A139 Pro dual-channel worked for five months, now it can't record and is in a reboot loop

[citizen]

Never used it in parking mode, etc. only when the vehicle was on. Worked flawlessly for five months. Stopped working on the 23rd, and noticed it on the evening of the 25th. Realized something was up because it kept rebooting and making the boot-up sound. When I took the memory card out, I saw that the videos stopped recording on the 23rd. REC light goes in and out, the other lights never turn on. I can't get WiFi to turn on. Can't connect to the camera.

Videos below are of the camera in the car, then I took it off and tried connecting it to an outlet via the supplied power cable. Photo is of my other unit working flawlessly with the same cable(s) and memory card(s) from the bad unit.

I've tried the following:

1. Disconnected rear camera
2. Swapped power cables, including the one that came with the camera
   1. All cables work with the good camera
   2. No cables work with the bad camera
3. Swapped memory cards, bad camera remains non-functional, good camera is fine with either of my two Samsung 256gb EVOs or the 256gb Pro Endurance
   1. Also formatted the cards just in case
4. I tried firmware upgrading the bad unit, unclear if it worked since I can't connect to the camera
5. Pinhole reset, hazard + wifi button reset, don't think either worked. According to Viofo's site, all four lights are suppose to light up after a reset, that never happened and I tried multiple times with both methods
6. Temperatures have been absolutely fine in SoCal (low 70s), the car is garaged

Anything I'm missing?

 

[Dimson75]

Try flashing this emergency file with bootloader

Firmware - Google Drive

drive.google.com

 

[VIOFO-Support]

Never used it in parking mode, etc. only when the vehicle was on. Worked flawlessly for five months. Stopped working on the 23rd, and noticed it on the evening of the 25th. Realized something was up because it kept rebooting and making the boot-up sound. When I took the memory card out, I saw that the videos stopped recording on the 23rd. REC light goes in and out, the other lights never turn on. I can't get WiFi to turn on. Can't connect to the camera.

Videos below are of the camera in the car, then I took it off and tried connecting it to an outlet via the supplied power cable. Photo is of my other unit working flawlessly with the same cable(s) and memory card(s) from the bad unit.

View attachment 70493

I've tried the following:

1. Disconnected rear camera
2. Swapped power cables, including the one that came with the camera
   1. All cables work with the good camera
   2. No cables work with the bad camera
3. Swapped memory cards, bad camera remains non-functional, good camera is fine with either of my two Samsung 256gb EVOs or the 256gb Pro Endurance
   1. Also formatted the cards just in case
4. I tried firmware upgrading the bad unit, unclear if it worked since I can't connect to the camera
5. Pinhole reset, hazard + wifi button reset, don't think either worked. According to Viofo's site, all four lights are suppose to light up after a reset, that never happened and I tried multiple times with both methods
6. Temperatures have been absolutely fine in SoCal (low 70s), the car is garaged

Anything I'm missing?

Please open a ticket here to get it replaced: https://support.viofo.com/support/tickets/new

 

[HAR_W211]

Unfortunately happened to me also on Friday, same symptoms. Also about 5-6 months old. Rebooting constantly replaced the SD cards with several others all the reset instructions yet no fix. I raised a ticket with Viofo on Friday

 

[JardaB]

Samsung 256gb EVO or 256gb Pro Endurance are not the recommended SDcard. Have you tried the recommended models ?
Formatting the card has also been tried ? Besides, the lifetime of SD card in heavy dashcam operation may not be eternal.

The SDcard requirements for a dashcam are fundamentally different from anything else - router, cell phone, camera, drone.

 

[HAR_W211]

Viofo accepted the warranty return today. Sent the old unit back to them and awaiting a replacement now.

 

[JardaB]

Good news

 

[citizen]

Just wanted to update some folks and close out this thread.

I contacted Viofo on 1/27 (weekend), they got back to me on 1/29 (Monday), asked a few questions and requested the receipt for the camera. Provided that info the same day and the next day, 1/30 they told me where to ship the bad camera to and gave me an RMA number. They gave me the option of either shipping and getting reimbursed or they could provide me with a shipping label. I requested the shipping label but their system wasn't working right so I ended up shipping it and getting reimbursed. RMA went out 1/31 and on 2/1 they shipped out my replacement and reimbursed me. I received the replacement on 2/6 and it's been working great since.

Unfortunately due to all the testing I kept trying to run to get the original working, at some point I forgot and left the GPS mount on when I shipped it back. Ended up buying a new GPS mount on Amazon.

I was expecting a worse experience given all the reviews I read on this forum, but other than the time it took for the replacement to arrive and the slight delays due to them responding from Asia, I thought Viofo's support was pretty stellar. Hopefully, the replacement device lasts and I won't have to go through this exercise again.

 

[JardaB]

Technology breaks down ... manufacturer support works quite well

 

[anu0512]

Well, my second replacement is gone and the camera is not recording stuck in a red light. I have been using different 70mai cameras for more than 5 years but never had this kind of issue and even still parallel using it.

 

[Panzer Platform]

my second replacement is gone and the camera is not recording stuck in a red light.

Please document your malfunction by submitting a support ticket so it can be addressed;

Submit a ticket

support.viofo.com

 

[Jamers99]

Never used it in parking mode, etc. only when the vehicle was on. Worked flawlessly for five months. Stopped working on the 23rd, and noticed it on the evening of the 25th. Realized something was up because it kept rebooting and making the boot-up sound. When I took the memory card out, I saw that the videos stopped recording on the 23rd. REC light goes in and out, the other lights never turn on. I can't get WiFi to turn on. Can't connect to the camera.

Videos below are of the camera in the car, then I took it off and tried connecting it to an outlet via the supplied power cable. Photo is of my other unit working flawlessly with the same cable(s) and memory card(s) from the bad unit.

View attachment 70493

I've tried the following:

1. Disconnected rear camera
2. Swapped power cables, including the one that came with the camera
   1. All cables work with the good camera
   2. No cables work with the bad camera
3. Swapped memory cards, bad camera remains non-functional, good camera is fine with either of my two Samsung 256gb EVOs or the 256gb Pro Endurance
   1. Also formatted the cards just in case
4. I tried firmware upgrading the bad unit, unclear if it worked since I can't connect to the camera
5. Pinhole reset, hazard + wifi button reset, don't think either worked. According to Viofo's site, all four lights are suppose to light up after a reset, that never happened and I tried multiple times with both methods
6. Temperatures have been absolutely fine in SoCal (low 70s), the car is garaged

Anything I'm missing?

Which connection type were you using? 12v or 5v?

 

[citizen]

Replacement camera failed last week. Noticed it didn't announce recording when I got in the car on Friday. Turns out the last recording was from Tuesday as I was backing out of the driveway. Camera didn't even last two months? Only noticeable change was that starting in April, we parked the car outside on the driveway. Given that we are in SoCal, it's been getting pretty hot. Unsure if that did it in?

It doesn't go into a boot loop like that last failure, it just refuses to power on no matter what. I even brought it inside and tried to connect it to a MacBook brick to see if that would power it up. No luck.

For what its worth, I've been using the 5v connection. Rear camera is in use.

 

[Panzer Platform]

Replacement camera failed last week. Noticed it didn't announce recording when I got in the car on Friday. Turns out the last recording was from Tuesday as I was backing out of the driveway. Camera didn't even last two months? Only noticeable change was that starting in April, we parked the car outside on the driveway. Given that we are in SoCal, it's been getting pretty hot. Unsure if that did it in?

It doesn't go into a boot loop like that last failure, it just refuses to power on no matter what. I even brought it inside and tried to connect it to a MacBook brick to see if that would power it up. No luck.

For what its worth, I've been using the 5v connection. Rear camera is in use.

By any chance are you using a windshield sun shade?
@Mtz says those can cook a dash cam like an oven.

 

[citizen]

By any chance are you using a windshield sun shade?
@Mtz says those can cook a dash cam like an oven.

Not for this car, no windshield sunshade. Haven't gotten around to getting one for it since it was typically in the garage (up until this month). I do have a windshield sunshade for my in-laws which has a FitcamX. I should double-check to make sure that one's still working. The last car with the Vantrue N2 from 2019, that one sits out on the street and has a sunshade, no issues.

 

[JardaB]

SD card is every week or month formated ? The exact type and size of the card is?

 

[Mtz]

@Mtz says those can cook a dash cam like an oven.

Two cameras in this thread cooked by sunshader or sunvisor. It is impossible to destroy two A139 Pro 2CH in such a short time.
We should ask @VIOFO-Support to show us some pictures of the interior of the first returned dashcam to see if it was cooked inside. Only in this way we will know what was happening and they can tell us if the camera was overheated by external actions or not.

 

[GPak]

I just had the exact same issue with my Mini2, red light ON and no booting.
And yes, it's not hot yet in my location.
Viofo-support suggested to reset, and if reset won’t help to update firmware.
Reset did not help, so I formatted SD card and loaded the “new” firmware, “new” in quotes because it was the same latest as the one I had previously installed.
Nevertheless, after I inserted the card and turned the Mini2 ON – all is back in good working condition like nothing happen!

Viofo-support is excellent, thank you again.

 

[VIOFO-Support]

Replacement camera failed last week. Noticed it didn't announce recording when I got in the car on Friday. Turns out the last recording was from Tuesday as I was backing out of the driveway. Camera didn't even last two months? Only noticeable change was that starting in April, we parked the car outside on the driveway. Given that we are in SoCal, it's been getting pretty hot. Unsure if that did it in?

It doesn't go into a boot loop like that last failure, it just refuses to power on no matter what. I even brought it inside and tried to connect it to a MacBook brick to see if that would power it up. No luck.

For what its worth, I've been using the 5v connection. Rear camera is in use.

So sorry for the unpleasant experience our camera brought to you. Shall we know your ticket number? We will give you a solution as soon as possible.

 

[JardaB]

I just had the exact same issue with my Mini2, red light ON and no booting.
And yes, it's not hot yet in my location.
Viofo-support suggested to reset, and if reset won’t help to update firmware.
Reset did not help, so I formatted SD card and loaded the “new” firmware, “new” in quotes because it was the same latest as the one I had previously installed.
Nevertheless, after I inserted the card and turned the Mini2 ON – all is back in good working condition like nothing happen!

Viofo-support is excellent, thank you again.

good information:
- format the card (regularly)
- reinstall the firmware