Help unbricking a Dahua NVR with TFTP and serial connection.

[drkailey 0]

Tried asking in the General forum but no response so figured I'd try here.

 

I have a re-branded Dahua NVR (Q-See) that's stuck in a bootloop. It never beeps, just tries to start, the fan stops and it tries again. I've been reading here and elsewhere for days and done all the prelim stuff like disconnecting the HDD, trying another power adapter etc.

 

I'm pretty sure the firmware is corrupt (hacked?) and am trying to re-flash it with TFTP and a serial connection with Ncom as described here:

 

http://www1.dahuasecurity.com/download/TFTP%20upgrade%20instructor.pdf

 

I have the latest .bin file from Q-See (renamed it to update.bin as read somewhere) but think I need other files as shown on pg1 of the guide. Files found in 4XXX series (also 8 channel) in DH_NVR4xxx_Eng_P_V3.201.0000.0.R.20151120.zip here look very similar: http://dahuawiki.com/images/Firmware/

 

I'm using an old 32 bit XP machine with a serial port. I open TFTP and it has the XP machine's IP (127.0.0.1) in the header. I open Ncom and it shows "Com 1, 115200bps" in it's header. I have an ethernet cable connecting the two machines and it shows a connection when I power up the NVR but nothing happens in Ncom (no bootlog). I turned off Windows firewall but with it on it doesn't complain so there's no traffic from the NVR. I read someone needed a null modem cable for their NVR so I made an adapter but it didn't make any difference.

 

Is this thing really bricked? Is there anything else I can try? Thanks in advance for any and all input.

[drkailey 0]

Well I had a knowledgeable buddy come over with his high end USB to serial cable and the best we could get out of it was {RXERR} when it was powered up. This only happened with a null modem (cross over) cable.

 

Unless someone can add anything useful I think I'll pronounce this thing...

[tomcctv 190]

Hi. Not all q-see are dahua based. And even if it is a dauha ....dahua software still will not load ....it's not just a badge change.

 

 

On your fan is it 2 or 3 pin plug ?

[drkailey 0]

Hi. Not all q-see are dahua based. And even if it is a dauha ....dahua software still will not load ....it's not just a badge change.

 

 

On your fan is it 2 or 3 pin plug ?

 

Fan is 2 pin. I should at least see something in Ncom, no?

[Gixer 0]

What model QSEE?

 

I tried the Dahua firmware on my QSEE and it definitely doesn't like it.

 

I've had no problem getting connected over USB to serial and a PuTTY session.

[drkailey 0]

It's a Q-See QC828.

 

Did your's boot at all? Mine is stuck in a re-boot loop...

[Gixer 0]

Mine would boot (818) and lock up. I was able to connect over serial and flash all kinds of dahua / qsee firmware. Some partially work. Then when I found the exact original 818 firmware all worked fine.