Amcrest IP8M-2496EB POE outdoor camera doesn't see SD cards

[beley]

Recently installed an Amcrest IP8M-2496EB POE camera and it seems to work great except for the recording functionality. At first I thought it might be a problem with the SD card, which was bought at the same time as the camera, so I tried another today. Here's what it's doing...

Accessing the camera through the web interface, after a reboot for just a brief minute the PLAYBACK navigation item appears and the SD card shows up under the Storage > Destination options. After about a minute (sometimes 20-30 seconds) the PLAYBACK button disappears and the SD card option no longer shows under Storage settings.

It's like it doesn't even recognize that an SD card is inserted. But if I manually reboot the camera, it will see it again if only for a brief moment.

I have formatted the SD cards before installing, and have tried two different 64 GB Micro SD cards that are the same brand/model as those recommended by Amcrest (Samsung).

I reached out to Amcrest support, only to find that they are completely inept and barely speak English. They asked me to try another SD card or return the camera. I'd really like to troubleshoot and fix if possible because we got this camera with a great coupon that is no longer available so if I return Amazon's just going to refund my card and I'll end up paying an extra $40 for the replacement.

Any tips on how to troubleshoot? Have already tried updating the firmware and restarting the device. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated!

 

[mat200]

Welcome @beley

It's a good solid camera you have.

Double check that you have properly inserted the microSD card. Sometimes that is the issue.

Once you have done that format the microSD card with the commands from the camera to ensure it is the proper format.

Please let us know if that helps, or share if you find a different solution.

 

[beley]

Turns out it was a firmware issue (I think). I tried multiple different Micro SD cards and they only successfully insert the correct way. I made absolutely sure they were in correctly and fully inserted but they were not showing up as even being recognized.

I did a full reset to factory settings and that fixed the problem. I think an attempted firmware update may have gone awry and caused the issue. Lesson for anyone else having wierd issues - factory reset can save hours and hours of troubleshooting LOL.

 

[SouthernYankee]

Remove the SD card from the camera. In a PC test the SD card using h2testw. You will need to download the program. There are a lot of counterfeit SD card out there.

 

[beley]

@SouthernYankee the SD card is good, I ended up swapping for one I know is good, been using it with my drone for a while now.

@mat200 Spoke too soon, logged in this morning and was able to view yesterday and today's recordings and everything was working fine but now I just logged in and the playback menu item is gone again and no SD card even listed in the settings under Storage > Destination.

Maybe it's a faulty camera? Should I just send it back and get another one?

 

[consorts]

Should I just send it back and get another one?

beley - got any follow up on this episode? i got it for $64 on a cyber monday promo

and reading that the microsd may be iffy has me concerned about which to buy.

i was going to get a samsung 64gb u3 that is often on sale for $11 on amazon.

UPDATE: i have this cam and have no issues with microsd at all here.
which is a good thing because i can't get the NAS or FTP stuff to work.