Dashcam Mini died after 8 hours

bgreenstone

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I had my Mini installed just before a long road trip from Texas to Colorado. About 8 hours into the drive the Mini simply shut down. I unplugged it and tried pressing buttons, but nothing would bring it back to life. I was convinced either the fuse on the car cable blew or the dash cam itself fried. There was no way to check the fuse until I got home where my tools were.

Well, I got home last night and my first test was to use the cigarette 12v cable. No luck - still dead. Then I took the Mini and plugged it into my computer. After about 15 seconds it suddenly came to life and I was able to see the files - the last file before it died was corrupt. Then I took it back to my car and the dash cam turned on and the app notified me of a software update. I installed it and now it seems to be operating fine again. No telling if it'll die after 8 hours tho.

The odd thing is that right before the trip there was a firmware update which I installed. Perhaps that was a buggy update and they knew it so they pushed out this new update a week later? I'm really disappointed, however, that I couldn't use my dash cam on my 2500 mile journey.


-Brian
 
There was talk about a different Garmin model shutting down on overheating, maybe the Mini does that too, maybe not, speculating.
 
Yeah, my first thought when it happened was that it overheated, but after 8 days it never came back on until I plugged it into my computer.
 
If it died mid drive i doubt it would be heat related. Unless you closed the windows and turned off the AC and roasted. Also it not turning back on points to something else IMO. Possibly just a bug that they fixed? If it happens again then maybe worth sending it back
 
Most of the time, when DC crashes there is a log file elog.json that has more information.
 
log files can some times be hidden on the memory card.
 
Garmin's elog file is in the root directory on the SD card. Here is an example of one:
JSON:
[
  {
    "unit_id": "XYZ",
    "product_name": "Dashcam 56",
    "build_type": "RELEASE",
    "software_part_number": "006-B3409-00",
    "build_id": "59e1530ff6eacab1e71ed7e22a84bec0276211b4",
    "git_describe": "",
    "uptime_ms": "516025",
    "backtrace": "\n\t0xA0644B16\n\t0xA0643636\n\t0xA06446C0\n\t0xA0E2DDEE\n\t0xA0E2E044\n\t0xA0E2E102\n\t0xA07C96AA\n\t0xA07BFBD8\n\t0xA07BFE5A\n\t0xA079FF98\n\t0xA0E2C4DA",
    "ms_since_epoch": "1562361464000",
    "system_version": "3.00",
    "error_cause": "RTL Trap",
    "proprietary_info": {
      "Core ID": "0",
      "Trap Number": "0x6E5D8017",
      "Message": "../../../../garmin/submodules/external/communications/mtk6630-combo/MT6630_COMMON_Part_Driver/kernel-3.10/drivers/misc/mediatek/connectivity/stubs_garminos.c 184, Coredump triggered",
      "Status": "0x00000000",
      "Registers": "\n\t$00:\t0xA2CFDCC0\n\t$01:\t0xA1541D30\n\t$02:\t0x000000B8\n\t$03:\t0xA1541DD0\n\t$04:\t0x00000000\n\t$05:\t0x00000000\n\t$06:\t0x00000000\n\t$07:\t0x00000000\n\t$08:\t0x00000000\n\t$09:\t0x00000000\n\t$10:\t0x00000000\n\t$11:\t0x00000000\n\t$12:\t0x00000000\n\t$13:\t0x00000000\n\t$14:\t0x00000000\n\t$15:\t0x00000000",
      "Time": "2019-07-05 17:17:44"
    }
  }
]
 
I put over 4000km on my dashcam mini without issue. Gets warm but nothing bad enough to worry me.

Using their double adapter charger?
 
My Mini died again, so I took it to the store and they swapped it out with a new one. So far it has been working after several fairly short drives. However, after reading reviews on Amazon it seems this problem has happened to others too. A few other people report the camera dying just like mine did, so there may be an inherent issue with the device.
 
There was yet another firmware update today: 7.10. This is the third firmware update in about 2 weeks or so. I guess they’re having issues.
 
I've finally figured out that what's happening is that the Mini is simply overheating. It's a fairly useless device as it has been overheating almost every single day, and it's not that hot out. It overheats at under 90º and not after being in a car for 2 hours with the windows rolled up. It overheats in an air conditioned car on occasion, but it almost always overheats if the car has been in the sun for even just 10 minutes. Then the problem is that once it overheats it will never reboot on its own. The only way to get it back is to let it cool down, then physically unplug it and plug it back in. Very disappointed with this. My Thinkware F800 pro which endures way hotter temperatures has never overheated even once.
 
The Mini SHOULD reboot when it overheats, so it sounds like you might have a bad unit. Id call Garmin and ask about an exchange or something
 
This i
The Mini SHOULD reboot when it overheats, so it sounds like you might have a bad unit. Id call Garmin and ask about an exchange or something

This is my 2nd unit. Neither would reboot automatically. I suspect it’s because it’s wired into the Parking cable which always has power on, so it doesn’t fully shutdown unless the cable is pulled.
 
Possibly the parking mode cable. But mine(always on CLA) will automatically shutdown and turn back on after a few minutes, presumably when it detects it is cool enough....
 
How often does yours overheat? Mine does it pretty much all the time, so it’s been a fairly useless dashcam for me.
 
Probably every time I park in the sun on a 80-90+ day. But I still get maybe 75% of the footage because it only turns off for a few minutes and records until it overheats again. I haven't been super thorough on checking my videos though. I always kinda assumed overheating would be an issue for such a small camera pumping out 1080p30, but yours sounds worse than mine.
 
Mine seems to corrupt files if it’s on the verge of overheating. A few days ago it recorded around 100 clips in park mode, but all of them showed up either as 0 byte empty files or 25MB / 3 second clips. Then it overheated and died.
 
Can anyone tell me how do you know if the garmin mini is in park mode? Is there any lights that stay on?
 
Thank you @bgreenstone

Not sure what’s going on with mine then, I have a permanent live and ACC live but it shuts down when ignition goes off.
 
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