CPU based DVR Geovision GV-800

[VSTson 0]

My father and I have a client of ours that wonted us to fix his camera systems for him. they were done by another guy who has just fell off. he has two cpu towers with 16 channels for cameras that are tied together and run bye the geovision GV-800. 32 two cameras each site. two sites in total. the software is about 7 or 8 years old. and we are wait to figure out if it would be more feesable to just put a stand alone 32 channel DVR ini or two 16 channels at each site. one of the cpu's is just not working and my dad (vstman) is gonna work his expertise on them. what do yall think we should do? by the way the guy who did thes cctv installations before really loved duck tape. that's waht he used for his connections...haha. talk about top quality.....yeah right.

 

 

vstson

[CollinR 0]

I would probably fix whats broken and call it good myself.

 

You might try and upgrade them but being that old you would be upgrading to an old version. Still 8 year old Geovision systems smoke most standalones so I would not make a radical change.

 

 

If you wanted, you could upgrade the motherboards, CPUs, RAM, HDDs and power supply. Thats basically a new machine, should easily get another 8 years out of it.

[VST_Man 1]

they are celeron 2.4 gigabyte pc's. out of the 4 i looked at;

- one had a power supply blown.and i mean blown. replaced ps and now the pc boots up and the gv800 loads but no video will display....all ports

- second one boots and then goes thru the "recoginized new hardware stuff, loading the drivers for the gv800 card......then i loaded the software, reboot, and got the famous can't find keypro??? or something like that. I looked at the drivers and the A series was missing all together...audio & video. B, C, & D were there and loaded. But, software was not loading.....reinstalled several times, updated drivers, ect. all is a mess.

- third is another "can't find keypro????

- 4th is actually working without any issues so far. might try swapping out the cards into the good to see if they work?

 

My opinion is, toss'm and buy new recorders..........standalone types. If you figure in just labor to get these boxes running I will spend over half of the clients money on repairing.

 

The 64 plus camera's are also a mess..........half worked, half are ???? did not even get started on that yet.

 

one interesting thing here is that one of the hotels has a wall to wall CCTV setup........2 servers (bad), 6 monitors, time lapse recorders, multiplexors, PTZ controllers, and more. I was blown away at how much was spent on something that is now a total loss.

 

can you say ebay?????

 

I have 6 more hotels to look at before i estimate repairs and/or recommend new. I like to repair when it looks like it is worth it but in this case even if I got it up and running the client would end up spending more money on labor keeping it running....no waranty from me as this stuff is way out of it's shelf life.

 

I read a bit concerning the "can't find keypro" and basically it looks to me like the cards got hit. oh yea, the CCTV person who installed this never installed a surge protector...............or the clients staff tossed them when they started to beep, beep, beep..

[CollinR 0]

Are the machines identical?

 

If so you only need the labor for one, just ghost it and restore to the others. It really shouldn't take much labor to get them going, do they have XP Pro on them?

 

Also something else doesn't add up, if they are 7-8 years old they shouldn't have celeron 2.4s, that makes them more like 3 years old at most.

 

Are you loading supplied software or downloading it?

 

Can't find keypro is IIRC a v7 thing, those machines are pre v7 and as such probably will need older software. Once you know the version of the card you'll know more.

 

Do you have the key? If not that too points towards pre keypro software. The boards themselves have a version number on them, that should help figure it out. It could also mean post keypro software should be used.

 

Next time you are onsite feel free to call me, I'll PM my #.

 

I just can't see labor adding up to anything like the cost of a dedicated 32 channel unit. Not to mention the performance hit...

[rory 0]

You need the older software for them probably, and also the Dongle for each one, if they have removed them.

[VST_Man 1]

my Son guessed at 7-8, I more at 4..looked at the install files and they are all 2004 so the years is obvious.

 

did not see the dongle(s) when I pulled the plugs. I will make a trip back to recover the other 2 servers to see how they op.

 

labor? My "estimate" is not too far off the mark. Labor here for any Comp work runs over 100 an hour. Gas prices have pushed up the "service call" rate also. so, just for me to drive down and "look" at them for 1 hour would cost my client 200 - 300 IF I charged that high rate.......I do not, but I get my worth. Now i take them back to the shop and start working on them. if you ever worked on a PC the time flies when your having fun. Ok, lets assume I get them up and running by just turning them on and adjusting some software.by the way, these things were obviously hit by a power surge......one of them the "A" series is missing all together so I'm assuming that I can't fix that card I'll have to replace that card. anyway, by the time I get it back there and plugged in I will have at a minium a day of labor into it. take that money and apply it towards a nice new DVR with a 3 year warranty and my client will be better off in the long run. If I repair and have to keep going back to work on them that labor will add up quick. I'm not just looking at the initial repair, I am comparing that to the cost of replacing with a warranted machine. 3 years is a long time not have to pay for labor! My comments concerning are aimed at providing the best "service" and quality equipment for the money spent. But, I'll pass that decision off to the owner and if he wants me to pump life into these things I will.........I can.

 

You have to see these PC's....when you turn them on they even sound old.......worn out. I don't like to ditch and run but if it looks uncared for and electrically punished I have to expect problems from them even if I get them back in running shape. I don't want to tell my client that I can fix them and then spend a month running back and forth because they keep rebooting.............oh, forgot to mention that..they keep rebooting now..........I'm assuming that the "watchdog" is looking for the GV800 and since it is not loaded it reboots.

 

ghosting? I know that I could do that but again, both these things were hit hard by something.that one power supply is toast inside.not just abad ps...it's a barbie. the other is not obvious but the "A" series is missing on the hardware/drivers.....

 

I'll figure it out. I know I have 4 boxes to work with and they are all the same. I have a few more hotels to goto so I will most likey end up with more "parts" to work with.

 

thanks for the replies. oh, cards are marked well and I have the original software.......dongles? who knows where they are. cameras'?? time will tell.

[rory 0]

If it were me, i wouldnt go near it with a 10 foot pole, id sell them new PCs and cards

[rory 0]

Can you get some photos of the DVRs so we can see

 

I dont know man, if you can get one or 2 working with windows XP loaded, one of us could logon and check out the software side of Geo if you wanted ..

[VST_Man 1]

Rory, I have one working server so I will use it to test the others "parts". I'm pretty good at fix'n, just don't want to get into this too deep and then have my client complain about the labor, and future labor cost to keep them running. installing new would be the quickest answer. even buying new servers and using the GV800's is ok as long as the GV800's work. I'm not sure they are healthy yet.

 

But, if I get a surpise and my client authorizes the upgrade to new I'll try to get the old stuff to play with. I like to take old stuff and donate it to schools, ect.

 

Dongles? I'm pretty sure that there are none as I disconnected all the cable myself and never came across one.unless someone just took them, and that is a possibility also. I never liked dongles for that single reason.........swipe the dongle and you just killed 16 camera's.........too easy to pullout.......maybe a smart guy could install a special GeoDongle port inside the Server case? hey Rory, we could make millions from this idea..along with my idea of installing a hidden camera inside all servers to keep an eye on it