For the network experts

[Anthony5]

This is my situation.

I use Windows 7 x64 and have several IP cameras that I monitor in Blue iris, which runs in the background.

I rarely close my PC, but rather put it to sleep, so in the morning I just move my mouse and within a second I have my log in screen.

This I'm doing for years already.

What has changed now since maybe 2 weeks or so is that when I wake up the PC, my cameras show as "no signal" in Blue iris.

My internet works from the first second, buty I can't connect to my cameras. Refreshing the camera in Blue iris, which normally need to be done if the cameras lost signal for extended time, doesn't have any result.

I need to close the software and reopen and there are the cams again.

First I thought that it was time to update the Blue iris software, which I did yesterday, but then today I got the same result.

Haven't changed anything in the settings from BI, the only thing that I think may coincide with this experience is that around the same time I changed from 3G to Cable internet which included a new router.

Another thing that I notice lately is that the few third party desktop gadgets, which are supposed to update every 5 minutes, become unresponsive. I then click on the gadget, get the pop up close the program and look for a solution, after which the gadgets restart and work again for the next 24 hours or so.

Any suggestion where to look?

[fritzzz25]

www.apple.com

on a serious note, was there any recent updates done via windows update on your rig (I am sure you looked). just wondering if something there messed things up. i haven't run a windows machine for a while, but what about opening up the task manager and killing off some things in there one by one to trouble shoot the unresponsive programs?

just an afterthought, try running the app in a virtual machine / sandbox app to see if it behaves the same (VMware, sandboxie)

Edited September 14, 2015 by fritzzz25

[Anthony5]

www.apple.com

on a serious note, was there any recent updates done via windows update on your rig (I am sure you looked). just wondering if something there messed things up. i haven't run a windows machine for a while, but what about opening up the task manager and killing off some things in there one by one to trouble shoot the unresponsive programs?

just an afterthought, try running the app in a virtual machine / sandbox app to see if it behaves the same (VMware, sandboxie)

Nothing wrong with the software, it has run perfectly for years under the same circumstances. To remove all doubts I updated the software yesterday.

Of course I have downloaded the windows updates on a frequent base, but testing it out the way you suggest by removing them one by one would take until eternity.

I should clarify, it doesn't happen if I put my PC to sleep for a few minutes, but it does when I wake it up in the morning so in some way it is time related.

[ravip]

Could it be your DHCP server's Lease Time is too short?

Would increasing that help?

[KittenKong]

I never use the sleep or hibernate functions on my PC as they always seem to stop something or another from working properly. I much prefer just to turn the monitor off and leave the PC awake.

In the Windows power settings you can set the monitor to blank itself after x minutes, and all monitors should then put themselves into standby. You can combine this with powering down the hard drive too, if you want.

Touch the mouse and the screen will turn itself on again, and all your gadgets and programmes should still be working correctly.

[Anthony5]

Could it be your DHCP server's Lease Time is too short?

Would increasing that help?

DHCP lease is set to 1 day.

[RichCor]

Yep. Same as KittenKong.

My laptop is set to shut off only the screen and spin down the drive. Everything else is kept live.

Not sure why your current setup would have an altered effect going from a 3G Router to a Cable Broadband Router.

[Anthony5]

Yep. Same as KittenKong.

My laptop is set to shut off only the screen and spin down the drive. Everything else is kept live.

Not sure why your current setup would have an altered effect going from a 3G Router to a Cable Broadband Router.

Not sure if the new router is related to this, I only suggested as it happened around the same time, but something must have changed somewhere.

[RichCor]

Does the PC use a "Static", "Dynamic (reserved)", or just a "Dynamic" DHCP issued IP Address?

As "ravip" mentioned, the router is responsible for delivering and maintaining dynamically issued IP addresses.

So if the Blue Iris software, as well as the "third-party desktop gadgets" are failing to re-acquire network when refreshed from "sleep" then something is either going on with the PC or the network (and specifically the router).

If you are using a DHCP issued address on the PC then the router may be doing a lease termination when the PC doesn't respond to round-robin identify calls.

Since this is a new Internet router, it may be processing DHCP lease recovery differently.

You could try going into Device Manager, pulling up LAN adapter, and going into Properties, then Power Management, and checking or unchecking "Allow the computer to turn this device off to save power". It may change how this affects the system.

Another fix may be to make sure your PC is assigned a static (fixed) IP Address.

Further, it you can't solve the 'sleep' issue, and don't really need the PC to "Sleep" then modify the power plan so it just powers off the display.

[Anthony5]

Does the PC use a "Static", "Dynamic (reserved)", or just a "Dynamic" DHCP issued IP Address?

As "ravip" mentioned, the router is responsible for delivering and maintaining dynamically issued IP addresses.

So if the Blue Iris software, as well as the "third-party desktop gadgets" are failing to re-acquire network when refreshed from "sleep" then something is either going on with the PC or the network (and specifically the router).

If you are using a DHCP issued address on the PC then the router may be doing a lease termination when the PC doesn't respond to round-robin identify calls.

Since this is a new Internet router, it may be processing DHCP lease recovery differently.

You could try going into Device Manager, pulling up LAN adapter, and going into Properties, then Power Management, and checking or unchecking "Allow the computer to turn this device off to save power". It may change how this affects the system.

Another fix may be to make sure your PC is assigned a static (fixed) IP Address.

Further, it you can't solve the 'sleep' issue, and don't really need the PC to "Sleep" then modify the power plan so it just powers off the display.

You're right once again.

Previously the PC had a static IP address, but since I had some issues with the install of the cable internet and had to delete the home network and reinstall, the PC was now given a dynamic IP.

I have it now changed back to static, and will see the result tomorrow morning, but most probably this will have fixed the issue.

Now I only need to find why the desktop gadgets become unresponsive now and then.

[ravip]

Another option which will not complicate matters and you could always roll back is trying increasing the DHCP lease to >1 day (e.g.2 or 3).

Edit

If you still have the earlier router you could compare these values.

Edited September 14, 2015 by ravip

[Anthony5]

Does the PC use a "Static", "Dynamic (reserved)", or just a "Dynamic" DHCP issued IP Address?

As "ravip" mentioned, the router is responsible for delivering and maintaining dynamically issued IP addresses.

So if the Blue Iris software, as well as the "third-party desktop gadgets" are failing to re-acquire network when refreshed from "sleep" then something is either going on with the PC or the network (and specifically the router).

If you are using a DHCP issued address on the PC then the router may be doing a lease termination when the PC doesn't respond to round-robin identify calls.

Since this is a new Internet router, it may be processing DHCP lease recovery differently.

You could try going into Device Manager, pulling up LAN adapter, and going into Properties, then Power Management, and checking or unchecking "Allow the computer to turn this device off to save power". It may change how this affects the system.

Another fix may be to make sure your PC is assigned a static (fixed) IP Address.

Further, it you can't solve the 'sleep' issue, and don't really need the PC to "Sleep" then modify the power plan so it just powers off the display.

Sorry to bear the bad news, but I put the PC to sleep around 4pm and when I came back shortly after 6pm, the cameras were not visible anymore in blue iris.

That is with the PC set to static IP and the LAN adapter unchecked Allow the computer to turn this device off to save power

Edit to add: I'll have to check again tomorrow, because I just went to look in the Blue iris settings, and the IP address was still the address that was assigned this morning before I had assigned a static IP. I hadn't restarted the software after that.

I have now restarted and it now shows the static IP.

More to come tomorrow morning.

Edited September 14, 2015 by Anthony5

[RichCor]

Put the LAN adapter port back the way it was, checked, since this was the way you had it before, and give it another try.

You might want to restart the PC once just to make sure everything is fresh.

With a static IP address it shouldn't have anything to do with the gateway, as all communication between your PC and the camera is direct over LAN.

You always have the alternative setup, change the Power Plan to Never Sleep, and just have it Turn Off the Screen after so many minutes. You could go further with Advanced Power Settings but I'd suggest just letting the display go off and maybe the hard drive.

[innerspace]

Are the cameras on your local network or online?

When the system restarts what are the results of a ping test or traceroute?

Anything recorded in windows event viewer?

[thedemon]

My guess would be the issue is related to hibernation and/or hybrid sleep. That may explain why the issue doesn't appear until the PC has been asleep for some time.

Try disabling both of those in power settings and only let sleep remain enabled.

[Anthony5]

Are the cameras on your local network or online?

When the system restarts what are the results of a ping test or traceroute?

Anything recorded in windows event viewer?

The cameras are on my local network. Haven't tried a ping test, but will do if tomorrow still have the same issue.

[innerspace]

Are the cameras all on static ip.

[Anthony5]

Are the cameras all on static ip.

yes

[ravip]

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