Dashcam not recording

Irish Stones

I have a Viofo A129 Duo, purchased and installed/hardwired in April 2019.

In the last month or so I have had some issues. It all started with the dashcam beeping every minute or so. I found out that some of the video segments (3 minutes long) were corrupted and couldn't be read with any player. Some bad segments were very small files, both Front and Rear footage.

Later I noticed that when the dashcam would beep, the recording would stop. I thought about a card issue, so I tried to format the card into the dashcam, several times, to no avail. The dashcam also reset to the factory settings, and I had to set everything back.

So I thought it was time to replace the card with a new one, a Sandisk Extreme microSDXC XC1 A2, 64 GB, like the previous one.

It seems everything worked for a couple of weeks, now a new problem arose.

No more beeps, but the message "Please Format Card" appears, and I tried to format it a few times. When this message doesn't appears, lots of times the dashcam isn't recording, without any error message, so it wasn't the microSD card.

I bought the dashcam because it could be helpful in case in incidents, but this way it isn't helping me at all, it's unreliable.

Any tips?

Is the dashcam faulty and needs to be replaced?

ozmo

maybe do a test of the new and old sd cards - just in case the new card is fake?

some test like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zm5KLoScP8M

Try formatting on a pc maybe - fat32 is usually a safe bet.

Irish Stones

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120643123#Comment_120643123

Thanks, I will give it a try.

Irish Stones

OK, I did some tests.

I formatted the microSD card with my PC, but because I have a Win11 PC, the FAT32 file system wasn't available, and the only choice was between exFAT and NTFS.

I picked exFAT, but the issue didn't fix. I formatted it again, and then again in the dashcam, several times. It is not changing, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I don't think it's a non genuine card, I bought three of them from Amazon, one is in my smartphone, the other is the memory card for my drone, and they all work fine, so I guess it is the dashcam.

Now it seems the dashcam needs to be replaced.

ozmo

 I have a Win11 PC, the FAT32 file system wasn't available, and the only choice was between exFAT and NTFS

has to be fat32 I think - the other file formats are more complex or have propriatery code that other devics cannot replicate.

But formatting in the actual device, which you tried - I would have thought would have been the best bet to get it working...

Try the built in methods and tools in Windows 11 mentioned below: (I havnt tried the software the link also suggests - but the built in Windows tools have worked for me ok)

https://www.easeus.com/partition-master/how-to-format-to-fat32-windows-11.html

Maybe there is a firmware update you can download which might reset the device to defaults?

kirving

VIOFO (and I guess other dashcams with 4K or two cams) are a bit troublesome with the brand of card they use.

For example they recommend Sandisk Extreme, but not Extreme Plus, which at face value might seem odd, but maybe the Extreme Plus gets too hot or has some other compatibility issue.

https://support.viofo.com/support/solutions/articles/19000133471-what-memory-card-is-recommended-for-a-viofo-dashcam-

Can you lower the quality of footage, or remove the rear camera temporarily and see is it a write-speed issue?

It' been hot the past month too here - could be a factor. Make sure the vents on the side of the camera are clear, and blow out any dust which may be inside it.

MGaccident

Quality of SD card (4K minimum) is critical for reading registration numbers of offending vehicles. My friend was victim of a “hit & run” on M1 South last Tuesday 30th May at 6.55am on stretch between junctions for Balbriggan and Donabate. A witness kindly provided footage of the whole event but number plate of the black VW that fled the scene is not adequately clear.

Irish Stones

I apologize for not coming back sooner, I was overwhelmed with issues at a level I couldn't expect, so I neglected this thread.

I tried all the tips you have given to me, to no avail. On some rare occasions the dashcam would record, but most of the times all I got was a blue screen with the message "please format the SD card".

Until the weather turned cooler and the dashcam started working again most of the times. So it seems that the high temperatures in the summer might be the problem with the cam. If it's lower than 16 to 18°C then it works fine, if it's above 20 to 22°C then it doesn't work. It seems to me that the weak link in the chain is some component inside the cam, so I guess I have to get a new one before next spring.

Fortunately, when last week I had a very slight incident with no consequences at all and no damage, the weather was bad and cold and the cam was working fine. Just in case.

Thanks for reading and, again, sorry for the very long silence.