Memory Card Issues

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Fast.Eddie

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Nov 17, 2013
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Location
SoCal
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United States
Dash Cam
Mini 0801(ret.), Mini 0805(ret.), VIOFO A119
I recently bought a Spy Tec A119 from Amazon and I am returning it as defective. It seems to be extremely picky about memory cards, either not recognizing them at all on some of them, or displaying a "Memory Error" every few seconds with the ones that were recognized. 24 hours later, those cards that had the memory error were not recognized, either. Samsung Evo 64GB that I am using in my Mini 0805, Sony 8Gb and 32GB, Transcend High Endurance 64GB...no joy.

Anyway, I like the cam and it's features, and would like to re-order, but a requirement is that the cam MUST work with the Transcend High Endurance 64GB I purchased for use with this cam. I paid almost as much for the card as I did for the cam, and I verified that it is not counterfeit on the Transcend website. I am hoping my memory card issues are due to a defective unit, but are these cams noted for being finicky about memory cards? Will the 64GB HE work in this cam?
 
Read and replied yesterday. Didn't want to hijack the thread so started my own.
 
Plenty of A119/A119S users use the Transcend High Endurance card, so your issue is certainly odd. Are you using the GPS mount? Also, I have read a few cases where reinstalling the firmware, v2.02, fixed the "Memory Error" they were getting.
 
CaptureYourAction said:
Plenty of A119/A119S users use the Transcend High Endurance card, so your issue is certainly odd. Are you using the GPS mount? Also, I have read a few cases where reinstalling the firmware, v2.02, fixed the "Memory Error" they were getting.
Click to expand...

The cam shipped with v2.01 and I upgraded (while the card was working) to v2.02. I didn't even get to the point of taking any of the mounts out of the bag...I always do a burn-in on the bench first, if possible. Frequent QC probs in China, it appears.

I installed the FW 3 times just to make sure, resetting the settings to default each time. I could tell it was having trouble with the "good" ("Memory Error") card on Day 2 because the upgrade started/stopped/restarted, then it couldn't/wouldn't read the card (after formatting in/out of the camera) no matter what I tried.
 
I have a Samsung Evo 64GB that I have been using in a Mini 0805 for several months. I formatted it to Fat32 and tested every cell with h2testw. It took 3 - 4 hours, but there were no bad cells. The A119 wouldn't recognize it, so I put it back in the Mini and it's been working there for a couple of days with no problems. The Transcend 64GB High Endurance I bought specifically for this camera...based on the reviews I thought it would be a slam dunk. It wasn't recognized.

On the card or cards that were recognized with the memory error, they would try to record, but the clip was corrupted and unviewable. There was only one clip, because the memory error would repeatedly pop up after 10 or so seconds.

And the GPS is still in the bag. I never opened it.
 
I started out some few years ago with a single card Mini 0801 that I took apart to see if it had the internal card holder (it did), and I noticed some crappy solder joints on the card holder contacts. I'm kind of leaning towards that diagnosis at this point...it sounds like what I've experienced is a relatively rare occurrence.

The warranty on the card expires 8/2019, and if I can get the same kind of life out of a dashcam I'd be all over it.
 
Last edited:
Ok, thanks! That's what I was thinking. Kind of shakes my confidence in the A119, though.
 
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