What the heck is going on with my system?

Travis798

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I don't think this is directly Blue Iris related but I think it's the best place for the thread, as I may have to give up Blue Iris if I can't get this figured out.

Firstly, My Blue Iris PC is a Dell Optiplex 5050 with an I7-6700, 32 GB of RAM, dual NIC, using the onboard and a TP-Link card I picked up from Amazon, running Windows 10 Pro on a 500 GB M2 SSD, with Blue Iris recording to a 10TB WD Purple drive.

My first issue is that I've had multiple times now that the computer thinks I have no internet connection, Blue Iris won't send alerts because of this, but the computer is reachable across the local network, and I can ping outside the network, say google.com. During these times it also seems that I can connect to Blue Iris from my phone using the App. It seems crazy that I can connect from the App but notifications won't push to the app because windows says there's no internet? I did just update the driver to the new card. I didn't do that during install.

Another issue I'm having, it just happened today, is that it seems that all, or at least mostly all, of my cameras defaulted back to H265 for some unknown reason. They've been holding H264 for weeks with no issues, and this evening I installed a new infrared light and went to watch the playback from when I put it up, and I had no playback for the past 20 minutes. Now, I was a dummy and first tried plugging the infrared into the wrong extension cord, decided maybe a breaker flipped with all this rain, and flipped a few at the box while checking to see if one may have been tripped but not really showing they were. It happens.

So it's possible I power surged my switch, and therefore my cameras. But why would they hold the 15FPS and 15 iframe, but default back to H265? My main issue is that when they default back to H265, I have no recordings within Blue Iris. It's weird because it will still send alerts, and it will show thumbnails, but it won't play back any video. It has recordings with a file size that seems to show it's recording, but it's non playable. If there's a way to play that recording this issue can be mitigated, but it could become a major issue if something happens and I have no video when I go to look because a camera changed on me at random?

Within 2-3 weeks I'll be gone for a few months, so I'm trying to get everything buttoned down to where I can monitor and maintain all this without being on site. Any help is appreciated.
 

fenderman

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Give up on blue iris. Get an NVR. There are no issues with NVR's ever. We had to close the NVR support subforums because no one ever has any issues with them. They are magical.
Blue iris supports h.265 no problem. Make sure you are not using smart codecs.
Your cameras not holding the codec has nothing to do with BI. Some cameras require you to hit a save button that is not visible using certain browsers.
You need to CLEAN INSTALL YOUR SYSTEM USING WINDOWS MEDIA CREATION TOOL. No other crap other than what is needed to run BI/deepstack etc. Problem solved.
 

wittaj

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The reason you can't see the video is that if the BVR started in H264 and then changed to H265, then the file is basically corrupt. A stop and start of the BVR file will fix it moving forward, or the next time your system is set to clip and combine.
 

Travis798

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Give up on blue iris. Get an NVR. There are no issues with NVR's ever. We had to close the NVR support subforums because no one ever has any issues with them. They are magical.
Blue iris supports h.265 no problem. Make sure you are not using smart codecs.
Your cameras not holding the codec has nothing to do with BI. Some cameras require you to hit a save button that is not visible using certain browsers.
You need to CLEAN INSTALL YOUR SYSTEM USING WINDOWS MEDIA CREATION TOOL. No other crap other than what is needed to run BI/deepstack etc. Problem solved.
I have an NVR. A couple of them actually, since I purchased an 8 channel and outgrew it. I said in the beginning that my problem wasn't directly a blue iris problem, but the problems are preventing me from running Blue Iris to it's full potential and are negating any benefits of using it at all until I can get them corrected. I realize Blue Iris supports H.265 no problem. But all the advice here is to run H264. What blue iris apparently does NOT support just fine, is the camera randomly changing from H.264 to H.265 in the middle of a recording. Right now the NVR handles the change over just fine, so I haven't lost footage, but my plan is to eliminate the NVR once I have my Blue Iris PC running smoothly. The settings were changed using Internet explorer and have held for well over a week. I most likely power cycled the cameras and they lost that change. I'm not sure why.

I performed a clean install of windows when I got the PC. It's function has always been to run Blue Iris. That's it.
 

Sphinxicus

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My first issue is that I've had multiple times now that the computer thinks I have no internet connection, Blue Iris won't send alerts because of this, but the computer is reachable across the local network, and I can ping outside the network, say google.com.
Do you mean that you are getting the icon in the taskbar no-internet.png? Or is there something else that is alerting you to there being 'no internet connection'? BI logs etc?

You dont mention your network topology. I am assuming that you have one interface for use as your camera network which is completely isolated (i.e. no routes to any other network) and only contains your cameras and your interface on the BI PC? How do you have your two interfaces configured in the IPv4 properties section? Have you added any default gateway and or DNS configuration to the interface that you use to access the camera network?

A random stab in the dark (and i've never tested this), if you have added a default gateway to your 2nd interface and DNS config, then i wonder if Windows (having a default gateway and DNS config on both interfaces) is operating in some form of round robbin and taking turns to transmit the DNS request for the domain used to test connectivity to microsoft (used to be msftncsi.com) but since the network with your cameras on it has no route to the internet, this fails, which in turn makes windows think it has no connectivity and perhaps this plays havoc with BI? Like i said, massive leap to conclusions there.

I think you need to define your setup a bit more and determine what is making windows think there is no connectivity.
 

TonyR

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@Travis798 , you said "...maybe a breaker flipped with all this rain, and flipped a few at the box while checking to see if one may have been tripped but not really showing they were. It happens. So it's possible I power surged my switch, and therefore my camera...."

So maybe once you get your issue resolved it sounds like you need to have the BI server and the switch(es) on a good UPS (battery back up).
 

fenderman

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I have an NVR. A couple of them actually, since I purchased an 8 channel and outgrew it. I said in the beginning that my problem wasn't directly a blue iris problem, but the problems are preventing me from running Blue Iris to it's full potential and are negating any benefits of using it at all until I can get them corrected. I realize Blue Iris supports H.265 no problem. But all the advice here is to run H264. What blue iris apparently does NOT support just fine, is the camera randomly changing from H.264 to H.265 in the middle of a recording. Right now the NVR handles the change over just fine, so I haven't lost footage, but my plan is to eliminate the NVR once I have my Blue Iris PC running smoothly. The settings were changed using Internet explorer and have held for well over a week. I most likely power cycled the cameras and they lost that change. I'm not sure why.

I performed a clean install of windows when I got the PC. It's function has always been to run Blue Iris. That's it.
There is significant benefit with respect to storage capacity with h265 and now with the use of substreams you should have no issues with power by using 265 I use it on all my systems.
Perform a clean install using the media creation tool not the manufacturers image. Do it again if you already did it that way because obviously something is wrong if the system is reporting no internet connection. Unless you have a network issue.
You need to solve the problem with your cameras losing its settings after a power loss. See if there's some new firmware and confirm that you are actually saving the settings. You don't mention the cameras brand or model.
 

Travis798

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Do you mean that you are getting the icon in the taskbar View attachment 128967? Or is there something else that is alerting you to there being 'no internet connection'? BI logs etc?

You dont mention your network topology. I am assuming that you have one interface for use as your camera network which is completely isolated (i.e. no routes to any other network) and only contains your cameras and your interface on the BI PC? How do you have your two interfaces configured in the IPv4 properties section? Have you added any default gateway and or DNS configuration to the interface that you use to access the camera network?

A random stab in the dark (and i've never tested this), if you have added a default gateway to your 2nd interface and DNS config, then i wonder if Windows (having a default gateway and DNS config on both interfaces) is operating in some form of round robbin and taking turns to transmit the DNS request for the domain used to test connectivity to microsoft (used to be msftncsi.com) but since the network with your cameras on it has no route to the internet, this fails, which in turn makes windows think it has no connectivity and perhaps this plays havoc with BI? Like i said, massive leap to conclusions there.

I think you need to define your setup a bit more and determine what is making windows think there is no connectivity.
Yes, the windows taskbar shows the no internet connection symbol. Edge, firefox, etc will not work during this time, as it will say I have no internet. I am however, able to access my cameras from my BI phone app and I can ping www.google.com and get a reply.

it's possible I've got something jacked up on the network side, as all I've done is assign one card a 10.1.1.x static IP, which is the subnet my cameras are on, and my card for the internet connection is assigned 192.168.1.50. This way, I can go to 192.168.1.50:81 from my laptop I use at home, and access the UI3 or do a remote desktop connection and access Blue Iris that way. I did have a default gateway of 10.1.1.1. I didn't even realize it would let me not put something there. I just cleared the default gateway from the NIC for the camera's. Let's hope your leap to conclusions is correct!

Otherwise, my setup is basically what made sense to me. All my camera's run to a netgear POE switch, then a cable from my router to the switch, and 2 cables from the switch to the Blue Iris PC, one to each network card. I'll gladly change anything needed with the way I have it set up.
 

Travis798

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@Travis798 , you said "...maybe a breaker flipped with all this rain, and flipped a few at the box while checking to see if one may have been tripped but not really showing they were. It happens. So it's possible I power surged my switch, and therefore my camera...."

So maybe once you get your issue resolved it sounds like you need to have the BI server and the switch(es) on a good UPS (battery back up).
The breaker never flipped. I may have accidentally flipped it while troubleshooting my own mistake of using the wrong extension cord for my light (2 cords at location from my testing, only one plugged in)

The plan has been to get a backup propane generator, but especially with the price of propane, I've been putting it off because I'm undecided on if I want to trade propane for electricity. I may end up getting a UPS, but last time I looked into them I read stories about most brands having the occasional fire, and with me gone for months at a time, I just don't know.

There is significant benefit with respect to storage capacity with h265 and now with the use of substreams you should have no issues with power by using 265 I use it on all my systems.
Perform a clean install using the media creation tool not the manufacturers image. Do it again if you already did it that way because obviously something is wrong if the system is reporting no internet connection. Unless you have a network issue.
You need to solve the problem with your cameras losing its settings after a power loss. See if there's some new firmware and confirm that you are actually saving the settings. You don't mention the cameras brand or model.
I may end up having to do that, but wayyyyy back when I worked through high school doing tech support for Gateway computers, techs quickly doing re installs was a pet peeve of mine. It's a pretty harsh reaction to a problem that may be fixed through other means, and you can sometimes learn something by actually finding the cause of the problem instead of treating the symptom with major surgery.

The cameras are a mix and match, mostly 5442's, one 4k/X, I forget the model number off hand of the new dual lens color cam, 5449H maybe?, one 5241E-Z12E, an Amcrest 4k bought from the store here, some little cheap amcrest 2mp dome ptz. It's mostly just a mix and match of camera's from Andy. I'm horrible about forgetting model numbers and then forgetting what camera I put where. Between the camera's I have at old house and the ones I bought for here, and they get kinda mixed up.
 

Sphinxicus

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All my camera's run to a netgear POE switch, then a cable from my router to the switch, and 2 cables from the switch to the Blue Iris PC, one to each network card.
This bit worries me without further details. Is your switch a managed switch? Have you configured VLANS for the 10.1.1.0/24 network and the 192.168.1.0/24 network?
 

Travis798

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This bit worries me without further details. Is your switch a managed switch? Have you configured VLANS for the 10.1.1.0/24 network and the 192.168.1.0/24 network?
Unmanaged. It's a netgear 16 port POE+ at 183 w switch
 

Sphinxicus

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ok so you have two L3 networks on the same L2 switch. While in theory this should work fine its adding a bit of an unknown to the mix as to how the switches OS would behave when it starts adding MAC addresses for different networks to its CAM table.

If that PoE switch is solely to be used to power the IP cams, I personally would isolate it from the rest of the network. Granted this would mean that you will only be able to access the cameras UI from the BI PC but that shouldnt be a regular task anyway.

Unless there is a physical reason why you are plugging both the PC interfaces into that switch then i would do the following.

Router with interface in 192.168.1.0/24 network > PC with interface in 192.168.1.0/24 network. This will be the IP address that you access BI on and the interface that you will configure the default gateway on
PC with interface in 10.1.1.0/24 network > PoE switch (don't configure default gateway/DNS server for this PC interface)
IP cams > PoE switch

topology.png

The above would certainly remove a bit of complexity and ensure that your BI PC is only attempting to use the gateway assigned to the 192.168.1.0/24 interface to access the internet. That will help troubleshoot any connectivity issues if you continue to face them.
 

TonyR

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I may end up getting a UPS, but last time I looked into them I read stories about most brands having the occasional fire, and with me gone for months at a time, I just don't know.
I've installed and used probably a hundred UPS's between 1990 and 2022, mostly APC and Tripplett, a couple of Cyberpower brands and NEVER had an issue. IMO, they provide more benefit than risk.

If you're concerned about fire, and rightly so, have you ever checked to see how many Chinese-made phone chargers and wall wart power supplies you have plugged in and running in your residence or business while you're away that are NOT UL-listed? :idk:
 

fenderman

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If you are using the cameras with an nvr as well then the nvr is changing the settings. You can sit and dick around with your issue or take 15 minuets and reinstall windows.
 

Travis798

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Okay this is going to drive me crazy. My 4k/x camera changed its self to H265 again today. It was fine this morning, and at 1:03pm, hours after I left home, and 12 minutes before returning home, my playback feed stops. The NVR is unplugged. No power to it. The other camera's seem fine as of now and are holding their settings for now. Any ideas?
 

jmhmcse

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I don't think this is directly Blue Iris related but I think it's the best place for the thread, as I may have to give up Blue Iris if I can't get this figured out.

.......

Firstly, My Blue Iris PC is a Dell Optiplex 5050 with an I7-6700, 32 GB of RAM, dual NIC, using the onboard and a TP-Link card I picked up from Amazon, running Windows 10 Pro on a 500 GB M2 SSD, with Blue Iris recording to a 10TB WD Purple drive.

........

My first issue is that I've had multiple times now that the computer thinks I have no internet connection, Blue Iris won't send alerts because of this, but the computer is reachable across the local network, and I can ping outside the network, say google.com. During these times it also seems that I can connect to Blue Iris from my phone using the App. It seems crazy that I can connect from the App but notifications won't push to the app because windows says there's no internet? I did just update the driver to the new card. I didn't do that during install.

============================
Do both network addresses have routes to the internet?​
Do both network addresses have a valid DNS entry?​
Which network address is provided by your internet gateway (router)?​
BI requires a default gateway and valid DNS, manually provided or from DHCP, to connect to the internet​
Access between local devices need nothing other than an active connection to communicate with each other. I presume when you use the app to connect to BI you are at home, on the local LAN. App to BI, while at home doesn't require internet.​
Of course, BI does require internet to send emails; no internet, no emails.​
================================

Another issue I'm having, it just happened today, is that it seems that all, or at least mostly all, of my cameras defaulted back to H265 for some unknown reason. They've been holding H264 for weeks with no issues, and this evening I installed a new infrared light and went to watch the playback from when I put it up, and I had no playback for the past 20 minutes. Now, I was a dummy and first tried plugging the infrared into the wrong extension cord, decided maybe a breaker flipped with all this rain, and flipped a few at the box while checking to see if one may have been tripped but not really showing they were. It happens.

=================================
On my cameras, the h.264 and h.265 configuration is performed on the camera itself. I match those settings in BI.​
If the cameras are changing, I would say the command to to so is originating from another (non-BI) source. If not external, perhaps internal; a faulty camera(s).​
It seems that with the two NICs and different network ranges you are isolating camera traffic. Have you also firewalled and disabled UPnP on the cameras and router?​
========================================

So it's possible I power surged my switch, and therefore my cameras. But why would they hold the 15FPS and 15 iframe, but default back to H265? My main issue is that when they default back to H265, I have no recordings within Blue Iris. It's weird because it will still send alerts, and it will show thumbnails, but it won't play back any video. It has recordings with a file size that seems to show it's recording, but it's non playable. If there's a way to play that recording this issue can be mitigated, but it could become a major issue if something happens and I have no video when I go to look because a camera changed on me at random?

=========================================
FPS and iframe are not linked in any fashion to h.264/h.265. The fact that they remain unchanged when the codecs change is unrelated.​
Camera configurations that change during a camera power cycle, switch restart, or at random causing file corruption would not be the fault of BI. Another indication of a bad camera.​
==========================================

Within 2-3 weeks I'll be gone for a few months, so I'm trying to get everything buttoned down to where I can monitor and maintain all this without being on site. Any help is appreciated.

======================================
Time to simply the solution and document the implementation. A drawing of your network along with devices and their IP(s) would definitely help identify configuration anomalies.​
 
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