GC-ATTb/GoCam (AT&T) Blackout has stopped sending pictures
Several days ago the camera stopped sending pictures and the scheduled status reports, still taking pictures and storing on card, failed hello test. Checked batteries, cellular account is paid up, took camera home have 5 bars on AT&T, have premium credits, format existing card, format newly purchased SanDisk SD card, selected default, removed all of the batteries and waited. Tried camera SIM in my phone and had cellular data tried phone SIM in camera and still hello test failed. Tried changing APN between APNBR and APNBL Purchased camera 1/2/2017 so long off warranty. Last status report showed about 1/2 free and normal capacity numbers for a 4 Gb card. Firmware is up to date and manual picture shows P5 for batteries.
Any other ideas?
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The not to spec cards sometimes work and then all of a sudden stop, so do the to spec cards sometimes. If you are trying a new class 10 that's over 80mbs you should be fine. It can't hurt to try a different one though, you never know. Be sure to format all the cards (even the new ones) in the camera.
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Is the new SD card a standard size card or a microSD in an adapter?
The camera shows 5 bars so the problem should not be the antenna, but have you double checked that it is snug but not too snug and that it hasn’t been damaged in some way?
Have you tried blowing gently into the SIM slot? It’s possible that there is something in the slot that is keeping the SIMs from making the proper contact. With 5 bars of signal, I would not expect that to be the problem but it can’t hurt to check. It’s obviously not the SIMs since they work in your phone but not in the camera. Something is keeping the camera from connecting online, though.
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At this point, your best bet may be to get in touch with tech support. They don’t monitor this forum.
Either email support@spartancamera.com or call 770-582-0004. Either way, give your phone number, time zone, and best time to call. They may have some tricks up their sleeve that Johnny and I don’t.
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To follow up I sent my camera into tech support and they told me they set the APN to RESELLER for my carrier which is Red Pocket Mobile, GSMA (ATT MVNO). So if you use a carrier which is not ATT but uses ATT network then you need to make sure your APN is set to the name required by your carrier.
It worked fine until several days ago and then stopped sending pics. It was failing the Hello test. I had purchased a new SD card as part of the original troubleshooting it had a higher capacity than the one purchased with the camera so I left it in the camera. I tried formatting it in place, no joy. I put the original SD back in and formatted it and the camera passed the Hello test. I then put the newer SD back in, formatted it and the camera passed the Hello test with it???????
I agree with those that wonder out loud why the developers do not develop a better troubleshooting test/method than "try another SD card"?
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It's not a "troubleshooting test/method". The fact is that SD cards cause all sorts of problems that you wouldn't think they'd cause. If changing the SD card fixes the problem, then it's a fix, not a test or troubleshooting method.
I have been using removable electronic storage since 5.25" floppy disks. Every single type/size removable media that I have used over the years has had a higher failure rate than any other computer component.
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I was thinking more of code in the camera programming that would test the SD card either at startup or as a menu choice in the diagnostic page. Come to think of it there probably isn't room for additional code in limited hardware and memory. I have been involved in computers since 8 inch floppy disks. I was a computer tech for much from my career and retired as a network/systems administrator. I assembled, from individual components, my first personal computer in 1976 before the original IBM PC came to the market. I forgive the tone of your response as I realize I didn't phrase my original words well.
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You have an added wrinkle in that you aren't using a standard carrier. I use FreedomPop as the carrier for a cheap Samsung tablet I use when I run my cameras and FP is a royal PITA, quite unlike my iPads that use AT&T. With the tablet, I'm always having to log back in to the network manually. I'd love to be able to use FP SIMs in my cameras because the service is cheap, but there's no way to do that because the SIMs rely on an app to log in to the network.
You have me beat by a few years. I started as a mainframe programmer in the mid 1970s, but my first computer was an Osborne 1 in 1982. I look at SD cards just like I looked at floppy disks. Something was always going wrong with floppy disks.
Even if there were an SD card test at startup, lots of failures happen during use. I haven't touched some of my cameras since October 2018 so a startup test wouldn't be very useful.
I have seen cameras refuse to come up with a microSD/adapter but I've also had people be able to use them for a little while and then the camera stops working. I have had people use class 4 SD cards and they worked, but other people try to boot a camera with one and it won't come up at all or won't pass the Hello test or won't send the manual photo. Sometimes, people have a class 10 card, but it's not a name brand or it's not as fast as it might need to be. Or they don't format it in the camera. Or it's "to spec" but it's just gone bad.
However, there are plenty of problems with cards that have been working fine and then just quit working properly for some reason. I had that happen with two of my cameras last week. I've also seen overwrite not work properly. I'm beginning to think that it may have something to do with SD card speed, but I haven't kept track of the specs of cards that were in cameras that didn't overwrite. I just know when I have a camera that quits sending pics for no apparent reason, often the card is nearly full but sometimes it isn't. I just request a card format and that often (usually?) fixes the problem.
Fortunately, we got the format command in the app about a year ago so you don't have to go to the camera to fix that problem. I suspect that has saved a lot of headaches.
I wish that the SD card weren't such a vulnerable component, but it is. People who use high-end camera equipment generally know to use high performance SD cards, but I think a lot of cell cam users are accustomed to using any old SD card in their regular trail cameras and they're not accustomed to having to be concerned about specs. Then you put the electronic equipment out in the elements and humidity and temperature extremes aren't kind.
It would be nice if SD cards didn't cause problems, but I'm always relieved when that's the fix. If it's not, then you may have a lot more serious problem on your hands, and that's not a good thing.
(If you're offended by my tone, so be it, but I'm not concerned about being forgiven for it.)
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