Dahua NVR I think bricked? Powercut

[dahlia]

Hi, I'm hoping someone can help me here as I'm struggling.

I have a white labelled Dahua NVR5208 which hard-wired cameras into 6 of the ports. After a powercut yesterday morning, all I got was just the 'NVR' splash screen and it wouldn't boot past it. I tried restarting it, leaving the power cable out, removing the HDD, but nothing. I have 1 red light on the motherboard and 1 orange light. Someone else suggested that the firmware on some of these models was prone to fail under certain circumstances. So I guess my only option to save it is to use it's serial port to try and update the firmware?

I've downloaded the latest firmware for my model, installed Tftpd64 and Putty. I've also ordered a serial to USB cable as my PC does not have a serial port.

Would someone be able to give me a step by step guide on loading the firmware on to the NVR?

I have a Hikvision guide that is in very broken English, is hard to follow and obviously is a different brand.

Much appreciated. I really don't want to have to fork out 200-300gbp on another NVR if I can save this one.

 

[alastairstevenson]

I've also ordered a serial to USB cable as my PC does not have a serial port.

Does the NVR definitely have a serial (RS-232) port? Usually that's just on the bigger models, a DB9 connector on the back panel.
Most (and I'm unfamiliar with your particular model) have serial TTL interfaces via an onboard connector, which needs a different type of adaptor.

 

[dahlia]

Hey there. Yes it does. It has RS-232 written above it. Although the cable I ordered was a USB to male serial, I have had to order another one with a female connector. Oops. Tried the cable I have, just inserted into USB of PC and I could see it registered as a COM port in device list which is a good start.

So new cable should arrive tomorrow.

 

[dahlia]

It worked! Anyone has a Dahua NVR that bricks (splash screen then reboot after a minute or so) then use this video:

Follow it.