I think my new Dahua 5231 might be DOA

[jb007gd]

Hey all,

My third Dahua 5231 arrived today; I've bought them all from Andy.
Before I reach out to him I want to check with the community to see if I am missing something.

When I tried to set this one up I wasn't able to get the config tool to work, nor am I able to hit the default IP address via ping or using a web browser (the config tool DOES see my other two cameras).

I have this camera hooked up to a TP-Link SG1005P 5 port PoE switch; it's the exact one the Wiki on this site recommends. It's powering one of the other two cameras and that's all, so there shouldn't be a problem with the power budget. Also, the "PoE max" LED is not lit.

Anyway, on the switch the green light is on indicating it's delivering power and the other light that indicates network connectivity is on but not blinking much, if at all. It's mostly a constant orange with a few blinks here and there.
All the other ports are blinking like you'd expect, indicating lots of activity.
I tried three different Ethernet cables, and I tried using different ports on the switch; they all yield the same result.

Is there anything else I could try before reaching out to Andy?
Thank you!

 

[jb007gd]

Update: Andy is replacing the camera. He's a good man, but we already knew that.

In other news, I didn't know there is a hard reset button on the inside of the camera. The more you know!

 

[looney2ns]

Are you sure you don't have an IP conflict?
Are you certain you changed the other cams IP address from their default of 192.168.1.108

 

[jb007gd]

Are you sure you don't have an IP conflict?
Are you certain you changed the other cams IP address from their default of 192.168.1.108

Yeah, I have a little spreadsheet where I keep track of those things. I logged in to the various static IP addresses to make sure.

I had set my other two Dahua cameras up via web browser, but this time I did fire up the config tool that comes with the cameras. My two working ones were visible, but the third (new) one isn't. After going back and forth with Andy and him walking me through checking the internal wiring and performing the hard reset, he is going to exchange it for a new one.

 

[jb007gd]

Unfortunately I'm getting more confused as time goes by. Today I received a replacement camera from Andy as well as a second new camera from Andy. They are both the same model. I cannot connect to either of them either directly via web browser or by using the setup tool.
There's no way I got three bad cameras in a row; the problem must be on my side.

What is confusing me the most is I successfully set up two Dahua cameras, both by aiming a web browser to 192.168.1.108 and initializing them. It was simple. It's like all the sudden the process to set these up just stopped working. Very frustrating.

I'm attaching a drawing of my network. I'm not an expert but I think technically I have two networks, one with 192.168.0.x (my cable modem, no wireless) and one with 192.168.86.x (my Google WiFi, only wireless).

My understanding is these Dahua cameras come set with a static IP address of 192.168.1.108. No matter which network I am attached to, I cannot ping or in any way connect to that IP address. All other connections work just fine. For example, my laptop with IP address 192.168.86.46 can connect to my Blue Iris server with IP address 192.168.0.74.

I understand the Dahua manual states that my PC needs to "be on the same network segment" to initialize a new camera. I'm struggling with that because 1) I was able to initialize two Dahua cameras by connecting to them from my laptop with an IP address in the 192.168.86.x range and 2) my Motorola cable modem specifically disallows me from changing my network to the 192.168.1.x range because it's "reserved for guest network use" and the cannot be changed. In other words, I'm not sure I have a way to get my laptop onto a 192.168.1.x network.

Any and all help is appreciated.

 

[looney2ns]

Use the configtool. At the top, click on search settings. Check other segment. Enter 192.168.1.1 & 192.168.1.254 and
255.255.255.0

Click ok then search.

 

[SouthernYankee]

1. Disconnect a PC from the network.
2. Connect the PC to a switch, nothing else on the switch
3. Connect one camera to the switch
4. Change the IP address on the PC to a static IP 192.168.1.100
5 login to the camera using a browser.
6 change the camera IP address in the camera to a new static IP address.
7 reboot the camera. It now has the new IP address.

 

[jb007gd]

Use the configtool. At the top, click on search settings. Check other segment. Enter 192.168.1.1 & 192.168.1.254 and
255.255.255.0

Click ok then search.

I owe you a nice fruit basket. The Configtool only worked when I ran it on my Blue Iris server. And I had to fiddle with the IP address range in the tool. It found the camera when I had the range set to 0.0.0.0 to 0.0.0.254. I was able to initialize both cameras tonight and change the IP address on one of them. I will get the other one tomorrow but for now its bedtime. Now I can sleep easy. This has been bothering me intensely and now the mystery is solved!!!

This also means the camera I returned to Andy was never broken to begin with. Jeez. Live and learn.