Fault-finding
The system is misbehaving after an outage
Interrupted disk writes cause most post-outage CCTV faults: a drive cut off mid-write develops index errors, and the recorder can also return with the wrong clock or scrambled network settings. Islamabad's outages are shorter than rural feeders suffer, but IESCO voltage dips do the same damage. A small UPS on the recorder prevents nearly all of it.
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Step 1: correct the clock
Check the recorder's time and date before anything else. A clock that resets after every cut is stamping the wrong time onto all new footage, which can sink an insurance claim or a police report on its own. If the time will not hold, the coin-cell battery on the board has died — a small, cheap part worth replacing on the next visit. Enable internet time sync while you are in the menu.
Step 2: check the drive and export what matters
Open the storage page and look for errors. A drive interrupted mid-write can need checking or reformatting, and a reformat erases everything on it — so export any footage you care about first, not after. Repeated outages compound the damage, which is why systems without backup power in load-shedding season lose drives years earlier than the same hardware on a UPS.
Step 3: re-test remote viewing
Phone access often comes back broken from an outage: the router restarted and dealt the recorder a different address. Test the app on mobile data with WiFi off; if it fails, the recorder needs its network settings refreshed. Ask for a fixed address for the recorder when it is set up again, and this particular fault stops recurring at every cut.
Why is my CCTV playing up after load-shedding?
Is a UPS really worth fitting just for CCTV?
Yes. It prevents the interrupted writes behind most of these faults, and the cameras keep rolling for the length of the cut — the window when premises are at their most exposed.
Why does the time reset after every outage?
The coin cell that keeps the clock alive without mains has died. It costs very little to replace and it protects the one thing that makes footage usable as evidence: a correct timestamp.
Rather have it done?
Security camera repair covers black screens, recorders that stopped writing, lost phone access after an internet change, and footage that will not play back. Most faults trace to power, connectors or settings rather than a dead camera. Callout in Islamabad or Rawalpindi starts at PKR 3,000, with the full fix priced before any work.
Security camera repair in Islamabad — prices and scope