Use this page every time a device is stuck and no alarms arrive in GC Surge. It takes you from the status you see in GC Surge to the cause and the fix. For the settings on the device itself, it sends you to the guide for your brand.
Who it is for: Admins, technicians and the person on site.
An alarm only arrives if all five are true. Check them in this order.
# | Point | Where you check it |
|---|---|---|
1 | The device is set up in GC Surge. | Sites & Cameras: the status of the device. |
2 | The device detects something. | On the device: detection is switched on, has an area and a schedule. |
3 |
The device is told to send an e-mail when it detects.
On the device: the e-mail action of the detection. |
4 | The device has the right e-mail settings. | On the device: compare with Setup details in GC Surge. |
5 | The device can reach the internet. | On the device and the site network: DNS, gateway, outbound port, time. |
Then the alarm is in GC Surge. If it is in Recordings but nobody saw it, it is not missing. See The Alarm Arrived, but You Did Not See It below.
Watch:
Open Sites & Cameras, expand the site and read the Status of the device. Move the mouse over the status to see "Last alarm" or "Failed at".
Status | What it means | Go to |
|---|---|---|
Setup needed | The setup is not finished. | Status: Setup Needed below |
Setup failed | The automatic setup stopped at one step. | Status: Setup Failed below |
Configured or Configured manually | The settings are on the device, but no alarm has arrived yet. | Status: Configured, but No Alarm Arrives below |
Quiet | Alarms arrived before, but none in the last 24 hours. | Status: Quiet below |
Receiving alarms | Alarms arrive. | The Alarm Arrived, but You Did Not See It below, if you still miss alarms |
Disabled | You switched the device off in GC Surge. | Device … menu > Enable device |
On Home, the card Onboarding health shows the same problem as "cameras stuck". Click Fix to get the list Silent cameras with the last alarm and what to do for each camera.
Your device | Cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
A private camera (local agent) | The step on site is not done yet. | The person on site opens the on-site setup page, connects the local agent and enters the site key. See Private Camera Setup (Local Agent). In GC Surge, open the device … menu > Complete setup and click Refresh status. |
A private camera, and the contact did not get the instructions | Wrong e-mail address, or the mail is in spam. | Complete setup > Resend instructions, or send the key with Send site key. |
A private camera, "Site key activation expired" | More than 30 minutes passed since the activation. | Click Reactivate site key. The key itself stays the same. |
A device you configure yourself (REST API, e-mail, FTP) | You chose Skip for now. | Enter the values on the device. Then device … menu > Setup details > I've entered these settings: mark as configured manually. |
The status shows "Failed at:" with the step that did not work. Fix the cause, then use the device … menu > Retry. If you must change the address, the port or the credentials, use Edit > Save and retry.
Watch:
Failed at | Cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
Device credentials | Wrong user name or password, or the user may not change settings. Message: "The credentials you entered are incorrect, so this device will not be configured." | Edit, enter a device user with administrator rights, Save and retry. Check on the device that the account is not locked after wrong attempts. |
Camera reachable | The address and port do not answer. For a private camera: "The local agent could not reach the camera at … Check that the agent's computer is on the camera's network and that the address and port are right." | Public camera: check the public address, the port forwarding and the firewall. Private camera: the PC with the local agent must be in the same network as the camera. Open the web page of the camera from that PC to test. |
Loading device settings | GC Surge reached the device but could not read it. | Check the brand, the port and HTTPS (secure). A port for HTTP with HTTPS switched on, or the other way round, fails here. |
Local agent checked | The local agent is not running, or it is too old. | Start the local agent. If you see "Local agent update required", install the latest agent and click Check version again. |
Saving connection details | The details could not be saved. | Retry. If it fails again, contact NXGEN support. |
Writing alarm e-mail settings | The device refused the e-mail settings. Message: "The device did not accept the alarm e-mail settings." | Check that the user has administrator rights and that nobody else is changing the device. Update old device firmware. If it still fails, enter the settings by hand: see the guide for your brand. |
Reading the camera list | The channels of the device could not be read. Message: "The device did not return its camera list." | Check the brand. On a recorder, check that at least one camera is connected. Retry. |
Marking as configured | The last step did not complete. | Retry. |
"The failing step was not recorded." | The reason was not stored. | Retry once. The step is then shown. |
Other messages you can see:
Message | What to do |
|---|---|
"Retry failed. Check credentials and try again." | Edit, check address, port, HTTPS and credentials, Save and retry. |
"Connection details are incomplete. Use Edit to review and update credentials before retrying." | Edit, fill in the missing fields. |
"Local agent is offline. Start the agent before retrying." | Retry for a private camera only works from a PC in the site network with the local agent running. |
"Camera brand is missing on this device, so the local agent cannot configure it." | Edit and choose the brand, or set the device up by hand. |
"Injection failed, please check the device credentials" | The device refused the login. Correct the user name and password. |
"Port not reachable — site connects via private/VPN." | GC Surge cannot reach this address from the internet. If the camera should be public, fix the port forwarding. If not, continue as a private camera. |
The settings are on the device. Now the device itself must detect and send. Allow 10 to 15 minutes after setup, then go through these checks. The exact menus are in the guide for your brand.
Watch:
# | Check | How | If it is wrong |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Trigger a real test. | Walk through the picture of the camera, inside the detection area. | Without movement there is no alarm. |
2 | Detection is switched on. | On the device: motion detection or the analytics rule is enabled for this camera. | Switch it on. GC Surge adds the e-mail action to a detection. It does not switch a detection on for you. |
3 | Detection has an area and enough sensitivity. | On the device: the area covers the scene, the sensitivity is not at the lowest value. | Draw the area. Raise the sensitivity. |
4 | Detection is armed now. | On the device: the arming schedule includes the current day and hour. | Set the schedule, for example all day. |
5 | The detection sends an e-mail. | On the device: the action "send e-mail" is ticked for this detection. | Tick it and save. Then use Retry in GC Surge. |
6 | The e-mail carries a picture. | On the device: "attach image" or "snapshot" is ticked. | Tick it. An alarm without pictures cannot be checked. |
7 | The e-mail settings are the ones of this device. | In GC Surge: device … menu > Setup details. Compare Host, Port, Username, Encryption, To email and From email with the device, character by character. | Use Retry to write them again, or correct them by hand. |
8 | The e-mail test of the device works. | On the device: the test button of the e-mail settings. | See the next table. |
9 | The device time is right. | On the device: date, time and time zone. | Set the time or switch on time synchronisation (NTP). A wrong date can make the secure connection fail. |
If the e-mail test of the device fails:
What the device says | Cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
The server cannot be found, or a name error | No DNS server on the device. | Enter a DNS server in the network settings, for example the one of your router. |
No connection, or a time-out | The device has no gateway, or the site firewall blocks the outbound port. | Enter the gateway. Allow outbound connections from the device to the Port shown in Setup details. |
Login or authentication failed | The user name or password on the device is not the one from Setup details. | Copy both again with the copy buttons. Use Retry to write them again. |
Secure connection or TLS error | Wrong encryption type, wrong date on the device, or old firmware. | Choose the encryption shown in Setup details. With port 587 this is TLS, on some devices named STARTTLS. Correct the date. Update the firmware. |
The test works, but no alarm arrives | The test only checks the server. The detection does not send. | Go back to checks 2 to 6. |
After the on-site step the local agent is no longer needed. The camera sends its alarms itself. So a private camera needs the same as a public one: outbound internet access, a gateway and a DNS server. Many camera networks are closed to the internet. Ask the network administrator of the site to allow the camera to send out on the Port shown in Setup details.
Method | Check |
|---|---|
REST API | The request goes to the Events URL, carries the API key, and contains the Device ID exactly as shown. The answer is 202. Send pictures with every alarm. |
Email (SMTP) | All values are the ones from Setup details. The e-mail has a picture attached. |
FTP | Host, port, user name and password are the ones from Setup details. Outbound FTP is allowed on the site firewall. Try passive mode. |
Each device has its own values. If you copied the values of another device, the alarms arrive under that other device.
The device worked and then stopped. Something changed.
Check | Typical cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
Is this expected? | The site is closed, or nothing moved in front of the camera. | Nothing. Trigger a test alarm if you want to be sure. |
Is the device online? | Power cut, cable, switch, or the device was restarted and did not come back. | Open the web page of the device. Restore power or network. |
Does the site have internet? | The line is down, or the firewall or router was changed. Several devices of the site are Quiet at the same time. | Check the internet connection and the outbound rules of the site. |
Was the device changed? | A firmware update, a factory reset or a replacement removed the settings. | Retry writes the settings again. For a replaced device with another address, use Edit. |
Was the password changed on the device? | Retry fails with a credentials message. | Edit, enter the new password, Save and retry. |
Was the detection changed? | The schedule ended, the area was removed, or the detection was switched off. | Checks 2 to 6 in Status: Configured, but No Alarm Arrives. |
Is the lens blocked or the picture black? | Dirt, a failed infrared light, a moved camera. | Look at the live picture of the camera. |
Open Recordings, choose List view and set the time range. If the alarm is listed, GC Surge received it.
What you find | Meaning | What to do |
|---|---|---|
NOVA99x filter: false alarm | NOVA99x filtered it. No operator saw it. | |
Forwarded, no operator | No operator was monitoring. It went to your alarm system automatically. | See Queue & Assignment, When No Operator Is Available. |
The alarm is under another device or site | Values of another device were used. | Correct the settings on the device. |
The alarm is not listed at all | It did not arrive. | Go back to Start with the Status. |
Nothing is filtered or forwarded for any device | The trial has ended or the subscription is inactive. | Open Billing. |
Your alarm system got nothing, but Recordings shows a confirmed alarm | The forwarding is not set or the receiver is not reachable. | Settings > Alarm reception > Send test event. See Alarm Reception. |
Brand | Guide |
|---|---|
Hikvision | |
Dahua | |
Axis | |
Nx Witness | |
Any other brand | Manual & Self-Configured Devices: configure the device yourself. |
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Do not send passwords, API keys or site keys by e-mail or chat.
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