HikVision “Network is unstable” problem

[VistaDream]

Hi all,

hope every one is keeping well in these difficult times. A newbie here with a bewildering problem.

I have a dome camera as one of 8 networked to my NVR. This camera was working perfectly for a couple of years until a week or so ago when it comes up with “Network is unstable” and shows no picture. I checked the recordings and again nothing recorded for a week. I tried via the browser based GUI as well as the HikVision iPad app.

Now, doing some diagnosis I tested the Cat 6 cable between the camera and the NVR and it tests ok both ends using a cable tester. I put another camera which works at the end of this cable and that camera also doesn’t show video. At the NVR I plugged the feed of another camera to the port for this camera (camera 8) and it displays video from this ok. So the port 8 is ok at the back of the NVR, as is the cable from the NVR to the camera. What am I missing?

I have reduced all video resolution and refresh rates etc, to no avail. I have a gigabit network so I don’t think bandwidth is a problem. It worked fine with all 8 cameras previously!

any help very gratefully received. I haven’t played around with the NVR settings much, is there something I can do here? It no longer shows camera 8 in the drop down list under camera management either.

 

[Phil]

My gut feeling would be to replace the cable.

The testers that you/we typically use tend to be unsophisticated pin-out/continuity checkers only and as such do not reveal more complex issues exposed by high data rates, POE, etc.

 

[VistaDream]

Sadly not able to replace the cable as it was built in when we built the house.....from the garage to the first floor ceiling, about 20 metres. Maybe I’ll try re-wiring the jacks or maybe before doing that try and send large data bundles through the cable to see if there’s any issues. Seems odd it was working flawlessly for nearly three years and all of a sudden it stops.
I’ve even replaced the LAN cable between the NVR and the router to no avail.

 

[VistaDream]

The mystery deepens! So I’ve now got this camera working, didn’t make any changes at all it just started working.

It is showing video via the web browser and by clicking on the camera using Virtual Host. However it does not display on the Hik-Connect app for iPad.....just shows “network unstable”. What would cause this? I’ve tried deleting the camera on the app and re-selecting it but again no joy. The camera is definitely feeding video, both to browsers and the HDD, just seems the iPad app is not displaying the picture.

 

[JonM]

Hi - I'm having the same issue. Noticed yesterday that one of my 8 cameras has gone off line with "Network Unstable Connecting again" message.

I rebooted the system and also swapped the ports over. To no avail, I even unplugged feed to the power unit for the PTZ and then it came on again, only tp all over 10 15 mins later. IS this a cable connection issue or a hardware issue do you thinK ?