"Invalid License File" message after a firmware update

Several users of the Dericam H502W (Cybernova WIP604MW, and equivalent...) have reported the appearance of an "Invalid License File" warning in their System Information page after a firmware update.

While the exact cause is still undetermined, some precaution should be taken before applying a new firmware.

Prior to any change to the firmware of your H.264 IP Camera, you should  make a backup of its board.dat file, which can be extracted by visiting your IP Camera with the url: http://<youIPCurl>/board.dat

This constitutes your license file in case you end up with a Invalid License File warning. It could then be re-installed via the auth.htm page (you should take a snapshot of your own page also, while all is ok). Only the manufacturer can provide a new valid license file. The board.dat is unique to each device so it won't help to upload one from someone else!

The Dericam, Cybernova and other Maygion-based H.264 IP Cameras are assigned with a unique Hardware Identification (HID), a User ID (for the newer ones, adding P2P support) and a free DDNS ID (all visible in that auth.htm page mentionned above).

Apparently, a compound of this data is challenged against the encrypted board.dat file, and any mismatch results in an invalid license situation.

In theory all this information burned-in the camera at factory should not be affected by firmware upgrade and not easy to damage even through FTP access, but several cases have been reported already, all following update from very official firmware. 

This situation is known to cause the following problems:

- It prevents the IPC to use the P2P function

- It makes the IPC reboot at interval of 10 minutes (cs.log file in /app would show [reboot for invalid auth file])

Why this?

The cause is not clear but I suspect the older production of this IP Camera to be particularly affected once they get updated with a certain firmware version. The introduction of P2P maybe changed the way the license file is validated. I'll update this section if I ever get more information.

Read More

Firmware v5.53 for "MayGion" H.264 (Dericam, Cybernova, ...)

For once, this update was not published by Cybernova but directly posted on MayGion web site.
It brings further improvements to the ONVIF compatibility with special attention to Synology DSM 4.2.

Important Notice: 

Before performing any firmware update, read this post to learn about potential problems that can result from this operation as well as how to backup the board.dat file. 

This update, published directly on MayGion web site, allowed me to use the camera with Surveillance Station 6 for the first time. There's no Pan and Tilt control yet, but hopefully this will come later.

The mkbin tool is included in the package:
This tool was in fact made available by Maygion in 2010 and allows to unpack the bin file, and to pack customized ones.

Just drag and drop a bin file to the mkbin app to unpack. These extracted files are those that typically can be  uploaded via FTP to their corresponding www or app folders.

I take this opportunity to praise the great investigation work done by macmpi on the hardware.fr forum!

If you don't read French, please use a page translator like the one included with Chrome and read the second post on that thread to know more about the customization potential of this camera. It's worth reading, ...and it's only the tip of the iceberg...!

Read More

CyberNova WIP604MW Firmware 00.00.05.07

A new firmware (00.00.05.07) has been released by CyberNova on 19th of November 2012.
While they didn't publish any changelog, so we have to figure out by comparing with an older version, like 00.00.05.04.



I decided to re-baptise my new CVLM-I234-2GEN as CyberNova WIP604MW, because that's what it really is and since the firmware upgrade to their version 00.00.05.07 went so well.

The most obvious addition is in the main page (IE interface only), where the Aspect Ratio can be changed: 4:3, 5:4, 16:9

In the same area, the Video Size can be set as low as 160x120

On non-IE browsers, Mirror and Flip have been added to the interface.

The /www folder on the camera contains a videomask.htm file which is not yet integrated to the camera interface, but this seems to indicate that we may have soon the option to define zones to hide on the picture.

Preset.htm file is still there but nothing new in the interface neither. These two features would bring this camera almost on par with the Tenvis IPRobot3. 

The French language has been added (it was previously commented out in lang.js because the translation was not partial). However, the current version is a 'bit funny' and I'll send a reviewed lang_french.js to MayGion  or CyberNova when I have time. Until then, using English is preferable.

The IR led problem is not resolved and the relay will go clicking endlessly at times. I've tried to isolate the light sensor with black tape in case it would be reacting to the IR LED but it didn't help (Update 15/01/13: After some time with this fix in place, it seemed to reduce the frequency of it but did not eliminate the problem completely).

Contacting the customer service: I recently emailed CyberNova and they replied promptly. According to them a new firmware version should be available around the 29th of November.

Read More