GC-4ZGB won’t even turn on
I have a new GC-4ZGB cam with 100 lifetime pics. I tried updating the firmware from home two weeks ago and the cam stopped working at that time completely. Cam says FW was updated on the app. I went to property today and put in brand new batteries and the cam won’t even power up. Any suggestions? Thanks!
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Are you using a class 10 standard-size SD card, name brand? I know that sounds like a silly question, but funky SD cards can cause the camera not to power up.
Is the green light on the front flashing, just the screen isn’t coming up, or is it completely dead?
What kind of batteries are you using? Do you have some alkalines that you could put four (two top, two bottom, on the left side of the bay)? -
How long did the camera work before it quit sending pics? Is there any chance you ran out of premium credits? (That would keep the camera from sending pics but it doesn’t explain why it won’t come up now that you’ve changed batteries.)
Also, batteries can cause the camera to quit sending pics, but I wouldn’t expect that after only 100 pics. Just mentioning some causes of cams not sending pics.
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Only other thing I can say to try is take the batteries out and leave it turned on for a few hours. The firmware update you did over the air or manually by loading it on an SD card? Maybe try a different set of batteries. It doesn't happen often but sometimes they can be bad right out of the package.
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I run 5 Verizon Spartan Cams. One is 3G and works as it should. I have Two of the V4GB and Two of the Z4GB. About 3 weeks ago all of the 4Gs went down. Long story short there was a freaking Firmware update. In the heart of the Archery season! Purchased two Class 10 SD cards as directed by support after 3 days of trying to reach them. Downloaded the Firmware file and installed into the cameras as directed. The firmware failed and the MCU showed (). Brought all the cams in from the field and with the help of one IT guy and a week of wasted time and money he finally figured out what was wrong. I asked if THIS is why support team is delayed in returning calls and emails and I was told NO. No one else is having an issue. Apparently that is not the case and Spartan needs to get this thing corrected. Now that I got that off my chest all cams are now working except one of the Z4GB. While trying to download the firmware the camera flashed that something went wrong. 3 more days go by and support finally tells me to send it in. There is no way to start that cam. Good luck but be prepared to send it back. Just curious, is your dead camera one that was backordered? Mine is
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Yes, my cam was on back order for three months. Had it in the woods only a few weeks and then tried to update FW over the air (not SD card). I’m going to go back and make sure that I try everything that John and Liz suggested here, but I’m assuming that I will have to send it in since it won’t even turn on. Tried different batteries, only four and also a full twelve, but nothing has worked yet. Thanks again for everyone’s suggestions. I appreciate it. Trying to not be too frustrated.
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Spartan sent me a firmware update file with an MCU file. This is what worked for me. Copy the Firmware update file to the Class 10 SD Card along with the MCU file. Turn Camera off and disconnect the battery power. In this order: Insert the Sd card, turn the camera to setup, and plug battery in. Screen lit up. Then it updated. Went into settings and checked the information tab and could see that the firmware was now updated and 2 of the cameras were back in business. The other 2 cams were a problem. The MCU line only showed () . I couldn't tell if it was a zero or double parenthesis. The fix was to clean the SD card and install only the MCU file they sent to me the same way as I described above. That fixed camera #4. But Camera #5 which is the camera I received a few weeks ago that was backordered. It was an upgrade replacement deal for my 3G that will expire at the end of 2019. This particular camera was acting the same way during the update but then it just shut down and could not be restarted and had no flashing green light. Seems like a half assed approach but this worked for 3 out of 4 cameras. Good luck
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Tbennett5 Make sure you are using a class 10 SD card and no larger then 32gb. Go to the portal if you are using premium and delete any pending commands that you may have in camera management and then try a manual firmware update. Even if the firmware is up to date try updating again.
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Tommy2xx.....I was excited for a minute. I had the FW on a card to update manually but didn’t have a special MCU file. I put in SD card, flipped to setup and inserted 4 batteries and it turned on. I almost fell out of my chair. Before trying FW I figured I would see if cam would work normal, but would not. Followed steps again and tried updating FW from card. Steps got to updating MCU and cam said that step failed. Now cam will not turn on after following setup then batteries step. I might have blown my chance. Thanks for taking the time to post. I greatly appreciate it.
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Big CC,
You wouldn’t get anyone over the weekend when calling tech support.
Do you see “Submit a request” at the top of this page? That opens a ticket in the new system and tech support is definitely monitoring the new support system. I’d start there and please give as much information as you can.
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Nothing that I tried on my own worked. I submitted a request on this page and I was contacted by support a couple days later. I talked to them on the phone and they were not able to give me any instructions that helped. They instructed me to create a ticket, a couple days later I received an e-mail with a shipping label to send it back. Spartan received my camera two days later. They had it about a week and I received an e-mail that they were replacing it. I think that I received my new cam 4-5 days later. I received the new cam just a few days ago and it seems to be working fine at home. I have not been back to my property yet to get it back into the woods.
While I was extremely frustrated that the cam stopped working after only 100 pics, I was extremely happy with the support that I received from Spartan. The people on this forum were helpful in giving me ideas to try to see if I could fix it myself (sometimes you just never know what might work). The guy on the phone asked me to try just a couple things and when they didn't work he told me what to do in order to get it approved to be sent back.
The fact that I had to send it in might not be good for anyone else that has this same problem, but my problem was solved in the end. It didn't cost me any money, just a loss of a few weeks of pics in the field. Good luck.
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bhunter50, email me at johnny.lockburner@spartancamera.com , I'm going to send you a firmware to try. In the meantime pull the batteries from the camera and leave the camera turned on. You want to leave the camera like this for 3 or 4 hours (at least) and then turn the camera off, put the batteries back in and then follow the instructions that will come with the firmware.
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