Q™
IPCT Contributor
Firmware issue - failed and now struggling to recover
- Thread starter jonwarby
- Start date
I think it may be worth my trying to make a cable for console access like in
https://www.ipcamtalk.com/showthread.php/6356-Manual-Create-console-serial-access-to-Hikvision-DS-2CD2032F-I?p=56118#post56118
https://www.ipcamtalk.com/showthread.php/6356-Manual-Create-console-serial-access-to-Hikvision-DS-2CD2032F-I?p=56118#post56118
***before doing any of this, I would read the forum topics and familiarize myself in the MTD hack if I were you****
If I were you, I would have a look at your mtd5block and mtd6block files. To do this you will need to tftp your chosen firmware to the camera, and when it is complete DO NOT close TFTP. With TFTP still open, use putty to telnet into the camera using the IP address you identified the camera on. log in as root and the default password. you can then create a copy of the mtd5block and mtd6block files by running "cat /dev/mtd5block mtd5block_temp" do the same for the mtd6block file. This leaves the two *_temp files in your root directory. Now start up an FTP daemon by typing "ftpd &" at the command prompt. Now use an FTP program to connect to your camera and get the two *_temp files. once they are on your local computer use a hex editor to view them and see if anything is amiss ie. make sure the serial number and dates have not been tampered with. From my experience the MTD files are the usual problem with cameras booting into min system.
If I were you, I would have a look at your mtd5block and mtd6block files. To do this you will need to tftp your chosen firmware to the camera, and when it is complete DO NOT close TFTP. With TFTP still open, use putty to telnet into the camera using the IP address you identified the camera on. log in as root and the default password. you can then create a copy of the mtd5block and mtd6block files by running "cat /dev/mtd5block mtd5block_temp" do the same for the mtd6block file. This leaves the two *_temp files in your root directory. Now start up an FTP daemon by typing "ftpd &" at the command prompt. Now use an FTP program to connect to your camera and get the two *_temp files. once they are on your local computer use a hex editor to view them and see if anything is amiss ie. make sure the serial number and dates have not been tampered with. From my experience the MTD files are the usual problem with cameras booting into min system.
The camera has taken the firmware sort of. SADP now shows it as 5.3 and I can hit a web page and get [h=2]Access Error: 404 -- Not Found[/h]firmware language mismatch: /home/webLib
Thats the first time I have seen the website on the camera since last night so definite progress
I will try the downgrader next unless someone can suggest an alternate next step
Thats the first time I have seen the website on the camera since last night so definite progress
I will try the downgrader next unless someone can suggest an alternate next step
This is soooo frustrating. I dont have the bits currently to make the console cable so I cant see the reason why the firmwares are failing. The only firmware I have been able to get the camera to accept is the 5.3 chinese firmware after modifying the firmware to set the language to english.
All of the others wont complete the TFTP process.
With the 5.3 Chinese firmware I am unable to telnet to the camera after tftp has completed. I was using Putty and setting it to telnet and trying to connect to 192.0.0.64 but it was refused.
Is this due to telnet being removed in 5.3?
Any suggestions please as to what to try next
All of the others wont complete the TFTP process.
With the 5.3 Chinese firmware I am unable to telnet to the camera after tftp has completed. I was using Putty and setting it to telnet and trying to connect to 192.0.0.64 but it was refused.
Is this due to telnet being removed in 5.3?
Any suggestions please as to what to try next
alastairstevenson
Staff member
You are getting there ...
I once again have a working camera. Thank you to all those that have offered help and advice and to those that have created the tools to make this possible.
I have a DS-2CD2632F-IS camera that I purchased on ebay. It came with firmware 5.25. I was having issues with it not always saving when I made a config change so I decided to go for a firmware update. Which is now something I will probably leave well alone in the future.
After updating the firmware the device went into a boot loop. I was running in on POE and I could see the amount of power it was using fluctuate as it rebooted.
I downloaded the Hikvision TFTP server software and a different version of firmware and followed the tftp server instructions and tried to apply the firmware. After that the device didn't boot loop any more SADP saw it with IP 192.168.1.64, the serial was showing as CCRR and reported it as version v4.0.8. This was explained that it was in 'Min-system' recovery mode that the camera reverts to when incompatible firmware has been loaded. It has no web services running.
I tried a number of different firmwares and although all of them showed as transferred I never go the system update completed message in tftp
After some more reading I found this article https://www.ipcamtalk.com/showthread.php/6356-Manual-Create-console-serial-access-to-Hikvision-DS-2CD2032F-I?p=56118#post56118 that suggested that if you made a console cable you would probably see a message that said incorrect language settings was the causing the firmwares not to load. This seems to be due to the camera being a grey import where it was a Chinese camera expecting a Chinese firmware but wanting the language set to English.
I downloaded the official 5.3 Chinese Firmware for the camera and then used the Hikvision Firmware tool to set the firmware language to English
https://www.ipcamtalk.com/showthread.php/2733-Hikvision-FIRMWARE-TOOLS-change-language-extract-files-and-create-own-firmware
This let the camera boot and load a webpage but gave an error of firmware language mismatch: /home/webLib
I then tried to use the custom firmware downgrader
https://www.ipcamtalk.com/showthread.php/4036-Custom-Firmware-Downgrader-5-3-0-Chinese-to-5-2-5-English
I first chose the 4 line version and couldnt get it to work
In the end I went back to the standard version. I had to use the Firmware tool again to set the language to English and after a reboot the camera was working again
I have a DS-2CD2632F-IS camera that I purchased on ebay. It came with firmware 5.25. I was having issues with it not always saving when I made a config change so I decided to go for a firmware update. Which is now something I will probably leave well alone in the future.
After updating the firmware the device went into a boot loop. I was running in on POE and I could see the amount of power it was using fluctuate as it rebooted.
I downloaded the Hikvision TFTP server software and a different version of firmware and followed the tftp server instructions and tried to apply the firmware. After that the device didn't boot loop any more SADP saw it with IP 192.168.1.64, the serial was showing as CCRR and reported it as version v4.0.8. This was explained that it was in 'Min-system' recovery mode that the camera reverts to when incompatible firmware has been loaded. It has no web services running.
I tried a number of different firmwares and although all of them showed as transferred I never go the system update completed message in tftp
After some more reading I found this article https://www.ipcamtalk.com/showthread.php/6356-Manual-Create-console-serial-access-to-Hikvision-DS-2CD2032F-I?p=56118#post56118 that suggested that if you made a console cable you would probably see a message that said incorrect language settings was the causing the firmwares not to load. This seems to be due to the camera being a grey import where it was a Chinese camera expecting a Chinese firmware but wanting the language set to English.
I downloaded the official 5.3 Chinese Firmware for the camera and then used the Hikvision Firmware tool to set the firmware language to English
https://www.ipcamtalk.com/showthread.php/2733-Hikvision-FIRMWARE-TOOLS-change-language-extract-files-and-create-own-firmware
This let the camera boot and load a webpage but gave an error of firmware language mismatch: /home/webLib
I then tried to use the custom firmware downgrader
https://www.ipcamtalk.com/showthread.php/4036-Custom-Firmware-Downgrader-5-3-0-Chinese-to-5-2-5-English
I first chose the 4 line version and couldnt get it to work
In the end I went back to the standard version. I had to use the Firmware tool again to set the language to English and after a reboot the camera was working again
Q™
IPCT Contributor
Great post JonWarby...documenting your experience like this is going to help a lot of folks find their way in the future...and you've provided a stellar example of taking the time to pay-it-forward.
Thank you!
