Dahua IPC-HDW2431TM-AS-S2 high failure rate (>50% within 18 months)

BadgerBadger

BadgerBadger

n3wb
Jan 14, 2023
3
5
AU
Hello,
long time lurker, first time poster.


TLDR; I am having a high percentage of these camera fail and want to repair if possible and/or prevent more cameras failing if possible.


I have installed about 13 Dahua IPC-HDW2431TM-AS-S2 cameras and I am finding that they are having failure rate of almost 50% within the 18 months of being installed.
When the cameras fail, the video feed drops. From the NVR I can see that network data rate drops to about 0, and the network connect drops ever ~90 seconds.
logging into the cameras web interface there is no camera feed in live view or any of the settings tabs. The web interface is only up fro about 30 seconds before the WDT reboots the camera.

Doing a a factory reset had fixed a few of the failed cameras, but I have 6 of the 13 that are stuck in a boot loop state with no video output.
  • All 13 cameras are/were connected to a Dahua PoE NVR4232-16P NVR and powered via PoE.
  • All cameras and NVR are on a isolated network (no other devices nor internet access)
  • They are installed in an clean indoor office enviroment
  • Cable length from camers to NVR is less then about 30 meters for all cameras
  • The first cameras died within a month of being installed, and 4 within 6 months
  • Camera are about 12-18 months old now (purchased/installed in batches)
  • There has been no external factors that I can think of as the cause (they just drop the video feed and then enter a boot loop state)
  • Logging into the web interface of the cameras there is no video feed on the failed cameras.
  • Powering via DC instead of PoE the failed cameras still do no work (still no video and boot loops)
  • About 2 of the cameras that failed, but doing a factory reset I was able to bring them back to life (6 of the 13 this did not help)
  • Tried emailing Dahua support but got no response (both support.oc@dahuatech.com and overseas@dahuatech.com)
  • I tried calling Dahua support but they just told me to talk to the reseller, the reseller told me to talk to Dahua.
  • Replaced the first few cameras with DH-IPC-HDW2531EMP-AS-0280B-S2-AUS and they have worked without issues so far.
  • Due to lack of support from Dahua and all the issues I have been told not to purchase anymore Dahua equipment.
  • Have started replacing the cameras with HikVision HiLook 6MP IPC-T261H-MU and they have worked flawlessly so far.
  • Until the HikVision cameras were connected all devices on the network were Dahua devices.
  • Camera, are configured with Static IPs, h265, main stream=720p12fps

Camera details
DeviceType IPC-HDW2431TM-AS-S2
FirmVersion V2.800.0000000.24.R, Build Date: 2020-10-14
WebEditon V3.2.1.964363
OnvifVersion 19.12(V2.8.0.949611)
SafeBaseVersion V2.1


One of the cameras I tried connecting reflashing the firmware via ConfigTool but did not fix the issue. Config tool supplied by reseller along with details of firmware. ( DH_IPC-HX2XXX-Molec_MultiLang_PN_V2.820.0000000.37.R.210901 ) downloaded from the Dahua site (Dahua Technology - Leading Video Surveillance Solution Provider with CCTV Products, IP Camera, PTZ, HDCVI products, NVR, Intelligent Building, Intelligent Transportation and Software - Dahua Technology ).

Thinking the firmware update process was killed by the WDT I tried via the UART/TFTP method.
The camera would download and apply the firmware but still stuck in a boot loop and no video output.
Camera appeared to downloaded and applied (romfs-x.squashfs.img, kernel.img, web-x.squashfs.img) OK
Console output from firmware update process

I was able to access to the terminal by changing "appauto", "dh_keyboard" and "cmdLine"
But only figured out how to get access to the console after updating the firmware, I am not sure if the errors I am seeing are related to the firmware update process or original fault.
Now that I know how to access the console and escape the Dahua Shell I will try this on one of the other failed cameras to see if I can get more clues on why all the cameras are failing.

Console output from boot

Something that stand out in the log to me,
i2c timeout to a device with an address of 0x60. This is followed by spamming of the serial with the message "[ERROR - ISP channel have NOT been created."
I am assuming that "ISP" is Image Sensor Processor so it being awol would also explain the issue of the video feed being missing from the web interface on all failed cameras.


Has anyone else had issues like this or with this camera?
Or have suggestions on what I can try to repair the cameras?
 
looktall said:
Multiple cameras dying and all from the same NVR?
Might the problem be with the NVR?
Click to expand...

I would kinda agree but only the IPC-HDW2431TM-AS-S2 cameras are dying, none of the other cameras have died or had issues.

I would also expect that as long as the PoE power is in spec, it should not be able to take out the cameras. If it was a PoE I would expected the PoE modules on the cameras to be failing or having a more destinct power issue.
 
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It will be interesting to see if there are more reliability reports for the 2431TM-AS-S2. I can easily believe model-dependent reliability issues. I ran my system for about 3 years totally using 2 different chinese-market models. Over that time, one model had a 100% failure rate, and the other had a 0% failure rate. The model that failed was a screaming deal, price-wise, and I consider the 2431M-AS-S2 to also be a screaming deal.
 
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I did some more testing and looking into the issue.

All the cameras that have failed all have serial numbers that start with 5MFC09DPAGD6xxx
None of the cameras I have that have serials starting with 6 or 7 have given me issues yet.
so I have 8 serials in this range and 6 have failed, (75% failure rate).
This to me says it is a Dahua camera batch issue.

Connecting to the serial console of freshly failed another camera I can see the same error as before
It gives i2c timeout errors and then spams the logs with ISP

Code: 
i2c-1 timeout
ERROR: Bus[1] in ms_i2c_xfer_write: Slave dev NAK, Addr: 0x60, Data: 0x32 0xc 0x5  
[ERROR - ISP channel have NOT been created.

 
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BadgerBadger said:
I did some more testing and looking into the issue.

All the cameras that have failed all have serial numbers that start with 5MFC09DPAGD6xxx
None of the cameras I have that have serials starting with 6 or 7 have given me issues yet.
so I have 8 serials in this range and 6 have failed, (75% failure rate).
This to me says it is a Dahua camera batch issue.

Connecting to the serial console of freshly failed another camera I can see the same error as before
It gives i2c timeout errors and then spams the logs with ISP

Code: 
i2c-1 timeout
ERROR: Bus[1] in ms_i2c_xfer_write: Slave dev NAK, Addr: 0x60, Data: 0x32 0xc 0x5 
[ERROR - ISP channel have NOT been created.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the heads up. I have 4 of this model, purchased here in November and they have s/n's beginning with '8'. Hopefully it was a single batch thathad this problem.
 
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I have two in my garage and neither of them have given me any trouble.

Serial numbers and firmware versions:

One begins with 5J10I1HGF, firmware is V2.800.0000000.3.R
The other begins with 6C3B7A21AD, firmware is V2.800.0000000.13.R
 
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Hello guys,

Glad I found this thread. I have 3 defect cameras with the same model (IPC-HDW2431TM-AS-S2).
When I look at the console output when booting I have the same error as BadgerBadger. It is spamming the error ERROR - ISP channel have NOT been created.

I also tried flashing the firmware to othe versions but all of the versions failed. I can succesfully flash them but it keeps getting in a bootloop.
Does anyone know if this is hardware or software related?
 
FW will not fix up the issue, it's a hardware problem, so ask your supplier to follow up the warranty.
 
FW will not fix up the issue, it's a hardware problem, so ask your supplier to follow up the warranty.i think some batch have this problem in 2021, I already helped my customers fixed up/replace around 20cams,
 
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I have 12 IPC-HFW2431S-S-S2 that I purchased in Mexico in late 2020. Zero issues. Solid cameras but not high-end units (1/3" sensors). Been slowly replacing them with better units with larger sensors.

Hope the seller is able to honour the warranty on them.
 
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@BadgerBadger: Yes, I do have the same problems with the Dahua IPC-HDW2431T-AS-S2 (Serial number 5MFC36PAG6H7205 - 7215 and 7217)

In 2020 I purchased 12 of them, connected to a Dahua NVR 5424 and now 4 camera's have stopped working.

1. Disconnected the cams from the NVR and ethernet-connected them to my laptop, with POE power feed and Dahua "config tool" software.
2. Tried hard reset (small panel on the back of camera, 2 philips screws) and tried factory default setting+reboot with config tool.
3. Updating/reloading firmware stopped at 50% or did not load at all.
4. Result was that I got 1 out of 4 working again, but that cam had a different serial number (5MFL0EPAG9C1138) and an older version of the firmware.

As has been written before, it seems that there is a batch of Dahua 2431 cams that have a problem.
 
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Update on the malfunctioning Dahua IPC-HDW2431T-AS-S2 batch 5MFC36PAG6XXXXX:
1. The ping 192.168.1.108 shows what most of you already reported, that the camera is online for about 1 minute and then seems to be rebooting.
2. No video at all.
3. I wrote to the Dahua agent in the Netherlands and got a polite reply back that they did not recognize the serial numbers and he implied that these cameras were ment for the local Chinese market and that they were not able to help me due to differences in hardware and software.
 
Just wanted to add some more numbers to this thread.

In 2021 I installed 16 of these over two sites using different equipment. Over the next 12 months I lost 8 at one site and 2 at the other.

I replaced two like for like the following year and those have been fine. I've just replaced the remaining 8 with the same model. Mine came from China via Aliexpress.

While I'm not surprised by Dahuas comment, to claim these were for the Chinese market seems a bit far fetched. They have legitimate multi language firmware and work with international NVRs. For the price I don't expect any aftersales service though.
 
Just to add to this thread my Dahua IPC-HDW2431T-AS-S2 has also failed. Purchased from Aliexpress early 2021 and worked fine for 3 years. I am now experiencing the same issues as reported in this thread, except it is not rebooting constantly. Serial number beings with "6L".
 
asdasdasdll said:
Just to add to this thread my Dahua IPC-HDW2431T-AS-S2 has also failed. Purchased from Aliexpress early 2021 and worked fine for 3 years. I am now experiencing the same issues as reported in this thread, except it is not rebooting constantly. Serial number beings with "6L".
Click to expand...
Exactly the same problem with the same exact device and same timing. Early 2021 purchase, worked flawlessly for 3 years and this month it just stopped working. Mine is rebooting every 90 seconds and no video feed. Serial number beings with "6L" as well.
 
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