Dashcam Unavailable Check USB

[flstcgranucci]

Just wondering if anyone else is having issues with a message being thrown stating that the Dashcam Is unavailable, check USB.
This just started happening. So I formatted the USB drive and enabled/disabled the Dashcam and the red X disappeared but came back again with the same message. Pulled the drive and viewed it on my pc and recent files have been written to it.
Anyone?

 

[jsargevt]

Sadly this hasn’t worked for me either, I’ve tried other solutions that haven’t worked for me & tried different USB flash drives, seems little point in having nine cameras and no way to record footage.
Please post the outcome of your service appointment.

They have asked that I bring the car in for a service appointment. I will report back once I get there - it's 2 hours from my house to the service location. It might be a little bit since this is more of an annoyance than anything else. It's scheduled for next week but I have a feeling that I'll kick it out a little bit.

 

[JohnnyS3XY]

In case anyone else is dealing with the dreaded red x on your Dashcam, I think I solved the hard drive unavailable with Sentry Mode (I have a Mac and 2018 MX 100D).

• Format Drive on Mac as MS-DOS (FAT)
• Plug drive into Tesla, TURN ON SENTRY MODE and
• Format from there again. (It will likely still show the red
• X).
• Plug drive back into Mac, open it and add a directory/ folder call "TESLACAM."
• Plug back into Tesla and that did the trick.

Hope that helps someone else that's been pulling out their hair like me

Your suggestion was the only one that worked. I created an account on here just to thank you. You saved me a trip to the service center. Thanks again!

 

[Dblaze]

They have asked that I bring the car in for a service appointment. I will report back once I get there - it's 2 hours from my house to the service location. It might be a little bit since this is more of an annoyance than anything else. It's scheduled for next week but I have a feeling that I'll kick it out a little bit.

They have asked that I bring the car in for a service appointment. I will report back once I get there - it's 2 hours from my house to the service location. It might be a little bit since this is more of an annoyance than anything else. It's scheduled for next week but I have a feeling that I'll kick it out a little bit.

Still no luck for me. So far, I’ve tried the original flash drive, a larger capacity flash drive and an SSD, the SSD worked for a day or so then failed. I've decided not to waste any more time with this issue.
I’ve contacted Tesla support and they’re investigating remotely, no time scale on how long this will take, fingers crossed not too long.
I see it as more than an annoyance, it’s something that should work and doesn’t, there’s no point in having dashcam and sentry mode if you can’t record the footage. As this is a known issue Tesla should give guidance on what to do for people affected.
Strangely my business partner bought the same model as me, he took delivery of his car late November 2022, I took delivery early December, he’s not experiencing any issues.

 

[rijc99]

I haven't had issues with mine after my car computer was replaced.

 

[Dblaze]

A Tesla mobile technician came out today to fix the issue, the technician was meant to swap out the usb A data cable behind the glovebox, he removed the dashboard and glovebox and discovered the existing data cable wasn’t plugged in correctly, he’s plugged the existing cable in properly, fingers crossed this has solved the issue.

 

[2018M3_WestSac]

I bought a new $70 1TB drive to fix this issue, formatted via Tesla and computer multiple times and it still wouldn't work.

Added a folder "TeslaCam" and now it works . Really big L on Tesla's part to not add this folder when reformatting via the car.

 

[BitJam]

I bought a new $70 1TB drive to fix this issue, formatted via Tesla and computer multiple times and it still wouldn't work.

Added a folder "TeslaCam" and now it works . Really big L on Tesla's part to not add this folder when reformatting via the car.

That's strange. The TeslaCam folder got added automatically the last time I had the car format a drive. It also worked fine for the guy in this video. And many others. Maybe this is a recent bug.

I was intrigued so I went outside and checked again. I'm on 2023.26.3. I inserted a wiped usb drive and had the car format it. I found the same 4 things:

1. Used (inferior) msdos partitioning
2. Filled the entire drive with an exFAT partition
3. Labeled the partition TESLADRIVE
4. Created the TeslaCam directory

 

[Resist]

A data cable behind the glovebox, he removed the dashboard and glovebox and discovered the existing data cable wasn’t plugged in correctly, he’s plugged the existing cable in properly, fingers crossed this has solved the issue.

How does this even happen that it wasn't plugged in correctly? I mean seriously it's not that hard for line workers to just do their jobs!

 

[jeremymc7]

The last time I tried formatting a new drive 1TB SSD the Tesla could not format the drive correctly. Haven’t had this problem error. I had to format it on one of my Mac’s and have proper formatting and folders before it would work. Not a big deal but frustrating and kind of lame it stopped working. I even tried various makes, sizes, and types of storage. All same failure.

 

[DreamBurn]

This has been happening to me too—and I just figured out what was causing the problem for me.
My tiny thumb drive finally took a dump, so I got a new one (256gb so it should last longer with fewer overwrites).
I used the car to format the USB drive, and it gave a success message; however, the dashcam was still unavailable (with the red X) and displayed the Dashcam Unavailable, Check USB message.
It turns out that the car is NOT creating the folder called TeslaCam at the root of the drive!
I put the drive in my computer and created the folder, and now the car recognizes it as a legit dashcam drive and works perfectly.

Tesla—please fix the bug and write the proper "TeslaCam" directory to the thumb drive when using the car to format the drive!

 

[jeremymc7]

Yes. I had the same problem. Started with a quality smaller sized flash drive. Switched to a quality SD card reader and mid sized quality SD card to an absurdly large performance SSD drive. Been years now and never had another problem.

 

[keyarch]

This has been happening to me too—and I just figured out what was causing the problem for me.
My tiny thumb drive finally took a dump, so I got a new one (256gb so it should last longer with fewer overwrites).
I used the car to format the USB drive, and it gave a success message; however, the dashcam was still unavailable (with the red X) and displayed the Dashcam Unavailable, Check USB message.
It turns out that the car is NOT creating the folder called TeslaCam at the root of the drive!
I put the drive in my computer and created the folder, and now the car recognizes it as a legit dashcam drive and works perfectly.

Tesla—please fix the bug and write the proper "TeslaCam" directory to the thumb drive when using the car to format the drive!

I had the same problem with the folder not being created on a new memory stick (2 TB) when formatted by the car. I added the folder (TeslaCam) via my computer and then it recognized it. I had the additional problem of the new and old stick not being recognized unless I inserted it firmly up into the slot for a good 5 seconds. Once I got one of them to work, I could change back and forth with no problem. However, I was able to recreate the problem. I suspect there is a weak connection in the wiring or port that is the issue, and Tesla will be sending a mobile service person to look at it. I will try to report back on that.
It's hard to troubleshoot when there are multiple issues at the same time.

 

[Chrushev]

My Tesla killed several thumb drives even ones using SD Cards specifically made for a lot of writing (last maybe 6 months). I finally just ended up just plugging in a USB hard drive. Has been flawless for over a year.

 

[keyarch]

I had the same problem with the folder not being created on a new memory stick (2 TB) when formatted by the car. I added the folder (TeslaCam) via my computer and then it recognized it. I had the additional problem of the new and old stick not being recognized unless I inserted it firmly up into the slot for a good 5 seconds. Once I got one of them to work, I could change back and forth with no problem. However, I was able to recreate the problem. I suspect there is a weak connection in the wiring or port that is the issue, and Tesla will be sending a mobile service person to look at it. I will try to report back on that.
It's hard to troubleshoot when there are multiple issues at the same time.

Reporting back: Tesla replaced the whole glove box unit (under warranty) and it seems to be working fine now. Quite involved. The whole wood grain dash comes off to be able to access the mounting screws for the glove box. Took the tech about 30 mins. Regularly a 15 min. job, but I was talking to him. lol.