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Sena 10c not recording and gets stuck in 'off' mode

Jeff Andrews

July 12, 2015 23:28

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I purchased a Sena 10c today and have had serious issues with the device. I originally got it to work, but upon my second attempt to use the device, I could enter camera mode, but never start recording or take a still. Upon turning the device off, I could not power it back on without first resetting via the pin-hole button. Things I verified:

1-the device is fully charged

2-the memory (SD) cards are formatted correct (tried FAT, NTFS, and OSX)

3-the firmware is 'up to date.' I use this term lightly as the firmware is at 1.0 without a newer version anywhere

Anyone have some advice before I return this thing for good?

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27 comments

• 0
  
  Laurentiu July 15, 2015 12:21

  Hi Jeff,

  I don't have this kind of issues, but I just noticed that a new firmware has just been released. From the description I can't see if it may help you or not but at least you can try it.

  In my case the Camera is on/off without problems (only keeping the camera button pressed a couple of seconds. The only issue is that the Recording is not starting all the times from the first attempt.

  Also, I noticed that you tried FAT/NTFS/OSX ... as far as I know the only supported format is FAT32. Please try with that also and see if it helps.

  You may try first to connect it to a smartphone (if you haven't done that) in order to sync the time and date. (This information may be missing and for this reason it get stuck). Also, there is the SENA App (Android or IOs) which can be handy for setting up the Sena 10C.

   

  Best regards,

  Laurentiu

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  Jeff Andrews July 15, 2015 13:08

  Thank you for the great information. I took the unit back to the store I purchased it from and swapped it for another one. This second unit seems to be functioning correctly except for the bug with the day/time stamp. I'll try loading the updated firmware to see if that resolves the issue. 

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  Kenny Rasschaert July 15, 2015 20:35

  I'm also having the first problem you described. I can't record video.

   

  When I press the camera button the voice tells me "Camera on" and I get about four green flashes before the led starts flashing blue again. When I press the camera button for a second the voice tells me "Recording", but the light does not flash green, nor does a recording appear on the memory card. Any subsequent presses of the camera button take pictures. Subsequent presses of one second just make it repeat "Recording" (instead of "Recording stopped", as per the manual). I've tried an 8gb and a 2gb card with FAT filesystems, no difference. Factory reset and updating to latest firmware didn't fix anything either. 

  The pictures I've taken look ok so I don't suspect a hardware failure. Can I fix this without having to return the unit?

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  Laurentiu July 15, 2015 21:20

  As I mentioned above as far as I understood the only format supported is Fat32. Please try to format your card in FAT32 mode and re-test.
  You can also try formatting from the camera itself. Keeping the came button pressed for 8 seconds and navigate using the dial jog until you receive a notification "Firmat SD Card".
  
  I hope it helps.
  
  Best regards,
  Laurentiu
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  Christian July 15, 2015 21:22

  Can you please all try to format your SD Card via 10C instead of formating it on PC.

  I also had some minor troubles with my card, after formatting the card with the 10C (Have a look at the manual how to do that) it just worked how it should. :-)

   

  Kindly regards

   

  Christian

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  Tom Youngbar July 16, 2015 01:05

  Formatting the MicroSD card in the Sena 10C fix my issue with recording start/stop.

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  Kenny Rasschaert July 17, 2015 06:56

  That didn't fix it for the cards I already had. I bought a new Samsung 32GB class 10 micro sd card and formatted it in the 10C and now I can record video.

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  Paul Hardy November 28, 2015 14:25

  Could someone please talk through step by step, how to format the Micro SD to the 10c please?

  I have formatted it to my Macbook Pro (FAT32) however when I hold down the camera button for 8 sec as instructed above in this thread, all I get is "Camera On" voice prompt after 1 sec then nothing...

  When I try to record video all I get is a beep and the green light, I don't get any "recording" voice prompt. 

   

  Help would be appreciated, otherwise this thing (and the SMH5 I bought with it) will be going back for a refund/exchange for a Drift camera. Frustrated is an understatement...

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  Dave January 17, 2016 14:11

  I have had similar problems with Sandisk Ultra 32 GB SD cards. They appear to work intermittently; sometimes recording fine, sometimes the same "memory is full" messages. Powering off then on will sometimes cure the problem, but subsequent power cycles may cause it again. I have tried formatting in and out of the camera and get the same issues. I returned one of the Sandisk SD cards for replacement, but still the same problem. I updated the firmware first to 1.0.3, then 1.0.4 to no avail. These "faulty" cards work fine in all my other devices. I do not get this problem with any of my Transcend 8GB class 10 cards.

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  Dave January 17, 2016 15:31

  Also I could NEVER get the firmware to update using the Sandisk Ultra 32 GB cards. I HAD to use one of the 8GB cards.

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  rob meier May 22, 2016 17:31

  "memory is full" - I keep getting this message too. All the time. Using different new 32 GB SD cards. Turning the cam on and off sometimes helps. But that is not the idea while riding the bike, is it? Can't beliebe that Sena seems to be ignoring this problem.
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  Dave May 22, 2016 18:01

  I find that my Sena is VERY picky regarding SD cards. I have had zero success with Sandisk; Transcend seem to work the best, but I still periodically get the "memory is full" message. Turning off the unit, removing and re-inserting the SD card is the only way I have found to fix this. Very annoying :(

   

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  Gopastorgo June 08, 2016 14:01

  I had the same problem.  I used a SanDisk mirco sd card and nothing worked. I got a transcend card because of this thread. Works great.  Still cannot get the firmware update with the 32gb card and might have to get an 8gb and do the firmware update but agree this is super annoying.

   

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  Troy Peters July 05, 2016 23:17

  I'm having the same problem 2  different SanDisk 32 gig cards both when placed in the unit and try to record I get a Memory full message I have formatted the cards in the camera the firmware has been updated to 1.0.4 I have done a full reset on the 10C I have done a factory reset on the 10c  all to no avail I called the company they said they will replace the unit so now I'm waiting to see how that goes

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  Troy Peters July 06, 2016 12:20

  Okay I used 3 different SanDisk SD cards because they were readily available from Sam's Club and Costco all the cards test it just fine and other devices and I ran a scan disk on them on my computer the cards are all fine it would appear that this Cena 10c does not like the SanDisk cards I took the unit back to Cycle Gear where I bought it from they had some Samsung cards but no 32 gig cards but the cards they had worked in it just fine it was nothing wrong with the unit so I ended up going to Best Buy I bought a Samsung 32 gig SD card put that in there and it works flawlessly I would suggest anyone having problems with the unit saying memory is full or not being able to upgrade your firmware because it says no SD card go and get a Samsung card and try that the 32 gig card that I got it Best Buy from Samsung was only $12.99
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  Dave July 06, 2016 14:43

  Good to know that Samsung cards work as well as Transcend. It seems like there is some sort of basic incompatibility between the 10C and Sandisk cards. Any comments from the Sena or Sandisk developers???

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  Gunnar Flóki Sigurðsson August 06, 2016 23:45

  I had same problem on my sena 10c it was saying Recording but it was not. i did the card format in the Sena and now its fully working its all fine now. thanks for the tip

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  nsnamba August 16, 2016 16:41

  I have a SanDisk Ultra 32GB and it works fine.  What bothers me is that the camera only starts to record if I turn the camera ON, then I turn it OFF, and then I turn it ON again.

  If I just turn it on once, it enters in a loop that says "Recording" every time that I press & hold camera button, never says "Recording Stopped" and it actually does not record anything.

  Hope Sena can fix this on the next firmware release.

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  Torgolomue December 07, 2016 22:44

  I have purchased a brand new memory card, formatted it using the C10 via the internal system, and it is still doing this. I get about two to three days with no problems, but then all of a sudden the camera will stop being able to record and the battery seems to be draining even when the C10 is turned off. 

  I have had this for more than a year, so I doubt I can return it at this point. Short of doing a reset to factor, what are my options? The camera is now mostly useless and untrustworthy as it turns off during my commute when I need the recording the most should something bad happen. 

  I have the latest firmware 2.0 in place. 

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  Torgolomue January 25, 2017 19:59

  Update since Dec 7th. 

  I have noticed that if I make sure I stop recording prior to turning off the 10C, it seems to go longer between "lock ups". I have also noticed that the problem pops up anytime there is a low battery warning that shuts off the camera. 

  These points lead me to believe that the issue could be related to how the 10C is writing the files and handling the rotation. For example, if the file isn't closed properly (which I have had several files marked as "open/locked" when trying to manually delete from the memcard) the 10C is unable to start up a new file. This could be due to when it gets close to running out of disk space and instead of closing the file early and rotating out the oldest file before writing the next file, the camera tries to write to the very end and runs out of disk space leaving the file locked/open and the camera unable to start a new file. 

  If there is any way for Sena to look into this problem and possibly code better end of file/out of disk space rotation handling, I feel that this problem would go away entirely if not be drastically reduced. 

• 1
  
  Dave January 25, 2017 21:08

  
  Torgolomue, I like your suggestion. As a developer of embedded systems, I am very familiar with this sort of problem. Asynchronous power outages and shutdowns can play havoc with solid-state devices and file systems. My company has found that the only way to guarantee data integrity is to provide an early warning of imminent power failure or shutdown soon enough to provide orderly flushing of data to the device. In some cases it is necessary to provide power to the device for some time even after the main file system has completed. I think this is due to internal logic in some memory devices provided for error correction and wear leveling.

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  Peter Beirne February 10, 2017 21:08

  I have had the same problem. I plan on going and getting a samsung micro, but I did find that if I turn on the camera and then let it shut off automatically from non-use, the card works fine.

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  Tom Youngbar April 17, 2017 23:57

  Well, my SanDisk card is no longer recording in my 10C.  Not sure when it failed as it always said, "Recording".  The card still works fine in the computer so at this point I'm not so sure its not the 10C that isn't working.  Put a ticket in and hopefully they will have a suggestion, or I will be sending it in under warranty for repairs.

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  Dave April 18, 2017 14:23

  I have had similar issues with SanDisk cards working intermittently in the 10C. Transcend cards appear to wok fine.

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  Torgolomue April 18, 2017 15:06

  After several more months, I am very confident that the issue is with how it transitions between files when it needs to close one and start the next. Any sort of power event during this transition seems to be the likely trigger of the camera no longer wanting to record.

  I have gone weeks with no problems when I kept the 10C charged each day at work and topping it off at night. But as soon as I forgot to recharge it, and got the "Battery low, camera off" message, it would not start recording again even after I fully charged it. I had to remove the memory card and reinsert it to get it to start recording again after this event. 

   

  So the triggers can be replicated fairly regularly by either powering off the 10C while it is still recording...

  OR

  Allow it to run low on battery power and automatically turn off the camera. 

   

  Both of these things seems to trigger the failure to record the next time you turn the 10C on until you do something with the memory card. 

• 0
  
  Tom Youngbar April 18, 2017 19:04

  I have re-seated the card and tried a different card, but still not writing to the card when recording.  I think it's time to send in for repairs.

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  Torgolomue August 02, 2018 18:15

  Update: Problem continues to arise randomly. I have taken great care to always stop recording prior to turning off camera or the 10C. This week, it stopped working altogether and refused to allow recording at all. I have pulled out the USB card and viewed the files and notices that the locale files are all time stamped from 2014 for some reason. I have connected to the 10C via the phone app several times to ensure that the timestamp settings are valid. It was also showing a full device, which doesn't surprise me since I run it looping every 5minutes. This concerns me that videos were not being overwritten in the loop and that I might not have captured video as I expected. 

  I have wiped the USB card, but now the 10C refused to format it. Holding the camera button for 8 seconds (or longer) no longer access Camera setup menus for formatting. 

  I relay on this camera for my safety and evidentiary proof should someone do something stupid in front of me on my commutes. I really REALLY need this to work every time reliably. I have done all the firmware updates and am reaching a point of frustration that means getting rid of Sena products entirely.