Viofo A129 - Are You Getting Single-Beeps While Driving?

StrayCam

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Joe384 and I have been discussing this issue on the "Buffered Parking Mode" thread. TonyM suggested a new thread, so here it is...

The attached pic describes the situation: single beeps are heard once in a while during driving mode - The camera is cutting the videos short when this happens by 20-30 seconds. Weeks ago, members here speculated that it could be an SD card problem. But Joe and I checked our SD cards, and they are fine.

TonyM just suggested that it may be a rear camera connection issue: Either a damaged cable, which is somewhat unlikely since the cable is brand new from Viofo; or the cable is not firmly connected to front & rear cameras. I intend to check that my cables are firmly connected. I'll report back.

How about you? Have you every heard single beeps while driving and not knowing what your camera was telling you?
 

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single beeps are heard once in a while during driving mode. The cameara is cutting the videos short when this happens by 20-30 seconds. Weeks ago, members here speculated that it could be an SD card problem. But Joe and I checked our SD cards, and they are fine.
how did you test the card?
 
how did you test the card?

Jokiin-

Here's the page where the beeps were discussed and what I did to test my system/SD Card.

And attached are the results of the test that I did. My card happens to be Lexar. Joe384"s card happens to be Viofo. I can see some saying I shouldn't be using Lexar. Are we going to tell Joe384 he shouldn't be using Viofo???
 

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  • H2testw Results  Lexar Class 10 128GB SD.JPG
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h2testw tells you the card is real, use Crystal Disk Mark to test how well the card works (I wouldn't use a Lexar card either)
 
When you say single beeps, are you saying just one beep? Or are you saying one single set of beeps?
 
h2testw tells you the card is real, use Crystal Disk Mark to test how well the card works (I wouldn't use a Lexar card either)

Well guess what, I used the test that Viofo/Bill Zhou told me to use. And are we going to be telling Joe384 not to use Viofo cards??? - - I'll try to find the Crystal Disk Mark test and test my SD card with that... I'll be back!
 
Also test it using the camera as the card reader, not a high speed USB 3 UHS card reader.

Note, it is the slowest write speed seen that is critical, not the average or max.
 
Also test it using the camera as the card reader, not a high speed USB 3 UHS card reader.

Note, it is the slowest write speed seen that is critical, not the average or max.

Hmmm. So, I have to make sure I have the "short chord" to go from the camera to the USB right? That may be a challenge locating.

Is this the best place to get the app Jokiin spoke about: https://www.guru3d.com/files-details/crystal-diskmark-download.html

I assume this is a safe site to download it from...?
 
h2testw is a logical first test as fake media is the most common problem, they were right to suggest that

k; well it passed that test!

Is the site I mentioned above the best place to get the app you talked about?
 
When you say single beeps, are you saying just one beep? Or are you saying one single set of beeps?

Sorry CYA, I didn't see your post. The beep is normally just a "single beep". I remember in the past mentioning sometimes getting 2 beeps...., but as of late I'm just hearing single beeps. I think Joe384 is getting the same thing.
 
Happens with Western Digital purple (their "endurance"/dashcam range) 256gb and it seems to do a single beep for every new file but only once the card is full and it's overwriting old footage.

The same doesn't happen with a Kingston Endurance 128gb. Though when using that card for some reason the parking mode stops recording after about 24 hours, even though the camera still has power.

h2testw tells you the card is real, use Crystal Disk Mark to test how well the card works (I wouldn't use a Lexar card either)
Crystal Mark also relies on the computer and the interface used. Assuming the card is not fake and sourced from a reputable retailer (cards "fulfilled by Amazon" or from eBay are pretty much guaranteed to be fake), then the U1, U3 classifications should be enough to go by as these specify the slowest at which the card will operate. Given the Duo as standard uses something like 16 Mb/s per channel, 32Mb/s = 4.5 megabytes per second, a U1 card should be more than enough as they have a minimum write speed of 10 megabytes per second. I think it's just that, for whatever reason, certain cards just don't play nice with the camera. It doesn't help the matter that fake cards are so widespread.
 
Happens with Western Digital purple (their "endurance"/dashcam range) 256gb and it seems to do a single beep for every new file but only once the card is full and it's overwriting old footage.

The same doesn't happen with a Kingston Endurance 128gb. Though when using that card for some reason the parking mode stops recording after about 24 hours, even though the camera still has power.


Crystal Mark also relies on the computer and the interface used. Assuming the card is not fake and sourced from a reputable retailer (cards "fulfilled by Amazon" or from eBay are pretty much guaranteed to be fake), then the U1, U3 classifications should be enough to go by as these specify the slowest at which the card will operate. Given the Duo as standard uses something like 16 Mb/s per channel, 32Mb/s = 4.5 megabytes per second, a U1 card should be more than enough as they have a minimum write speed of 10 megabytes per second. I think it's just that, for whatever reason, certain cards just don't play nice with the camera. It doesn't help the matter that fake cards are so widespread.


an1uk-

Thanks for that addl. information. So, based on what Jokiin said, since my card passed the h2wtest, that tells me it's not fake, right? At least that's what I understood him to say. - - Now, I'll have to go find a cable with the old-fashion USB so I can test my camera with this Crystal Mark app.

Btw, I've mentioned several times that Joe384 is using a Viofo card...can he assume that Viofo cards work? No one seems to have replied to that query.
 
This thread seems to be related to the issue being discussed here:

And this one:
 
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So, based on what Jokiin said, since my card passed the h2wtest, that tells me it's not fake, right? At least that's what I understood him to say. - - Now, I'll have to go find a cable with the old-fashion USB so I can test my camera with this Crystal Mark app.
h2testw will easily identify a card that has a fake FAT, this often happens when a smaller capacity card is sold as a larger capacity, passing the test means the FAT is real and the size is true, it doesn't indicate the quality of the card though

test your card with a card reader is fine, there's no need to do it via the camera
 
h2testw will easily identify a card that has a fake FAT, this often happens when a smaller capacity card is sold as a larger capacity, passing the test means the FAT is real and the size is true, it doesn't indicate the quality of the card though

test your card with a card reader is fine, there's no need to do it via the camera

Oh that's great news as I'm not sure where that short usb cable is....So, I'll do the test shortly using my SD Card slot on my PC. Does the test take a long time to compete or is it fairly quick? Just curious...
 
This thread seems to be related to the issue being discussed here:

And this one:

You're right Tony. Those two threads both deal with the same issue...

I like the tip about looking at the dash cam screen to see if both cams are on or not. However on second thought, my screen is always off unless I push the menu button. I would assume once I hear the beep, the cam has already restarted the video file; I'm not sure on the restart if it would automatically show both cams or not....?
 
Sorry CYA, I didn't see your post. The beep is normally just a "single beep". I remember in the past mentioning sometimes getting 2 beeps...., but as of late I'm just hearing single beeps. I think Joe384 is getting the same thing.
I believe it is a double beep when there is an issue with the rear camera cable, but will have to test to confirm. I have a few bad cables here I can test with the A129 DUO.
 
h2testw will easily identify a card that has a fake FAT, this often happens when a smaller capacity card is sold as a larger capacity, passing the test means the FAT is real and the size is true, it doesn't indicate the quality of the card though

test your card with a card reader is fine, there's no need to do it via the camera


Okay, someone said there's no such thing as a dumb question, so here goes. It seems the instructions for the Crystal Disk Mark app are not that extensive. Do I need to erase everything from my SD card prior to testing? It seems to be showing at 100% when I see it in the app, and when I push the "All" test, it says, "Insufficient Capacity".... I assume I need to clear the card; should I reformat before doing the test?

This will be good info for those who decide to also try out this test. (y)
 
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