Can't Set HFW4431R for DHCP, but only for 1 out of 2 units

TheWaterbug

TheWaterbug

Getting comfortable
Oct 20, 2017
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Palos Verdes
I purchased two of these OEM IPC-HFW4431R cameras from amazon. They look identical, they report the same software versions (2.420.GP01.22.R), and their MAC addresses differ only by their last 2 octets.

I brought Unit 1 up on the network, changed the admin password, changed the TCP/IP settings to DHCP, rebooted it, found it via the ConfigTool, set a DHCP reservation on my router, rebooted it again, and logged in. No problems there.

I brought Unit 2 up on the network, changed the admin password, changed the TCP/IP settings to DHCP, set a DHCP reservation on my router for .47, rebooted the camera, and it came up at 192.168.1.108 again.

The Network: TCP/IP setting has the DHCP radio button selected, but it doesn't appear to be working that way.

I manually set it to 192.168.1.47, rebooted it, and logged into it at 192.168.1.47, and set it for DHCP again.

Changed the reservation to .48, rebooted the camera, and it still comes up at .47.

Attempted to use System: Default: Default, but apparently that doesn't reset very much, because although it comes up at .108, I can't login as admin/admin; I have to use the new password that I put in an hour ago.

Has anyone experience this sort of weirdness before? This is my first experience with a Dahua OEM/whitebox camera, so I'm aware that there are issues, but I was able to configure 1 out of my 2 units successfully. The exact same steps don't work on Unit 2, despite it has the same firmware.
 
Only a guess, but I'll bet they are hacked firmware Chinese versions of the cameras.
 
sebastiantombs said:
Only a guess, but I'll bet they are hacked firmware Chinese versions of the cameras.
Click to expand...

Yup. But I would expect two hacked cameras from the same lot to behave the same way.
 
Only if you're lucky. That's why I don't buy hacked cameras.
 
I paid $18/each for them, so my expectations are low :)
 
sebastiantombs said:
Only a guess, but I'll bet they are hacked firmware Chinese versions of the cameras.
Click to expand...

TheWaterbug said:
they report the same software versions (2.420.GP01.22.R, Build Date: 2016-12-09)
Click to expand...

Hmmmm. Is this the same as 2.420.0000.22.R, Build Date: 2016-12-09 from @cor35vet's Dahua Firmware Mod Kit + Modded Dahua Firmware (version for For IPC-HX4XXX-Eos ("Eco-savvy 2.0" 3rd gen) cameras:).

The version string looks very, very similar, but not identical.
 
So I popped the top on the troublesome unit and reset it by shorting the two via holes together during boot. The IP reset to .108, and I had to login as admin/admin, so I'm pretty sure the reset procedure was successful.

I attempted to change the IP config to DHCP, and it still won't take. I tried setting from the web UI from IE and also from the Config Tool on OSX, but it won't take. It's still at .108.

I reset it again, and no dice. Same behavior.

I pulled cleared the logs from my DHCP server, rebooted both cameras, and looked at the DHCP server logs. a0:bd:1d:c4:64:2d is the MAC of Unit 1, working properly. a0:bd:1d:c4:65:61 is the MAC of Unit 2 that won't grab a DHCP address. The entries look the same, with the exception of the "uid lease 192.168.1.170 for client a0:bd:1d:c4:64:2d is duplicate . . .," where .170 was the DHCP address of Unit 1 yesterday, before I made it a reservation at .46.

Code: 
Time    Process    PID    Message
Jan 10 17:22:48    dhcpd        uid lease 192.168.1.170 for client a0:bd:1d:c4:64:2d is duplicate on 192.168.1.0/24
Jan 10 17:22:48    dhcpd        DHCPDISCOVER from a0:bd:1d:c4:64:2d via re2
Jan 10 17:22:48    dhcpd        DHCPOFFER on 192.168.1.46 to a0:bd:1d:c4:64:2d via re2
Jan 10 17:22:48    dhcpd        uid lease 192.168.1.170 for client a0:bd:1d:c4:64:2d is duplicate on 192.168.1.0/24
Jan 10 17:22:48    dhcpd        DHCPREQUEST for 192.168.1.46 (192.168.1.1) from a0:bd:1d:c4:64:2d via re2
Jan 10 17:22:48    dhcpd        DHCPACK on 192.168.1.46 to a0:bd:1d:c4:64:2d via re2
Jan 10 17:22:49    dhcpd        DHCPDISCOVER from a0:bd:1d:c4:65:61 via re2
Jan 10 17:22:49    dhcpd        DHCPOFFER on 192.168.1.48 to a0:bd:1d:c4:65:61 via re2
Jan 10 17:22:49    dhcpd        DHCPREQUEST for 192.168.1.48 (192.168.1.1) from a0:bd:1d:c4:65:61 via re2
Jan 10 17:22:49    dhcpd        DHCPACK on 192.168.1.48 to a0:bd:1d:c4:65:61 via re2

So Unit 2 is being offered the reserved IP address at .48, but it just won't stick. It always ends up with whatever static IP was last assigned to it.

I suppose I can just assign it .48 and use it that way, but that also blows up my scheme for giving it a bogus gateway via DHCP to prevent it phoning home. If I attempt to manually assign a bogus gateway of 10.1.1.7 or similar, the UI complains that it's not in the same subnet as the IP. Which is correct, but I'm deliberately trying to give it an incorrect gateway.
 
So give it a default gateway of 192.168.1.254. Same for DNS and use 0.0.0.0 for the secondary DNS.
 
You got them huh? That was a good deal. Kind of wish that I'd grabbed one too but have enough stuff here. Never thought that I'd say that I have too many cams but I do. lol Now I just want better cams.

Yeah, cut your time losses and just assign it a static address and reserve that. Use the cam's own IP or other invalid address on the same subnet as above for gateway and DNS. Some way you'll also want to lock those down from Internet access too and segregate from rest of network if you can.
 
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I can also block it in the firewall (pfsense). I’ve never done that before, but I think it’s pretty straightforward.
 
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