DVR will not recognize serial number?

[romean]

Have a AMDV10804-2B2D-W DVR system installed. Has worked great for the last couple of years. Had a power failure about two weeks ago and when the system came back up the p2p was messed up. Could not get it work on any mobile device. In the process of troubleshooting I noticed that the system does not recognize a serial number. Both in the direct DVR menu as well as the UI interface. The p2p QR code generated shows the serial number as lot of zeros. I've gone back and forth with customer support now for over a week. They have been good but somehow seem to be limiting themselves to one single email reply back per day. Half the stuff they suggest I've already tried.

I have tried resetting the system back to factory settings. I've downloaded and installed the firmware both on the DVR and on the UI and done factory resets each time. The system always shows the serial number as just a bunch of zeroes. Anyone experience this?

[Revo2Maxx]

Hello and welcome to the Forum...

Did you buy it from Amcrest Direct or a Second party?

Would be interesting to see a few things..

First log in to your WebUI using the IP address for the Dvr and take a Picture like the one shown here... Second please post the first 6 numbers of the Mac Address for the DVR!

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[romean]

This was purchased direct from Amcrest via Amazon. Here is the pic of my UI interface as well as a pic of the serial number which shows as zero.

[romean]

Also the first numbers on the MAC address 20:13:12

[Revo2Maxx]

Very Odd.. Sorry to hear about the problems.. Looking into the Mac Address it is also kind of Odd that the Numbers come up Empty I looked at a good few sites to find out the owner of the mac Address and non list 20.. While Dahua does have a good listing of Mac Addresses 20 isn't in the list only ones I know and have seen on Amcrest systems are 3c, 4c and 9c starting numbers while I did ask for the first 6 that is because it can be that there are others that have some first pair and need the 6 for a good match.. Odd thing is that your machine looks newer then my CVI from Amcrest and mine starts with the 4c and do have a few cameras with that one as well my NVR's start with 9c and while are Dahua Mac are listed as Amcrest Products.. My DVR CVI is from 2015 and early release unit..

If you look at my other unit with the 000000 in the SN what is odd is that also reflected in the info page of the DVR as well.. I wonder if you looked in the Info page of your DVR if it will list the SN there? Also I am going to guess the 20: address is the pre release address for Mac addresses before programmed in my 00000 Number the mac also is a 20 start and makes me wonder if there was some code lost on power fail? Sadly with the age of the unit and where it is damaged it isn't something I am going to guess that the R&D at Amcrest could repair because I think all the Programming comes before they get it...

So like in my First one you will see it is with all 000000000 in the field then my Dahua has a good SN that I took out and my Amcrest also has a good SN I took out but you can see from the pictures in the info page they list.. It might be that the unit now has a damaged network area on the motherboard...

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[romean]

That's about what I'm thinking too, some sort of physical fault on the hardware that is goofing things up. Guess I'll have to scrap it and just get a new DVR. Got any recommendations? Want to be able to use the 2TB HD and the four analog cameras that I already have.

[Revo2Maxx]

Humm Well wouldn't say scrap it. I mean if it is still working at this point other then not being able to access over P2P.. However if it is dead to the point that you can't access the machine at all for Recording then time for a new one.. I guess I need some more info about your Analog cameras? These truely Analog or you just mean CVI cameras? However it might be that your Machine seeing it is newer and better them my 7204 CVI unit I wonder if maybe yours work with Legacy Analog cameras? Sadly while mine is said to it don't even says works with 960h when asked support was told only Amcrest 960h however mine don't work with even Amcrest 960h seeing I have one of them machines too lol..

So wondering about something..

In Chrome copy and paste this into the address bar.
10.0.0.222/cgi-bin/configManager.cgi?action=getConfig&name=All

Change the IP address for your DVR's Ip address.. It does act like it is taking a long time there is a lot of data it is chewing.. If it don't work it will right away fail

Then copy this output into Word or Open Office Write, Then your looking for T2u server area of the output you can find this by doing a search under find & replace of your doc program search for p2p..

However if you don't have a word Doc program you can run this and it will put in to a Text format that you can save as you like into a txt file or just look at the output as it is easier to understand for some and don't have every thing as the first line

10.0.0.222/cgi-bin/Config.backup?action=All

Oddly this one don't work on my Dahua DVR and I find that really strange to be honest.. Again doing a search for P2P should yield some results for p2p amcrestview dot com... Also this is where it would also show your SN for your device as well..

About replacement if your talking about CVI cameras would need to stay with a CVI recorder.. While not all CVI brands work with one another so keep that in mind.. If your looking to upgrade one day over your current cameras I would maybe find a Recorder that has CVI to 4mp or 5mp that will work with older CVI cameras.. I know out of my CVI cameras found out the hard way that other cameras did work with my Recorder just not how I had them connected lol Setup for Balun and I have a CVI PTZ camera that I couldn't get to work.. However I have since installed it and as backup connected my Amcrest dvr and it works after all and only difference is now I have it connected on Siamese cable and not a balun like I had it before come to find out all my CVI cameras work on my Amcrest recorder after all lol...

[romean]

This is is what I currently have.:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011C ... UTF8&psc=1
I did some looking and just decided to order a new DVR. I think I've spent enough time goofing around with this one over the last week or so. This is the one I ordered.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07HP ... UTF8&psc=1
Gives me a few more channels so I can add to it and it looks like it will support my current cameras with no issues.

[Revo2Maxx]

Well I was going to pick up where I left off last night however I see you posted again...

So yeah I was going to mention that they have 4k as well.However I was going to mention that the only thing I didn't like about my CVI unit is the lack of the ability to set the camera to Color at night.. Most of my cameras besides the ones I have on my CVI units are in Color.. I even have one in the back that runs both B/W and color sadly it is a Stand alone camera thought I got for a Gift never used because I thought it would be cheap but was surprised buy the quality of the picture and speed of going from B/W to color when the White LEDS turn on.. It is a Cheap Flood cam. Sadly no onVif.

Even some of my older CVBS has OSD that I can set the camera to run b/w or Color and was only reason I didn't stay with HD over Coax.. I am going to guess and I would hope anyway that the new one you post to will have the option to set cameras in color or b/w.. I mean if the cameras had the feature then I could over the OSD seeing I can access my PTZ over coax so that is cool.. Non of my Legacy PTZ camera have the ability besides the CVI PTZ my older ones do have RS-485 and that is how I prefer it anyway..

So I was going to say maybe also look at some IP cameras.. I wonder how many IP ch the DVR you bought would have then you can add a couple.. Would be nice to know if they add on or if it is still like my CVI where you take off CVI to add on IP.. One thing I like about my TVI unit is while it is 16ch now with 2 IP it is really an 18ch... Don't like the idea of having to remove Main ch to gain a IP but it is what it is..

If I was you and had that other machine I would look over and see what has happen inside.. I have been in Electronics for over 40 years as a hobby mostly but I wouldn't toss it if I couldn't fix I would use as a Backup machine for when I am cleaning one of my others to keep them recording with little interruption.. Or turn it into a GPS Decoy as I like to do as well lol..

[romean]

Well I guess I just needed to upgrade this thing. Funny, I thought the Amcrest customer service was doing well - just a little slow in getting back to me. Really disappointed with their last suggestion. Something in the line of doing a factory reset on my "camera". They must have just been doing a copy/paste series of replies the whole week. What a waste of time.
I was back up and fully working with the new unit in under 10 minutes. Swap out hard drive and go thru the setup. Scan QR codes on devices and all done. I think I spent a couple of hours trying to troubleshoot this old stupid brick.

The new DVR supports 8 cameras as well as 2 wifi cameras. Guess I will be adding more later on.