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Is your DSL with MSN? They've had a lot of problems and many dropped accounts because of the Arescom NetDSL 800 modem.

Everything on that puppy is blocked.

I have the DSC-900 and watch the front of my house but it wouldn't work until I get rid of the MSN account and that stupid modem.

As a side note...
Don't call MSN (or whoever your through) they kept telling me (and others) they were working on the problem for over a year!

Bye
fifi

# posted by Anonymous 2:38 PM

I have SBC Yahool DSL.

# posted by Alice 2:42 PM

Hi,

I know that you've done a lot of tries and the guys at DLink are really helpfull, but would you care to tell what exactly you've done and some more info on this? Maybe I can help (I worked as a tech support for a godd number of years) :-).

-Does your ADSL have a permanent IP or is it dynamic?
-Have you done a redirector rule on the router?
-Is the IP of your cam permanent or dynamic? (obtained by the DHCP server of the router).

(if there is a way for you to email me, we can proceed to a more direct conversation to try to resolve this).

Andrew

# posted by Andrew 3:13 PM

I agree with Andrew: Something is amiss here.

For what it's worth, I also agree that D-Link's support is fine. The dark spot for me, however, when I recently needed an RMA.

I spoke at length with them about an Ethernet Drive (604) which had suddenly, unexpectedly, died. The first tech had me update the firmware, which was a good idea. However, that completely killed the device. It was inaccessible and the LEDs on the front indicated there was a real problem.

The first tech sent me up the chain and we tried several things to raise the drive. With each test, though, it was becoming apparent that the drive was simply dead. I became concerned after an hour because the tech started repeating the same tests. Finally, he tried to have me perform a test that was impossible to perform because the drive was not accessible. When I raised the alarm, he indicated that I'd have to perform the test to return the drive. I felt like he was putting me into a catch-22.

We did reach a compromise and I performed a different test that proved the same point. He acquiesced and I received an RMA.

Why should I have to argue for an RMA when it became clear twenty minutes into the tests that the drive was simply dead. How long should a consumer be required to perform a manufacturer's tests before the device can be returned? An hour? Two hours? Several days? And how much should a consumer have to prove before an item is defective?

I suspect that this is a company policy and that techs aren't looked upon favorably for accepting RMAs.

But if a device is dead, it's dead.

An RMA should have come sooner.

# posted by thecompu 10:36 AM

I agree. There must be a cost formula where you declare an item dead and go about the RMA process rather than use a tech for a soild hour to carefully diagnose something that is clearly gone. Haven't seen my phone bill, maybe the cost per minute for their support is really high or something?!

I had the same thing happen with Rio (subject of another Atomic rant). My Nitrus was d-e-a-d- and I went through a soild hour of firmware and restarts and so on. They had me go home and trythe firmware ther on a fdifferent PC, so I had to call back and do another hour again on that machine. (kill me) Then when we all decided it was dead, I had to find my original receipt and fax it to them with all the info. Then I waited three weeeks, and while I was out of town, I was told by email that I had 72 hours to postmark my return or my RMA would expire. I wrote that I was on the road and would not even be back by then, and was told I would have to start the whole thing over - fax, RMA wait, RMA return and then for all that I would get a refurbished unit in something like 30 days. Uh...thanks. Between us all, I know we spent FAR more than $120 Nitrus cost in time for something that could have simply been shipped out to me and then cheerfuly returned in the box mailed out, like Palm does.

Back to D-Link. I have a static IP and the camera can be set to obtain an IP via DHCP or to be set permanently via PpPoe (sp?), but it did not recognize the IP when I did that. Nothing is redirecting on the router.

Any idea? I love looking out the front door now and want to to it when I'm away. Or should I use it as a sign and and stop the parnoiac behaviour?!
--A

# posted by Alice 11:35 AM

Whoops -- that's dynamic IP. I long for a static IP.

# posted by Alice 11:37 AM

Hi Alice,

I don't have this device nor do I know your setup, so I am taking a few leaps of faith here, but based on what I see in the product manual, you should be able to do the following.

1. Log on to the camera's built in web interface.

2. On the "Advanced" page, manually assign an IP within your network range.

3. Sign up for a free dynamic DNS account at http://dyndns.org

4. Set up a domain on dyndns. It's free.

5. Download Direct Update off the site, which is a utility that will monitor your WAN IP address and alter your dyndns.org domain to point at a different IP when it changes. Install that on a PC that never shuts down.

6. Forward ports 80 and 8481 on your router to the LAN IP of the camera.

7. TYpe in your dyndns.org domain into any browser window.

8. See your camera's output.

If you don't have a router, then you still might be able to do it providing you have access to the DSL modem configuration and it's a DSL modem that provides both NAT and a way to forward ports. If it were me, I'd get a router. Easier to set up than the DSL-modems that pose as psuedo-routers.

# posted by thecompu 7:16 PM

Oh, the option to assign a manual IP on the Advanced page is a radio button entitled:

"Manually Assign"

It's not done via PPPoE. Not what you're trying to do here.

# posted by thecompu 7:18 PM

Alice, as thecompu posted you must log in the camera's built in web interface and assign it a IP so you can find it from the outside. Since you have a static IP you always know your public address.

The redirector rule works more or less like this: you have more that one machine on your lan but only 1 way out for all of them from your house. So to be able to find something you assign a certain port (you have 64K ports on your router) so that when you type http://xx.xx.xx.xx:port the router knows it has to redirect your request to the address you programmed. It's like the follow-me feature of the regular telephone.

So go to the router's web interface, select SERVICES/NAT and select NAT RULE ENTRY. Click the ADD button. Parameters as described:

FLAVOR: RDR
ID: (the next rule ID number, probably 2)
IF NAME: ALL
PROTOCOL: ANY
LOCAL ADDRESS FROM & TO: (the camera's IP)
GLOBAL ADDRESS FROM & TO: 0.0.0.0
DESTINATION PORT FROM: 50500 (the port you want)
DESTINATION PORT TO: 50500 (the port you want)
LOCAL PORT: 0

Click SUBMIT, confirm and save in ADMIN, COMMIT & REBOOT, SAVE.

The port you want is the port you'll put after your IP address to reach your cam. Ah and it's preferred to use higher port nombers than 1024. Usually the ones below 1024 already are being used by something.

HTH :-)
Andrew

# posted by Andrew 1:02 AM

HEY!
Those shady characters outside the door might just be your fan club members.
The drug dealers too, as a matter of fact.

:-)

# posted by Anonymous 11:42 AM

Dont know your interal network, number and type of systems etc. but if you have at lease one Linux system with X11 and ssh you can do what I do. I ssh to one of my servers using X forwarding. Then I start a browser session on the remote server and browse to the camera. A bit slow on some connections but it works for me.

# posted by Anonymous 1:46 PM

Alice what is the picture quality like? Can you post a url to a sample pic or 2 when something / someone passes near the camera? Thanks

# posted by Anonymous 1:21 PM

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