It looks like it is stuck trying to initialize some nonworking
hardware. These beasts usually have a serial port where they output
diagnostic messages. You can use a serial cable (direct or
nullmodem, only one will work) and connect it to a PC serial port,
then run a COM terminal like Hyperterminal or Teraterm. If you see
garbage scrolling up you have to manually set the port bit rate etc,
just try different settings. You should get plain text messages and
probably one or more error messages related to the device it is
trying to initialize.

Thanks for responding, JP. Unfortunately, this DVR has no serial port.
It does have two USB ports, one for a mouse and another to download
photos or video from the hard drive, according to the manual. Even if I
could access the firmware, other than the hard drive, there is no other
internal hardware... nothing repairable AFAIK.

Ray