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D-Link IP Cameras for Home => DCS series Network Cameras => Topic started by: patranus on August 04, 2009, 03:45:19 PM

Title: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: patranus on August 04, 2009, 03:45:19 PM
Have 13 DCS-920

Every few days a few random cameras will will hang/become unresponsive at random intervals.  The cameras require that I unplug the cameras before they will respond.

When the cameras are unresponsive I cannot access the camera via a web browser, the D-ViewCam software, or the setup wizard.

This is a problem as they are all mounted in positions requiring a ladder to access.

I have some connected via 802.11g and other hard wired over 10/100 cat-6 Ethernet cable.

Any suggestions?
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: ECF on August 07, 2009, 04:52:25 PM
Does the front LED turn red in this incident when the camera is not accessible?
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: BMLenertz on August 18, 2009, 01:37:14 PM
I've experienced the same issue.  When it occurs for me, the red light has stayed on constantly.  Please reply with solution suggestions.  Thank you!
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: kwinston on August 23, 2009, 07:46:47 PM
I also experience this problem. I have 2 DCS920 that hangs after 3-4 days and need to power off/on. Please help
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: ECF on August 24, 2009, 02:37:28 PM
Is the latest firmware being used on all cameras?
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: BMLenertz on August 24, 2009, 07:54:28 PM
I believe so... 
     Firmware =     1.01 (2008-06-25)
on the Status screen.
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: kandm00 on August 26, 2009, 03:44:09 PM
I have the same problem.  I have four DCS-920s.  Two are wired (cat5-e to D-Link gigabit switches, firmware 1.01, 640x480, 7 fps).  Two are wireless (11g, tried WEP and now WPA-PSK, one is firmware 1.01 and one is 1.02, 640x480, 5fps).  Dynamic DNS, Mail, FTP, and NTP sync are disabled on all cameras.  LED Control is off and User Access Control is disabled.

The two wired cameras usually go a month or two before locking up.  The two wireless cameras lock up a few times a week.  Sometimes the led is solid red, but usually it is off when the cameras are locked up.  When locked up the cameras do not respond at all to ping, http, etc.  I've tried three different wireless access points (d-link, belkin and netgear) without any affect on the lock ups.  I have to power cycle the locked up cameras to get them running again.

I've resorted to putting one of the wireless cameras on a digital timer which turns the power off and on every 6 hours.

It's been over a year since firmware 1.01 was released.
- Have the stability issues been reproduced?
- Is a new firmware being worked on?
- Is there a reason why 1.02 (2009-08-10) is not on the website or beta ftp site?

Some feature requests:
- Add a configuration option to reboot the camera every x number of hours
- Add a 3 fps option for video

I'd be happy to test a beta firmware if one is available.

Thanks,
Kurt
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: BMLenertz on August 27, 2009, 10:55:08 AM
I have also considered placing my camera on a timer that would power-cycle it automatically.  But... I've also had to manually re-set the time/date on the camer every time I've power-cycled it, so if left alone, it would never report the correct time/date.  When I have used the setting to synch the time with a dlink server, the time is also one hour off (as if daylight savings time or somethin??) so even that is not accurate.  Perhaps my camera is the only one that experiences time/date issues??
~Brad
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: ekummel on August 28, 2009, 12:43:03 PM
My DCS-920 is exhibiting the same issue. What will happen is that the camera will arbitrarily stop serving images...and then the LED will turn red. It will periodically flicker, but it will never turn green again until I unplug the thing and plug it back in again. Also, the turn off LED seems to only work for a short period of time. I set it to off, and a day or so later, it is back to blinking green and red. Then it switches to red only and shortly after that, it is no longer serving images. Sometimes when the LED is red, I can access the web interface, but cannot view any images from the camera.
My camera is wireless and running the latest firmware.
Ed
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: freeemann on August 30, 2009, 04:28:26 PM
This camera I think is the worst camera exist on the market. The software for this camera DView 2.03 was done by amateurs people I guess from North America with all degrees in IT but not knowledge in IT. I install the software and my Windows Vista crash (and of course on XP is the same). I can't use software, wireless is useless because after 5 minutes is going down and I have to reinstall camera. So I spent 120$ for an American garbage ( I mean Chinese, useless). So tell me why to lose 120$ and a lot of time for nothing?

P.S In fact this camera is not a wireless because wireless is not reliable especially for surveillance purposes. (I have over 14 years in IT experience working with pro people).
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: ECF on September 01, 2009, 02:34:45 PM
Please try the latest firmware release 1.03 at dlink.com and goto support.
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: kandm00 on September 02, 2009, 11:14:07 AM
I've installed 1.03 on three of my four cameras (one wireless, two wired).  Will update the fourth one next week and monitor them for a week or two to see if the cameras stop locking up.

Thanks for the firmware update,
Kurt
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: freeemann on September 03, 2009, 07:41:58 PM
Please try the latest firmware release 1.03 at dlink.com and goto support.

You can add another firmare this is not related with that garbage software DViewcam. I upgrade to 1.03 and install again DviewCam 2.03 after I installed event = videolost. Do you think like this I can make surveillance in my house ???? And another thing after I configure DViewCam to rec all the time and save the configuration is going back to another option. Do you call this good software? I thought D-link is a good brand, I mean professional. I lost another hour from my life for nothing !!!
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: kandm00 on September 10, 2009, 10:20:26 AM
@freeemann - Please start a new thread for your issues with DViewcam.  This thread is for lock ups / crashes with the DCS-920 camera.

v1.03 stability update.  The three cameras I installed 1.03 on (one wireless, two wired) have been running 24/7 for about 8 days now and have not locked up or required a restart yet.  I installed 1.03 on my fourth camera (wireless) last night and removed it from the digital timer that was power cycling it every six hours.  I'll update again in a week or so.  So far so good.  <fingers crossed>
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: patranus on September 17, 2009, 01:53:04 PM
Does the front LED turn red in this incident when the camera is not accessible?

Yes.

I will update firmware from 1.01 to 1.03 and see if that resolves the problem.

If this problem continues, it is frankly unacceptable.
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: kandm00 on October 12, 2009, 03:04:10 PM
v1.03 update.  I have four DCS-920s that have been running firmware 1.03 for over a month.

The two wired cameras (cat5e to D-Link gigabit switches) have been running for about a month and a half without locking up (but that isn't any different than with 1.01 on those two cameras).

The two wireless cameras (11g, WPA-PSK) are still locking up occasionally.  They stay up for at least a week now before locking up.  This is better than previous firmwares, but I don't think they've gone more than two weeks without locking up.
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: Mickey on October 12, 2009, 03:40:45 PM
I am running 4 cameras (DCS-920) - in the beginning all of them wireless. I experienced the same problems. All of them kept locking up regularly - sometimes several times a day - sometimes they kept working for 2 days without any problems. I updated all of them to the new firmware (1.03) and hard wired 3 of them. They are a lot more stable now.

Anyhow the cameras don't work properly wireless and I feel like I paid for a function I really wanted and what is not working. I called Dlink costumer service several times and the only thing they keep saying is to update to the newest firmware.

I DID THAT!!!!

IT DOES NOT SOLVE THE PROBLEM!!!!

I really feel like I should get part of my money back since the same camera without wireless function would have been a lot cheaper.
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: ECF on October 12, 2009, 04:17:03 PM
How are they not working wirelessly properly?
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: Mickey on October 12, 2009, 04:42:54 PM
They lose connection! They are not accessible whatsoever. You can't even ping them anymore. Only a restart brings them back to life (means unplugging power for about 10 sec). But sometimes that doesn't even help. Then it seems like they lose connection and re-establish it and lose it again. Every 10th ping or so gets a reply.

I am not always aware of these kind of black out times. We usually find out later when there is nothing recorded. We're missing 5 min here and there.

It is unpredictable when it will lose connection - as I said sometimes it will be stable for 2 days, sometimes it will lose connection every 2 hours. That is not acceptable for a product what says it is a security camera.
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: ECF on October 12, 2009, 04:49:31 PM
Do you have any 2.4 Ghz phones in the house? Can you explain your camera wireless positioning some in your home and the distance from the router? Do all cameras drop at the same time?
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: Mickey on October 12, 2009, 05:03:06 PM
I am aware of the problem with the 2.4 GHz phones and we replaced it with a 5.8 GHz. That did not change a thing. (some more money I spend for nothing)

The cameras never drop at the same time. One drops and then maybe one day later a different one will drop. There is no pattern. Two cameras are very close to the router (DIR-655) - one is right next to the router, the other one just on the other side of the wall. The other 2 are one floor below the router. But that doesn't seem to make a difference. All of the cameras drop. Only running a CAT6 cable to them made a real difference. That's why I feel I spend money on an important feature (the reason I bought the cameras) and now I can't use it.
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: ECF on October 13, 2009, 08:32:00 AM
What are your wireless settings on the DIR-655 and what firmware are you running?
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: Mickey on October 13, 2009, 09:03:41 AM
Firmware: 1.11

Not sure what you mean by wireless settings.

Security Mode is WPA/WPA2 - Personal.

What else do you need to know?
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: ECF on October 13, 2009, 09:34:09 AM
The other setting on Wireless Network settings.
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: Mickey on October 13, 2009, 09:42:36 AM
DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU WANT.
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: kandm00 on October 13, 2009, 11:36:51 AM
If think what ECF wants is for you to go to the DIR-655 SETTINGS -> WIRELESS SETTINGS page and list all of the settings from that page.  It might be helpful to do the same on the DCS-920 SETUP -> Wireless Setup page.  Leave out the pre-shared key.  Out of curiosity what signal strengths do you get on your wireless 920s?
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: Mickey on October 13, 2009, 12:07:58 PM
Right, but why would he need my SSID and the PW since thats all what there is. I do not understand how that will help to solve the problem.

Anyway I am sure you (kandm00) and I experiencing the exact same problem.

What do you mean by signal strength? I can tell you that the transmission rate on my wireless 920 (I only have one left, the other 3 are hard wired now) is 54M bps.
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: kandm00 on October 13, 2009, 12:17:25 PM
I forgot a step on the DIR-655.  Click on the Manual Wireless Network Setup button on the WIRELESS SETTINGS page.  Then list what you have for 802.11 Mode, Enable Auto Channel Scan, Wireless Channel, Transmission Rate, Channel Width, Visibility Status, and Security Mode.

For the 920 signal strength click on the Site Survey button on the Wireless Setup page.  That will tell you how strong of a connection you have to the router.
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: Mickey on October 13, 2009, 12:30:56 PM
OK.
Signal Strength is 100%

and here are the router's wireless settings

Enable Wireless: Always
Wireless Network Name: xxxx
802.11 Mode: Mixed 802.11n, 802.11g and 802.11b
Enable Auto Channel Scan: enabled
Transmission Rate: Best (automatic)
Channel Width: 20 MHz
Visibility Status: visible
Security Mode: WPA-Personal
WPA Mode: Auto (WPA or WPA2)
Cipher Type: TKIP and AES
Group Key Update Interval: 3600
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: ECF on October 13, 2009, 01:59:51 PM
Thx Mickey

Do you have any device that support 802.11n? If not I would recommend locking it to 802.11g and see how your cameras respond. Feel free to post your router log as well showing the disconnections.
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: ECF on October 14, 2009, 09:00:38 AM
What is it that you are doing with the cameras exactly? Are you running D-ViewCam2 or have them streaming to a website or anything accessing the cameras live at all times? Do you have this issue with only one camera connected wirelessly as well?

Can you ping the cameras from the PC when they appear off-line and can you ping the cameras from the router utility when they appear offline?

Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: Mickey on October 14, 2009, 10:53:45 AM
I am kind of doing all of that. I am running D-ViewCam and record all the cameras. I also accessing the cameras live through the internet using DynDNS (usually 1 or 2 of the cameras). And I have all 4 of them on my igoogle page - updated every 60 seconds. The cameras are pretty stable ever since I hardwired 3 of them and run firmware 1.03. But I had one camera dropping the connection the other day again (actually a hardwired one). When that happened I could not ping the camera from the PC. I restarted the camera by unplugging it and plugging it back in. After that I tried pinging it from the PC and only every 10th ping or so got a reply. I kind of got fed up and left it. The next morning everything was back to normal for whatever reason. As I said it is unpredictable behaviour for me.

The dropping problem appeared right from the start. At that point I was not running D-ViewCam and I was only accessing the cameras live through the internet. So, I don't think there is a connection.
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: ECF on October 14, 2009, 11:51:27 AM
How often would you say a camera would drop off the wireless network? And do you have this issue with only a single camera being accessed locally?
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: Mickey on October 14, 2009, 11:59:27 AM
I would say one of the cameras would at least drop once a day.

I am not sure about your second question. I had only one camera in the beginning and the camera would drop frequently, but I am not sure if I only accessed it locally. I always accessed through the internet I think. This feature was one of the reasons I bought the camera originally.

That's when I thought the cordless phone is the problem and replaced it.
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: alantam on October 15, 2009, 02:29:45 AM
I have 3 dcs-920's all hard wired via cat5e ... and all 3 become unresponsive in a few hours.  I have upgraded firmware to 1.03, but the problem continues?  I have even even tried a hard reset and reentered all the info

i have static ip's assigned to all camera's... but they are all within the dhcp range, but i have the router set up to never expire lease times... and the router has NOT been reset (so should not be an issue)

I have 30 other dcs-920's in other locations which are working fine...

Strange thing is that the LED light is off when the camera becomes unresponsive,  usally turns red when loses network connection...

setup:  comcast business gateway -> netgear gigabit switch -> dcs-920

Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: Mickey on October 15, 2009, 10:54:04 AM
I assigned static IPs outside the DHCP range.

The LED lights are off at my cameras too when they become unresponsive. And I also use comcast.

Not sure if comcast has anything to do with it, since the camera is unresponsive locally too, not just through the internet. And as I said they are pretty stable after I hardwired and updated. Last crash was about a week ago or so.
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: alantam on October 15, 2009, 10:58:41 AM
The only location i am having issues with is location w. comcast ...

could be the problem ???

my camera's are hardwired... and all have firmeare 1.03

Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: Mickey on October 15, 2009, 11:06:35 AM
I was reading here in the forum that somebody had suddenly problems accessing his cameras through the internet and he had comcast too. He said he called comcast and they didn't change anything on their end. So, he wasn't sure what happened.

If there is a problem with comcast you maybe can try contacting them. In what part of the country are you?
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: ECF on October 15, 2009, 04:54:08 PM
I would say one of the cameras would at least drop once a day.

I am not sure about your second question. I had only one camera in the beginning and the camera would drop frequently, but I am not sure if I only accessed it locally. I always accessed through the internet I think. This feature was one of the reasons I bought the camera originally.

That's when I thought the cordless phone is the problem and replaced it.

I would recommend trying it with a single camera now that it is running 1.03 firmware.
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: unreal on October 15, 2009, 05:35:22 PM
Apparently this software doesn't work with Vista 64 bit.  There is another thread about it, and no rebuttal from d-link staff so I guess it's true.  I'll be at Best Buy tomorrow morning when they open to get my refund.  Dunno if this helps anyone here; I didn't see any mention of what OS you're using.. and I guess if it has been running as long as it seems like it has for some of you folks then maybe it's not the issue, but just thought I'd mention it here.
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: Mickey on October 15, 2009, 05:53:14 PM
There is even a youtube video about this issue! It shows exactly what I am experiencing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYDXds9B90Y

I am tired of trying different things. I want part of my money back!

unreal: I am using XP
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: wedjohn57 on October 15, 2009, 08:28:27 PM
can i update firmware via wifi?
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: Mickey on October 15, 2009, 08:35:39 PM
It is not recommended. I did it anyway and it worked.
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: wedjohn57 on October 15, 2009, 08:38:09 PM
thanks for your info. anyway, all the setting will gone after flash? if yes, mean i nid to flash via wired or else it cant connect back to wireless.
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: Mickey on October 15, 2009, 08:42:09 PM
NO, you will keep all your settings. It updates and everything is the same.
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: wedjohn57 on October 15, 2009, 08:55:42 PM
great~thanks mickey
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: alantam on October 16, 2009, 09:27:34 AM
update... since i've upgraded firmware to 1.03 and assigned ip address outside of dhcp range the lights on the camera's stay on!   but still become un responsive ... even when all 3 camera's become unresponsive the lights stay green!

i've even tried swapping out the camera's.. but no luck...

must be something with comcast business gateway modem/router ...
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: Mickey on October 16, 2009, 09:35:24 AM
I would first look at the switch.

I think you said something about a netgear gigabit switch. Can you try using a different one? I never had all the cameras dropping at the same time. So, maybe it is your switch what has a problem.

What router are you using?
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: alantam on October 16, 2009, 09:47:17 AM
just the comcast business gateway router which connects to netgear 8 port gigabit switch... which connects to another netgear 8 port gigabit switch  which i have the 3 camera's plugged into...

Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: Mickey on October 16, 2009, 09:56:16 AM
OK. I only have a comcast modem and use my own (dlink DIR-655) router and also a dlink switch.

From the sound of your problem it seems you either have a problem with the switch or the router or both. Since you have assigned static IPs you don't need the router to access the cameras locally. Can you just create a network with the switch, the cameras and a computer (needs static IP too)? Then access the cameras through your web browser and see if they hold up.
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: alantam on October 17, 2009, 02:20:05 PM
ok i think i solved this issue...   Here are the steps I took.

Upgraged to firmware 1.03
    - This resolved the issue of camera lights being off when camera became unresponsive

assigned IP outside dhcp range

Replaced NetGear Giga bit switch w. dlink DES-1108 8-Port 10/100 Desktop Switch
    - This was the major cause of the problems.  Once i replaced the switch camera's would become unresponsive
       intermitently (few hrs...)

Final changes... which resulted in camera's being up for over 20hrs now!!!

changed video light frequency to to 50hz

in Network setup disabled UPnP Settings

Disabled wireless because im hardwired in

Not saying you need to do all these things... this is just what i did to resolve this issue... and i dont have the time to go back and find a root cause :)
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: mosart on February 19, 2010, 10:50:09 AM
Solved:

I have two cameras DCS-920 and both had trouble, crashing after a few days (or hours). Camera1 showed solid red LED. Camera2 showed solid green LED. Both unresponsive.

I have a case with dLink and here are the solutions that worked for me:

For the solid RED camera, I changed the IP address configuration to be static (fixed IP) and below the DHCP range of my router. The DHCP range goes from 100 to 199, and so I set the cameras at .51 to avoid conflict. For some reason .231 or even .241 was causing the problem. Not sure why, I have no conflicts...
This camera is on the latest firmware 1.0.3.

Camera 2 had a different solution. I had to downgrade to 1.0.1 firmware, and for the sake of it, I used .52 IP address. It's been running for a week now, no problem. HTH
Title: Re: DCS-920 Crashes/Requires Reboot
Post by: robbo39 on March 03, 2012, 05:19:50 PM
I know this is an old thread, however these issues happen to me as well.

I'm in Australia and the latest firmware for here is 1.02b5, can I use the US firmware?