IP3M-956W hard-line not working.

[JAF]

I have a total of 10 Amcrest cameras, not all the same, 5 very new ones.

Recently I purchased a new very powerful router to reach the ends of my property and out of the 10 cameras 5 of them are brand new.
I've had 2 IP3M-956W cameras for something like 3-4 years, since purchasing newer cameras that pan/tilt I replaced the 2 IP3M-956W to new locations.
I also reconfigured both with new WIFI connection.

One of the IP3M-956W stopped working though. I removed it and brought it to my computer where I can plug it in through hard-line on a network switch.
Unfortunately it doesn't want to connect through hard-line. But the other IP3M-956W did connect no problem and was able to reconfigure WIFI.

I tried to reset the camera by removing the dome and pressing the button inside for 45 seconds.
Green and red lights did some flashing. But still no hard-line connection.

I also tried to setup WIFI through my phone as a new camera and scanned the QR code on the back of the camera.

Nothing is working.

Any ideas?

[Revo2Maxx]

Hello and welcome to the forum..

IF I had to guess I would say that your using to long of a cable, However you said it was on your desk and not able to connect so again maybe to long of a cable if your router or hub/switch was located in some other area of your property.. Lets say that you used a short cable 6,10 or 30 feet and same issue, Then the issue would most likely be the cameras Ethernet Transformer is out. What is hard to understand is that you said that you were using it as a Wifi camera and there should be no real reason your transformer is out.. Then worse yet, I think you said that even at your desk you can't get wifi to connect either now and that kind of tells me that it is even more then a Transformer issue and now a dead older 3mp camera issue. If I had a Wifi one laying around I would personally swap you for yours so I could crack into it and see what is going on, I only have POE model of the 956EB.

Some things to look at.. First make sure that the camera isn't hidden in your Network pool as a rejected device. If your camera is in fact working and the router has it in a Black list the camera won't work over wifi.. Sometimes in different model cameras anyway I have found if I forget to give access to the camera I can't even connect to it to get it added. So I have to remember to right away give access to everything new or find the mac address if listed on the label and give it access manually. Then when adding it over wifi it can work. these days though I don't connect many devices over wifi anymore because of reliability issues..

[JAF]

Hello Revo2Maxx,

Actually, I'm using a short 3 foot cable, I used this same cable on the other IP3M-956W camera I have and I was able to reconfigure it for new WIFI and it works no problem.

Transformer, huh, I guess that will be difficult to replace. As these are tiny surface mounted components. And this issues seems like it's possible.

I wish I got all the POE style cameras, I actually thought I purchased some of them that way.

My router is about 2 weeks old and currently have things in their own VLANs, no black list (checked and it's empty), and since I was able to connect the other same camera with no issues; I'm not sure it's my router (both hard-line and WIFI).

[JAF]

I see only a red light on. It doesn't blink or change to green.
Even after I plug the network cable in. I also power it off before plugging the cable in.

[Revo2Maxx]

Well the thing is, The Wifi should work even without the ethernet Transformer. I have a IP2m-841w that I took the Transformer from to fix another camera that I wanted to fix. Now I just have Wifi Only marked on the camera bottom so I know it will only work over Wifi if I want to work with it as a back up camera in the future.

Really hard to know why a camera that used to work on Wifi no longer works when trying to setup again under wifi.

Here is what I would do.

Move the camera as close to the Router as you can. Make sure that your phone or Tab is setup with 2.4Ghz Wifi, Plug in the camera and try to setup again. (Maybe even make sure to try without Dome installed. When you setup click the Wifi setup type, and when your phone needs to do the Tones face your phone towards the cameras face. I have at times had to move forward and back from the camera a little ways. Personally not sure why the tones are even there when a camera don't have a Mic lol Like when I setup to my 751B camera. It took a little bit to get the camera setup on Wifi. 4 to 8 inches seems like the good spot..

Just an idea, I can't say that it is still a working camera. But is something I would try before calling it dead for sure..

[Pogo]

If still available, try it with the old router in a relatively isolated location and see if it will come up on the old wi-fi setup. A long shot, but...

[Revo2Maxx]

If ethernet is connected it should change to blinking green and even without it connected the camera should go from blinking red and red green to just blinking green before being able to setup.. If the camera never changes from Red. I would try to Reset again. Press and hold the button until the camera LED flashes a few times in red. Then should flash in red and green at that point is when I let go sometimes I will let go after the second red flash and the camera is reset..

If the camera stays with Red LED on only normally this means there is no connection to the camera and or the camera is damaged and isn't able to access the Ethernet/Wifi chips..