DVR won't boot with SATA cable plugged in. AMDV10818

[sammyg]

After 5 years of working flawlessly my AMDV10818 is no longer booting when a HDD is connected. All I get is a flashing blue light on the power (and a flashing red light on the mouse).

If I unplug my HDD it boots and works great (except for being able to record anything of course, lol).

If I JUST plug in the power to a HDD it will also boot and work, but if you plug in the SATA cable it won't boot. If you plug it in while it's working it immediately goes black and goes into flashing light mode. I've tried my stock HDD and a brand new one that is the same exact model # as the last.

Is there any way to fix this without buying a whole new DVR?

[Revo2Maxx]

Hello and Welcome to the forum..

Question are you using the same power for the cameras that you are using for the DVR? This is not good practice and yet there are some that do this.. If you are then something you could try is to unplug the cameras from the dvR power and see if the power supply has enough power with cameras out of the power supply.

Issue is even if it is just power supply for the DVR and not cameras the power supply could be the issue and not the DVR. YOu would know by trying a new Power supply.. If you try a new power supply and still have same results with not being able to power the HDD then the DVR would need to be repaired.

I know you might be thinking that bad power supply would mean no power at all at the DVR with our without HDD and this isn't the case. I have seen many DVRs that came in for repair that the issue was Power supply. The last one the guy said he tested it with a new power supply and still didn't work. The problem was the power supply he was trying was only 1amp and that isn't enough to power both DVR and HDD.. When he came in, I tested it with the power supply he had and it was no go, I then put it on my Bench power supply and the DVR with HDD worked just fine. I then tested the power supply for his DVR that was rated at 3.33amps and it was only able to output 1.054 amps. Because his connector for the DVR was a 4 pin told him if he wasn't able to find a replacement that I would swap the cord to a new power supply of equal or greater value so he could use his power DVR without having to buy a new one.. Yours however should be with the normal 5.5mm outside with normal 2.1 inside.

Before sending in your Device for repair I would double check with a Known good Power supply..

[sammyg]

I'm not using the same power for both, the DVR has a seperate unit. I'll hunt down a working power supply that fits the DVR and get back to ya'll. I'm not super experienced with this... where do I find the info on what kind of supply is safe to use? I don't want to just plug anything in that fits right?

[Revo2Maxx]

Well it is a 12v power supply and again my guess is that it will be 2amp or better. So the power supply that it is connected to right now should have that info posted on the case. Some of them are on the Plug side so you would need to look with it unplugged. Also color of it writing might be yellowish so a good light source is needed..

What you want to know is the AMPS for the 12v output. I say this because most times the supplies will have a input current rating as well and because of the higher volts for the input the current is lower normally then the output for the 12v. So I just want to make sure you get the value of the right part of the supply..

[sammyg]

That worked! Swapped out the power supply and all is good now. Thank you so much for the advice.

[Revo2Maxx]

Awesome glad to hear you got it working again..

Be Safe

[FourYou]

i'm having the same problem but with an older dvr. i have one of the 4mp systems dvr.
Amcrest UltraHD 4MP 4CH Video Security DVR Digital Recorder, 4-Channel 4 Megapixel @ 15fps, HD Analog, Hard Drive & Cameras NOT Included, Remote Smartphone Access (AMDV4M4) AMDV4M4

its discontinue now but do amcrest still sell a power supply that will fit this model dvr i have??? i brought a new hdd after troubleshooting issue with 3 amcrest tech and they say the problem was i need a new hdd...

[Revo2Maxx]

it looks like the only 12v power supply they have in stock is one with 4 pig tail for older cameras. Normally ones like that could work however that one is only 1.5amps and I am sure the one you will need is a 2amp supply. So that means you would want to look for a different source..

So that brings me to B&H. You can get a 12v 2amp supply and the one they offer is a Watson Pro, On my page it is the first one and should be the one that would work for your DVR.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Powe ... 3880127418

Normally if a DVR won't work with the HDD connected it could be a HDD issue. However I never look at the HDD without checking the Power supply first. Most times if a power supply is starting to fail because it is older then the power supply will not support the full output of the supply. This can make it so it won't power HDD and the Fans. Then if you remove the HDD from the system the DVR comes back online that is because the supply has enough power to do so.. Maybe even enough to power a single fan. However some older system has CPU fan and case fan in that type normally both fans won't work unless one of them is removed then it could power one..

At times the Caps in the Power supply is drying up and no longer has the ability to give the device enough power to support all things connected. If you don't have tools or ability to repair the current power supply then buying a new one is fastest and safest way to get your system working correctly again.

[Revo2Maxx]

1 Last thing to remember if you don't want to use B&H, If you were to find a power supply form some other place like Ebay, It might be that they are selling one that has specs that don't support the facts. That is why I offered B&H as a source because I know they sell for CCTV and specs are as listed. I have even bought from Ebay my self where the listing was for a 5amp power supply and when I tested it the supply would only support 3.6amps. Not everyone has hardware to test power supplies..

[FourYou]

it looks like the only 12v power supply they have in stock is one with 4 pig tail for older cameras. Normally ones like that could work however that one is only 1.5amps and I am sure the one you will need is a 2amp supply. So that means you would want to look for a different source..

So that brings me to B&H. You can get a 12v 2amp supply and the one they offer is a Watson Pro, On my page it is the first one and should be the one that would work for your DVR.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Powe ... 3880127418

Normally if a DVR won't work with the HDD connected it could be a HDD issue. However I never look at the HDD without checking the Power supply first. Most times if a power supply is starting to fail because it is older then the power supply will not support the full output of the supply. This can make it so it won't power HDD and the Fans. Then if you remove the HDD from the system the DVR comes back online that is because the supply has enough power to do so.. Maybe even enough to power a single fan. However some older system has CPU fan and case fan in that type normally both fans won't work unless one of them is removed then it could power one..

At times the Caps in the Power supply is drying up and no longer has the ability to give the device enough power to support all things connected. If you don't have tools or ability to repair the current power supply then buying a new one is fastest and safest way to get your system working correctly again.

i brought a new hdd and connected it and still wont connect... i unplugged the fan with new hdd and it still didnt work...if i buy the new power supply and it still wont boot up with the hdd onnected what should be the problem... also the power supply for my camera one camera is already unable to connect log display loss of signal...my log for dvr also sees a reboot with flag 0x1 error...