Subscriber Discussion

Hard Drive Prevents Dahua NVR From Powering On

U
Undisclosed #1
Jun 06, 2017

I was troubleshooting a Dahua NVR that would not power on today. The fan would just move slightly then stop. After some troubleshooting I figured out that it would only power on properly when the hard drive was disconnected from the power lead. When a different hard drive was installed it booted right up. I have an external drive bay that I use for data recovery - it also will not power on with the suspect drive installed. The power light turns on and then the dock loses power almost immediately.

I have seen plenty of hard drive failures, but this is the first time I have seen a hard drive failure that prevented the device it is installed in from powering on. Have you seen anything like this before?

(1)
BT
Brian Tally
Jun 06, 2017

Possibly there is a electrical short in the hard drive causing the power supply to initiate some internal protections and not power on the system. I have not seen this before, but if that is the case then the power supply did the right thing in not powering on the failed hard drive.

UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #2
Jun 06, 2017

I have not seen a hdd from preventing power in but I have seen it prevent an nvr from booting up.  Hdd failures can occur in strange ways and cause a myriad of symptoms... 

Time for a hdd warranty replacement. 

UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #3
Jun 06, 2017

Dahua had an issue in certain firmware versions that would cause this once the HDD was full.

See if you're running an old firmware version, I don't remember what firmware version I had to use to fix it, but I haven't seen this issue in any recent firmwares.

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UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #2
Jun 06, 2017

LOL.  Once the HDD fills up the first time, it is then "always full".  That is funny.

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UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #3
Jun 06, 2017

I know, it was a stupid issue. Not sure how they let it get sent out like that.

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Avatar
Sean Nelson
Jun 06, 2017
Nelly's Security

Unfortunately hard drive issues have plagued Dahua. one thing you may try is adding a beefier power supply as well. Make sure its atleast 5 Amps. and upgrade your FW as another mentioned.

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MB
Matt Bischof
Jun 06, 2017

Blown cap-- try a different power supply.

UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #4
Jul 03, 2017

If you can power the drive up on a PC, check the SMART status. If possible reestablish the MPT and reformat the drive. Best best is to replace the drive via warranty. 

Avatar
Armando Perez
Jul 04, 2017
Hoosier Security and Security Owners Group • IPVMU Certified

Have seen this. Replace with a new drive and voila it works. Then install the original drive in another dahua machine and no problems. Never got a clear answer as to why. It's infuriating. Asnt happened in a while, but we are doing less and less dahua.

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