Axis 2401 intermittant ethernet connection? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / repair

author: XOIIO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 16, 2014, 02:46:30 am
content: Hey all, my axis 2401+ video server has stopped working properly, and I can not figure out why. It used to work fine, however one time I set changes for the Ethernet connection, thinking it could reboot itself but it seems that it needs to have the power cycled completely, which I could not do for a few days.Anyways, now it can barely connect to a network, sometimes the status light turns red, but I can not really find a list of errors for this, and it would not tell me much. It will try and connect one in every, maybe 6 times you cycle the power, and once it showed up on the router briefly but then it loses connection. It's very frustrating, and I can not really replace it, the next cheapest option would be to try and find a BNC capture card that works, and if not (which is looking more likely) I would need to buy an IP camera, which would cost over $120 easily.Anyways, I have left it unplugged, disconnected the coin cell on the board which is no doubt memory backup, I have reset it multiple times, and even tried the small hidden reset button (red in the picture) that is not in the manual, still no luck.The last chance I am thinking is to connect to a serial port on it and see if I can get anything, but I am not sure, and I do not have a USB to serial adapter that uses a serial cable, but I do have one of those USB arduino pro mini programmers which is serial, perhaps I could hook that up? I am just not sure which pins I would need to use, and if I would need extra circuitry between the two.Anyways here is a picture of the Ethernet chip, I thought perhaps it could maybe be failing and that might be part of the issue? Seems unlikely though.

author: ve7xen
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 16, 2014, 06:55:37 pm
content: You have tried replacing the cable and trying a different partner port on your switch/router, right?Ports do go bad, but this sounds more like a cabling issue.

author: XOIIO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 16, 2014, 07:06:01 pm
content: Quote from: ve7xen on July 16, 2014, 06:55:37 pmYes, different cables and routers don't make a difference.

author: ve7xen
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 16, 2014, 07:10:50 pm
content: I'd guess it's the magjack, not the PHY that's gone bad then, but could go either way. You can try to measure the link pulses and see if the RX signal is reaching the PHY. If it is (or if the TX signal is not generated at the PHY), replace the PHY, else replace the jack (check coupling caps etc.).

author: XOIIO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 16, 2014, 07:42:21 pm
content: Quote from: ve7xen on July 16, 2014, 07:10:50 pmPossibly though this is in good shape, and no cracked solder or anything, plus the server was not moving at all during the period that it stopped working. I suppose I might have another jack on something I could salvage somewhere.I guess I will try that since I would have to order and wait for the chip, never worked with any QFP's before though

author: Wilksey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 16, 2014, 08:00:57 pm
content: I assume you have tried a reset? Those encoders are a pain in the arse! Sounds like buggy firmware rather than a hardware fault, we have changed to the Q7401's now, they seem more reliable.

author: kingofkya
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 16, 2014, 08:24:32 pm
content: Not to discourage you but a few years ago when i used to mess with AXIS ip cameras (211m i think) they used to record a log of motion capture and log events to the same spot on the flash mem. Eventually killing it. On the cameras there uses to be a TTL serial terminal you could plugin to and get to linux with to see what was going on. We used to get 2-3 years or so out of them when using the on camera motion detection.

author: XOIIO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 16, 2014, 08:26:39 pm
content: Quote from: kingofkya on July 16, 2014, 08:24:32 pmThis one does not feature motion detection, it can record/upload images if an external source triggers it, but it has nothing so fancy on the inside.I do want to hook it up to that usb serial adapter, I imagine you just need ground, tx and rx, but I am not sure what pins on the DB9 those are

author: kingofkya
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 16, 2014, 08:33:58 pm
content: on the model there was a really easy to find slikscreen tx rx gnd Vcc marking it wasen't the same unit you have so i don't know for sure. also on mine it was 0-5v serial so i had to use an adaptor like this,http://www.ftdichip.com/Products/Cables/USBTTLSerial.htmAlso as a side not you can get the techwell chipsets pretty cheap on ebay/alliexpress. for pc/pci-ehttp://www.aliexpress.com/item/techwell-16ch-DVR-Card-Security-Equipment-Audio-video-input-H-264-CCTV-System-digital-Video-Capture/1776234374.htmlthat one is really 4 channel that multiplexed to 16 i woudl not go past 8 channels on it witch gets you around 10-12fpsEdit: betterhttp://www.aliexpress.com/item/FREE-SHIPPING-8-CH-REAL-TIME-DVR-CARD-VIDEO-AUDIO-CAPTURE-CARD-SUPPORT-WIN7-VISTA-China/355984798.html8channle fullspeed capture $70 USD

author: XOIIO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 16, 2014, 08:36:50 pm
content: Quote from: kingofkya on July 16, 2014, 08:33:58 pmHuh, that's pretty good actually, I really only need one channel for now, I would go to maybe, 3 max.I would just need to be able to use the video feed in other software like yawcam so that I can do motion detection, and it would need to be useable on widows server 2008r2, it looks new enough to be though. A couple I saw one bay were just windows xpNothing on the silkscreen though. I wonder if they use standard connection pins that I could find online or if they transpose the pins or something like APC does sometimes.

author: kingofkya
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 16, 2014, 08:41:23 pm
content: Most of thouse cards are plug in play in windows vista/2008+ you can also search for brookertree clones although most of those are dried up now a days. As long as you stay away from anything with integrated mepg4 encoder or broken encryption your probably fine.http://www.aliexpress.com/item/FREE-SHIPPING-8-CH-REAL-TIME-DVR-CARD-VIDEO-AUDIO-CAPTURE-CARD-SUPPORT-WIN7-VISTA-China/355984798.html8channle fullspeed capture $70 USDMostly linux stuff but there is a lot of good information on cameras and capture cardshttp://www.zoneminder.com/i used to be pretty active over there. There is a farly good db of stuff in the wiki.

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 16, 2014, 10:02:39 pm
content: If it stopped working after changing software settings, makes me think its unlikely the hardware is at fault.Anyway,Quote from: XOIIO on July 16, 2014, 02:46:30 amA high quality 3MP hikvision camera is$93shipped.A 1MP cheapy is$45Although they may or may not be suitable for what you want to do. Sometimes it can be difficult to transfer the motion detection information from the camera to outside software.

author: XOIIO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 16, 2014, 10:11:58 pm
content: Quote from: thm_w on July 16, 2014, 10:02:39 pmYeah, I've found that if there is a web page with a video feed you can actually get the direct lan address of the video feed from it and put it into yawcam which works really well.