2500W Bricked After Firmware Upgrade

[d-berlinski]

Attempted to upgrade the firmware on my 2500W camera from 1.1X to 2.1.7 via web interface.  It appeared that the upgrade went well but upon reboot, the camera bricked.  I can ping the camera, but no web interface.  I attempted to reinstall using the upgrade utility to no avail.  Anyone have any experiences with this happening?

[Danny Mainprize]

Happened to a couple of mine.  There is something in the user guide on how to do boot to recovery firmware. This allowed me to run the upgrade firmware again and have it work. 

Just a note, make sure that you can upgrade between those firmware versions.  A couple of mine had to do some in between upgrades before all the issues finally went away.

[d-berlinski]

I scoured the whole manual but could not find it anywhere.  You wouldn't happen to have it handy would you?

[Scott Olsen]

You should be able to find the steps in the release notes for the firmware version you are trying to upgrade.  You'll need to use the "Ouvrir" utility.

Upgrading from Release 1.x or 1.x.W to Release 2.1.7

If your IP camera is running firmware release 1.x or 1.x.W, perform the following steps to upgrade its

firmware to release 2.1.7.

You can use this procedure to upgrade up to two IP cameras simultaneously. Be aware that the all

configuration for an IP camera, including its IP address, reset to the factory default settings after an

upgrade.

Step 1 Take these actions to obtain the release 2.1.7 firmware:

a. From a PC that is on the same subnet and LAN as the IP camera that you are upgrading, go to this

URL:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps7307/index.html

b. Click the Download Software link, log in to Cisco.com, and locate the 2.1.7 firmware file, which

is named CIVS-IPC-2XXX-V2.1.7.bin.gz.

c. Click the Download Now button and follow the on-screen prompts to download it to your PC.

Step 2 Take these actions to download the upgrade utility:

a. From a PC that is on the same subnet and LAN as the IP camera that you are upgrading, go to this

URL: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps7307/index.html.

You can use the same PC that you used in Step 1.

b. Click the Download Software link, log in to Cisco.com, and locate the upgrade utility file, which

is named CIVS-IPC-2500_UpgradeUtility_v2.1.zip.

c. Double-click the file name and follow the on-screen prompts to download it to your PC.

d. Unzip the file on your PC.

You can unzip the file into any folder on the PC.

4

Release Notes for Cisco Video Surveillance IP Camera and IP Dome Firmware Release 2.1.7

OL-24823-01

Upgrading to Release 2.1.7

Step 3 Take these action to place the IP camera you are upgrading into upgrade mode:

a. Power off the IP camera:

– If the IP camera receives AC power, remove the power cable from the IP camera or unplug the

cable from the outlet.

– If the IP camera receives power over Ethernet (PoE), disconnect the network cable from the IP

camera.

b. Press and hold the Reset button on the IP camera.

See Cisco Video Surveillance IP Camera User Guide for the location of the Reset button.

c. While holding the Reset button, power on the IP camera by reconnecting the power cable or Ethernet

cable that you disconnected.

d. Continue to hold the Reset button for 10 seconds.

When an IP camera enters upgrade mode, the amber Ready LED on the front of the IP camera blinks.

Step 4 Navigate to the folder where you unzipped the Upgrade Utility file and double click Upgrade.exe.

The Cisco Upgrade Utility for Standard Definition IP Camera window appears. Each IP camera or

camera that you are upgrading appears in the Device List.

Step 5 In the Cisco Upgrade Utility for Standard Definition IP Camera window, take these actions:

a. Check the check box that appears to the left of the Default Name of each IP camera that you want

to upgrade.

Make sure that the MAC address that appears for the camera that you want to upgrade matches the

MAC address that is printed on the label that is affixed to the IP camera.

b. Click the Browse button.

Step 6 In the Open pop-up window, take these actions:

a. Navigate to the folder in which you unzipped the release 2.1.7 firmware file.

b. Click the firmware name, which is CIVS-IPC-2.1.7-bin.gz.

c. Click Open.

The Cisco Upgrade Utility for Standard Definition IP Camera window displays the number of the

firmware release that you are upgrading to.

Step 7 In the Cisco Upgrade Utility for Standard Definition IP Camera window, click the Start button.

The upgrade process begins. This process can take up to 30 minutes. Do not exit the program or power

off the IP camera during the upgrade process.

You can monitor the process by looking at the Status, Progress, and % fields in the Cisco Upgrade Utility

for Standard Definition IP Camera window. When the upgrade process completes, the Status field

displays OK.

Step 8 In the Cisco Upgrade Utility for Standard Definition IP Camera window, click the Exit button.

Each IP camera that you are upgrading reboots and resets to the factory default configuration values.

Step 9 Access each IP camera that you upgraded and configure it as needed.

See Cisco Video Surveillance IP Camera User Guide for detailed information and instructions about

accessing and configuring an IP camera.

[d-berlinski]

I went that route already.  The camera does not show up in the utility.

[Scott Olsen]

That utility can be *extremely* picky.  Ensure you are running it from a Windows XP workstation (firewall off) and that you are on the same VLAN as the camera switchport.  If you can; use a crossover cable directly to the camera from the workstation.

Hope this helps.

[d-berlinski]

Did all that and nothing.  I was able to upgrade another cam so I have everything set up correctly.  This one cam was upgraded incorrectly and now bricked.  I was was looking for some recovery procedure.