Dashcam Flash Drive Repeatedly Disconnecting

[NMolargik]

Since the day I got my Model 3, I noticed that my dashcam flash drive would sometimes disconnect or not be seen by the car. I originally just had a sandisk flash drive, then upgrade to an SSD, and then to another flash drive. All of these suffered from the same issue.

50% of the time, when I would get into the car, the drive wouldn't be seen, even if it had been seen when I got out just 20 minutes beforehand.

Typically, rebooting would fix this. But it got to the point that I was rebooting three times per day, and eventually I just gave up.

Tesla Mobile Service came and replaced my USB ports, noting that there wasn't any physical damage and that the drive was accessible when he arrived.

After replacing the ports, the issue still continued, so I recently purchased the new official tesla flash drive from the Tesla Shop. I'll admit that the connectivity seems to be better, but this morning even this drive began not showing up again, being fixed by a reboot, only to disappear again when I went into the store quickly.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this?

Many, many thanks!
- July 2020 Model 3 Long Range
(front has one USB-C and one USB-A)

 

[jjrandorin]

is it formatted as exfat?

 

[NMolargik]

is it formatted as exfat?

Yep. The drive from Tesla comes formatted correctly. It shows up just fine sometimes and then the car just doesn't see it anymore at other times. To confirm even further, I have let the car format the drive using the "Format Drive" button in Sentry Mode settings, but the behavior is still the same.

 

[jjrandorin]

Sounds like you have covered everything. I have the older version with 2 USB A ports, in a 2018 model year model 3. I dont have any issues with mine. You did the right thing IMO by buying the official tesla drive to test with.

Since you still have a problem with that, I would suggest making a bug report every time you see this happen in the car (which puts a time stamp in the car log files, it doesnt go anywhere) and make another appointment.

 

[Jagop]

Hi

I have a new model 3 2021. It came delivered with the Tesla usb stick in the glove room port. I experience the same. The dashcam disconnects. Simply the dashcam icon disappears. If I pull out the usb and plug it in again it reconnects and the dashcam icon shows up. Then everything works fine.

But it’s not really good. Because you need the dashcam to work back in time in case of an accident, right.

Hope that it is a software bug.

Jagop

 

[Wennfred]

Hi

I have a new model 3 2021. It came delivered with the Tesla usb stick in the glove room port. I experience the same. The dashcam disconnects. Simply the dashcam icon disappears. If I pull out the usb and plug it in again it reconnects and the dashcam icon shows up. Then everything works fine.

But it’s not really good. Because you need the dashcam to work back in time in case of an accident, right.

Hope that it is a software bug.

Jagop

This issue has been intermittent since day one, March 2019 SR+ Build and it will work for a few days and then I have to remove & replace to reconnect. It got so bad that the Dashcam & sentry mode stop working, they did a hard reset but removing the contractor from under the rear seat and reconnecting it after a few minutes. This got it to work again, but again the issue with the missing camera icon is always there.

Fred

 

[Rmar93]

Hi

I have a new model 3 2021. It came delivered with the Tesla usb stick in the glove room port. I experience the same. The dashcam disconnects. Simply the dashcam icon disappears. If I pull out the usb and plug it in again it reconnects and the dashcam icon shows up. Then everything works fine.

But it’s not really good. Because you need the dashcam to work back in time in case of an accident, right.

Hope that it is a software bug.

Jagop

Same has been happening to my 2021. I hope it’s a software bug too...

 

[JCtx]

I was just reading the thread at the very top of this forum on how to partition the camera USB stick, to also store music there, and there was mention that formatting the drive in the computer (rather than letting the car do it), alleviates issues with the drive. And also that every once in a while we need to remove the stick, put it in the computer, and erase error files from the main USB menu that happen when the camera stops recording when car shuts off the power. Check out that thread, and see if that helps. My camera also stopped working, but I just reformatted the drive in the car, and it's working again. He said that partitioning the USB stick the way he suggested fixes issues, but it might not be necessary to partition the drive. I want to, so I'm waiting for comments if 2021s still work, because a Model S owner said his car doesn't recognize partitions anymore, so don't want to potentially ruin the Tesla stick, since I wouldn't know how to remove the partition. Good luck.

 

[Spacep0d]

Had this issue too for a while and with several USB 3 thumb drives. Resolved it by switching to a microSD card with a USB interface. This card supports fast sustained write speeds, helpful for DashCam. Bought mine from Amazon. Model details listed below.

MicroSD card;
SanDisk 128GB Extreme microSDXC UHS-I Memory Card with Adapter - C10, U3, V30, 4K, A2, Micro SD - SDSQXA1-128G-GN6MA

USB interface;
SanDisk - SDDR-B531-GN6NN MobileMate USB 3.0 microSD Card Reader - SDDR-B531-GN6NN Black

 

[Wennfred]

Had this issue too for a while and with several USB 3 thumb drives. Resolved it by switching to a microSD card with a USB interface. This card supports fast sustained write speeds, helpful for DashCam. Bought mine from Amazon. Model details listed below.

MicroSD card;
SanDisk 128GB Extreme microSDXC UHS-I Memory Card with Adapter - C10, U3, V30, 4K, A2, Micro SD - SDSQXA1-128G-GN6MA

USB interface;
SanDisk - SDDR-B531-GN6NN MobileMate USB 3.0 microSD Card Reader - SDDR-B531-GN6NN Black

I have one of these that I use with my Canon camera, will give it a try today. Thanks

 

[NMolargik]

Had this issue too for a while and with several USB 3 thumb drives. Resolved it by switching to a microSD card with a USB interface. This card supports fast sustained write speeds, helpful for DashCam. Bought mine from Amazon. Model details listed below.

MicroSD card;
SanDisk 128GB Extreme microSDXC UHS-I Memory Card with Adapter - C10, U3, V30, 4K, A2, Micro SD - SDSQXA1-128G-GN6MA

USB interface;
SanDisk - SDDR-B531-GN6NN MobileMate USB 3.0 microSD Card Reader - SDDR-B531-GN6NN Black

Well that's good that you got those products to work, but this is the official Tesla flash drive from their store. The problem is that these SHOULD work. I had service for the issue, and they replaced the USB ports, but no luck. They then said it was the wireless charger and replaced that, but still no luck.

When I first got the car, it recorded Sentry events, though still had this issue. But NOW, the drive disappears with each sentry event, not recording them, and also disconnects randomly while driving sometimes.

 

[Spacep0d]

Well that's good that you got those products to work, but this is the official Tesla flash drive from their store. The problem is that these SHOULD work. I had service for the issue, and they replaced the USB ports, but no luck. They then said it was the wireless charger and replaced that, but still no luck.

When I first got the car, it recorded Sentry events, though still had this issue. But NOW, the drive disappears with each sentry event, not recording them, and also disconnects randomly while driving sometimes.

You're correct, but the USB drive I used formerly was mentioned in the Tesla manual and should have worked too. This same device worked just fine in my girlfriend's Model 3, so I had the luxury of A/B testing, and we're talking about the same devices (yes I tried more than one) working in her car and not my car.

That's just what worked for me. Not the most satisifying answer, but an option for ya.

 

[Spacep0d]

I have one of these that I use with my Canon camera, will give it a try today. Thanks

Hope it works! I know it doesn't make sense, but my car was not happy until I upgraded to my current device listed earlier in the thread. Formerly I had used the Tesla-recommended drive and my car didn't like it, but my girlfriend's car has always been fine with it.

 

[Sfumato]

2021 model Y here, took delivery December 30

Same thing, glovebox tesla-branded drive repeatedly disconnects and needs to be removed and plugged back in to be recognized again. Did the rebooting with drive in and out. Still happening.

Happens while driving as well.

Tried an SSD drive, same thing.

 

[NMolargik]

You're correct, but the USB drive I used formerly was mentioned in the Tesla manual and should have worked too. This same device worked just fine in my girlfriend's Model 3, so I had the luxury of A/B testing, and we're talking about the same devices (yes I tried more than one) working in her car and not my car.

That's just what worked for me. Not the most satisifying answer, but an option for ya.

Okay. Wack
I found out I had one of the exact microSD cards, popped it in, and the car recorded its first Sentry event in months.

I’m still supposed to get service on the 22nd. I’m not even sure how to explain this to them now. Do I still get service?

 

[Spacep0d]

Okay. Wack
I found out I had one of the exact microSD cards, popped it in, and the car recorded its first Sentry event in months.

I’m still supposed to get service on the 22nd. I’m not even sure how to explain this to them now. Do I still get service?

You're welcome. Well I canceled my service because everything was working. Up to you, but I doubt that much will come of it if you have a working solution with the microSD card.

 

[NMolargik]

You're welcome. Well I canceled my service because everything was working. Up to you, but I doubt that much will come of it if you have a working solution with the microSD card.

So after some testing I can say that there are still some issues, though they seem a little better. I turned sentry on this morning at home (and turned phone Bluetooth off) to see if I could get a recording and nothing happened.
On my drive to work, the dash cam disappeared a few times but both times it returned seconds later. I was getting a USB Device Malfunction alert in the car.

That said, this does seem to be working a bit better, but I will still be going to service. It’s under warranty so why not let them replace some stuff for free while they try to fix the issue.

 

[Spacep0d]

So after some testing I can say that there are still some issues, though they seem a little better. I turned sentry on this morning at home (and turned phone Bluetooth off) to see if I could get a recording and nothing happened.
On my drive to work, the dash cam disappeared a few times but both times it returned seconds later. I was getting a USB Device Malfunction alert in the car.

That said, this does seem to be working a bit better, but I will still be going to service. It’s under warranty so why not let them replace some stuff for free while they try to fix the issue.

Good plan, curious how how it goes.

 

[NMolargik]

Good plan, curious how how it goes.

I'll let you know.
After a couple more days, the sd card does still seem to be working a bit better. When it disappears it usually comes back seconds later, but sometimes it just stays missing and requires multiple infotainment reboots to appear again.

It also happened this morning when I was backing up and I noticed that right when it happened my rear camera froze for a few seconds, but my side cameras didn't even stutter. Maybe it has something to do with that? Service said that the whole USB subsystem is really simple and they've replaced all but "one" component that only came to their mind right before they sent me home last time.

I get the sense that since this is my third service appointment (on 1/22) and they expressed that they have no clue what it could be that they will probably want to finally keep it for a few days and poke around. I live two hours from the service center and I'm hoping they will give me a loaner. I just know they're gonna have a hell of a time and I don't expect it to be solved within a day.


Another fun tidbit. They mentioned last time that they were going to set up what they called a "Engineering Session", which was described to me a long meeting with someone in California who is familiar with all subsystems. So if it is software, maybe we will get a fix.

 

[Sfumato]

2021 model Y here, took delivery December 30

Same thing, glovebox tesla-branded drive repeatedly disconnects and needs to be removed and plugged back in to be recognized again. Did the rebooting with drive in and out. Still happening.

Happens while driving as well.

Tried an SSD drive, same thing.

The micro SD card in a USB reader is working in the glovebox USB port of my 2021 Model Y - so far anyway

Thank you for the suggestions and I'm still curious as to why the issue is happening