A139 Pro Stopped Recording Suddenly

zlo said:
UPDATE:
I'm extremely disappointed to share that I had a rear-ended car accident last Thursday, and to my dismay, of course, the A139 PRO FAILED TO RECORD THE INCIDENT. This is completely unacceptable, especially considering the high price of $300 + $60 SD card + $120 installation for nothing when it truly mattered :mad:.

I was counting on this dashcam to capture the necessary footage in situations like these, but I can't provide the police with any evidence to support my claim. This has left me feeling extremely frustrated and let down by the @VIOFO-Support . I truly expected better performance and reliability from a company of this stature.

I wanted to bring this issue to the attention of the community and urge everyone to reconsider their decision when purchasing this model. It's crucial that we invest in products that we can trust, especially when it comes to road safety.

Stay safe out there, and I hope none of you face a similar situation. I will provide more details as soon as I can get the camera back when my car gets fixed or totaled!
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Jesus man. I'm sorry to hear that. Hope you and everyone around you is ok.
 
acters said:
still having this weird issue where the DC is has bad loop recording settings when the camera turns on from being off.(When I have the car in the garage I turn it off and remove the SD Card)
Hjm6TTB.png


Anyone else experiencing this weird problem?
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Looks like you're trying to record 15min files? 4K at max or high bitrate might be hitting a file size limit (4GB?) at 12min4s
 
Fragman said:
Somewhat older thread, but having recording issues with the A139 Pro. Once my SD fills, it doesn't overwrite.

It just simply is not saving video after the card is full. It should overwrite but it doesn't; it stays full and records nothing at all, even though the Rec light is on and it gives audible confirmation as well when recording supposedly starts. BT Pushbutton doesn't save/lock the video either. The card currently in use is a Max Endurance 256GB that I have to format manually after it fills.

I found that it wouldn't work with my actual Viofo 256GB SD. No idea why but it refuses to format that card.
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O...M...G... i am experiencing the same exact issue! i swapped from a 256gb high endurance to a max endurance and nothing yet. loaded new firmware nothing, did a master reset....nothing, it starts doing it when you have like 400ish mb left on the card right? formatted new card via that sd formatter tool and nothing. i hope its a firmware thing as i hate having to return stuff. i bought mines directly from VIOFO, if i had bought it from Amazon I would have already exchanged it but Amazon did not carry it at the time. now i gotta deal with 24hr emails broken down to 10 steps at 1 per day, at this rate the 149 pro or 229 pro will come out before i can get this fixed or replaced......smh. I'm on day 3 of emails.....so frustrating. i will keep track of your case to see if there is any light at the end of tunnel with this matte
 
speeddemon69 said:
O...M...G... i am experiencing the same exact issue! i swapped from a 256gb high endurance to a max endurance and nothing yet. loaded new firmware nothing, did a master reset....nothing, it starts doing it when you have like 400ish mb left on the card right? formatted new card via that sd formatter tool and nothing. i hope its a firmware thing as i hate having to return stuff. i bought mines directly from VIOFO, if i had bought it from Amazon I would have already exchanged it but Amazon did not carry it at the time. now i gotta deal with 24hr emails broken down to 10 steps at 1 per day, at this rate the 149 pro or 229 pro will come out before i can get this fixed or replaced......smh. I'm on day 3 of emails.....so frustrating. i will keep track of your case to see if there is any light at the end of tunnel with this matte
Click to expand...
I eventually sent mine back and went with a DR970X. I just couldn't get it to work. Viofo support wasn't helpful in the least.

Best of luck but I am guessing it's defective in some way.
 
Fragman said:
I eventually sent mine back and went with a DR970X. I just couldn't get it to work. Viofo support wasn't helpful in the least.

Best of luck but I am guessing it's defective in some way.
Click to expand...
oh wow that sucks, VIOFO gave you a refund? cause they are slow to respond to even get to that point.
 
TonyM said:
Looks like you're trying to record 15min files? 4K at max or high bitrate might be hitting a file size limit (4GB?) at 12min4s
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I have the loop recording limit set to 3 minutes, this happens every time I turn off the camera and turn it back on. The file size does hit a flat size limit of 3.89 GB (4,179,886,080 bytes) as reported by windows file explorer.
I do not know why it is set to 15 minutes at boot. It reverts to the 3 minute loop recording when I switch to parking mode and back to Driving mode.
VIOFO refuses to help me and keeps asking me how I did it, I simply just turn it off and on. This occured after updating the firmware to the latest. Frustrating
 
acters said:
I have the loop recording limit set to 3 minutes, this happens every time I turn off the camera and turn it back on. The file size does hit a flat size limit of 3.89 GB (4,179,886,080 bytes) as reported by windows file explorer.
I do not know why it is set to 15 minutes at boot. It reverts to the 3 minute loop recording when I switch to parking mode and back to Driving mode.
VIOFO refuses to help me and keeps asking me how I did it, I simply just turn it off and on. This occured after updating the firmware to the latest. Frustrating
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So basically i paid $300 to beta test? Can we downgrade firmware? I don’t remember having any issues on previous firmware.
 
speeddemon69 said:
So basically i paid $300 to beta test? Can we downgrade firmware? I don’t remember having any issues on previous firmware.
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It could have just bugged when it did the firmware upgrade. No one on this forum claims to have the same problem.
when I remove the SD card, the camera makes noise to insert an SD Card, and when I insert another SD Card (I have multiple SD Cards for backing up reasons) it restarts, and the wrong loop recording time length problem occurs.
My only solution is to turn off the car and turn the car on, EVERY TIME.(switch to parking mode and back to Driving mode) it's too difficult to remember
camera has the best pictures than most, but I should have known that the current technology tactic is to make everything fast as possible and promise updates by using the community as beta testers, until the product becomes obsolete or the community dies out.
I wish they would just make a proper boot sequence that does not bug out.
I PURCHASED TWO VIOFO A139 PRO AND BOTH HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM.
 
acters said:
It could have just bugged when it did the firmware upgrade. No one on this forum claims to have the same problem.
when I remove the SD card, the camera makes noise to insert an SD Card, and when I insert another SD Card (I have multiple SD Cards for backing up reasons) it restarts, and the wrong loop recording time length problem occurs.
My only solution is to turn off the car and turn the car on, EVERY TIME.(switch to parking mode and back to Driving mode) it's too difficult to remember
camera has the best pictures than most, but I should have known that the current technology tactic is to make everything fast as possible and promise updates by using the community as beta testers, until the product becomes obsolete or the community dies out.
I wish they would just make a proper boot sequence that does not bug out.
I PURCHASED TWO VIOFO A139 PRO AND BOTH HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM.
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I'm sorry but by your post, it seems you're removing and inserting the sdcard while the camera is powered on? Or are you fully powering off before doing those operations? It's unclear to me.
 
tchavei said:
I'm sorry but by your post, it seems you're removing and inserting the sdcard while the camera is powered on? Or are you fully powering off before doing those operations? It's unclear to me.
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I have tried many methods, the SD card is besides the point for the problem.(such as swapping while on or off)
The problem is not occured by the sd card. I can just simply turn it off and back on to reproduce the problem.
 
@acters , @VIOFO-Support

I was a software product manager earlier in my career. So, I'd like to think through what might be going wrong from that perspective.

Assumptions (I hope I get this right)
  • Because you mention being able to use Parking Mode, I assume you are powering the camera using a HK3-C hardwire kit or its equivalent.
  • There are times when you don't need Parking Mode, and so you turn the camera completely off using the power button on the hardware.
  • There are times when you are using Parking Mode, and the HK3-C turns off the camera when the voltage reaches your chosen cutoff limit.
  • The incorrect recording time only occurs when the camera has been booted after being completely off.
  • When the camera has been turned on and the incorrect recording time is indicated, turning the ignition off and then back on (going briefly into Parking Mode) causes the incorrect recording time to be updated to the correct recording time, as indicated in the Viofo app – the camera is not powered down during this change.
Analysis
  • When the camera is booted, there is no connection to the Viofo app. In normal usage, there is no need to connect the Viofo app unless you want to check the live view, change the camera settings, or download files using Wi-fi.
  • Thus when the camera is booted, the settings required to initialize the camera with choices that had been made in the Viofo app (that isn't connected when the camera is booted) have to be retrieved from within the hardware. Typically, to survive a shutdown these settings are stored in non-volatile memory.
  • The error, then, has to be within the non-volatile memory or the boot-up code executed on startup. This would seem to eliminate the microSD card as a source of the problem (regardless of brand or capabilities).
  • Changing the mode from Drive Mode to Parking Mode and back, does not turn off the camera – thus the camera is not being rebooted.
  • If the camera is not being rebooted (not being turned completely off) when re-starting Drive Mode after being in Parking Mode, it may still require some kind of initialization that retrieves settings from non-volatile memory (choices from Viofo app). However, the code executed for this is likely different from the boot-up initialization of Drive Mode from a completely off state.
Possible causes for @VIOFO-Support to investigate (maybe they've already done this?)
  • Is it possible that the choice of recording time (3 mins) made in Viofo app could be stored in one location in non-volatile memory (let's call it address 0001) but the boot-up sequence does not look in that location and chooses a default value (15 mins) from a different location in non-volatile memory (let's call it address 0010)? The boot-up code chooses the value in address 0010 because an error in the boot-up coding isn't finding address 0001, and the code needs to retrieve a value so that the camera doesn't crash on boot-up.
  • Is it possible that when changing from Drive Mode to Parking Mode and then back to Drive Mode, the re-initialization code (not boot-up code) is programmed differently and actually finds address 0001, and thus the correct recording time (3 mins) is properly instantiated under this scenario?
I've made a bunch of assumptions about how the software engineers might have implemented startup – so all this thinking might not be valid at all. But one thing has to be true – at boot-up, settings have to be retrieved from non-volatile memory because the Viofo app cannot be connected to a device that is completely off... and at boot-up the value being retrieved is not the setting supposedly stored from the Viofo app.

I hope there are some shreds of possibility to my thinking and analysis, and that this is helpful for understanding what could be going on, and possibly for suggesting a different way for Viofo engineering to look for the problem on their side.

-Bob
 
naruhodo said:
@acters , @VIOFO-Support

I was a software product manager earlier in my career. So, I'd like to think through what might be going wrong from that perspective.

Assumptions (I hope I get this right)
  • Because you mention being able to use Parking Mode, I assume you are powering the camera using a HK3-C hardwire kit or its equivalent.
  • There are times when you don't need Parking Mode, and so you turn the camera completely off using the power button on the hardware.
  • There are times when you are using Parking Mode, and the HK3-C turns off the camera when the voltage reaches your chosen cutoff limit.
  • The incorrect recording time only occurs when the camera has been booted after being completely off.
  • When the camera has been turned on and the incorrect recording time is indicated, turning the ignition off and then back on (going briefly into Parking Mode) causes the incorrect recording time to be updated to the correct recording time, as indicated in the Viofo app – the camera is not powered down during this change.
Analysis
  • When the camera is booted, there is no connection to the Viofo app. In normal usage, there is no need to connect the Viofo app unless you want to check the live view, change the camera settings, or download files using Wi-fi.
  • Thus when the camera is booted, the settings required to initialize the camera with choices that had been made in the Viofo app (that isn't connected when the camera is booted) have to be retrieved from within the hardware. Typically, to survive a shutdown these settings are stored in non-volatile memory.
  • The error, then, has to be within the non-volatile memory or the boot-up code executed on startup. This would seem to eliminate the microSD card as a source of the problem (regardless of brand or capabilities).
  • Changing the mode from Drive Mode to Parking Mode and back, does not turn off the camera – thus the camera is not being rebooted.
  • If the camera is not being rebooted (not being turned completely off) when re-starting Drive Mode after being in Parking Mode, it may still require some kind of initialization that retrieves settings from non-volatile memory (choices from Viofo app). However, the code executed for this is likely different from the boot-up initialization of Drive Mode from a completely off state.
Possible causes for @VIOFO-Support to investigate (maybe they've already done this?)
  • Is it possible that the choice of recording time (3 mins) made in Viofo app could be stored in one location in non-volatile memory (let's call it address 0001) but the boot-up sequence does not look in that location and chooses a default value (15 mins) from a different location in non-volatile memory (let's call it address 0010)? The boot-up code chooses the value in address 0010 because an error in the boot-up coding isn't finding address 0001, and the code needs to retrieve a value so that the camera doesn't crash on boot-up.
  • Is it possible that when changing from Drive Mode to Parking Mode and then back to Drive Mode, the re-initialization code (not boot-up code) is programmed differently and actually finds address 0001, and thus the correct recording time (3 mins) is properly instantiated under this scenario?
I've made a bunch of assumptions about how the software engineers might have implemented startup – so all this thinking might not be valid at all. But one thing has to be true – at boot-up, settings have to be retrieved from non-volatile memory because the Viofo app cannot be connected to a device that is completely off... and at boot-up the value being retrieved is not the setting supposedly stored from the Viofo app.

I hope there are some shreds of possibility to my thinking and analysis, and that this is helpful for understanding what could be going on, and possibly for suggesting a different way for Viofo engineering to look for the problem on their side.

-Bob
Click to expand...
thanks bob for the input.
Firstly to adjust your assumptions.
I do turn off the camera, when the vehicle is in a monitored garage, or places that disallow recording of any kind for security, and privacy.
For the assumption in which this only occurs after a complete shutdown or power loss is incorrect.
Two scenarios in which the camera is fully powered on and after I do my temp fix to get 3 minute loop recording set up: .(non-exhaustive list)
  • switching the recording from H.264 to H.265(and vice versa) or
  • removing SD Card, waiting until it notices there is no SD Card and inserting a SD Card.(This is usually the scenario I am involved in mainly)
Another assumption is my 12V battery may have lost power. To disway such notions that my 12V battery is not charged enough. My vehicles are Fully electric,( note: the hybrid has a ICE motor that powers an electric generator, the ICE motor is not tied to the wheels mechanically, and the large LI-ION battery is used to start the engine instead of the 12V battery), there is no concern for the 12V battery to lose power. I have monitored the 12V battery and have notes that state the battery is almost always kept at 14V.
 
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You should always power off the camera before inserting or removing the memory card.

Also, general reminder that anytime the firmware has been changed (updated/downgraded), you should manually default the cameras settings through the menu. Once the camera reboots, press and hold the hard reset button on the side of the camera for about 5 seconds.
 
Bought the A139Pro a few weeks ago with a Samsung Pro Plus 512 GB SD card. The camera worked fine, but after a few days the files suddenly became unreadable. Reformatting in the camera did not work, so done it in the PC, strangely enough the card is now formatted as exFat. Also gave the camera a firmware update and in the meantime the camera works as it should again. Maybe a solution for the A139Pro problems?
 
acters said:
thanks bob for the input.​
Firstly to adjust your assumptions.​
I do turn off the camera, when the vehicle is in a monitored garage, or places that disallow recording of any kind for security, and privacy.​
For the assumption in which this only occurs after a complete shutdown or power loss is incorrect.​
Two scenarios in which the camera is fully powered on and after I do my temp fix to get 3 minute loop recording set up: .(non-exhaustive list)​
  • switching the recording from H.264 to H.265(and vice versa) or
  • removing SD Card, waiting until it notices there is no SD Card and inserting a SD Card.(This is usually the scenario I am involved in mainly)
Another assumption is my 12V battery may have lost power. To disway such notions that my 12V battery is not charged enough. My vehicles are Fully electric,( note: the hybrid has a ICE motor that powers an electric generator, the ICE motor is not tied to the wheels mechanically, and the large LI-ION battery is used to start the engine instead of the 12V battery), there is no concern for the 12V battery to lose power. I have monitored the 12V battery and have notes that state the battery is almost always kept at 14V.​
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Thanks for the clarifications, acters.​
​
Now that I think about it... it probably doesn't matter whether or not the camera was shutdown. I was just looking for a consistent condition that might be triggering the problem.​
​
The issue is that the coding in the hardware must be retrieving the incorrect recording time from some storage location in non-volatile memory – it's not making up a random number: 15 minutes is consistent and my guess is (as I stated before) that this value is a default to be retrieved in case of some other unanticipated software bug that might cause the camera to crash if a value for the recording time was not available (for whatever reason).​
​
The question is: why doesn't the coding seek the time value from the location in non-volatile memory where the 3 minutes from the Viofo app was actually stored – we know that the 3 minutes has indeed been stored in a location that the coding knows how to find because your "temp fix" causes the coding to retrieve that value. The 3 minutes value remains in operational use until some action requires the coding to seek the recording time value again and it seems that you have discovered many conditions which cause the coding to retrieve the 15 minutes value.​
​
Seems to me the error must somehow be related to the coding unwittingly accessing the incorrect value from a different non-volatile memory location than the one that has the value supplied from the Viofo app. If that's true, then I don't think there's anything you can do other than your "temp fix" to get it to work normally. A permanent fix would have to come from Viofo. They keep asking your what you were doing because they cannot reproduce the error. I've been in this situation myself, and this is the kind of problem that drives QA teams crazy trying to figure out what's going wrong when they cannot reproduce the error. Perhaps, too, it's just a freak error on your hardware. Maybe you could get Viofo (or whoever you purchased the camera from) to respond to a warranty claim while Viofo try to figure out if it's something in the code or just a "100-year storm" that has hit your camera.​
​
CaptureYourAction said:
You should always power off the camera before inserting or removing the memory card.
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@CaptureYourAction is totally correct about this. The A139 Pro User manual states explicitly for both insertion and removal of the microSD memory card: "Ensure that the camera is turned off..." In my experience, this is especially important when removing the card... there's no activity light to indicate when something is being written to the card, and removing the card in the middle of a write could leave the card's directory structure in an indeterminate state. This, in turn, could cause the loss of data on the memory card because of the corrupted directory structure. Damage to the directory structure could also prevent files from being overwritten properly. The only safe way to know that any activity with the card has been completed is to turn the camera off. Likewise inserting the card when the camera is off ensures that reading the memory card's directory is happening under a controlled condition – namely, being triggered by the camera's boot-up code sequence.​
​
-Bob​
​
​
 
Funny enough, my replacement seems to work fine (knock on wood). It is on an older firmware version though, and I have zero plans to upgrade it as of now. Currently testing it along with my BV 970X.
 
I used an sd card that I used in the same day, I removed the SD card and reinserted it later on(30 minutes later) without changing the files inside into the A139 Pro, it will turn on and all lights will turn on, and do absolutely nothing. Will not record anything. It will not even say anything. It will just brick itself. It wont even respond to any of the buttons, including the off button. Unplugging and waiting for it to turn off will reset it.
@VIOFO-Support
 
kusmierz said:
hi @TonyM, any news? It seems I've got similar issue...
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I know what is going on or at least have an idea of the challenges he had. Trying to coordinate a video explaining it.
 
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