Swann NVR16-8000 firmware flash to Hikvision DS7616NI-I2/16P? Help with TFTPD64?

[BlakeN08]

Alright, I think I wandered down a path I might shouldn't have. I decided I was going to add some more cameras to my system and with Swann limiting what cameras can work with certain DVRs I decided maybe it was time to explore flashing my NVR over to the Hikvision firmware.

I started with this firmware: i_series_usa_firmware_v3.4.92_170518 directly from the Hikvision page. The firmware loaded and even kept my existing password information. My still unflashed swann cameras, SWNHD-850(DS-2CD2063G0-I equivalents I believe) didn't show up. Maybe I didn't give them enough time, maybe they needed to be manually added back, I wasn't sure but my plan was to worry about that after getting the NVR on the latest firmware.
My next step was to upgrade to firmware: nvr_k51_bl_ml_std_v4.22.005_191208 which shows as the the latest firmware. This firmware also seemed to flash, upon reboot the login screen showed weird characters in the username field, just for kicks I tried my two most recent passwords as well as the hikvision out of box passwords and neither would work.

More searching on the forums here leads me to believe I probably have the incorrect firmware for my device(maybe the older firmware wasn't as specialized and was for a wider range of NVRs?)
Anyway, since I had a firmware version that had worked I wasn't too concerned. I downloaded tftp, and tried to use it to flash back to the previous firmware. Then I ran into a loop type issue where tftp would show it connect, then was transmitting, then would connect again. Based on the information I found I came to the conclusion my firmware file was too large.

This led me to downloading tftpd64 by jounin which seemed promising but I'm guessing I just don't really understand how to set it up/use it. Compared to TFTP run it and let it go I'm guessing I'm just not doing something right, as I can't really even get it to do much of anything. I was initially trying to use the server portion but could never get it to recognize anything.

Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated. Also, can anyone confirm whether or not I'm correct or incorrect on what my Swann NVR actually is? Physically it looks exactly like the Hikvision DS7616NI-I2/16P and says 16 Channel 4k Ultra HD on the front.

 

[alastairstevenson]

The Hikvision tftp updater isn't just a send-only tftp server - it does a special handshake with the NVR / IP camera. A normal tftp server does not do this.
Apparently (I've not tried this myself) it's possible to use Jounin tftpd32 and the Hikvision tftp updater together to get round the 32MB size limit.
I don't know which you need to start first to overcome a possible port 69 clash.

Then there is the Scott Lamb tftp updater close that works OK :

GitHub - scottlamb/hikvision-tftpd: Unbrick a Hikvision device (NVR or camera) via TFTP

Unbrick a Hikvision device (NVR or camera) via TFTP - scottlamb/hikvision-tftpd

github.com

The password issue has happened quite a lot.
It's likely to be a configuration database conversion problem due to too large a jump in firmware versions.

 

[BlakeN08]

The Hikvision tftp updater isn't just a send-only tftp server - it does a special handshake with the NVR / IP camera. A normal tftp server does not do this.
Apparently (I've not tried this myself) it's possible to use Jounin tftpd32 and the Hikvision tftp updater together to get round the 32MB size limit.
I don't know which you need to start first to overcome a possible port 69 clash.

Then there is the Scott Lamb tftp updater close that works OK :

GitHub - scottlamb/hikvision-tftpd: Unbrick a Hikvision device (NVR or camera) via TFTP

Unbrick a Hikvision device (NVR or camera) via TFTP - scottlamb/hikvision-tftpd

github.com

The password issue has happened quite a lot.
It's likely to be a configuration database conversion problem due to too large a jump in firmware versions.

Thanks for the reply. I feel like I'm in over my head, I haven't used linux in over 5 years and just threw ubuntu on an old laptop really quick. The commands to "download the software" and "run the script" kind of throw me off. I already have the firmware saved, do I need to actually re-download the firmware again during the process using the url from hikvisions website? As for the script does it need to be somewhere in particular, just playing around with it I couldn't get it to execute from the terminal. Sorry for what are probably dumb questions, I just don't really have much experience at all with linux, that's kind of why I was going all in with the windows options first.

 

[BlakeN08]

Just a follow up...I was thinking more about the idea you floated about using tftp and tftpd32 at the same time and decided to give it a shot. I opened tftpd32 and made sure everything was set up and then ran tftp for the first time i noticed I was showing a connection in tftp32. The file successfully transferred and I was able to successfully flash the firmware, I would love to provide more information about how it worked but I really don't know. Thanks a lot, I would have never thought to try that.

**Update #2** Also, Alastairstevenson just wanted to say you were correct. It looks that my firmware jump was too large and is probably what caused my issue. Going back through the upgrade process I made smaller jumps between firmware updates and had no problem upgrading up to the latest. Thanks again!!

 

[alastairstevenson]

The file successfully transferred and I was able to successfully flash the firmware,

Hey, well done, a good result!
And thanks for sharing, that may help others.