New 5442 cam connects via router port, not by switch

[Mike A.]

Does sound like something else is going on.

Have you tried changing the IP of the cam?

When plugged into the switch can you ping the cam?

When plugged into the switch from your computer in a command box if you run "arp -a" do you see the MAC of the cam? Same when plugged into the router (obviously should be able to in that case).

Is the device that you're trying to use to access the cam connected through the router or switch? If with some device like a laptop with a static IP assigned in same range plugged directly into the switch can you then access it? If you remove the network connection from router to switch can you then access the cam?

On the Asus, under LAN, DHCP tab. Look to see if there is an assignment for that IP address or that MAC. Delete if there is.

On the TPLink switch, look for the same thing. Some existing reservation if possible. Is there a DHCP server running on the switch?

Trying to think if there's anything under the Dahua network settings that would affect it but can't think of anything other than the usual IP/mask/gateway and should work or not either way. Double check all of that again.

 

[wittaj]

I see a VLAN tab - is this a managed switch or maybe the port is being blocked by VLAN rule?

 

[JDavis]

Excellent suggestions. I really appreciate the brainstorming.

@wittaj The switch is VLAN capable but I have no VLANs set up yet. I am not well versed on VLANS but I will poke around more with that settings tab to see if there's not something set by default which could somehow affect this.

@Mike A. Within the browser interface of the cam, I changed its IP to 192.168.1.111 while it was connected to the router. With the cam plugged into the swich (either in a POE port, or with a power inserter on a non POE port) the cam is not pingable. All packets are lost. With the cam still plugged into the switch, the cam's MAC address does not show on the list displayed with the "arp -a" command prompt instruction. Both operations though succeed with the camera plugged into the router.

Everything on my network is connected thru the switch- the PC and my AP I've used to connect my phone to the cams included. I normally utilize just one LAN port on the router, to provide the WAN for the switch. The radios on the router are turned off, even.

I have a few devices manually assigned on the ASUS DHCP tab as show in one of the attachments, but none of the cams are manually assigned.

On the switch, I don't believe it is giving DHCP assignments:

On the new camera's IP settings page:

Everything other than the IP address on the camera's network settings pages match my other cameras' settings, line for line.

I've never understood the settings on this page, other than knowing UPnP should be disable. My other cams work and they all show the exact same thing, but it seems like something here might be relevant?



Edit: My cut and pasted images were converted to attachments. Sorry it isn't as organized as I tried to make it.

 

[Mike A.]

I don't see anything unusual on any of your captures.

Have you tried changing the IP to another address to test? e.g., 192.168.1.112 or whatever.

What happens if you try accessing the cam on port 8080 instead of 80? i.e., 192.168.1.111:8080

What happens if you disconnect the router from the switch and then plug in the cam? That is, isolate the switch/cam/access device from the router. You may need some device with a manually assigned IP to test if normally using a DHCP address.

Might also try running the Dahua Config Tool when it's connected to the switch and see if that shows it anywhere.

On the cam, TCP/IP tab, uncheck "Enable ARP/Ping to set IP address server. Don't think that's it but just to eliminate a variable.

Also don't think the problem, but on the UPnP page you probably should uncheck each of those services. I know on one of my Dahua cams it still tries to continually use UPnP to do things even when the Enable box is not checked if the other service boxes are checked. Also disable uPnP on the Asus.

Might want to do a power-off/reboot on the switch too just to be sure you're getting a clean start.

 

[Flintstone61]

I don't remember if you tried changing the IP from Static to Dhcp on the cam when its plugged into the router.......and then moving it back to the switch to alleviate any conflict with .111

 

[JDavis]

Okay I'm fairly convinced now that the switch is malfunctioning. Which is sad, because it's only been in use since late September. It has good power protection (dedicated circuit for my networking stack, UPS, plus a mid grade $50 Triplite surge protector), and the only POE draw it has ever provided is for one 5231 camera. As @Tommyt79 pointed out, it has a lifetime warranty. We'll see how easy that is to get service on though.

While going down MikeA's list, it occured to me that I hadn't tried POE switch port #1 with the new camera. I apologize if I missed that, if someone previously suggested that. This is the port which has been working fine for one of my old cams. No luck plugging the new cam into that port, but when I tried plugging my old cam back into that same port again, now it won't work either! Same behaviour with it now as with the new camera...works when plugged into the router but not the switch.

To answer the questions on the above post though Mike, changing the IP to 192.168.1.112 didn't result in any change, and I couldn't access it on port 8080. Isolating the router from the switch (pulling the switch's de factor WAN cable) didn't seem to make any difference either. I've reset the switch thru the software interface several times. I had tried the Dahua config tool earlier as well, and it couldn't find the camera while it was connected to the switch in either configuration.

I changed the other cam settings as you suggested. Much appreciated all around. Looks like I might be in the market for a better switch if the warranty service is lacking on the TPLink. I'll have to take another look at @Flintstone61's suggestions on page 1.

Thank you again, guys (and gals?).

@Flinstone61 I'll try your suggestion in post 25, as I hadn't done that yet.

 

[Mike A.]

Looks like I might be in the market for a better switch if the warranty service is lacking on the TPLink...

Sounds like maybe so.

On the switch I'd think that there's some sort of diagnostics/control page that shows the status and what's happening on individual ports. Might take a look at that and see if there's something there to clue you into what's happening.

Edit to add:

There is. Manual is here:

https://static.tp-link.com/2020/202011/20201102/1910012910_Easy%20Smart%20Switch_UG.pdf

How many cams do you have on the switch? I happened to see this on the product page. If full (or not working properly), I wonder if it might be something along these lines with power being reduced/shifting to other ports. That might explain why the working cam would no longer work when plugged back in again - power gets shifted away where it thinks more needed:

Overload Arrangement
TL-SG1016PE has a priority function which helps protect the system when its power is overloaded. If all PoE+ devices’ power consumption is greater than or equal to 110W, a priority will be arranged among the 16 PoE+ ports, at which point the system will cut off the power of the lowest-priority port.
Port Priority Function
*Priority (port 1>port 2>port 3>port 4> port 5>port 6>port 7>port 8): This function will help protect the system if the system power becomes overloaded. For example, Port 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 are using 30w (maximum power per port is 30W), the system power is 110w in total (PoE max LED will be green if all PoE PDs power consumption is >= 110W). If there is an additional PD inserted to Port 4 with 20w then the system will cut off Port 5 to protect the system, this means Port 1, 2 ,3, will use 90w, and Port 4 will use 20w, and no power will be supplied to Port 5.

The stats page for ports should show you more what's happening.

 

[biggen]

Switches can be fickle. I’ve had numerous Tplink and Netgear switches over the years with no problems. Yet, I have two Netgear switches with 2 dead ports each (link lights stay lit even with no network cable in them) in my garage right now. Luck of the draw sometimes.

 

[JDavis]

Good thinking, but I've only ever had one cam connected to a POE port- that's the extent of the POE power draw on the switch, life to date. The draw was about 5 watts from that one cam, out of a total power budget of 110 watts.

I found the global and per port POE settings within the switch's configuration app, but I don't think anything looks off there. POE is turned on for all POE capable ports with "high priority". I've attached a screenshot of the status page per port. I think all of them are active and should be ready to provide power and a LAN connection.




I'm not sure what else I can try at this point.

 

[Mike A.]

Look at the POE tab too. See if that shows power to ports.

 

[samplenhold]

I am still leaning to a network issue.

Did you try disconnecting everything from the router as was recommended by someone earlier?

Start simple. Isolate a switch from the router and everything else. Plug the cam and laptop into it. Just those two units and see if it works. Try the non-POE switch with the 12volt connected to the pigtail, and try it with the POE injector.

 

[JDavis]

@Mike A. the switch configuration tool shows power available to all ports. I don't know why it shows a power draw on port 1, as there's nothing plugged in to that port anymore.



Though I certainly can see the possibility that it could be a network issue and not a faulty switch, I'm spooked now to disconnect anything else from the switch. I can't get any of the POE ports (the ones which are on the left side of the switch) to work with either camera now (the pic was taken before I got too deep into this mess). If I start pulling patch cables from other ports to try to test the switch in isolation and I lose functionality of other ports, I'm really going to have to scramble. I either have to get over that, or get a back up switch to have at the ready. I'm leaning towards the latter, because I can see the wisdom in having a capable backup on hand anyway. Disappointing predicament, though I do reallly appreciate the help you guys are providing.

 

[Mike A.]

Odd. I'm out of ideas. Not sure either why it would show power on a port with nothing there. Almost like it doesn't like things being "hot swapped" though that shouldn't be a problem with a switch.

One last thing along those lines - maybe try switching off, plugging things in, bringing it back up again, See if that works.

Think I'd be RMAing/returning it at this point. Probably have to talk to them to do the warranty. Maybe see what they say.

 

[JDavis]

That's a good way to put it- my switch possibly doesn't like being hot swapped. I'll try turning it off, plugging the cams into POE ports, firing it back up, and seeing it that works. In the meantime I have a cheap little 8 port dumb switch arriving later this week which will give me a backup option and let me feel comfortable breaking this thing down to determine if I need to explore a waranty claim.

 

[concord]

I suspect that there is a problem with the cam ethernet cable wires, i.e. wired wrong, broken connection, cold solder joint, etc., since powering by pigtail works...

 

[mikeynags]

Sound like one of these can help diagnose the POE at each port:

Amazon.com : Hobbes 256318K PoEz Kit - Power Over Ethernet Detector with Powered Device Simulator : Camera & Photo

Amazon.com : Hobbes 256318K PoEz Kit - Power Over Ethernet Detector with Powered Device Simulator : Camera & Photo

www.amazon.com

 

[JDavis]

As a follow up, after doing a hard reset (pull the power plug for a min) the switch started acting as expected again. Several soft resets via the switch's management app had failed to fix the problem. Lesson learned. Thanks all, I appreciated the forum's listening and advice.

 

[Flintstone61]

Yay!