe. I'll detail something later, but in short, each camera goes to a Ubiquiti 24 port 500 watt switch, from the switch one network cable to my study, where the Blue Iris computer is. The cameras are on their own VLAN, only the Blue Iris computer has access to the internet. The 24 port switch is hooked up to a UDM Pro, but the cameras do not route through the UDM Pro.

I'll now open up the Unifi web interface, check things out there and look at replacing the cable as per your suggestion.

Are you running separate VLAN on your ubiquity switches?
Are you using a management network that is not on a LAN?
Do you have any trunk ports that might have a device plugged in that is not Level 3 capable?

More after your answers

 

[Old Timer]

Your network map will tell a lot, but I have a theory.

Lets say you have the management network assigned to IP of X.X.10.X
You have local PC's network assigned to IP of X.X.11.X
You have your cameras network assigned to IP of X.X.12.X

I think you will find you have a trunk port that is on the management network (10.x) that has a spare port and something got plugged in to it.

If something (smart TV) got plugged into a (10,x) trunk port, the switch will try to send traffic to the port that has extended packets
(needed for VLAN) and the device (Smart TV) can't read it, so will send retry back to the switch.
This causes a TON of extra traffic and will almost bring your network to a halt.

I always assign all of the un-used ports to a VLAN used for local PC's )11.x) etc

Sorry if I got too deep, but I have been through this problem several times on a system. Last time was a POE switch that was added by
the local PC help (read bosses son) and it was not capable of passing the VLAN packets.

You will find your UDM Pro really slow and can't really find the reason.

Go search the system, and make sure everything is plugged into a proper port. Any spare ports assign to the 11.x network.

 

[Flintstone61]

Is your NIC able to get good speed on the Web? failing perhaps? are you running a seperate Network Card for the Vlan ?

 

[bp2008]

It looks an awful lot like the network card is only getting a 10 Mbps link. Most likely it is a bad cable connected to the Blue Iris machine.

 

[bradner]

Don't think this is your problem at all since you have a hefty POE switch. I was using a USW_Flex and my cameras would drop out intermittently as I was overloading the POE output of the switch at night with the IR lights on. It was intermittent too for some odd reason. I just disabled one of the cams IR lights and the wattage draw dropped enough.

 

[saltwater]

Thanks everyone, I'm looking into it now, probably won't be able to report back soon. Yes, internet is slow on Blue Iris machine. Yes, recently purchased a smart tV and soundbar a few days ago. I'll look into all the your suggestions thus far.

 

[Old Timer]

Thanks everyone, I'm looking into it now, probably won't be able to report back soon. Yes, internet is slow on Blue Iris machine. Yes, recently purchased a smart tV and soundbar a few days ago. I'll look into all the your suggestions thus far.

Look and see what port the TV is plugged into, make sure it's assigned to the network you need.

 

[saltwater]

Look and see what port the TV is plugged into, make sure it's assigned to the network you need.

Yep, just checked that. It's definitely on a different VLAN, but I did notice the port profile, POE+ was on, turned that off, not needed (I know the poe setting shouldn't have been the problem)

Early days, just re-jigged all my patch panel connections in the comms room and things appear to be back to normal. The Task Manager 'network' is 7% at the moment. All my sub-streams, all cameras, appear to be working. In any case, I'm going to completely recheck everything. At the patch panel, I did notice and hear some clicks as I pushed in some cables. How they could become unseated, I don't know.

 

[Old Timer]

That's good news

 

[TonyR]

Although the fat lady hasn't sung just yet on the cause of your issue, it still never ceases to amaze me how often complicated items such as networks, PC's, IP cams, etc. that have so many places to optimize and configure.... so naturally it's easy to get suspicious of the software and device settings when something goes awry....and then it turns out to be a simple mechanical issue.

As we used to say in Naval Air avionics of such occurrences...... "The O-N-O-F-F switch was in the O-F-F position."

 

[looney2ns]

Has this guy been seen in the area?

 

[saltwater]

Touch wood, but everything is ok and running as it should. That little fella above, I think I scared him off.

 

[fenderman]

You should have windows, BI and the database on an SSD. This will make the system super snappy all for 50 bux, it will also reduce the time for database regeneration - during which the system doesnt record anything.

 

[saltwater]

Ok, reporting back after 5 days. No issues whatsoever, my system is running normally.

 

[mat200]

Ok, reporting back after 5 days. No issues whatsoever, my system is running normally.

Thanks @saltwater

If you have a chance for a quick summary ( sometimes the various suggestions are not spot on so always nice to see a decent conclusion .. )

What was the root cause, and how did you resolve this?

 

[saltwater]

The root cause of the issue was at the network rack. Several patch cables were not tightly inserted into the patch panel and/or the switch. How they became unseated or loose, I've got no idea.

I have three banks of 24 port patch panels, two 24 port Unifi POE switches (500w and 250w) and a Unifi UDM Pro. All that is in a wall mounted, 18RU network rack. The network rack is in a storage room, under the stairs. The room doesn't have much day-to-day access and if there is access to the room, all the equipment is protected within the rack.

It was frustrating, because at the time, the problem only affected my camera network (VLAN 30) and yet my normal computer on another VLAN was operating normally.

 

[IAmATeaf]

Probably due to the computer doing auto negotiation to drop to a lower speed whereas the cams will just crap out.