change serial number in hikvision DS 72xx HGHI F1/N

The header is a 1.5mm 4-pin JST ZH connector.
The console operates at 115,200 baud 8N1
The TX can be found by connecting just the adaptor RX and inspecting for data.
I don't recall which header is which.
From what I remember, one is r/o and the other is r/w.
Thanks, that's very helpful!
 
Looks like the correct port is JP8 and the pinout is GND, RX, TX, 3.3V. I'm referring to RX and TX labels on the USB TTL adapter.

JP3 produced the following output:
U-Boot 2010.06-svn (May 04 2015 - 14:38:38)

*** Warning - bad CRC, using default environment

In: serial
Out: serial
Err: serial

. . .


JP8 produced the following output:
U-Boot 2010.06-svn (Dec 28 2015 - 10:42:45)[V1.2.1]

Hit ctrl+u to stop autoboot: 0

This program will upgrade software.
***

  • ATTENTION!! PLEASE READ THIS NOTICE CAREFULLY! *
  • Don't reset machine,or anything that interrupt it. *
  • The upgrade process must finish in 10 minutes! *
  • If this program fails,machine might be unusable, *
  • and you will need to reflash again. *
  • If you find this too risky,power off machine now. *
***

Now press [u/U] key to upgrade software: u
File system error,please upgrade by TFTP

Please input ip address of device:



I pressed CTRL-U and then U and was prompted for a TFTP address. I assume I could set up a TFTP server to host a Hikvision firmware .dav file and this would afford the ability to program the firmware, but how would I go about resetting the NVR to factory defaults using the serial console?

UART Header JP8.jpg
 
how would I go about resetting the NVR to factory defaults using the serial console?
You can use the hidden command 'b' to get to the bootloader. The available commands vary with manufacture date.
You may be lucky and find erasecfg
Some versions of the bootloader still use the 'normal' commands - later ones try to hide them.
Use either
setenv ';printenv'
setenv 'help'
or
printenv
help
to show what's available in the bootloader
I don't remember if ';update' also clears the configuration.

Or the hidden command 'f' to format the flash partitions!
Clearly this could have a bad result if used wrongly ...
I think partition 2 only holds the configuration - but I've not actually tried that, so beware.
 
I ended downgrading the firmware to 3.4.92. The latest firmware 4.61 wasn't stable. At first, I thought it was working, but several times during the day the NVR would just reboot. After downgrading the firmware, it has been stable, and the UI is significantly faster.
 
I performed a couple of comparisons.

Difference between firmware versions 4.5 and 4.61 on the same board with the same serial numbers.
00090000
000901CB
(459 bytes)

Difference between same firmware on different boards with different serial numbers
0008F000
0008F201
(513 bytes)
00090000
000901CB
(459 bytes)
000A0020
000A003F
(31 bytes)

I was able to get the bricked NVR working. Apparently, the DS-7608NI-I2/8P needs to be reset to factory defaults before applying the 4.61 firmware update. Therefore, I did the following to fix it:
1. Make backup copy of firmware from bricked NVR (stuck in reboot loop).
2. Copy firmware from a good NVR (same model).
3. Program firmware from the good NVR to the bricked NVR. NVR is no longer bricked but it has the wrong serial number, MAC, etc.
4. Reset NVR to factor defaults.
5. Program original backup copy of firmware back to NVR. The NVR is now working and has the correct serial number, MAC, etc.
Can you please provide me the dump of 7608ni-i2/8p that you flashed to bricked i really need it