Attempted to update a Hikvision 2132, managed to brick 3 cameras?

[darrylb]

Hello All,

I have 3 Hikvision Camera's.
- 1 Hikvision 2132
- 1 Hikvision 2142
- 1 Hikvision Bullet (Cant recall version).

Additionally, they are all wired to a switch and a POE injector.

When I got the new 2142 yesterday, I plugged it in, and it worked great. I like the newer firmware, so I decided to try and update another one of my camera's. Grabbed the latest firmware from the Hikvision USA site, went into maintenance and applied the firmware. Unfortunately, the camera never came back. It was doing the "3-5pings then reboot" behavior, indicating it was looking for a TFTP server. I tried to apply the original firmware (which I believe was a Raptor firmware I had for ENG), through the TFTP server on the .128 IP, but it never stopped auto-rebooting, though it said the firmware applied successfully. I tried updating with a few different firmware, each time, unplugging my POE injector, rebooting all 3 cameras.

Eventually, I noticed that all 3 camera's were no longer functioning. Using the SADP tool, I found that they all reset. 2 were on the 192.168.1.64 IP, and 1 was on the 192.0.0.64 IP. I can join the respective subnets, and ping them. But now, none of the firmware will update on any of the 3. They ping, and never disconnect. SDP can discover them, and lists like this:
001 : DS-2CD2142FWD-I : 192.168.1.64 : 8000 : V4.0.8build 150325
002 : DS-2CD2132F-IS : 192.168.1.64 : 8000 : V4.0.8build 150401
003 : DS-2CD-Min-System : 192.0.0.64 : 8000 : V4.0.8build 130906

At this point, I can ping them, and I can even change the IP address within SADP on the first two camera's, but no matter what, I cannot access the website to administrate them (Using default port 80, I have not changed this). Both Firefox and IE fail trying to access the page (Page cannot be displayed).

I am at a loss, and was hoping for suggestions. I have tried to flash firmware with a laptop directly plugged into the camera's, with no success. At this point, I am at a complete loss.

Any suggestions/recommendations would be appreciated!

Thank you.

--

Update: After trying to change IP's in SADP, I have found that restarting the device causes the IP to reset to factory, so its not holding the IP settings between reboots. Though, once I update the IP I can in fact ping it on the new IP.

Update 2: Tried to use the ONVIF tool, with no success. Says no endpoint. Think I used it correctly.

Update 3: Found I cannot change the IP on the 2CD2132F-IS (002 above). Just times out. Restarted it (hard) 2-3x, no success.

 

[nayr]

There dead jim; sounds like you applied US Firmware to a Chinese model.. search the forums and you'll find thousand of other poor bastards whom made the same fatal mistake as you have.. there might be some recovery options, if your lucky enough.

 

[darrylb]

Thanks... :|

Well, I found the "Min-System" is an incompatible firmware, So I am currently trying the Downgrader solution that some say fix that.

The problem is, on the new one, I never applied a new firmware... Not that I can figure. Unless no matter what, the device always tries to install off of TFTP during boot... before it does anything.

And yeah, I did choose to update it. I have had on and off again issues with NAS storage, the newest firmware worked well on the new device, that was the biggest reason for me pushing it.

I know one did come as Chinese ,but the other 2 didn't. So I don't believe I could have done that to all 3 concurrently...

 

[darrylb]

Thanks... :|

Well, I found the "Min-System" is an incompatible firmware, So I am currently trying the Downgrader solution that some say fix that.

The problem is, on the new one, I never applied a new firmware... Not that I can figure. Unless no matter what, the device always tries to install off of TFTP during boot... before it does anything.

And yeah, I did choose to update it. I have had on and off again issues with NAS storage, the newest firmware worked well on the new device, that was the biggest reason for me pushing it.

I know one did come as Chinese ,but the other 2 didn't. So I don't believe I could have done that to all 3 concurrently...

--

Downgrader fixed my 2CD2132F-IS, now is at V5.2.5. So if I understand correctly, this would indicate that one was a Chinese one.

 

[nayr]

almost all of em are Chinese ones unless you bought it from an authorized reseller.

 

[darrylb]

almost all of em are Chinese ones unless you bought it from an authorized reseller.

I am starting to figure that out. Is there an official way to find out?

The "Downgrader" has just saved my two older ones. I find it interesting though. The 2132F-IS updated to v5.2.5 in English, but my 2032-I updated to v5.2.5 in Chinese. What are next steps to convert the Chinese to English? I think last time, I used the "Raptor" firmwares to get English on this one bullet... but thinking that's not the ideal way?

Right now I am just going for "functional" and will figure out proper firmware/etc in the future, when my blood pressure drops.

 

[nayr]

I believe the serial number can indicate what region of camera it is, think it has CH or something in em.. cant help you with conversion sorry; I do not buy or recommend Hikvision devices for this reason alone.

FYI, if you try to apply the wrong firmware to a Dahua camera.. in my experience it simply rejects it and tells you its not compatible, or worst case reverts it back to Chinese language.. but either way they wont intentionally try to brick your device like Hik does.

 

[darrylb]

I believe the serial number can indicate what region of camera it is, think it has CH or something in em.. cant help you with conversion sorry; I do not buy or recommend Hikvision devices for this reason alone.

FYI, if you try to apply the wrong firmware to a Dahua camera.. in my experience it simply rejects it and tells you its not compatible, or worst case reverts it back to Chinese language.. but either way they wont intentionally try to brick your device like Hik does.

Yeah, this has me rethinking Hikvision in the future. I may keep these on the front of my house, and then switch to something else, when needing more.

 

[alastairstevenson]

What are next steps to convert the Chinese to English?

That would be the so-called 'MTD hack' that will convert the camera permanently to English. It's on a sticky.
Hikvision do play some stupid games.

 

[darrylb]

Thanks! Yeah Ill track that down later this week. Right now just trying to get my last camera (the new one) the 2142 functioning. For the life of me, I cant get it to look at the TFTP server, like the other camera's do.

 

[nayr]

there is thread around here that contains instructions for recovering a Hik via UART pads directly on the board if you have the required hardware and skillset

 

[darrylb]

there is thread around here that contains instructions for recovering a Hik via UART pads directly on the board if you have the required hardware and skillset

Thanks, I probably could do that, but don't have the required hardware. I am tempted to send it back for replacement. If this is a Chinese one as well, at least knowing that, I could have handled it differently. On a side note, I am never resetting all my cameras with unplugging the POE adapter! Time to do them individually when doing TFTP updates, or plugging directly in.