On my 3rd unit, camera is stuck in Mass Storage mode

[fiatlux]

This is the 3rd replacement I've got, and once again it's got problems. Worked fine for the first week, but now whenever I plug it into my car (both hardwired and via the cigarette lighter socket) it goes straight into Mass Storage mode. If I turn it on without plugging it in, everything is fine. I'm using a new memory card and a new 12V-5V converter to eliminate any other potential factors. The exact same camera from my other car works perfectly fine in this setup, so maybe I just have absolutely rotten luck with the last 3 units. At this point I don't even know if it's worth mailing it back for an exchange. Each unit I've gotten back have had different problems, so I can't imagine it's something on my end. The first one would randomly turn itself on and claim to be plugged in even when it's not connected to anything. The second one just flat out died after a couple weeks (I'd plug it in and it was totally non-responsive). And now this one doesn't seem to want to work right when I plug it in.

Anyone have any thoughts about what I can try before I junk this thing? It's currently on firmware A118.20150104, and I've tried reflashing it and resetting it to no avail.

 

[runtohell121]

Try updating it to the newer firmware(s) and see if the problem exist still... If it does, I say just junk it and ask for a partial/refund... Not worth the hassle mailing it back and forth.

 

[fiatlux]

Try updating it to the newer firmware(s) and see if the problem exist still... If it does, I say just junk it and ask for a partial/refund... Not worth the hassle mailing it back and forth.

Is there a new firmware than 21050104? Maybe it's worth trying rolling back to an older firmware. At this point I seriously wonder if they (estore009) is just mailing me back bad or refurb'd units that other people have returned...

 

[runtohell121]

Is there a new firmware than 21050104? Maybe it's worth trying rolling back to an older firmware. At this point I seriously wonder if they (estore009) is just mailing me back bad or refurb'd units that other people have returned...

What version is your dash camera? A118-C or A118?
For A118-C (FW posted throughout the thread, but page 9 has FW 0312 and 0320): https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threa...pacitor-battery-dash-cam-gearbest.9287/page-9

I think for A118, the newest is 0104

 

[niko]

If it goes into mass storage, then probably pins or soldering inside miniusb port on dashcam side get mixed in the factory.
If you have time and patience, you can open and do some tests / measurements to see to which pin which wire corresponds.

 

[Gibson99]

someone here said they'd tried the march 20 a118c firmware on their battery a118 and it worked. i haven't tried it, myself though so i can't comment on it directly.

 

[fiatlux]

I believe I have the regular A118. It's weird, this worked perfectly fine for a week, but now, no dice. If rolling back to an older A118 firmware doesn't help, I'll give the A118C firmware a try, since I can't really brick it more than it already is.

 

[Gibson99]

easiest way to tell (without opening it up) is the powerup and shutdown delays. here's my comparison video. even though i put the time in the link, the forum puts you at the beginning of the video, so skip ahead to 5:30

 

[fiatlux]

Thanks for the video! It's definitely the A118

 

[fiatlux]

I tried updating (and downgrading) the firmware. The good news is that the camera no longer goes into Mass Storage mode as soon as I connect it to a power source. The bad news is that none of the buttons are responsive. They beep, but they don't do anything. I imagine there's some difference between the Foxoffer firmware that I found on the main page and this particular piece of hardware (I bought the camera from estore009). Looks like I'll send them an email to see if they can give me some version of their firmware (the welcome page used to say blueskysea).

 

[fiatlux]

Well what do you know. I tried using the A118c firmware, and everything seems to work perfectly. Fingers crossed this is the fix I've been looking for . Big thanks to Gibson99 for giving me the idea of trying the A118c firmware.