Viofo a119s stopped working in 5 days....

[bogchop]

Most likely suspect would probably be a ribbon cable inside the camera that sends power from the gps mount to the camera. Possibly not seated properly. Fairly easy fix if your so inclined. Other users have had success with this fix. Will probably void warranty if you open it up though.

Problem exists on both units. And I can tell you that even after reseating the cables, the issue is still present when connected directly via the GPS 😉

 

[CaptureYourAction]

Problem exists on both units. And I can tell you that even after reseating the cables, the issue is still present when connected directly via the GPS 😉

So is that both A119S cameras on the same GPS mount, or two different GPS mounts?

 

[bogchop]

So is that both A119S cameras on the same GPS mount, or two different GPS mounts?

Two different. Possible that it's a manufacturing fault. I bought them both from different sellers. The serial numbers are pretty close though. Like 227 and 446. Could have been a bad few hundred.

 

[bogchop]

Update: I've been driving around for a few hours, and not one issue so far. Looks like all of my problems have *finally* disappeared. The lack of support from @viofo has been rather disappointing. It actually really bothers me that I've had to source the firmware update from these forums, when it isn't even available from the manufacturer website - most disappointing. If it wasn't for that one helpful guy who's hosting the file on his dropbox, I'd have no way of restoring the firmware from the obvious "stuck at the viofo screen" bug.

Big thanks to @jokiin @CaptureYourAction and the other helpful people here!

---
Spoke too soon. It's happened twice in quick succession on my front unit. Back one unaffected from what I can tell.

 

[Ned1]

I was ready to give up on this camera but decided to try with brand new sd card and it failed again. Restarted randomly. It was powered through gps unit. Once I powered it to camera directly, problems disappeared. No flickering, no restarting, no freezing or need for flashing bin file again. Just 4 days without any problems but hope it's solution. I don't mind running power directly to camera since gps works. I still have return shipping label but trying to make it work. I feel like we should get this camera for free from viofo for wasting our time,testing and finding solutions.

 

[viofo]

Most of power supply issue can be fixed by power from side USB port.
We are trying to improve the GPS mount.

After back from Chinese new year holiday, got lots of email and ticket to reply, keep improving support service.

 

[Ned1]

Most of power supply issue can be fixed by power from side USB port.
We are trying to improve the GPS mount.

After back from Chinese new year holiday, got lots of email and ticket to reply, keep improving support service.

Thank you for response and information about trying to improve gps mount, but what should do the ones who already bought gps units? I want to be able to power on my camera through gps unit because every time I remove my camera I have to disconnect cable. Eventually it will damage my camera charging port from extensive unplugging. Is it going to be recall for gps units? Will we get improved gps units for free?

 

[Arcas]

We are trying to improve the GPS mount.

I presume this will entail design changes to both the camera's housing and the GPS unit's housing? Does it make sense for customers to delay their purchase until after those changes are finalized or will existing customers be eligible for the upgrade?

 

[jokiin]

Eventually it will damage my camera charging port from extensive unplugging.

the sockets are rated for 10,000 insertions

 

[viofo]

According to the quantity we sold and issue reported on GPS mount, the defective rate of GPS mount is still low.
If we confirmed the issue, we also send a new GPS mount for replacement.

 

[Viking]

the sockets are rated for 10,000 insertions

I use dual lock to avoid any stress on connection between GPS and camera, when I move around with the camera. Its also make it easy to clean the windscreen.

 

[bogchop]

Most of power supply issue can be fixed by power from side USB port.
We are trying to improve the GPS mount.

After back from Chinese new year holiday, got lots of email and ticket to reply, keep improving support service.

Since doing this, I've only had 1 power cycle issue, which was me likely knocking the power adapter in the lighter port. Both of my GPS units are affected, so I just powered the units from the side - I didn't know I could do this!

 

[RCPilot]

Against my better judgment, I did not return the last 2 VIOFO cameras I purchased given issues I had recently. My wife had a parking lot accident today where a car backed into her. This is what the SD card has on it. Pissed off... Looks like it stopped working 3 day ago. 3 Cameras now have garbled files or frozen up with premium high endurance 64GB video cards. I thought the firmware update about a month ago was to fix these issues?

 

[jokiin]

have you been formatting the cards in the camera after using in your Mac?

 

[Arcas]

Looks rather hosed. Lots of 10-15 second files. Yuck.

 

[RCPilot]

have you been formatting the cards in the camera after using in your Mac?

Yes. The first thing I do when I put a card into a camera is format them in-camera. Getting real frustrating. Now I feel like I have to check the memory cards daily on my Viofo cameras.

 

[jokiin]

Have you checked the cards are fine?

 

[RCPilot]

Have you checked the cards are fine?

Not yet but I think the chances that 3 premium cards having issues is slim to none. I use the Transcend High Endurance cards in 2 of the cams and a Lexar High Endurance card in the other cam.

Upon further checking the cam in my wife's car is the A119. I updated the firmware last month as that camera was locked up and dead. I thought I upgraded to 2.06 but it still had 2.05 today. I updated again and still was showing 2.05. The VIOFO web site has the wrong firmware posted on the link on the bottom of their page. I downloaded the firmware from the link at the top of the page and now the camera has firmware 2.06 installed. Both files have the same name but are different files. I hope this screw up by VIOFO doesn't cost me $500 for my insurance deductible because that is what I will lose if the other person doesn't admit that they were the ones that backed into her.

Just checked the two A119S cams in my car. One is garbling files again. This is ridiculous. Updating firmware again...

 

[Moon]

have you been formatting the cards in the camera after using in your Mac?

Oh dear .. another MAC .. another problem.

Got one myself .. Been there recently .. only not knowledgable enough to help out.

*What this forum badly needs is an electronics whizz who is a Dash Cam enthusiast .. who owns a MAC .. and is familiar with a PC.


To RCPilot - Yeah ..

You identify the risk .. purchase a unit .. spend the money .. set it all up .. think you've got it covered .. and then let down when you need it. Shocker. Feel for you, d00d.

 

[RCPilot]

The only thing keeping me from tearing them out of my car right now is that I run two, one forward and one rear, so I'm not totally paranoid that I will have zero video in case of an accident. But if with this last firmware update on both the A119 and A199s cameras in my cars I still start to get issues, those cameras will be gone. Love the features and format of the cameras but reliability is a deal breaker on dash cams.