I've got an old QSee NVR with ten IP cameras circa 2014. Six of the cameras are Hikvision and four are the original QSee (Dahua) cameras that came with the NVR. All the cameras are POE, hardwired, and routed through a half dozen hubs/switches on a gigabit network in my house. The whole system has worked solid for six years. I am recording all ten channels 24x7 and not doing anything significant at the camera level. No motion detection. no local recording or snapshots. Very simple 24x7 NVR.
Until last week. I noticed that my four QSee cameras were offline. So, I went around pulling their POE plugs to reboot them. They came back up online and I was happy, but then noticed the next day all four were out again. Huh? So I reset a few of them and then realized they went offline about an hour later. Only the QSee and not the Hikvision cameras, many/most plugged into the same POE switches and routing through the same hubs.
So, today I dug into the issue hard. I have a network engineer background and computer expert, so I wasn't going to let a little camera defeat me. but, here I am.
I focused on one of the cameras. I changed all the passwords. Removed it from the DVR list. ensured every possible function was turned off on the camera, etc. Confirmed all files deleted. Ensured TCPIP only and a static IP address. When I power cycle it, it stays online and visible on the network for 30-60 minutes then disappears from the network (no ping), but the power stays on (IR lights visible). Oddly, it only happens to the four QSee cameras equally and consistently. I looked for obvious things like conflicting IP addresses or other network anomalies, but nothing stands out. The logs on the camera also don't indicate much. Just the startup and login/logouts.
My sense is there has to be something in the firmware or unique to the cameras, such that all four are failing in the same way at the same time.
Any insights, clues, or additional things to check would be appreciated. --besides the obvious answer to throw out those four cameras and get new ones. The QSee cameras were never well supported OEM Dahua's, but I think the model is QCN8026B and the firmware is 2.400QS00.0R build 2015-05-23.
Until last week. I noticed that my four QSee cameras were offline. So, I went around pulling their POE plugs to reboot them. They came back up online and I was happy, but then noticed the next day all four were out again. Huh? So I reset a few of them and then realized they went offline about an hour later. Only the QSee and not the Hikvision cameras, many/most plugged into the same POE switches and routing through the same hubs.
So, today I dug into the issue hard. I have a network engineer background and computer expert, so I wasn't going to let a little camera defeat me. but, here I am.
I focused on one of the cameras. I changed all the passwords. Removed it from the DVR list. ensured every possible function was turned off on the camera, etc. Confirmed all files deleted. Ensured TCPIP only and a static IP address. When I power cycle it, it stays online and visible on the network for 30-60 minutes then disappears from the network (no ping), but the power stays on (IR lights visible). Oddly, it only happens to the four QSee cameras equally and consistently. I looked for obvious things like conflicting IP addresses or other network anomalies, but nothing stands out. The logs on the camera also don't indicate much. Just the startup and login/logouts.
My sense is there has to be something in the firmware or unique to the cameras, such that all four are failing in the same way at the same time.
Any insights, clues, or additional things to check would be appreciated. --besides the obvious answer to throw out those four cameras and get new ones. The QSee cameras were never well supported OEM Dahua's, but I think the model is QCN8026B and the firmware is 2.400QS00.0R build 2015-05-23.