NVR Hanging during boot up

Well I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but on the note of you may be spending a LOT more time trying to bring this back to life than its even worth, not to mention the lack of support (besides the spectacular community support on here), it's probably worth replacing.


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:laugh: I was thinking exactky the same.... I just want the cameras up and running now....

Will I have to replace my IP POE Cameras also? They are about 5 years old now? If not, any recommendations for a suitable NVR would be appreciated.

I have built PCs in the past so would it be cost effective to build a new NVR? I am guessing that I would have to buy a POE Switch if I did this.

Thanks again guys !

------------------

Forgot to add that this is only a 4 Camera System hence the 4 POE ports on the NVR
 
The PDVR(8.5.5.28).exe file is an i386 PE program.
I thought Win7 might be a better bet as an experiment because it has a substantially richer set of drivers for what is likely unusual hardware.
And not a huge effort - and the media no doubt readily to hand.
And it would be a good test to see if it just boots.
And whether the PDVR(8.5.5.28).exe installs and runs OK and looks like the NVR.
You never know - it may just burst right back into life.
 
That was my thought when I said "look at the last file" in the link I posted from the one dealer. It looked like a "system in a file". And basically the concept of this is you run that either from another machine and slave the purple into that machine, and "restore" the system to your new hard drive. Or, there may be some special recovery instructions that say to put it on a flash drive in some manner to let the recorder do the restore. Again, read the instructions/read me on the PDVR package. It's probably a lot simpler than it seems.

When I said to trash it I meant that if you could not obtain such a recovery file from anywhere (even a vendor you've never dealt with before), there would be little to no chance of recovery because of how peculiar this box is. However, both of us found 2 different sources for "firmware-ish" files that per website descriptions, *should* bring it back to life.

Download it on your primary PC, open it up and see what it does. It should have instructions to tell you how to get the recovery process going.

I have to admit this is a very very different recovery method than I've seen before. Some manufacturers use low level boot loaders that never die (Belkin routers for example), Hikvision lives and breathes the TFTP protocol, and I'm sure every other manufacturer has their own way of doing things.

Download it, follow instructions (if there are any) and let us know how it goes. As ancient of a system it is and as fussy as it might be to work with I would love to find out you recovered it successfully.


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It would be great to get another 4 or 5 years out of this system so I'm going to give it a try !!!!!

But first, let me make sure my understanding is right....

Which file should I download? The PDVR package from:

https://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=pt&u=http://wapa-brasil.com.br/nvr/&prev=search

or the PMS.zip file from:

http://www.eagleviewsecurity.co.za/index.php/download/category/2-wapa-ip-camera-software#

or both ????


1. I should download the software package (PDVR or PMS) and then install the new WD Purple HDD into my Windows 8 PC and format it.
2. After that I should try to copy the software package onto the WD Purple and install it.
3. Assuming it does install something, I should try removing the WD Purple HDD from the Windows 8 PC and installing it into the NVR again and see what happens...

Is my understanding correct? If so, I will try tomorrow morning and let you know how it goes !

Thanks guys.... the support I have received on this forum is EXCELLENT.... :joyous:
 
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I think the one I linked to is an older version of the PDVR software application, despite it apparently being on the WAPA Brazil website.
The one @CoreyX64 linked to is labelled as a Win8 program - clearly fairly new "WAP Windows 8 software.zip"
It's not clear though which would be for a regular PC and which for a PC DVR.

[TABLE="width: 100%"]
[TR]
[TD="class: capfontPhocaPDClass"]Details
[/TD]
[TD="class: capfontclosePhocaPDClass"]Close
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[TABLE="class: fgPhocaPDClass, width: 100%"]
[TR]
[TD="class: fontPhocaPDClass"]
This is the latest version of WAPA software meant to be installed on Windows 8. This software will detect and connect/record to 16 WAPA IP cameras (up to 1080p).

​
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
Click to expand...
Good luck. Should be fun.
 
As far as which file to download, PDVR without question. This stands for Pure Digital Video Recorder, which if you look on your box, is exactly what you're working with. The other is likely client software or PC based NVR software like blue iris but bottom of the barrel in terms of quality is concerned. (Most likely)

You aren't going to simply format and copy it to the hard drive. (I don't think)

The PDVR file is a RAR archive, so extract it and you'll see an EXE file. Run that, don't copy it. It's likely a setup file/installer. At which point you would tell it to install to the purple from your Win8 system. When it's done move the drive over to the recorder, and it should boot.

This is pure speculation, if it tells you to do otherwise go and follow that, or sounds like it's installing the recording software on the Win8 computer (C:\Program Files (x86)), bail on it. Trial and error is key here. Follow instructions over anything that we say. Unless I go so far as to download and run this on my own system to see what it's going to do (would love to, but very short on time) I can't give you definitive instructions like I can with Hikvision equipment because I work with Hikvision products regularly so I'm very familiar with them.


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This morning I connected the WD Purple to my Desktop Windows 8 PC and ran the PDVR.exe file and it came back asking where to install...

It looks like it wanted to install in the Program Files folder on my Windows 8 PC so I cancelled the installation...

IMG_20160306_085532.jpg

The WD Purple is not formatted so it is not visible in Windows anyway !
 
it says it requires 23Mb of space. That seems awfully small for a full fledged system. Then again embedded linux is small by design, so I could be wrong.

Honestly, I would go ahead and install it and just see what it does. Open the program up, etc. From the looks of it, it may be as I had guessed, PC NVR software. Worst case scenario you wasted a few minutes of time and you have to uninstall it. Not the end of the world.
 
Installed and it doesn't seem to do anything.
When I click on the executables, nothing happens.

this is what installed:
IMG_20160306_094328.jpg
 
Out of curiosity I installed on a Win7 PC both of the programs that have been linked to. Risky, I know ... but curiosity got the better of me.
One is just a DVR player, looking for .dvr files.
But the Win8 one looks like it may be the WAPA DVR app itself.
Screenshots below.
Just a suggestion, from what I would do:
Install Win7 or Win8 on the new WD Purple drive.
Install it in the WAPA box and see if it boots up. If it does, and it's connected to the internet, it may fix itself up in terms of drivers for the basic hardware - video, LAN etc.
Then if that starts looking like a regular PC, install the program that's tagged for Win8 and see what it manages to find. It might just have some drivers that it installs for the DVR-specific hardware.
dvr_1.jpgdvr_2.jpg
 
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Hi Alastair.... I laughed hard when i read your post about curiosity getting the better of you. :laugh:
I have been there and done that many times.... mostly with negative results...

The second image of the empty camera viewing boxes looks exactly like what I used to see on this DVR so I think it is worth a try... BUT.... I dont have Windows 7 or 8 Media so I will have trouble to install :(
 
Does anyone have a Windows ISO image I could use?

I wanted to create a bootable USB disk and then change the boot sequence to boot off the USB disk and see if that revives the PDVR.

Thanks :)
 
OK... I managed to make a bootable USB Drive with Win XP on there....
I changed the boot up sequence to start on removable media first...

I save settings to BIOS and restart the PC and it goes through the normal check and still only gets as far as the ACPI Controller IRQ 9 but then says:

Press any key to boot from USB....

I press a key (many keys in fact) but it doesn't seem to do anything...

Any ideas?


.................

I think I'll try to do the WinXP install on a normal PC... then move the HDD to the PDVR as suggested on this forum....
 
Latest update...

I managed to get Windows XP installed onto the WD Purple and then installed this into the PDVR.

It starts up fine and the Windows XP logo flashes on screen for a fraction of a second but then it restarts immediately.

Next time it says that Windows did not start successfully, so it gives me the option to start in Safe Mode....

Safe Mode
Safe Mode with Networking
Safe Mode with Command Prompt

I have tried all 3 options but it doesn't boot up into Windows.

Maybe the spec is too low for Windows XP to run.... I don't know.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

If no suggestions to fix this, then should I:

1. Buy a new NVR? If so, any suggestions for one?
2. Buy a full new CCTV System? If so, suggestions for brand and models would be appreciated.

Thanks guys for all your time, efforts and suggestions.... :)
 
Windows is fussy when transferring installs. You need to install it directly on the system itself. Once you get past the "copying files" section of the install it begins to load hardware specific drivers. This usually happens when you install Windows on Intel or AMD and transfer it to a system of the opposite brand. I'm guessing your Win8 system is an AMD.


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If I had to recommend an NVR, I would say Hikvision. I have several and haven't had any major issues with them.


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