Grey screen A119 V2

[spanner]

Hi, 1 month old A119 V2 with the latest 3.4 firmware suddenly started only displaying a solid grey coloured screen when in use although still appears to record video ok, no menus would display or any onscreen displays, just a solid grey colour screen. Rebooting (power off) did not cure the problem, when rebooting there was not any Viofo boot screen. I turned power off, removed the Samsung Evo memory card, refitted memory card and powered on and Viofo bootup screen appeared and the cam started working again and seems OK.

Is this a known issue or just a glitch?

 

[CaptureYourAction]

Don't recall hearing this issue before. Did you just update to V3.4? Did you manually default your cameras settings after the update?

Did you format the Samsung card in the camera?

 

[spanner]

Don't recall hearing this issue before. Did you just update to V3.4? Did you manually default your cameras settings after the update?

Did you format the Samsung card in the camera?

Hi from old England to New England!, yes as soon as I got the camera I updated firmware successfully to v3.4 and then default settings, then formatted the memory card in the camera. It has been working for nearly a month without issue then a couple days ago I noticed the grey screen when turning on the car and when pressing a button to access a menu option or function, powering off and on did not clear the issue, only when I ejected the memory card and refitted it then powered on the cam did it all start working again. But it did seem to record footage while in this mode, seems like the screen display glitched. I'll keep an eye on it and see how it performs.

 

[CaptureYourAction]

When you say a solid grey screen, are you talking about a static grey (grey and white) screen, or was it just all grey, nothing else? I've seen static screen, which may be related to the sensor cable connection to the main board (that's when I have seen it anyway). Could have been just a fluke though I guess. Since the camera did record fine during the issue, I would be inclined to think it's not card related, but you never know.

 

[spanner]

When you say a solid grey screen, are you talking about a static grey (grey and white) screen, or was it just all grey, nothing else? I've seen static screen, which may be related to the sensor cable connection to the main board (that's when I have seen it anyway). Could have been just a fluke though I guess. Since the camera did record fine during the issue, I would be inclined to think it's not card related, but you never know.

hi, it was a static, all grey screen, one single colour with nothing else onscreen at all. I've not seen it happen since so not sure what happened but maybe a glitch.

I've got the GPS version with power cable plugged into that, rather than the side connector of the camera.

 

[Gibson99]

when you say "static gray" i assume you mean static as in "unmoving, unchanging". if recordings are good, then it sounds like a problem with the screen itself, or maybe the ribbon cable between the main board and screen has somehow worked itself loose - perhaps due to repeated hot/cold cycles from the weather and normal use (the camera does warm up during normal use of course).

i would contact the seller to let them know what's happened - they may be able to send you a replacement unit. if not, maybe you can open the camera (it's only 4 screws) and try re-seating the ribbon cable between the mainboard and the screen. as long as you're gentle about it, it can't hurt anything to try.

search the forum and you'll find my thread where i disassembled my demo unit - it may help you decide whether you can tackle the job.

 

[spanner]

when you say "static gray" i assume you mean static as in "unmoving, unchanging". if recordings are good, then it sounds like a problem with the screen itself, or maybe the ribbon cable between the main board and screen has somehow worked itself loose - perhaps due to repeated hot/cold cycles from the weather and normal use (the camera does warm up during normal use of course).

i would contact the seller to let them know what's happened - they may be able to send you a replacement unit. if not, maybe you can open the camera (it's only 4 screws) and try re-seating the ribbon cable between the mainboard and the screen. as long as you're gentle about it, it can't hurt anything to try.

search the forum and you'll find my thread where i disassembled my demo unit - it may help you decide whether you can tackle the job.

Hi and thanks, yes the screen displayed one solid colour and nothing else, a solid grey square filling the entire screen. You might be right about the screen ribbon cable, perhaps it isn't firmly fitted. As I'm handy with fixing electronics I might carefully open it up and check the cable. It hasn't done this since I rebooted and refitted the memory card....I now periodically press a menu button to wake up the screen while it's in use to check the screen display is ok, and so far so good.

 

[Gibson99]

Hi and thanks, yes the screen displayed one solid colour and nothing else, a solid grey square filling the entire screen. You might be right about the screen ribbon cable, perhaps it isn't firmly fitted. As I'm handy with fixing electronics I might carefully open it up and check the cable. It hasn't done this since I rebooted and refitted the memory card....I now periodically press a menu button to wake up the screen while it's in use to check the screen display is ok, and so far so good.

It may be working for now but I'd still contact the seller to let them know it's being problematic, in case it starts doing it again later.

 

[dash1]

This sounds exactly like the 'white screen of death' WSOD which has been reported before. In some reports, it remained and the unit had to be replaced.

It just happened to me last night in my several day old A119. The recording apparently works because I reviewed the footage and could see my fingers waving in front of the camera, but the screen did not change until I pulled the power and restarted.

Unfortunately this does not raise my confidence level in this reportedly 'best budget camera.' It may go back to Amazon within the 30 day return window.

 

[Gibson99]

it's always possible for any manufacturer to have defective units. that's why warranties exist in the first place. so far i've had no issues with either my first-run unit w/ v1 gps, or my original pre-production unit from early 2016.

it's also possible that counterfeits have started showing up on the market, like they do with any successful product out of china. the fakes have almost destroyed the market for the good old G1W series of cameras, and are working on killing the a119's older brother, the a118.

 

[waino]

It looks like I'm also a victim of WSOD syndrome. This unit is almost a year old now and I'm using the latest firmware v3.6.
In addition the amazon.co.uk seller Boblov doesn't seem to honor product warranties at all, but luckily amazon (UK) is willing to refund my order anyway. Kind of shame, because I've been quite happy with the camera, whenever the display was functioning properly and now I have to rip everything away for the refunding.