Random recording failure after a couple of hours.

[murcod]

I've just noticed random recording failures on a super cap equipped Mobius. It will run for a number of hours and then stop/ lockup with the rear LED solid red and the top LED solid orange (the manual mentions yellow or blue for that LED?) Normal operation is flashing red and orange(/ yellow?)

I'm thinking it's heat related possibly? I've tried formatting the card using the Mobius program (it's a 64Gb Samsung EVO Plus IIRC). It's failed twice since then after around 3-5hrs recording (out of the car, during "bench testing") It just sits there with both LEDs solid, when I switch the USB supply off the LEDs stay solid for a couple of seconds- until the super cap is fully drained at a guess? I can then turn it back on straight away and it will start recording again.

Any ideas apart from swapping the memory card and waiting another 3-5 hours?

 

[jokiin]

first thing I'd try is a different memory card

 

[murcod]

I've got another Mobius out of the car as well. Guess I'll swap the cards over and "go for a long wait...."

 

[jokiin]

and "go for a long wait...."

you sound like an apprentice

 

[murcod]

Done. Swapped the 64Gb Evo Select (same as Evo Plus from what I've read, just Amazon branding?) with a 128Gb Lexar 633x.

I just noticed I get different LED flashing patterns between the two when they shut down- the settings are the same AFAIK. The "good" one flashes both LEDs quickly for a second or so, the "bad" holds them solid for a second or so. I checked both yesterday and they were both saving the last file okay.

 

[murcod]

you sound like an apprentice

Yes, I was many years ago.

 

[jokiin]

Yes, I was many years ago.

likewise, been there, done that

 

[murcod]

So far they're both still working... Or appear to be working- LED's flashing as expected.

I had already tried ejecting and reinserting the memory card (in case there was a bad connection.)

 

[murcod]

After about 7 hrs the fault has moved with the memory card. So it looks to be the problem.

 

[kamkar]

Memory cards can do some weird stuff, i once had one that would not work in one of my cameras, but other similar memory cards worked just fine in that camera, and the problem card also worked fine in a range of other cameras.

 

[murcod]

I'm testing it now using H2testw on my PC. Though I'll probably be canning that soon though as it's late- I'll do a full cycle test tomorrow.

My previous cards had suffered more definite deaths- write locked and couldn't be written to. The files were all there though.

 

[murcod]

I've run H2testw for quite a few cycles now with no fault popping up. Are there any better/other SD card test programs to try?

 

[jokiin]

I've run H2testw for quite a few cycles now with no fault popping up. Are there any better/other SD card test programs to try?

h2testw is good for detecting fake media, if it's real it's not going to tell you much

you can try CrystalDiskMark and look for speed issues, if the card is slowing down it can trip up recordings

 

[murcod]

Thanks I'll check it out. I found FakeFlashTest and ran the "Quick Size Test", it generated a stack of "Write Error Sector xxxx" errors. I'm doing a full format and will try that again / do some more testing.

 

[murcod]

(H2testw does do writing and reading to check the card too. Very slowly when it's a 64Gb card.)

 

[murcod]

I'm doing a full format

After another long wait that's just failed - "Windows was unable to complete the format". When I last checked it was about 4/5th completed. Windows Quick format works okay.

 

[jokiin]

Time for a new card

 

[murcod]

Ironically, I'd ordered another Samsung EVO card the day before I discovered this. This time a "Plus" 128Gb. I'm hoping it lasts longer.

 

[murcod]

This is doing my head in!

SD Card Formatter successfully completed a full "Overwrite Format" and H2testw also successfully did a full "Write and Verify". I don't want to run FakeFlashTest again as it says you need to reformat the card after running it.

Time to put it back in a Mobius for another 7hr+ test.

 

[SawMaster]

I can't recall for certain as it's been a long time ago, but it seems I had a similar card failure with my Mobius where it worked for a time then stopped recording. Formatting the card only got the same behavior afterward. Back then I used 64GB Transcend 400X cards which positively went through 600+ cycles before failing. Too bad Transcend doesn't do that well nowadays

I'm certain something similar happened with my B1W when the 'locked files' section filled and didn't overwrite as it should have; that was a firmware fault and not the card.

Phil