Problem updating FOSCAM firmware

[sgamar]

Hello,
can someone help me? I have a FOSCAM Ip Camera FI8908W, and after upgrading firmware version to 11.14.2.17, it doesn't start. I cannot establish a link with my PC, then I cannot re programming with a different firmware.
What can I do???
thanks

[timhillone]

We think your ip camera 's ip address restore to the default ip address! Can you use the following software to search your foscam ip camera?
_________________
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[buellwinkle]

When you did the firmware update, did you have the camera hardwired or wifi. It has to be hard wired and it will reset everything back to factory settings. Use the IP camera finder program that came with the camera to find it. You can't use WiFi until you reconfigure the camera settings.
_________________
For network camera articles and reviews, visit my blog at http://ipcamnetwork.wordpress.com

[sgamar]

of course I had the camere wired through ethernet link. But it's so strange because after programming it the camera has correctly got on, and it was operating for 3 days.
Then I turned off it,with no problem, and after 3-4 days I tried to turn on it... but the camera has no more operated.
I think it's a firmware problem because I analized the board with tester and it all seems correct! The light on the ethernet plug correctly blinks, and I can hear a soft noise when I power supply the camera; but it doesn't start!!!
I found a link (http://www.gadgetvictims.com/2009/12/bring-your-fi8908w-paperweight-back-to.html) that teachs how to program it by a boot loader, but until now I couldn't do it because no information I can read on the serial terminal.
Can you help me???

[fatjohnny]

Take that Foscrap camera (made in China) and throw it away and buy a decent camera. Yeah, you will pay more BUT HOW MANY HOURS DID YOU SPEND DICKING AROUND WITH THE PILE OF CRAP IN FRONT OF YOU? Multiply the number of by a fair wage and you will quickly see the Chinese made camera really cost you more than a decent camera and it still does not work correctly.

John
New jersey

[buellwinkle]

The biggest PITA for me with Foscam is they don't always initialize when you plug them in. Sometimes I have to plug it in 2-3 times, many times it works right away. You can tell when it is working because it will cycle through the pan/tilt before coming on.

Also, if this is the case, contact Foscam, they are pretty responsive to support issues. I think it's a power supply issue. I switched power supplies and this happens a lot less, but still does.
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For network camera articles and reviews, visit my blog at http://ipcamnetwork.wordpress.com

[papyraki]

hi i have made an upgrade over wifi and after that my camera is dead. is there any solution to figure it out? thank you

[Skyking]

fatjohnny,

I don't recall anybody asking your opinion of the quality of the equipment. The OP was asking about a possible firmware upgrade issue. Since you don't know his application let me illuminate you on a couple of possibilities. If he is just an electronics enthusiast that likes to fool with things, should he spend a couple of grand on that Sony? How about if he wants to wire it to a twelve volt battery in his deer stand a quarter mile from deer camp?

To any other self-righteous self-important and self-aggrandizing jackasses - Please go start up your own thread and you and the "boys" please all go there and slap each other on the back telling yourselves how you're the smartest, best looking, have the biggest whatever; you guys go play there and please allow people asking questions to ask them without concern for some smart ass trying to smack them down. Fair enough?

Phil

[Skyking]

papyraki,

It is a shame nobody answered your reply in eight months... My best suggestion would be to try doing it again using a wired connection and see if it will take. If that does not work contact FOSCAM and see if they can offer any suggestion.

If your turn off from being ignored for eight months did not cause you to leave the site, please follow up and let us know what your outcome was.

Thanks,

Phil

[buellwinkle]

Surely by now it would have died of natural causes outside of his control. Many people buy fake Foscams and then when they try and update the firmware, it's not compatible and bricks the camera.
_________________
For network camera articles and reviews, visit my blog at http://ipcamnetwork.wordpress.com

[Skyking]

buellwinkle,

I understand. My point in circling back around was to highlight the entirely inappropriate post made by fatjohnny. If this was my board I would have deleted that post and told him to knock it off. If he doesn't want to be helpful, he needs to go entertain himself in another, and more appropriate, manner.

Yes, I am very familiar with the clones of the clones. FOSCAM cameras are Chinese knockoffs of Chinese manufactured cameras. That someone somewhere started cloning their own clones is, to me, at least mildly entertaining. For less than $100 they are of unbelievably high quality. Are they a $2000-2500 camera? Of course not. Are they as good as many that are several hundred dollars higher? In my opinion they are.

A couple of years ago I went to the FOSCAM USA site where they devoted a lot of web page space to touting themselves as being "the" legitimate source for FOSCAM cameras in the USA, and asked a few questions. Simple questions like what wave length their IR illuminators functioned at (Will external IR illuminators work with their cameras?), why they were not answering questions posed to their user forum, what was their physical address (Beyond some obscure industrial park in Houston, TX.); none of my input was ever replied to. Good luck trying to reach them for a product return if you cannot get them to answer thoughtful prepurchase questions.

Does FOSCAM leave a lot to be desired? Sure. Their PTZ left-right has a known issue with being REVERSED and has for years. Is FOSCAM USA legitimate? Who knows. What I can say is NO poster here deserves being talked down to by an ignoramus. Technical questions asked deserve technical answers from people who know or based on their experience can take an educated guess. The post I highlighted was entirely inappropriate and that person needs to be taken to the woodshed by the site administrator. For me to have to weigh in as newby months after the fact; that doesn't say much for the way this site is monitored... Maybe they need to add a "Report this post" button or something. It just burns me when some know-it-all pipes up with something like that, adding nothing meaningful yet insulting the OP in the process.

Phil

[buellwinkle]

Do you know what these cameras wholesale for? They are making as much as 200% profit on selling these cameras. The markup on Axis and other commercial quality camera is tiny, maybe 10-20% off street price. So if I was a reseller, it would be great to make those kind of margins. But even in China, making a camera for $30 usd forces some quality compromises as you already know. Maybe if they sold it here for a 10-20% profit it would be a cute throwaway toy. But for $100, I would expect a product to last a few years and out of the Foscam cameras I've used, the life expectancy is that of a toy you would give a 3 year old.

But I don't agree with Johnny about all stuff made in China, there's some very high quality manufacturers in China. Apple is the best example. I pay a premium for a laptop made in China by Apple. I recently got Christmas lights that are so high tech they are only available in China and the quality is amazing. But Foscam is not one of those companies were quality is a priority and if your Foscam stops working someday, and it will, don't beat yourself up about it. Just take a deep breath and give it a proper burial in our nations landfills.

If you ever want to buy a bunch of these, go to Alibaba.com and search for ip cameras, there's tons of companies selling this stuff from $10-40 each depending on quantity. I've been researching products on Alibaba for many years and they now have a store site called aliexpress.com that you can buy Chinese made products online, like a yahoo or amazon store but not quite all there yet.
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For network camera articles and reviews, visit my blog at http://ipcamnetwork.wordpress.com

[JohnnyC]

i agree that Apple has good products made in China, but the big difference is that APPLE strictly monitors quality control whereas a company that makes and sells without qulaity control most likely has quality issues. By the way, there are cheap iPad clones that look exactly like Apple's iPad, but run on Android and have serious quality issues.

John
New Jersey

[buellwinkle]

What's funny is that stuff made in China for the domestic market is much higher quality that what is made for us. For example, if you buy a Haier appliance in China, that is considered decent quality, like buying a Whirlpool appliance in the U.S., but when they export to the U.S., the expectation is a very low price, so they make a very low priced product for export, but not what a consumer in China would want.
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[JohnnyC]

Back in the 80's when I spent several months in Hong Kong and several weeks in the canton area of China, the Chinese people told me their products were crap when compared to products made outside of China. Go figure.... Now we get all their crap, but we have no choice since the true craftsmen of America are long gone and the young & lazy kids of today seems to have an entitlement mentality, don't care to work and expect the government to take care of their needs while to them life is one big party. GOD help America as we are quickly falling apart.

John
New jersey