Hitch 0 Posted June 7, 2013 Starting last Friday, I have been having intermittent issues connecting to my cameras. I have two Axis cameras connected to a ZyXEL ES1100-16P 16-Port Fast Ethernet POE Unmanaged Switch. I am wondering if the problem is with the ZyXel, but don't really know. The problem has been intermittent between the two cameras. Sometimes I can connect to the both cameras without issue. Sometimes I can only connect to camera 1, but not camera 2. Sometimes it is the other way around. When the issue is ongoing, it continues across different manners of access. In other words, using IP Camara on my iPad or iPhone, I will only be able to see the one working camera. I get the same result trying to access the camera via a PC browser. I can see the working camera but not the other one. Yesterday afternoon, camera two decided to not work. I could get to the log-in/password screen, but then the browser would say that it was waiting for the camera. After a while, it would time out. Again I could access the other camera just fine. Once I got home from work, I tried to Live View camera two - no luck. Camera one still worked fine. When the issue is occurs, I often see the log-in screen. Sometimes I can't even get to that point. The issue always stops when I unplug the networking cable from the ZyXEL and let the camera restart. I tend to think it's not a bandwidth issue since one camera will work fine. I've never had both cameras go out. Logging out of the working camera doesn't help my ability to see the second. I also have a good internet connection at home. Any suggestions on how I can troubleshoot? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tome9999 0 Posted June 7, 2013 Do you have motion detection turned on and are you writing data to SD card and/or the network (or email)? I had a similar behavior yesterday when I left motion detection on and moved the camera from where it was originally set up with a limited view area to a place looking at a tree blowing in the wind. The camera's cpu was pegged responding to motion events, writing them to SD card, and sending me images in email. When I realized it, I got in quickly after a reboot and turned off motion detection. The camera continued to send me the buffered events in email for well over 30 minutes and it was still quite slow (though not impossible) to respond during that time. I now have email messages with 500 images from about a 30 minute time interval! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
StanLee2066 0 Posted June 7, 2013 Any suggestions on how I can troubleshoot? Seems to be a power issue. How long are your cables? Anything else plugged into the other available PoE ports? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hitch 0 Posted June 7, 2013 Any suggestions on how I can troubleshoot? Seems to be a power issue. How long are your cables? Anything else plugged into the other available PoE ports? The cables are somewhere around 25 or 50 feet. They are Monoprice cables (I didn't put on the connectors). There is nothing else plugged into the other PoE ports. To the extent it matters, I am only using two of the non-PoE ports. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hitch 0 Posted June 7, 2013 Do you have motion detection turned on and are you writing data to SD card and/or the network (or email)? I had a similar behavior yesterday when I left motion detection on and moved the camera from where it was originally set up with a limited view area to a place looking at a tree blowing in the wind. The camera's cpu was pegged responding to motion events, writing them to SD card, and sending me images in email. When I realized it, I got in quickly after a reboot and turned off motion detection. The camera continued to send me the buffered events in email for well over 30 minutes and it was still quite slow (though not impossible) to respond during that time. I now have email messages with 500 images from about a 30 minute time interval! Interesting. The cameras are set to only record on motion detection and they save to a NAS. The one that was giving me issues yesterday was not set to send me email messages/images. From Noon through Midnight yesterday, that camera made 12 recordings. Eight of the recordings were for zero seconds - the "Duration" shows 00:00:00. There are three recordings that are 1 second (00:00:01) and one recording was longer. I need to tweak my settings in order to record less often. Aside from that, the zero duration recordings are disconcerting. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
StanLee2066 0 Posted June 7, 2013 Except the obvious of trying another power injector to remove the switch from the picture, you could try disconnecting one of the cameras to see if the lower power requirments make a difference. I can't imagine what would cause this on the network side except for possibly IP address conflicts? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hitch 0 Posted June 7, 2013 Except the obvious of trying another power injector to remove the switch from the picture, you could try disconnecting one of the cameras to see if the lower power requirments make a difference. I can't imagine what would cause this on the network side except for possibly IP address conflicts? I also doubt that it is an IP address conflict. For one, I have DHCP reservations for the two cameras. I will, however, cycle everything just to clear that up. Ugh! Having just bought a third camera, I'm not anxious to buy a new PoE. Hate to say it, but I'm also not anxious to buy another XyXEL. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tome9999 0 Posted June 7, 2013 Why are you sure it is a networking issue with the switch? Ping (terminal window in Mac OS, or Command Prompt in Windows) the ip address of both cameras at the same time and see if you are losing packets. At the same time try opening browser windows to them and see if you still cannot get a response. If ping continues while you have the problem getting the camera to respond it is likely something other than the switch. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hitch 0 Posted June 7, 2013 Why are you sure it is a networking issue with the switch? Ping (terminal window in Mac OS, or Command Prompt in Windows) the ip address of both cameras at the same time and see if you are losing packets. At the same time try opening browser windows to them and see if you still cannot get a response. If ping continues while you have the problem getting the camera to respond it is likely something other than the switch. I'm not certain I know what the problem is, although I was wondering if it is a power issue with the switch. I will do what you suggested above and see what I learn. Thanks, I do appreciate it Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vector18 1 Posted June 7, 2013 Do you have this problem when you are remote viewing and local viewing on your own network? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hitch 0 Posted June 7, 2013 Do you have this problem when you are remote viewing and local viewing on your own network? I believe the answer to that question is that it has never been done. I am the only one who views the cameras. My wife doesn't know how. I could test out the idea. I could either "remote" in through work or maybe just through my cell phone. Thanks! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vector18 1 Posted June 7, 2013 I think you have misunderstood my question. I want to know if you experience this issue when you are on your own network. And I want to know if you experience this issue when you are remote logged in to your cameras from the outside world. I'm not asking if you have tried both at the same time, LOL. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hitch 0 Posted June 8, 2013 I think you have misunderstood my question. I want to know if you experience this issue when you are on your own network. And I want to know if you experience this issue when you are remote logged in to your cameras from the outside world. I'm not asking if you have tried both at the same time, LOL. You are right, I didn't understand. Yes, when the issue happens I have been unable to log into that camera both from home and from a remote location (i.e. Work). That happened a couple of times this week - I couldn't view the camera from work (and from my iPhone via cellular). And, when I got home, I couldn't access the camera from there either. I was only able to access the camera after I cycled it by unplugging the PoE switch. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vector18 1 Posted June 8, 2013 Than that rules out bandwidth. Why do you have the cameras set for dhcp? You should keep them static but out of your dhcp range. And if it was me, I would keep only one camera plugged in and see if you ever have a problem. Or, power the cameras with transformers and get rid of the POE and see if you have any problems again. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
StanLee2066 0 Posted June 8, 2013 Why do you have the cameras set for dhcp? You should keep them static but out of your dhcp range. He has them set for DHCP reservation (at the router), which does in fact give them a static address. I do this for all my multiple home PCs, that way the IP address for each PC is permanent even if I completely format and re-install a new OS. However for my multiple printers, NAS and cameras etc I prefer to set the static address on the device itself. If you have DHCP reservation for this device set at the router AND there is also a default static address set at the camera itself ... could this be causing a conflict? Ensure you have one or the other. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hitch 0 Posted July 3, 2013 I figured I should update this thread to pass along what I learned - or what I think I learned. I worked with Axis support and they recommended that I update the firmware on the cameras. Since doing that, I have not had any further issues. Still using the original PoE switch. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
