Upding Firware hangs/frozen/failed

[LouisG]

Hi All,

I have 2 different genuine Dahua PTZ camera's:

Device Type: SD40212S-HN
Master Version: 2.212.0000.0.R.A.1210.3N.NR, build : 2015-10-23
WEB Version: 3.2.1.301934
ONVIF Version: 2.4.1
PTZ Version: 2.04.26.RHNPEHA
=======
Device Type: DH-SD6AE230F-HNI
Software Version: 2.420.0000.3.R.3.3019.9A.NR, build : 2015-03-30
WEB Version: 3.2.1.261024
ONVIF Version: 2.4.1
PTZ Version: 2.04.4.RHISFO
Camera Version: 01.06.01

The SD40212S-HN works buggy. The image is OK but the PTZ is so sluggish that you can't use it.
The DH-SD6AE230F-HNI only give me image but the PTZ is totally non responsive.

I would like to update the firmware in the hope it will fix things. The firmware has not been updates since I purchased them years ago.

The SD40212S-HN is connected via POE+
The DH-SD6AE230F-HNI is connected via POE and AC adapter.

For testing I have connected them both directly to a switch with a short new cable.

I have tried updating them via the WebUI and Dahua ConfigTool.

In both cases:

• With the WebUI the progress bar goes until 10% and then stops for ever. After a reload or power off/on of the camera nothing has changed.
• Wothe the Dahua ConfigTool the progress bar goes until 50% and then waits a long time before it says 'update failed'. After a rboot of the camera, again, nothing has changed.

I have also opened up the camera en factory reset all settings and pushed the reset button.

The annoying thing is that the update process is not very verbose. I'm not getting any other information about why it's failing.

Can somebody perhaps tell me what the correct firmware is?
Is there another way to update via a terminal to see more details about the update process?

Really hope someone can help before I chuck them in the trash.

 

[Malvineous]

These cameras are so old they might still have the backdoors and vulnerabilities in them that will allow you to get access to a Linux console. You can Google for how to do this and try it out.

It may not get you any further even getting a shell on the device, but possibly you will see more log messages. However given that the cameras are now seven years old, it is unlikely a firmware update will improve the PTZ much. They are probably due for replacement anyway, and a newer camera will give you a better than "ok" image too.

If you still want to try upgrading the firmware, you could try older versions. Sometimes you can't jump from version 1 to version 10, because something changed in the middle. You may have to upgrade to version 2, 3, 4, 5, etc. before you can eventually make it to version 10. It is unfortunate that firmware upgrading is often a part of a device that is not very well tested, so the closer you can match your process to what the firmware developers did, the better your chances of success. They will rarely be jumping versions on their test devices as they will be upgrading them so frequently, so they often don't test big version jumps. So if there are firmware versions available in between the one you're running and the one you want to be on, try going one version at a time to see if you have more success.