Network problems viewing IP cameras

Ira

Active Member
I have two IP POE cameras (10.x.x.62 and 10.x.x.63). My Window's 10 laptop's wired LAN connection is 10.x.x.82. I also have a Windows 10 desktop PC at 10.x.x.37. The gateway for all of them is 10.x.x.1 (my Xfinity cable modem/router). All four devices are connected to a POE switch, and the POE switch is connected to a "big switch", which is connected to the cable modem. All LAN addresses involved are hardcoded, i.e., not DHCP leased. With this setup, both PC's can connect to both cameras using the camera manufacturer's client.

I'm trying to set things up so I can take the laptop, cameras, and POE switch to our house (which is under construction) so I can get a better idea of what I need to do for security camera coverage. I have temporary power at the house, but no Internet connection.

It's not working the way I think it should when I'm testing the "mobile setup" at my current home...

When I use the mobile setup (laptop and two cameras connected to the POE switch, and nothing else connected to them), the laptop camera app can't connect to either camera. I can ping both of them, and tracert gets to them in one hop. If I connect the POE switch to the big switch (without changing anything else), the cameras connect almost immediately. Even more odd, I can disconnect the cable between the POE switch and the big switch after the cameras connect, and the laptop and cameras continue to work together. So it seems like some kind of handshaking at connect time is failing.

Even more odd... if I disconnect my desktop PC from my local LAN and plug it directly into the POE switch (i.e., the POE switch now has the desktop PC, laptop, and a camera plugged in, but the POE switch isn't connected to the big switch), the desktop PC can connect to the cameras using the camera client, but the laptop still cannot. Also, both the laptop and the PC can ping the cameras, but they cannot ping each other.

Since the PC can view the cameras in the mobile setup, I'm thinking there's a setup problem somewhere on the laptop. One new thing I did today was install a USB ethernet adapter because the laptop doesn't have a LAN port (we always used wireless LAN up until now). It's a TP-Link adapter and it seems to work fine with the driver that Windows chose when I plugged it in.

Any ideas on what may be messing things up?

Thanks,
Ira
 
What is the MFG and model number of your camera.

Here use VLC for Linux to test RTSP cameras. VLC for Windows 11 works well too.

Gonna stop here until I know what the MFG and model number of your camera is.

Pencil draw and scan and post what you are doing with the network connections.
 
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The cameras are Reolink RLC-811A and Duo 2 PoE IP POE cameras. I'm using the Reolink Windows client to view the cameras.

I don't have a sketch, but the setup that is failing is very simple. A Windows 10 laptop and the two cameras cable connected to a Netgear GS305PP POE+ switch. Nothing else is on the "mobile LAN". The three devices all have the same 10.x.x IP address as explained in a previous post. The laptop can successfully ping both cameras, but the Reolink client fails to connect to them. Same setup with my desktop PC and the two cameras works fine.
 
Point the Realink cameras gateway IP to your laptop and unblock the laptop access to the IPs of the camera.

Same setup with my desktop PC and the two cameras works fine.

Was this on your home network with a internet connection and router / gateway?
 
I'm trying to get this working without an internet connection and router/gateway so I can take it to a location that doesn't have an internet connection (house under construction).

Take the setup I described in my previous comment (laptop and 2 cameras connected to a LAN switch, and the LAN switch isn't connected to anything else, i.e., no uplink), and add my desktop PC to the LAN switch. The camera client works from the desktop PC. It does not work from the laptop. The desktop PC can ping both cameras. The laptop can ping both cameras. The desktop cannot ping the laptop, or vice versa.

Uplink the LAN switch to one of my home LAN switches (which means everything has a a gateway/router/internet connection), and everything works fine.
 
You probably did this, but that laptop has a hard IP correct?

I know power probably isn't the issue since you used the POE switch in both scenarios, but do you have a POE injector so you can try plugging a camera directly into the laptop's network connection?
 
I know you listed the IP addresses in your OP, but is sure seems like either the cameras or the laptop (or all of them) are set up for DHCP and not static IP addresses. The system works when you connect to the big switch because there is a router on the network that can issue ip addresses (and will usually issue the same address to the same device until the system is power cycled). However when you are trying to set everything up through just the smaller POE switch, there is no router in that small network and therefore all of the device are not getting IP addresses and therefore you cannot connect to all the devices.
 
You probably did this, but that laptop has a hard IP correct?

I know power probably isn't the issue since you used the POE switch in both scenarios, but do you have a POE injector so you can try plugging a camera directly into the laptop's network connection?
I hadn't thought of that, and I don't have a POE injector. However, it may be a good plan B if it works. Thanks.
 
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