Blue Iris: error 8000274c - No Camera Signal

[Weather_Junkie]

Hi All,
So this has happened a couple times in the past week and now my only camera (Amcrest IP2M-841S) is not connecting within the BI desktop program or Android app. I'm running 4.6.4.6 on Windows 10 Pro and have not done any updates to my computer, BI or camera that would cause this plus, it was working yesterday. Also, within my own network, I can't connect to my camera's IP address from any of my computer browser windows so I'm assuming it's a camera issue. Question is, what would cause a camera to just go offline? I've restarted the camera with no luck re-connecting but the camera itself is working fine as I see it spinning around during the startup and IR lights all come on.

 

[fenderman]

Hi All,
So this has happened a couple times in the past week and now my only camera (Amcrest IP2M-841S) is not connecting within the BI desktop program or Android app. I'm running 4.6.4.6 on Windows 10 Pro and have not done any updates to my computer, BI or camera that would cause this plus, it was working yesterday. Also, within my own network, I can't connect to my camera's IP address from any of my computer browser windows so I'm assuming it's a camera issue. Question is, what would cause a camera to just go offline? I've restarted the camera with no luck re-connecting but the camera itself is working fine as I see it spinning around during the startup and IR lights all come on.

its is the camera...did you reserve the ip address or set it static so it does not change?

 

[TonyR]

Hi All,
So this has happened a couple times in the past week and now my only camera (Amcrest IP2M-841S) is not connecting within the BI desktop program or Android app. I'm running 4.6.4.6 on Windows 10 Pro and have not done any updates to my computer, BI or camera that would cause this plus, it was working yesterday. Also, within my own network, I can't connect to my camera's IP address from any of my computer browser windows so I'm assuming it's a camera issue. Question is, what would cause a camera to just go offline? I've restarted the camera with no luck re-connecting but the camera itself is working fine as I see it spinning around during the startup and IR lights all come on.

When you first got the cam and logged in with your browser, did you assign it a STATIC IP or leave it in the default mode (DHCP) ?

 

[TonyR]

@fenderman, you beat me by about 15 seconds!

 

[Weather_Junkie]

Whoops! Nope. I thought I read that static IPs may cost $$ with certain providers (I have AT&T) so I think I just left it in DHCP hoping it wouldn't change. So now what? Do I need to start over from scratch on the camera side and build a new profile that'll allow me to get a static IP or just change it in my router settings? Again, thank you for the patience. You all never seem to get annoyed with questions people have probably asked a thousand times.

 

[TonyR]

Whoops! Nope. I thought I read that static IPs may cost $$ with certain providers (I have AT&T) so I think I just left it in DHCP hoping it wouldn't change. So now what? Do I need to start over from scratch on the camera side and build a new profile that'll allow me to get a static IP or just change it in my router settings? Again, thank you for the patience. You all never seem to get annoyed with questions people have probably asked a thousand times.

A 'Static IP' from ISP refers to your WAN (outside) IP, not the LAN (local, in your house) IP. The LAN IP is what YOU will change in the cam from DHCP (router assigns) to STATIC (YOU assign).

Go get free 'Amcrest IP Config' tool ==>> here <<== to find your cam, see what IP your router assigned it, log into cam and change it to that IP and as static.

Of course, in BI change that cam's IP to the new so BI can find it.

 

[Weather_Junkie]

Steps 8-10? Yeah I don't know what I'm doing.

I installed IP Config and it says I have 2 cameras when I only have one. The IP & MAC columns have different addresses. Could this be my problem? I haven't messed with settings for weeks.

 

[TonyR]

View attachment 23035

Steps 8-10? Yeah I don't know what I'm doing.

I installed IP Config and it says I have 2 cameras when I only have one. The IP & MAC columns have different addresses. Could this be my problem? I haven't messed with settings for weeks.

What is that menu, in the router? If so, you don't need to be in there right now, especially since you said "....I don't know what I'm doing."
You only need to be in the cam's embedded web interface, accessible with your browser, in the network / TCP/IP settings.
Try the 2 that were revealed in the Amcrest IP Config, 1 at a time until 1 works. You can click on the Internet Explorer icon at right side to access the cam's embedded web server.

 

[Weather_Junkie]

The 2nd camera was showing up because I had plugged the camera into the router in case I needed to update the firmware. Once I unplugged it, IP Config just saw one. I have not touched the router settings and will follow your instructions. Thanks.

Got it back online. Thank you very much. So is there anything else I need to do?

 

[TonyR]

The 2nd camera was showing up because I had plugged the camera into the router in case I needed to update the firmware. Once I unplugged it, IP Config just saw one. I have not touched the router settings and will follow your instructions. Thanks.

Got it back online. Thank you very much. So is there anything else I need to do?

That's great! And you're welcome.

If you can access when at home on Wi-Fi or when away on either cell network or someone else's Wi-Fi..you're set! Now for another challenge:

Your username suggests you may be interested in this: would you like one of the camera images on your smartphone app and on the BI server to be a 5 minute old radar map (like below) of your chosen geographic area? If so and you have not already done this, let me know and I'll tell you how.

This was taken at 0751 hrs EDT this morning.


And if you have a weather station, like a Davis Instruments Vantage Vue 6250, you can post the dashboard as a cam image, like this below.

 

[Weather_Junkie]

Don't have a weather station but I accept the challenge on the radar map image.

 

[TonyR]

Don't have a weather station but I accept the challenge on the radar map image.

OK, I'll put it together for you soon.

One more thing:
You need to find out from AT&T if your WAN IP is static or dynamic. If it's NOT static, find out how much for a static IP. If it's less than $2 per month, it would be worth it. If too expensive, you could go with a DDNS.
A 1 year subscription to a DDNS (Dynamic Domain Name Service) is about $25 a year and you usually get 24 hostnames (like 'weatherjunkie.noip.us' or similar + 23 more that YOU create). There's NO-IP, DynDNS, and dozens more, all very similar in price, features and performance.
The way DDNS works is that when the WAN IP at your house changes (or a free client on your PC reports every 5 minutes), that change is reported to the DDNS website so when you look for that special hostname from outside your LAN it knows what your new WAN IP is; all you ever need to remember (and put into your remote app) is that unique hostname (like 'wxfreq.ddns.org' or whatever).

 

[TonyR]

Don't have a weather station but I accept the challenge on the radar map image.

OK, here's how to have a radar image as a camera. Refer to these images of screenshots below, create a new cam and configure EXACTLY as I have done and it should work for you.




For the page depicted below, I'll save you tedious typing (beside you can't see it all): copy and paste the line below minus the quotes and paste into the 'Video' / 'Path':

"cgi-bin/radar/WUNIDS_map?station=MRX&brand=wui&num=0&delay=15&type=N0R&frame=0&scale=1.000&noclutter=0&lat=35.714408&lon=-83.512438"

It chooses Knoxville as your radar (MRX) and places a crosshair & target at the decimal latitude and longitude of Pidgeon Forge, TN.
You can replace 'MRX' with a different radar 3 letter code and your chosen location (35.714408&lon=-83.512438) with the desired decimal latitude and longitude, found on Google Maps.

Just FYI: if you paste the URL below into your browser for URL (address), it will take you directly to the image. When it displays, you can right click on the image displayed in your browser and save it and it'll be an animated GIF!

http://radblast.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/radar/WUNIDS_map?station=MRX&brand=wui&num=0&delay=15&type=N0R&frame=0&scale=1.000&noclutter=0&lat=35.714408&lon=-83.512438

 

[bp2008]

I would suggest changing the frame rate to something like 1/60th FPS so as to not hammer their server constantly with image requests. And honestly can't you just turn off the watchdog features? Some of that, particularly the "Send camera reboot command" being checked, are just silly.

 

[TonyR]

I would suggest changing the frame rate to something like 1/60th FPS so as to not hammer their server constantly with image requests. And honestly can't you just turn off the watchdog features? Some of that, particularly the "Send camera reboot command" being checked, are just silly.

Sure..."you could just turn off the watchdog features". Matter of fact, you can do anything you want!
I did it like this and it works great. "Silly?" You're entitled to your opinion. Unnecessary? Possibly. Tested for the last 2 years and working flawlessly? A definite "Yes!"
I did take your suggestion re: the FPS, an oversight on my part..thanks!

 

[Weather_Junkie]

So a visit back to the camera offline issue. Came home today and the indoor camera (running wireless off the Wi-Fi.) was offline again. The IP address has been running with a static IP ending in .87 but now that it was offline, I could not login into the camera through the browser. When I ran Amcrest IP config,it was now showing up with a .85. Once I updated that in Amcrest, it cam back online.

Is this why it's suggested that I contact AT&T to find out about buying static IPs? My 2nd camera is not going offline but if it matters, it's POE direct-connected to the back of the router via an injector. Is that why it doesn't show up in any Amcrest IP config scans? Only the indoor Wi-Fi camera ever shows up in the list.

To tell you the truth, I'm confused about the whole static IP topic. I thought selecting static IP within the Amcrest camera setup page in the browser meant the camera had a good static ip address that doesn't change. Now I'm assuming based on the camera's address changing on more than one occasion that this is not the case. Am I even close?

 

[fenderman]

So a visit back to the camera offline issue. Came home today and the indoor camera (running wireless off the Wi-Fi.) was offline again. The IP address has been running with a static IP ending in .87 but now that it was offline, I could not login into the camera through the browser. When I ran Amcrest IP config,it was now showing up with a .85. Once I updated that in Amcrest, it cam back online.

Is this why it's suggested that I contact AT&T to find out about buying static IPs? My 2nd camera is not going offline but if it matters, it's POE direct-connected to the back of the router via an injector. Is that why it doesn't show up in any Amcrest IP config scans? Only the indoor Wi-Fi camera ever shows up in the list.

To tell you the truth, I'm confused about the whole static IP topic. I thought selecting static IP within the Amcrest camera setup page in the browser meant the camera had a good static ip address that doesn't change. Now I'm assuming based on the camera's address changing on more than one occasion that this is not the case. Am I even close?

YOU DONT NEED A STATIC IP FROM ATT...it wont help at all...go back and reread the thread...tonyr explained this..you need to setup a static ip LOCALLY on your network (that is NOT something att does or charges for) or user your routers DHCP reservation..

 

[TonyR]

So a visit back to the camera offline issue. Came home today and the indoor camera (running wireless off the Wi-Fi.) was offline again. The IP address has been running with a static IP ending in .87 but now that it was offline, I could not login into the camera through the browser. When I ran Amcrest IP config,it was now showing up with a .85. Once I updated that in Amcrest, it cam back online.

Is this why it's suggested that I contact AT&T to find out about buying static IPs?

No, I was talking about the WAN (Wide Area Network) IP address. Your ISP has no say on what and how IP's are managed on your LAN (Local Area Network). That's up to your router. AT&T cannot change the IP of your camera on anything else on your LAN.

If you re-read that 10/31 post I was attempting to address how the cams are accessed remotely, either via a static WAN IP (assigned by AT&T) or by using a DDNS that will work with your current dynamic WAN IP. Neither has anything to do with what your current issue is regarding the camera IP.

Sounds like that cam has an issue. So you're logging in to the cam's web page, changing to 'static' and 'saving' it and it replies with 'successful'?

 

[Weather_Junkie]

Okay I understand the difference now and yes I am hitting "Save" and waiting for it to show me the "successful" notification. Seems to work for a bunch of days and then go offline with the "8000247c" error. I have the latest firmware on the camera as well. If it matters at all, I'm not sure when the camera went offline today but my wife just told me that she unplugged the router today at some point because the Wi-Fi wasn't working on her phone. She said unplugged it and plugged it right back in. That's all that would have changed as I was a work.

 

[fenderman]

Okay I understand the difference now and yes I am hitting "Save" and waiting for it to show me the "successful" notification. Seems to work for a bunch of days and then go offline with the "8000247c" error. I have the latest firmware on the camera as well. If it matters at all, I'm not sure when the camera went offline today but my wife just told me that she unplugged the router today at some point because the Wi-Fi wasn't working on her phone. She said unplugged it and plugged it right back in. That's all that would have changed as I was a work.

if you are not reserving the ip address or setting it static it will keep happening.