Unusable without technical support...

[iLife]

Hey guys,

I emailed you the day before yesterday with a significant amount of information to trouble shoot my problem but still have heard nothing back.  This is quite frustrating considering the amount of time and now money invested in getting this to work.  As I stated in my emails, I've serious connection error issues and my crash logs also show the Icam Source is crashing.  I've port forwarded my router as suggested and still am unable to get the connection to maintain for more than about an hour.

Please respond to my emails.  I would really appreciate it.

Thanks

[rjgvt]

I see that you have 1 post. You should try posting your issues here and maybe someone who has had similar issues can help you. Maybe list the cams being used, PC operating system, etc.

[SKJM Support]

Thank you for your post, we apologize for not getting back to you. We do not see an e-mail from your profile e-mail address. Did you use a different address? Otherwise, it may have been filtered into junk mail for some reason.

How many cameras are you running and what are the Brand/Models of each?

Also, please re-send the most recent crash log to support@skjm.com

[iLife]

I was using the same email address associated with this account and have resent the email with all the information. I'm using one webcam Logitech c310. I'm continually receiving connection source errors and am unable to keep the connection via 3G after more than an hour or so.

Please help - I would really like to get this to work.

[iLife]

It seems many individuals on here have been able to get technical support.  Unfortunately, I have not.  I have yet to receive any advice despite the many emails I have sent.  Thus far, I have only received two emails asking for the same information I have already sent, yet no suggestions or guidance on what to adjust/change.

At this point I'm quite frustrated and disappointed.  I would sincerely appreciate some assistance.

[OUAnthony]

It will be hard for any of us to provide any help if we don't know anything about your setup. All you've shared on here is that icamsource is crashing. As rjgvt said, it would be helpful if you provide more information about your system.

If you are using Windows 7, try reading this thread: http://skjm.com/forum/index.php?topic=3169.0

I would guess that SKJM is not receiving your e-mails if they are not responding...I've never seen anyone else on here say their e-mails were ignored.

[iLife]

All due respect OUAnthony, all the other threads say to email them directly with the information, so I was simply following previous direction given.  Secondly, one woman has responded to my emails.  Asking me literally the same exact questions I have already answered in my original request for assistance -- I would think one can appreciate the frustration in that.  Nonetheless, this is what I originally sent:


Hey guys I'm really hoping that I'm going to be able to get this app
to work after the money and time I've invested up to this point.  I
purchased a new webcam for my new iMac for security.  I've tried all the recommended settings in the forums
to get the app to work but still have significant problems and
frequent Source Connection Error when trying to access iCam over 3G.
Below is an overview of my settings and I think I've provided most of
the information you need to try to troubleshoot from your end

I originally tried the auto-config check box but wasn't able to access
it at all over 3G.  When I checked that box I got the Upnp may not be
enabled, however, when I checked my Belkin router settings it was
definitely enabled.  If I unchecked auto-config I can sporadically
succesfully see the video.  So I decided to do the manual port
configure and created a static IP address.  I've attached the port
config for your review.  Unfortunately, it was working for a couple
hours and then stopped just like it has been doing in the past.  So it
seems as if all this work was for not.  I don't have the mac firewall
enabled.  I've also included a screenshot of the iCam Source and, the
Belkin general settings, and the crash report -- which shows at least
one today.  My computer is set to never sleep and the display is set
to sleep after 15 minutes.  I've confirmed the port is open. If I toggle my iphone to WiFi enable and
then open iCam i can see the video, once I toggle WiFi off, however,
it's giving me the Source Connection Error.  If I restart the iCam
Source then it works for a while again but inevitably stops working.

I'm using an iPhone 4s with an IP starting with 166.  Below is the specific hardware I'm using.


ROUTER: Belkin F507234-4 V4
iMAC 2010
Logitech Camera C310 via USB

[OUAnthony]

This advice is given many times to Mac owners when icamsource isn't behaving properly:

"Perhaps your iCamSource settings file has gotten into a bad state. If you delete your com.skjm.icamsource.plist file from your Library > Preferences folder in your home folder and then re-launch the iCamSource, does that help the issue?"

If that doesn't help, repeat the above, uninstall icamsource, and try a previously released version to see if maybe it's a bug in the new version of icamsource.

Also, answer the following questions. I'm just verifying that you did everything correctly, as it is easy to mess up manual port forwarding (unless you're a networking guru)...

1) When you say you assigned a static IP address, you are referring to your iMac, correct? So no matter what, your iMac will have the same IP address on your network (let's say 192.168.1.100 for example). This would have been done in the network settings on the iMac itself. Depending on your router, you might also be able to assign a specific IP address to a specific MAC address/network card.

2) You said that you set up manual port forwarding. Did you forward at least 7 UDP (not TCP) ports per camera from the Internet to your iMac's IP address (192.168.1.100 for our example)? On my router, I had to do this under "firewall rule" and not "port forwarding," as there was no "port forwarding" option. This is what it looks like on my router for one camera:

Action:     Name:       Source:          Destination:                   Protocol:
Allow         icam           *,*         LAN,192.168.1.100       UDP,12000-12006

3) You said that you verified that the port was open. Did you do that by using one of the port checker websites mentioned in one of the threads on here?

4) Did you also enable manual port forwarding in icamsource and enter the same port numbers from the port forwarding/firewall rule? 12000-12006 from my example above.

[iLife]

Thanks for your response.  Below are my responses in bold.  Let me know what your thoughts are.  I will try to uninstall the icamsource and try an older version

"Perhaps your iCamSource settings file has gotten into a bad state. If you delete your com.skjm.icamsource.plist file from your Library > Preferences folder in your home folder and then re-launch the iCamSource, does that help the issue?"

I have deleted the plist several times it didn't make a difference in the connection source error on 3G

If that doesn't help, repeat the above, uninstall icamsource, and try a previously released version to see if maybe it's a bug in the new version of icamsource.

Also, answer the following questions. I'm just verifying that you did everything correctly, as it is easy to mess up manual port forwarding (unless you're a networking guru)...

1) When you say you assigned a static IP address, you are referring to your iMac, correct? So no matter what, your iMac will have the same IP address on your network (let's say 192.168.1.100 for example). This would have been done in the network settings on the iMac itself. Depending on your router, you might also be able to assign a specific IP address to a specific MAC address/network card.

That's correct, I assigned a static IP in my iMac network settings.

2) You said that you set up manual port forwarding. Did you forward at least 7 UDP (not TCP) ports per camera from the Internet to your iMac's IP address (192.168.1.100 for our example)? On my router, I had to do this under "firewall rule" and not "port forwarding," as there was no "port forwarding" option. This is what it looks like on my router for one camera:

Action:     Name:       Source:          Destination:                   Protocol:
Allow         icam           *,*         LAN,192.168.1.100       UDP,12000-12006

I did 12000- 12005 as suggested on the boards. UDP confirmed to my static IP.  I do have port forwarding and mine looks like this.

Enable     Description     Inbound Port           TYPE           Private IP          Private Port
  Y              Icam            12000                   UDP            (my IP)              12000

I did this for each of the ports

3) You said that you verified that the port was open. Did you do that by using one of the port checker websites mentioned in one of the threads on here?

Yes, several times, each time it shows open

4) Did you also enable manual port forwarding in icamsource and enter the same port numbers from the port forwarding/firewall rule? 12000-12006 from my example above.

Yes, I did, exactly like you described.  Thanks

[OUAnthony]

I did 12000- 12005 as suggested on the boards. UDP confirmed to my static IP.  I do have port forwarding and mine looks like this.

Enable     Description     Inbound Port           TYPE           Private IP          Private Port
  Y              Icam            12000                   UDP            (my IP)              12000

I did this for each of the ports

Just to be clear....in the above port forwarding table, you entered your iMac's static IP address in place of "(my IP)," correct?

Also, if you have a firewall settings option in your router, you might try entering the information there as well. I don't think it'd make a difference, but who knows.

And, I'm not sure if this would make a difference, but make sure that your router's local IP address is entered as the gateway in your iMac's network settings (along with the static IP address). I'd think you'd have to have that set already, but I'm not 100% sure.

Finally, have you rebooted your computer and all of your networking equipment since making all of the port forwarding changes? If not, you might also try that. Mine had weird issues until I rebooted everything.

[SKJM Support]

It seems many individuals on here have been able to get technical support.  Unfortunately, I have not.  I have yet to receive any advice despite the many emails I have sent.  Thus far, I have only received two emails asking for the same information I have already sent, yet no suggestions or guidance on what to adjust/change.

At this point I'm quite frustrated and disappointed.  I would sincerely appreciate some assistance.

The initial emails were sent to get some additional basic information about your setup. The latest email sent is as follows:

"Some Belkin routers have a bug in their UDP port forwarding logic that prevents iCam from working correctly when port forwarding is enabled.  We haven't gotten any reports about your particular model, but the behavior you're describing is similar to that problem.  Normally, the firewall piercing techniques used in iCam work with Belkin routers, so the port forwarding bug usually isn't an issue.  

It's possible the router settings are in a state that's blocking the iCam firewall piercing techniques.  One thing you could try is resetting the router to factory default settings, but if you do that , you'll lose all the custom settings you currently have on the router.  A factory reset is usually done by holding down a small "Reset" button on the back or bottom of the router.

We initially ruled that out as the cause because you mentioned that it worked for a while after configuring port forwarding. However, all the other info you've given (port is Open, settings are correct, still getting SCE) points toward the Belkin port forwarding bug."

Additional support will be provided via email.