They had the software installed from the mini DVD to Tony's computer. They had the Chinavasion CVLM-I34 camera configured in a basic way, with our local area network settings at the CAO. They were able to interact with the camera through a web interface, when connected by hard line. Dietmar walked me through the login screen. But the wireless wasn't working.I asked for some quiet and settled in.
Indeed, with the camera was working well with the ethernet cable connected to our upstairs router. I noted that the web user interface came up fairly quickly. I did notice however that I was inside Firefox and the link that Dietmar had directed me to use to login was associated with ActiveX and thusly Internet Explorer. Oops. I clicked instead on the "push" link for Firefox.
I checked the wireless settings. Scanned for wireless networks. Two came up. It looked like the Mac addresses for each WLAN was included. I paged the GBO and got Charles. Asked that he deenergise the Linksys in the observatory. Rescanning showed a single device. Good. Keep it simple. I wasn't sure it was detecting the proper encryption. I checked it again the WAP settings. Which reminded me that the d-Link unit is very poor. It didn't show the encryption, which I took to mean AES. I set the camera to match.
It was around this time that I noted the port number. It was 188. That was odd. I put it to 80. Keep it simple. I applied a name to the camera, Polaris (get it?) from anonymous, so that I would be able to tell that I was connected to the proper, reconfigured device. Double checked all the other settings. Everything looked pretty good. It looked like, previously, the guys had set the camera to use a fixed IP. I configured it to use dynamic. It rebooted automatically.
The IP camera tool was running in the background of Tony's laptop and after a moment, it showed the camera, with a new IP address, and with the name Polaris. Good signs. I hit the camera with Firefox with the ethernet cable plugged in, without a port number, and everything came up OK. The video feed was working. I rebooted the camera and disconnected the network cable. After a moment the IP camera tool popped up with the camera details. Tried Firefox. Made sure I used the push mode. The video feed came up! All right.
It looked like all the different options I had touched, IP address change, the standard port, the Firefox link, had worked. It was good to see the video working without the ethernet cable. I told Charles and Dietmar. They took the camera outside and bolted it up. I returned to my Stargrazer work.
They connected a few long extension cords to get power to camera. Then tried to view the camera with a laptop. No luck. But when they told me they weren't sure the laptop itself was working, I pointed out that there was no reason to have it beside the camera. Let the viewer sit in the house and use some of our radios to chat with the person near the camera.
Dietmar flagged me down as I was starting to cut some of the longer sections of the lawn. As I drew up, he started shaking his head. Oh oh. I returned to the house.
But when I tried to access the web UI, it didn't respond. I tried many times. No joy. Tried Internet Explorer without success. Nothing.
I removed the camera from its outdoor mount. Tried it from the kitchen table. Sometimes the page would partially load in FF. Nothing appeared in IE. It was weird that the Tool was always showing the camera.
Reconnected via hard line and put the camera back to factory settings. Then provided our network settings via the tool application. Once again, specified our network and wireless details. Double-checked the wireless encryption, this time by checking the settings in the netbook, and discovered it was, in fact, set to use TKIP. Set the camera accordingly.
Deinstalled and reinstalled the IP camera software. No improvements.
As I googled for information and tips, I kept running into articles and blogs of people panning it. That was not encouraging.
I considered upgrading the firmware but I wanted approval from Charles. He was in Thornbury trying to track down St Peter's Winter Ale. When he returned, I asked what his return or refund options were. None. He said it would be more expensive to ship back. Crap. So then trying to change the firmware might not be a bad idea then. We had nothing to lose. He agreed.
Exploring the upgrade options quickly revealed that it wasn't going to be automatic, that it wasn't going online for the proper source. You needed the files already installed on your computer to proceed with the upgrades. I tried to find the firmware and web UI software. I got nowhere with that. The Chinavasion web site didn't offer any downloads other than the user manual. The manual was not technical at all; it simply explained the screens. No troubleshooting topics.
So, I halted my activity. I reported to Tony, Dietmar, and Charles, that I could successfully operate the camera with a hard line connection but that it did not respond properly on wireless. That the web pages and Javascript worked fine with ethernet cable suggested the UI components were working correctly. It seemed to be something in the wireless section itself. I even went so far as to test the camera without and without its little antenna, with the GBO WAP powered back up. It saw the Linksys with its antenna screwed in; but it only saw the house WAP with the antenna removed. Very strange. I brain dumped with Tim and Steve. We couldn't see a solution.
I closed off by suggesting that we keep the camera. But the only way we'd be able to use it would be via hard line...
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