DVR Showing MPEG 4 only

[iwancs 0]

Hi,

My DVR type is AVTech 760 ZAS

After a power failure, the DVR is restarted it self but showing only MPEG 4 and not showing menus at all.

 

I Really need the hard disk because i need to download the video that record a thief in my store. So what should i do?

 

I know from the forum that we cannot just plug the hard drive to the computer and try to open it, because it will only destroy the data.

 

So anyone can give me a suggestion, i really need to access the hard drive and download the video.

 

Thanks before

[scorpion 0]

Have you pulled the power cord and let it rest for about 5 minutes, and then replugged it back in to see if it "resets" itself?

 

You can try a hardware reset

http://scorpiontheater.com/reset.aspx

 

If it is showing MPEG4 then the power supply is working ok. I wonder if the hard drive is having a problem?

 

Normally the DVR would boot up to live video with a bad hard drive and not record.

 

In this case there may be a power issue to the hard drive.

 

Disconnect the hard drive, and see if the DVR boots up to live video.

 

What have you found?

[iwancs 0]

I've tried to use another hard disk on my DVR machine with the same adapter, and it work, it showing the recording and i can access the menu. But when i reconnect my hard disk again it only showing MPEG-4 with live video in the background and there is nothing i can do with the device.

 

Will the hardware reset also reformat the hard disk?because i need the data to download the recording.

 

And if i'm listening to the hard disk, i heard the hard disk is still working, at least i heard the disk is spinning.

 

And i've tried to connect the hard disk to a computer with windows os and a linux partition reader, it failed to read the partition with Unknown format message. If i see in the Disk Management, it can read the hard disk but report it as an unknown format, and i've not doing the convert disk as the disk management ask me to do.

 

Can you help me on how to save the recording?

 

Thanks a lot before

 

Iwan

[scorpion 0]

Trying to troubleshoot the issue is confusing as the hard drive appears in disc management on your computer. You say you can access the the partition even though you cannot "read" it?

 

Strange. We need to figure out what is wrong with the hard drive that is locking up the DVR. Perhaps a computer shop may have the same board that is on the hard drive. Swap out the board on the hard drive with another one and see if you can get to the video. Finding another hard drive board may be a pain though. You might have to buy a used hard drive and then swap boards.

 

Did you record video, and playback video with the other hard drive that you installed in the DVR?

[iwancs 0]

i'm not trying to replay video recording or start recording.

 

So there is no way that i can access directly using any OS? I mean even with a Linux distro?

 

Thanks

Iwan

[scorpion 0]

You can only access the video while the hard drive is in the DVR.

 

This is for watermark protection.

 

If it did not have watermark then it would not be acceptable in courts.

[iwancs 0]

Thanks a lot for your help. There is another case with the same symptoms, it only showing MPEG 4 only and not entering the menus. It happens after a power failure, mine too, the dvr is suddenly restart it self, even tough there is no power failure, but seems there is a power disturbance.

 

I'll try to use another hard drive to run the disk plate, hopefully the data has not gone corrupt. Thanks again

 

Iwan