GiWH issues

[Tom Guelker]

Just recently I noticed the record light was not flashing, and I would get a "card full" message. I tried to format the card in the dash cam, and the whole process took less than 2 seconds which I thought was too short. I put the card in a USB adapter, and was able to do a quick format, but the full format would error out. I tried it on another computer with the same results. One thing that puzzled me was that the menu button would not do anything 90% of the time. I could turn it on and off and zoom in and out but that was it. If I took the memory card out, I could access all the functions. Thinking the memory card was faulty, I bought a new Sandisk 32GB. I formatted it in the dashcam and it also only took 2 seconds, so I guess that is normal. I put the memory card in the USB adapter and it acted the same as the previous memory card so I am thinking I wasted money on a memory card I did not need. I put the new memory card in the dashcam and formatted it from there and reset the camera to defaults, and everything works fine. I put the old memory card in the dashcam, format it using the dashcam and everything works. Apparently when I set the dashcam to defaults, something that was hosed got set right.

Originally I thought these issues were caused by the hot temperatures we have been having (the thermometer inside my car usually reads about 140F when I get off work) but now that the dashcam is cooperating, I will wait until it flakes out again and buy a new GIWH that hopefully will have the good chipset and sensor still.

 

[hey69]

i had i think the same thing.except my camera looks to be working fine still.
i got a memorycard error msg, tried to format on my pc but i get an error msg.
actually i tried all kind of programs to format the card but looks like its dead (only 3months old)
card used kingston 32gb uhc ..
when i put a 2gb spare card it works flawless, after a 9 minutes camera powers down because it has too litle space i think

 

[Tom Guelker]

The G1WH is flaky. The two right buttons on the back of the camera do not work most of the time. II can zoom in and out with the two left buttons, and power off also. If I power down and hold the top right button and power up continuing to hold the top right button, when I let go of the top right button all the buttons work as they should until I shut the dashcam off. Then the same procedure is needed to get into the menus.

The interior temp of my car routinely goes over 140F so the camera was exposed to that and may have caused a loose solder joint. The camera still works fine otherwise (I have received recent footage) but my OCD is telling me to get a new camera. The new ones have different hardware so hopefully estore has what I need.

I just bought a custom windshield sun shade and now the temps are around 110F so hopefully the new camera won't get roasted.

 

[Treybadd]

Do yourself a favor and quit messing with those cheapos. They will let you down when you need them.

 

[Tom Guelker]

Do yourself a favor and quit messing with those cheapos. They will let you down when you need them.

I can appreciate your opinion, and agree cheap electronics are "you get what you pay for". My 1 year old G1WH has the recommended Novatek NT96650 processor and Aptina AR0330 CMOS sensor, and has been fine until about a month ago. When I would power it off, it would power cycle many times before it would power off. I would get the message SD card or camera. The dashcam is working fine once again. I suspect the SD card couldn't take the 140F temps inside my car. The original card was a MicroCenter house brand 32GB. I have a USB adapter that accepts the card, but I was unable to get a successful full format using Windows 10, but a quick format would complete. Formatting the card in the dashcam only took 2-3 seconds, so I assumed the SD card was faulty because I assumed a format should take longer. I bought a new 32GB Sandisk at WalMart, and was unable to successfully complete a full format with the new card, so it is either a faulty USB adapter or the port or operator error.
One thing the dashcam does that I can't remember it doing before is with the menu buttons. The two buttons on the screen side of the camera that are on the right do not do anything unless I press the button on the top right, then the menus are available. I don't remember having to press the button on the top right before the buttons to the right of the screen would respond. Also, if I press the button on the top right and don't do anything else, the dashcam powers off in about a minute. I am not hitting the button to the left of this button, which IS the power button. I have pressed the reset with a paperclip, set everything back to defaults, and the buttons still don't function correctly. If I remove the SD card, then when I press the button on the screen side at the top, the menus appear.

I just received another G1W-H from estore so I will know for sure how these buttons work. As a 60 year old ASE CMAT L1 MRRT I should be able to figure this out, but my diagnostic skills can't figure this out so I bought another cam.

Added later : the buttons work the same on the old one as the new one. I must be getting old timer's disease because I don't remember it doing this. And to end the thread, the problem was caused by a faulty SD card all along.