Zoneminder not working, several errors

[whois1230]

I am running Zoneminder 1.30.4 on Debian 9.8 stable 64-bit GNOME and am getting several errors. I don't always get these errors, but often enough that zoneminder works ony half of the time. I attached images to the post.

[bbunge]

I am running Zoneminder 1.30.4 on Debian 9.8 stable 64-bit GNOME and am getting several errors. I don't always get these errors, but often enough that zoneminder works ony half of the time. I attached images to the post.

How are your cameras configured?

[whois1230]

I am running Zoneminder 1.30.4 on Debian 9.8 stable 64-bit GNOME and am getting several errors. I don't always get these errors, but often enough that zoneminder works ony half of the time. I attached images to the post.

How are your cameras configured?

https://imgur.com/a/b3D4OIc

[whois1230]

I am running Zoneminder 1.30.4 on Debian 9.8 stable 64-bit GNOME and am getting several errors. I don't always get these errors, but often enough that zoneminder works ony half of the time. I attached images to the post.

How are your cameras configured?

https://imgur.com/a/b3D4OIc

[jwarfin]

You don't provide much information, but I'll give some feedback based on your pics.

Since you are using /dev/video0 as the source it implies /dev/video0 actually exists, you are using an analog camera and analog capture card/device. If you get any of the card/device settings or monitor settings wrong for the card/device/camera capabilities, you'll see errors because the kernel driver module for /dev/video devices won't let ZM capture frames.

In my hybrid (analog cams and IP cams) ZM setup I use some analog cams (NTSC, 720x480, some color some B&W) with a BTTV based PCIe capture card. If I set an analog cam's montor config to 32bit color I'll get errors and ZM won't capture frames. So perhaps try 24bit or even B&W to see what happens.

Typically, PAL is around 25 FPS. NTSC is 30 FPS. I've never used a PAL camera, so I don't know what happens if you try to capture from one at 31 FPS. You can definitely run into problems if you're using a capture card and cameras and their video standards conflict (eg: card is set for NTSC and cam is PAL).

Best thing for you to do is to use the v4l2-ctl utility to get details of your capture device's capabilities. As with:

sudo v4l2-ctl --all

This will give all sorts of details, including the actual supported resolutions, color depths, max frame rate and control/config params.

A big clue is the "failed to stat" /dev/video0 log message. This means at that moment /dev/video0 didn't exist. This points to the capture device. If it's a PCI or PCIe card, then there's some problem related to the card. If the capture device is a USB device/webcam then it's likely a problem with the USB bus and/or device/webcam.

A common problem with USB video capture devices/webcams is that they can go offline if/when the Linux system does the standard shutdown of USB ports to save power. That is, sometimes a Linux system will not properly see an active USB video capture device/webcam as active and will power down the USB port. Or, if a webcam, the webcam's firmware and/or Linux kernel driver has issues that appear after prolonged use. In my experience, many USB video capture devices/webcams don't do well as reliable always-on 7x24x365 capture devices and will periodically drop off the USB bus and may stay off until the USB bus is reset or the system rebooted.

[whois1230]

You don't provide much information, but I'll give some feedback based on your pics.

Since you are using /dev/video0 as the source it implies /dev/video0 actually exists, you are using an analog camera and analog capture card/device. If you get any of the card/device settings or monitor settings wrong for the card/device/camera capabilities, you'll see errors because the kernel driver module for /dev/video devices won't let ZM capture frames.

In my hybrid (analog cams and IP cams) ZM setup I use some analog cams (NTSC, 720x480, some color some B&W) with a BTTV based PCIe capture card. If I set an analog cam's montor config to 32bit color I'll get errors and ZM won't capture frames. So perhaps try 24bit or even B&W to see what happens.

Typically, PAL is around 25 FPS. NTSC is 30 FPS. I've never used a PAL camera, so I don't know what happens if you try to capture from one at 31 FPS. You can definitely run into problems if you're using a capture card and cameras and their video standards conflict (eg: card is set for NTSC and cam is PAL).

Best thing for you to do is to use the v4l2-ctl utility to get details of your capture device's capabilities. As with:

sudo v4l2-ctl --all

This will give all sorts of details, including the actual supported resolutions, color depths, max frame rate and control/config params.

A big clue is the "failed to stat" /dev/video0 log message. This means at that moment /dev/video0 didn't exist. This points to the capture device. If it's a PCI or PCIe card, then there's some problem related to the card. If the capture device is a USB device/webcam then it's likely a problem with the USB bus and/or device/webcam.

A common problem with USB video capture devices/webcams is that they can go offline if/when the Linux system does the standard shutdown of USB ports to save power. That is, sometimes a Linux system will not properly see an active USB video capture device/webcam as active and will power down the USB port. Or, if a webcam, the webcam's firmware and/or Linux kernel driver has issues that appear after prolonged use. In my experience, many USB video capture devices/webcams don't do well as reliable always-on 7x24x365 capture devices and will periodically drop off the USB bus and may stay off until the USB bus is reset or the system rebooted.

Thanks, I changed to 24-bit color and 29 FPS and it seems to work, but I still get this: https://imgur.com/a/365VAiV

[jwarfin]

The image is not displaying like the others above. How about you just describe the issue?

[whois1230]

The image is not displaying like the others above. How about you just describe the issue?

"Got empty memory map file size 0, is the zmc process for this monitor running?" and "can't find process with command 'zma -m 2' " These are the errors I'm getting.

[jwarfin]

The image is not displaying like the others above. How about you just describe the issue?

"Got empty memory map file size 0, is the zmc process for this monitor running?" and "can't find process with command 'zma -m 2' " These are the errors I'm getting.

The "zma -m 2" indicates monitor 2 having a problem.

Looking at the log file you provided earlier, I see this:

Apr 3 00:07:07 barebone zmc_m2[1324]: INF [zmc_m2] [Starting Capture version 1.32.3]
Apr 3 00:07:07 barebone zmc_m2[1324]: INF [zmc_m2] [Priming capture from rtsp://admin:xxxxxx@192.168.0.93:1603/11]
Apr 3 00:07:07 barebone zmc_m2[1324]: ERR [zmc_m2] [Unable to open input rtsp://admin:xxxxxx@192.168.0.93:1603/11 due to: Network is unreachable]
Apr 3 00:07:07 barebone zmc_m2[1324]: ERR [zmc_m2] [Failed to prime capture of initial monitor]

So, monitor 2 is an IP cam or streaming device.

Apr 3 00:07:07 barebone zmc_m2[1324]: ERR [zmc_m2] [Unable to open input rtsp://admin:xxxxxx@192.168.0.93:1603/11 due to: Network is unreachable]

Indicates a problem with the network address you are specifying to access the camera. I've personally never seen a subnet netmask ("/11" in your case) employed in a camera URL. In any case, your ZM system's OS cannot see the IP cam on the network.

You will see "Got empty memory map file size 0, is the zmc process for this monitor running?" and "can't find process with command 'zma -m 2'" messages if ZM cannot start the monitor due to errors/problems accessing the stream (which your previous log file shows).

[bbunge]

Are you using a capture card or USB cameras? If a capture card and it is old the newer versions of Linux may not support the card. If USB try PAL B and set the resolution down to 640x480 with a frame rate of 5 FPS. Also check the tmpfs (/dev/shm) for free space. No free space no video...

[jwarfin]

I looked at the log he posted a link to. Some cams are webcams or via capture card. Some are IP cams. He's having probs with an IP cam. Looking at the log he posted, that cam never worked.