Camera disconnects or restarts repeatedly during operation

Problem

The camera was running normally, then started disconnecting and reconnecting repeatedly during operation. Capture may fail or time out, and the camera becomes briefly unreachable before recovering on its own. This is different from the camera never being found in the first place: see No cameras found in Zivid Studio for that case.

Cause

Repeated disconnects during otherwise normal operation are most often caused by an intermittent problem on the network path between the camera and the PC. A cable, connector, or port that is partially damaged can still work most of the time, and only fail intermittently when disturbed by movement. Such an issue often surfaces around a recent event, for example a power outage, a robot arm movement, or a change to the network topology. The event itself does not need to damage the cable. The camera or connected equipment reconnecting, or being physically handled during the event, is often enough to expose a connection that was already marginal.

Solution

Work through the following checks in order.

  1. Run Camera Health Check to get a snapshot of the camera’s current status, including its maximum transfer speed. Also follow Detect Ethernet Link Changes to monitor the Ethernet link speed on both the camera and host side. For both checks, look at whether the reported speed matches what is expected for your setup, and whether it changes each time the camera disconnects and reconnects. A sustained drop in speed, or a lower speed after a reconnect than before it, points to a degrading cable or connector on that segment.

  2. If link speed stays at its expected value and the disconnects continue, the connection may be failing intermittently without a speed downgrade. In this case, inspect the physical cable path. Use a cable tester on the segment directly connected to the camera, and gently flex or wiggle the cable and connectors while monitoring the connection to check for an intermittent break.

  3. If a network switch is present between the camera and the PC, temporarily remove it and connect the camera directly to the PC. This narrows down the search by ruling the switch and its cabling segments in or out as part of the problem.

  4. Confirm you are using an approved Ethernet cable, and replace any cable that fails a physical inspection or a cable tester check.

Please contact customersuccess@zivid.com if the disconnects continue after these checks.