Video Guide - Flashing International Firmware on a Chinese Yi Dash Cam

Guys,
It has been fixed, it because of wrong format of SN.txt, I am using textedit format that cause error on SN.
By make another right format, its all fix.

Thanks,
 
How do we get rid of the Yi logo on the upper left? There was an option in the China version to do so which I did.
 
How do we get rid of the Yi logo on the upper left? There was an option in the China version to do so which I did.
Connect the cam via wifi and the Yi app its under dash cam settings
 
Ah right, the app, forgot about that lol thanks!
 
Hi am new to this site, bought a Yi Dashcam from AliExpress as it isn't available normally in India. Bought International version but the supplier delivered the Chinese version (received partial refund for their mistake), however thank you all of you experts who came up with this great solution to change the system language and especially AndrewL for the nice video explaining the Steps.

I followed the steps and now I have the international version i.e. English Language Dashcam. One quick note, as it is already mentioned above, initially I tried using my 64GB Class10 SDXC Card to change SN and update Firmware but I was not able to do so, the dashcam wasn't changing the SN despite several tries & factory reset. Then I changed my Micro SD, luckily I had an old 8GB Class 4 card, but it did the job perfectly until the SN & Firmware was updated, however post update the Dashcam prompted to change a high speed Micro SD card.

Also the Bin file link i.e. below the video seems to be most updated version as I did not receive any further update on the App. Thanks All!
 
Hi, I just got Yi Dashcam today, It's Chinese version with firmware V-0.08.001

I try every step in the video and managed to enter engmode but after factory reset, the S/N still show CN not US. (weird thing: To enter engmode, I have to create folder and rename to engmode. If use text file and rename to engmode it will NOT enter engmode when open the dashcam)

I've tried many way of create SN.txt (by notepad, wordpad, change encoding) even delete extension .txt and left only SN but no luck.

Please Help.
Thanks
 
I try every step in the video and managed to enter engmode but after factory reset, the S/N still show CN not US. (weird thing: To enter engmode, I have to create folder and rename to engmode. If use text file and rename to engmode it will NOT enter engmode when open the dashcam)
Maybe I didn't understand your problem precisely, but whatever I understand I guess there seem to be some confusion. You need to create an empty file without any extension with the name of 'engmode' and it needs to be accompanied with a SN.txt file wherein you need to write the new Serial Number of the Dashcam i.e. US replacing CN, you can easily create this file from Word and choosing the correct option from Save As. These both files needs to be inside the Micro SD card and as mentioned above make sure you use a 32GB or less capacity Micro SD card formatted with FAT32 file system and it should be all good.
Experts may advise if there are any further complexities.
 
Maybe I didn't understand your problem precisely, but whatever I understand I guess there seem to be some confusion. You need to create an empty file without any extension with the name of 'engmode' and it needs to be accompanied with a SN.txt file wherein you need to write the new Serial Number of the Dashcam i.e. US replacing CN, you can easily create this file from Word and choosing the correct option from Save As. These both files needs to be inside the Micro SD card and as mentioned above make sure you use a 32GB or less capacity Micro SD card formatted with FAT32 file system and it should be all good.
Experts may advise if there are any further complexities.

Thanks for your help. I fixed my problem already. It's cause from my symantec encryption on the laptop. when I write file to micro sd card the file was encrypted. Thats why i can't change S/N. So, I tried on another laptop and it work like a charm. Thank you again for your help.

Regards,
 
Last edited:
Hi! I still cannot change the language from chinese to english :(
 
the engineering menu do not appear after I inserted the micro SD memcard.
 
this one (red box) do not appear when I created the engmode file

YI%20dashcam_zps5ghlwsze.jpg~original
 
You can try this way :
Open a CMD box.
enter this command : copy con %homepath%\Desktop\engmode
hit control-z
Your file is created on your desktop.
 
Hello, I need some help, please.

Followed the instructions:

-changed S/N to US correctly
-downloaded firmware.bin from the google drive link
-formatted 8GB microSD card FAT32, copied firmware.bin onto it
-inserted into camera, powered it on
-some Chinese writing came up, I pressed a button, but now don't remember which one :(
-camera shut down
-when powered back up, both yellow and red lights are lit, screen is red with "YI See Different" on screen, and that's it.
-pressing reset button no help
-following directions on Yi support page:

"If YI Smart Dash Camera cannot boot normally, try push the reset button on the top of the camera with a pin. If the camera still cannot boot:

Download FWCARC10.bin to the micro SD card and put it in the root directory (make sure the file name remains FWCARC10.bin)
Insert the micro SD card in the camera
Connect the camera to a power source, then switch on the camera
The yellow light at the right-bottom corner of the camera will flash, but the screen remains dark (if the light is not flashing, push the reset button on the top of the camera with a pin)
Wait for 1-5 minutes before the update is successful and the camera is restarted"


does not help. Camera turns on, red screen with "Yi See Different" and that's it.

Have I killed it?

Any way back from this?

Thanks for any help.
 
Hello, I need some help, please.

Followed the instructions:

-changed S/N to US correctly
-downloaded firmware.bin from the google drive link
-formatted 8GB microSD card FAT32, copied firmware.bin onto it
-inserted into camera, powered it on
-some Chinese writing came up, I pressed a button, but now don't remember which one :(
-camera shut down
-when powered back up, both yellow and red lights are lit, screen is red with "YI See Different" on screen, and that's it.
-pressing reset button no help
-following directions on Yi support page:

"If YI Smart Dash Camera cannot boot normally, try push the reset button on the top of the camera with a pin. If the camera still cannot boot:

Download FWCARC10.bin to the micro SD card and put it in the root directory (make sure the file name remains FWCARC10.bin)
Insert the micro SD card in the camera
Connect the camera to a power source, then switch on the camera
The yellow light at the right-bottom corner of the camera will flash, but the screen remains dark (if the light is not flashing, push the reset button on the top of the camera with a pin)
Wait for 1-5 minutes before the update is successful and the camera is restarted"


does not help. Camera turns on, red screen with "Yi See Different" and that's it.

Have I killed it?

Any way back from this?

Thanks for any help.
On mine I had issues to change PN, are you sure you changed it ?
If not try to put back a Chinese Version ^^

Another Idea : make sure your .bin file is about 9Mo, if not open it with a zip tool and unzip it
 
On mine I had issues to change PN, are you sure you changed it ?
If not try to put back a Chinese Version ^^

Another Idea : make sure your .bin file is about 9Mo, if not open it with a zip tool and unzip it

Yes, I'm sure it changed to US. I checked it before proceeding. I did try reloading maintenance mode with the change back to the Chinese version, but the thing will no longer read the microSD card.

And the .bin file I have is 9mb or so.

Aside from displaying that initial red screen with the logo, nothing else happens. I definitely bricked it, I think.

What I need is some way to recover from that now.
 
Damn !
Did you tried without SD card ?

Seems you'll need to find the same procedure than this one for Yi sport Camera :
 
Thank you OP for the video guide, I have successfully flashed my chinese yi dash cam to the international version firmware.

How should I go about if I wanted to flash back to the chinese firmware? Do I just repeat the steps to change the SN back to CN together with the engmode file and place the latest chinese firmware into the mSD card?

I am also quite curious on why FWCARC10.bin needs to be extracted before use.
 
Hey guys...sorry for being a noob.

I successfully changed my serial number from Chinese to US. Easy enough. I loaded the bin file from the link in the video and the camera wouldn't load it. I then tried an older firmware version and I got English! But then I got the error that the language update had failed. So I loaded the bin from some link in this thread and I'm back to Chinese with a US serial number.

Can someone tell me where I'm going wrong? Also, I only used the first 14 of my serial like the OP said, but it shows 17 or 18 digits, is that correct?


Thanks guys!
 
Hi everyone! just got my xiaomi yi dash cam. Just want to know if this one really has GPS speed reading as to what this picture says. I got that from dash cam talk as well.
 

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I am having a little bit of trouble with mine.
I did the SN.txt and when I did the factory reset the camera locked up. I used the reset button and tried it again. It froze again so i used the reset button. I decided to check the SN and it does say US.

Now I have tried to flash the firmware and when i plug it in the red light comes on and nothing else happens.

I tried doing it with the .bin as is
I tried renaming to .zip and unzipping. I got the 9MB file, but it still did the same thing.
I tried the file name firmware.bin and FWCARC10.bin both with no luck.
Camera still boots okay and shows what I am guessing is an insert card in Chinese when I take the card out.
Anyone have any ideas?
Thanks.
 
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