Hikvision DS-7204HVI-ST boot loop after firmware update

[tosacu]

Hello,

I have an old DVR which I tried to upgrade to the latest firmware. I requested the firmware for my device from a representative of the company and it was sent to me via email. I unzipped the file, copied it on a USB stick and flash it on my DVR through it's interface. The process completed successfully and the DVR rebooted.
Since then DVR is in a constant boot loop. I tried unplugging the cameras, booting it up without the hdd installed, removing the battery from the main board so that it will reset to factory settings, used a power supply from a friend that has a working DVR but nothing worked.
I went from a functional device to a device I can no longer use.

Please find the link to the firmware provided as well as a short video I made that illustrates the exact process of the boot loop.

Firmware: https://www.dropbox.com/s/gpz7gswg9se8fak/DS-7204HVI-ST_v1.3.2_build121107_英文标配.rar?dl=0
Video: https://www.dropbox.com/s/kvdsnd7p68byeiu/VIDEO0005.mp4?dl=0

PS: please lower your audio level while watching the video because the dvr speaker beeps very loud.

 

[alastairstevenson]

Boot loops are built into the firmware and can be triggered by many things - you'd only be able to know what by connecting to the serial console of the DVR.
Common on the newer NVRs are trying to put EN firmware on a CN device, for example.
This is the 'official' firmware - which may well be the same as that which your seller supplied - same rev and build date, not sure about the language though.
http://www.hikvisioneurope.com/portal/index.php?dir=Product Firmware/Recorder/Z Phased-out/DS-72xx Series/Classic GUI/7204HVI-ST_7208HVI-ST_7204HFI-ST/
It may be worth trying it with the tftp updater.

*edit* But here is some older firmware that the readme.txt suggests would fit your model - may be worth trying : http://www.hikvisioneurope.com/portal/index.php?dir=Product Firmware/Recorder/Z Phased-out/DS-72xx Series/7204, 7208 Series/

 

[tosacu]

Thank you for your reply. The "official" firmware is the same as the one I flashed on the device, including language (verified with hiktools- EN/ML).
I tried the tftp updater but it did not work, it only showed "TFTP server initialize" ( I did change the computer IP to 192.0.0.128 and connected it directly to the ethernet port on the device). I read on the forums that the TFTP update utility has some issues with windows 10 and unfortunately the computer I tried it on has windows 10, as well as all the other computers that I have available. I will give it a shot with the older firmware, see if that is of any help.
I am not sure how I can connect to the serial console of the DVR but I am willing to give it a try if you can help me with some advice.
I do not know if I have a CN device and not sure how I can find this out but the odds of it being CN are small, in my opinion, since the device was bought from a local retailer in my country (Romania, Europe)
At the moment I am also awaiting a response from hikvision support regarding this issue. I will post here if I receive any helpful answer.

 

[alastairstevenson]

This was a useful post on the components needed to connect to a serial console : https://www.ipcamtalk.com/showthread.php/6356-Manual-Create-console-serial-access-to-Hikvision-DS-2CD2032F-I?highlight=serial+console
The assumption is that your 'classic' DVR has such a facility ...

Yes, the tftp updater has been known to be troublesome under Win10.
And also when directly connected - just with both wired as normal to your switch or router should work OK.
But changing the firmware being offered won't fix an inability to connect to the tftp updater.
Worth checking the firewall rules - it needs inbound allow for tftpserve.exe public and private, UDP and TCP.

 

[tosacu]

Thanks for all the help. Will try tomorrow what you recommended and will report back with the results.
The device has a serial connector and if have no success via TFTP will definitely order a serial connector and give it a shot.

Need to go to sleep now, it's late over here. LOL
Thanks again!

 

[tosacu]

Sorry for taking this long to report back. I ordered multiple RS232 to USB cables to try it with my device since it has a RS232 directly on the back.
I followed the guide from this link http://www.manualslib.com/manual/728924/Hikvision-Ds-7108hi-S.html?page=64#manual
Unfortunately with both my PL2303 chip RS232 to USB adapter as well as my CH340 chip adapter when booting up the device nothig was diplayed in the console in putty.

I followed the guide and set the COM port parameters accordingly and tried on both windows 10 and windows xp with different drivers for the adapters but nothing happened, the console did not display any boot log but it did behave the same (boot loop).

If anyone has some other advice for me to follow I will be forever grateful.

 

[Securame]

Are you sure your unit is DS-7204HVI-ST? There were also DS-7204HVI-ST/SE and DS-7204HVI-ST/SN if I remember correctly, which used different firmwares.

Updating an old DVR without a good reason to do is not usually a good idea.

 

[tosacu]

I am certain the unit is DS-7204HVI-ST. The chance to have flashed a different firmware is slim to none since the update file was provided to me directly via email from one of the representatives of the company after providing the S/N of the device (DS-7204HVI-ST0120101026AAWR401842973WCVU). Also after updating the device showed and update successful message and only after this went into the boot loop. After encountering this issue I asked the representative to confirm that the update file he sent was the correct one for my device.

The reason for updating was that I was encountering issues with the Hik-Online service and the representatives of the company confirmed that this update will fix those issues. At the moment I am thinking that maybe there was an intermediate, mandatory firmware that needed to be flashed and I could not update my device directly from my firmware to the latest one (the firmware version on my unit was 1.0.2 and the provided firmware version was 1.3.2).

Having said that, I still can not explain myself why the connection via RS232 showed nothing in the console, no boot log, nothing