F500LHD - screen going blank, stops recording

ydc

Member
Joined
Mar 13, 2013
Messages
51
Reaction score
5
Country
United Kingdom
Dash Cam
Jokiin's A2S60 dash cam; A118; ex-F500LHD owner
Could I please ask if anyone has experienced this previously?

Randomly, the screen will go blank. The camera doesn’t power off however, as the backlight can still be seen faintly.

The recording the camera was making at the time is corrupted, and the only way to get the camera back up and running is to remove the battery and then replace.

The camera will then sometimes continue to record to the end of the journey... other times it will go blank again a few minutes later.

Below is a few things I’ve tried to no avail:

  • Two different cards - 32GB Kingston (class 10) & 4GB Transcend (class 6)
  • Formatted both at Fat32 (32k). I have also tried formatting the cards in the camera.
  • A different car power adaptor.
  • Different recording times and qualities.
 
I have been having the same problems. Very frustrating. I upgraded the firmware to the latest version but it still happens, but less frequently. It seems to occur more often when operating on the battery. Hoping someone comes along with a solution. I really like this cam but am getting tired of resetting the date and time everytime this occurs.
 
I got in touch with the eBay seller, who seems to believe it's related to the SD card. They are sending one (from China) to try in the camera to see if it solves the issue.

I thought at one point it was related to temperature, as the camera seemed more prone to fail in a morning when temperatures here have been around 3-5C. However, if this was the case, it wouldn't happen in late afternoon when the sun has been on the car all day.

I haven't tried updating the firmware yet, but will have a go once I've tried the new card.
 
I am using a Transcend 32GB SD card now. Maybe I will try a different brand or a smaller capacity and see if that makes a difference.
 
Also having the same issue. Ebay seller Estore009 is sending me a new battery.
 
Not familiar with your camera but random lockups is a common occurrence for many versions with A2 processors when using Hynix DDR memory
 
jokiin said:
Not familiar with your camera but random lockups is a common occurrence for many versions with A2 processors when using Hynix DDR memory
Presumably, there's not a lot we could do as a user to resolve that though?
 
ydc said:
jokiin said:
Not familiar with your camera but random lockups is a common occurrence for many versions with A2 processors when using Hynix DDR memory
Presumably, there's not a lot we could do as a user to resolve that though?

Not sure if any manufacturer has ever truly got around this problem, minimized it perhaps, we had this same issue about 18 months ago and switched to Samsung DDR to fix the problem, others seem to have stuck with Hynix, don't know that they've resolved this issue though as I still see it coming up
 
Ok, thanks! I'm not holding up much hope of resolving the lockups then! :roll:
 
Yep, that's on my list, once I have tried a new card supplied by the seller. I don't want to upgrade yet in case I need to return the camera.

Thanks again... :cool:
 
Same issue here. Purchased the camera from estore009 about three weeks ago. Using a 16 GB Maxell class 10 card. Tried two other firmware versions (8.8 and 8.9) and the camera still locks up, original firmware version was 6.9. Tried recording in 720, 1080, microphone on/off and still locks up. The suggestion that the problem occurs due too internal memory (Hynix) issues sounds very plausible to me.
 
Opend my camera and it does indeed have the Hynix memory (chip H5PS1G63EFR) which looks impossible to replace with just a soldering iron. Also, by accident discovered how to make the camera lock up every time; by quickly bringing it from low light to a very very bright light! It seems it can not handle quick transition in lighting properly. Changing ISO or scene settings does not seem to help.
 
This is a very disappointing issue. If it is widespread, I will remove the F500LHD from the Best Buy list. Note that there are some newer firmware versions available for the cameras ending in T2L-KH. The numbering changes to v1.xx.

The most stable one is V1.14_T2L-KH.rar.

There is also a Russian custom firmware by some guy called Andromedich, version Q2-4.7. This is the preferred / recommended version that the Russians are using.

Use at your own risk.
 
Oblivion said:
Opend my camera and it does indeed have the Hynix memory (chip H5PS1G63EFR) which looks impossible to replace with just a soldering iron.

even if you could replace it the firmware would need to be adjusted to suit

Oblivion said:
Also, by accident discovered how to make the camera lock up every time; by quickly bringing it from low light to a very very bright light! It seems it can not handle quick transition in lighting properly. Changing ISO or scene settings does not seem to help.

A repeatable bug is always easier to sort than a random one, this is the type of info that is very useful to the engineers
 
Thank you for the firmware links. Installed v1.14, can not say if there was an improvement as the camera still continues to lock up. Installed Q2-4.7 and it made things even worse: made the camera lock up even quicker (smaller changes in light cause it to lock up). There are a lot more settings related to color and image brightness (and other things) available under Q2-4.7, will try to play around with those.To add, this even occurs when not recording and the memory card is out of the camera, so maybe there is another bug, but this particular one has nothing to do with what memory card (SDHC) is being used.
 
I thing you should bare in mind that there are more than one manufacturer for F500LHD.
I believe that we should map the source/s from which the defected units were bought from, instead of completely not recommending the item.

I already own 3 units, bought from Shenzhen CG Electronics Co., in Aliexpress. All are working fine until now.

What do you think?
 
Currently trialing to see if removing the battery will help.

Still get blank screens.

Using the dashcam still records.
Just worried about the last file whether it saves or not as soon as the car goes off the dashcam turns off.
 
Same issues with battery removed. I do not recommend anyone purchase this cam until the problem is pinpointed or resolved
 
Back
Top