P3364-VE stopped responding, how to troubleshoot it?

[voip-ninja 0]

Does anyone know how to troubleshoot Axis cams? Last night I selected one of my Axis cameras from my Synology NVR... the image started to flicker and then the NVR reported it had lost contact with the camera. I could still ping the camera but I could not access the web server... I suspect it crashed.

 

I rebooted the camera and it is working fine but I'd like to avoid it happening again.

[buellwinkle 0]

Could be an intermittent problem with the Ethernet cable. Could be an issue with the PoE switch. Maybe even a firmware issue so check to see how current you are.

[voip-ninja 0]

It could be ethernet, but if the cable was the problem then rebooting the camera at the mid-span doesn't seem like it would have cleared it. Also, during the "outage" the camera could be pinged, I just couldn't HTTP access the camera or the streams.

 

Firmware is current.

 

We'll see if it happens again. It happened when I selected the camera from the Synology Android app, so it could also be an interaction issue between Synology and Axis.

[thewireguys 3]

Sounds like bad integration between Synology and Axis

[voip-ninja 0]

Sounds like bad integration between Synology and Axis

 

You are probably right. What's weird is that it's been operating for a couple of weeks without an issue prior to this.

 

Also, If the Synology did something that confused the Axis camera it should have recovered itself, that's a pretty basic thing that a security camera should be able to do (reboot if needed or restart services).

 

I have two of them so I will have to keep an eye on it. Synology is on thin ice with me anyway so if this keeps happening then I will probably be 86'ing the Synology for NVR use and get something else.

[buellwinkle 0]

Just use the Synology as an ordinary NAS, have the P33 write events to it via Axis Camera Companion.

[voip-ninja 0]

Just use the Synology as an ordinary NAS, have the P33 write events to it via Axis Camera Companion.

 

I need integration between my two P33 cameras and a pair of SNV-5080R Samsung cameras, so Axis companion is really not an option unfortunately.

[buellwinkle 0]

Or sell the Samsungs on eBay, get two more P33's

[akelley 0]

I've had two p3367s running for about six months now and I've only had three crashes. Two of those times were when accessing them through Axis's own Camera Companion software, and the one other time was unknown. A reboot in all three cases brought the cameras back online without problems. A review of the camera logs on both cameras showed nothing out of the ordinary. Someone suggested that there could have been a power fluctuation on the POE switch that was enough to knock them offline, but not enough to reboot them. Seems reasonable, but difficult to prove (or reproduce). I guess this person's point to me was make sure you're using reliable POE switches which are putting out adequate power on each port, and you don't have so many devices (cameras, VOIP phones, etc.) on the switch that could be pushing the limits of the switch. So if you're using less than "name brand" switches, power could be something to consider. So check the camera's log file just before the camera went out: what was the camera's internal temperature (was it low enough to kick the heater on which would increase power draw) - or was it too hot and the fan didn't kick on?

[buellwinkle 0]

I can vouch that Axis cameras are sensitive to less than perfect power. I put two at our lake house where winter snow (yes in So Cal) knocks down power lines and sometimes the cameras do not come back up where other brands do come back up. I minimized this by putting the PoE switch on a UPS.

[voip-ninja 0]

I've had two p3367s running for about six months now and I've only had three crashes. Two of those times were when accessing them through Axis's own Camera Companion software, and the one other time was unknown. A reboot in all three cases brought the cameras back online without problems. A review of the camera logs on both cameras showed nothing out of the ordinary. Someone suggested that there could have been a power fluctuation on the POE switch that was enough to knock them offline, but not enough to reboot them. Seems reasonable, but difficult to prove (or reproduce). I guess this person's point to me was make sure you're using reliable POE switches which are putting out adequate power on each port, and you don't have so many devices (cameras, VOIP phones, etc.) on the switch that could be pushing the limits of the switch. So if you're using less than "name brand" switches, power could be something to consider. So check the camera's log file just before the camera went out: what was the camera's internal temperature (was it low enough to kick the heater on which would increase power draw) - or was it too hot and the fan didn't kick on?

 

Are there logs that survive the reboot, because all of my logs looked cleared after the problem happened.

 

I am using Class-3 dedicated midspan units, not PoE switches. The mid-spans are on battery. It is possible that one of my mid-spans is flaky so I will try to swap it out.