Cannot capture using Zoneminder 1.24.4 and Foscam cameras

Forum for questions and support relating to the 1.24.x releases only.
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svonfischer
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Nov 25, 2011 12:41 am

Cannot capture using Zoneminder 1.24.4 and Foscam cameras

Post by svonfischer »

Problem: Although I can stream, Zoneminder will not capture. It appears zmaudit is failing. Source is always orange (consistent with zmc working but zma not). (note: I had this configuration working on a previous version of Zoneminder/Ubunutu. The hardware failed and I had to reinstall on new hardware - I feel like I'm missing something simple).

I checked the FAQ and doco for the exit status, but none of the problems seemed to match mine. I have un-installed, dropped the db, and reinstalled with the same symptoms reappearing. I've tried multiple cameras on the latest firmware available (again, this worked before with these cameras).

Most likely helpful error message:

/var/log/zm$ tail 3 zmdc.log

23:56:43.012336 zmdc[5712].INF [Starting pending process, zma -m 3]
23:56:43.014519 zmdc[5712].INF ['zma -m 3' starting at 23:56:43, pid = 11822]
23:56:43.092591 zmdc[5712].ERR ['zma -m 3' exited abnormally, exit status 255]

All other logs look like normal start/stop events; zmaudit.log is empty:

/var/log/zm$ tail zmwatch.log
19:21:21.419132 zmwatch[2907].INF [Watchdog starting]
19:21:21.440754 zmwatch[2907].INF [Watchdog pausing for 30 seconds]
...

/var/log/zm$ tail zmfilter.log
11:25:30.445798 zmfilter[3493].INF [Scanning for events]
11:40:13.269557 zmfilter[3828].INF [Scanning for events]
...

/var/log/zm$ tail zmcontrol.log
11:40:56.910819 zmcontrol[3921].INF [Starting control server 3/FoscamFI8918W]
11:40:56.913479 zmcontrol[3922].INF [Control server 3/FoscamFI8918W starting at 11:40:56]
...


Configuration:

Ubuntu 11.10
Zoneminder: 1.24.4-1
Camera: Foscam FI8918W (I used this setup checklist/script: at durdle's site - /archives/2011/02/26/zoneminder-control-module-for-foscam-fi8918w/)

Any help or tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Scott
christophe_y2k
Posts: 102
Joined: Mon Oct 12, 2009 8:47 am
Location: EUROPE-FRANCE-MANDELIEU

Re: Cannot capture using Zoneminder 1.24.4 and Foscam camera

Post by christophe_y2k »

have you configured your linux shm memory ?
have you modified camera buffer have 40 / 25 / 20 / 600 /1000 / 2

remote protocol: http
remote method: simple
host name is: 192.168.1.x
remote host path is: /videostream.cgi?user=my_user&pwd=my_password
remote host port: 80
remote image color: 24 bits
resolution: 640x480

and in the function menu with "monitor" that orange and i can monitoring
with "modect" that green and i can monitoring and record on alarm

Code: Select all

CONFIG MEMOIRE SHM LINUX:

# nano -w /etc/sysctl.conf
ajouter pour nous ici: 16Go avec allocation maxi de 4Go

kernel.shmall = 4096000
kernel.shmmax = 4194304000 

afficher les infos memoires
# ipcs -l
pour recharger les nouvelles valeur sans rebooter
# sysctl -p
afficher les nouvelles infos
# ipcs -l
kirk
Posts: 4
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2011 5:22 pm

Re: Cannot capture using Zoneminder 1.24.4 and Foscam camera

Post by kirk »

I spent a lot of time trying to get this camera working. What ended up being really helpful was using the detailed debugging option, setting the level to 5. See the documentation on how to do this. That gave me a lot of info on what was going wrong.

I tried adjusting my shared memory as well and perhaps did not bump it up high enough, but try setting the buffer size and pre-alert image count to small values just to test if it is a memory issue.
svonfischer
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Nov 25, 2011 12:41 am

Re: Cannot capture using Zoneminder 1.24.4 and Foscam camera

Post by svonfischer »

Hey, thanks! That did the trick. It turned out to be permissions in the /var/cache/zoneminder/events directory, which was a symlink from /usr/share/zoneminder/events. I changed the owner:group to the zoneminder user and it seemed to start fine.

Thanks again!

Scott
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