Fixing Browning Edge, Elite HP4 and HP5 SD Card Corruption
Users of Browning Edge, Elite HP4, and Elite HP5 trail cameras, including us, have run into a frustrating bug related to SD card corruption. This bug is rare, but when it happens, it results in the total loss of images. In this post, I describe in detail the “SD Card Corruption” bug. I also give some insight into how I was able to figure out the cause of this bug. Finally, I provider a pointer to firmware images which fix this problem. For those not into custom firmware, I also give a few workarounds for avoiding this bug.
I am grateful to @Kyna B Bear, @Hal Everett, and @Luke Lamar, among others, who have provided details, and failed SD cards. These contributions ultimately helped me figure out the cause of this bug, and a fix.
Update 2024-03-02: I’ve heard from at least one person using my new firmware that they are still getting card corruption issues. This likely means there is an outstanding bug related to the SD card that my fix does not address. It is possible (though I don’t know how) that my “fix” introduces a bug 🙁 If you experience SD card corruption after installing my latest firmware additions, and especially if it recurs “reliably” with a particular camera or SD card, please let me know in comments below. Please note that my GitHub site also contains files with the original factory firmware, if you’d like to re-install.
Symptoms of the SD Card Corruption Bug
I have been following this bug for some time. I first described the symptoms in my post on trail camera failures How (some) Trail Cameras Fail. Here is a summary of the symptoms:
- A Browning Edge, Elite HP4, or Elite HP5 Trail Camera is given new batteries, and a recently formatted SD card, and set in the field
- When the camera is retrieved the batteries are dead. The the camera will not turn on unless the battery pack is removed and re-inserted
- The SD card cannot be read by the camera. Indeed, the camera often will not get past the “splash screen” while the SD card is installed
- When placed in a PC, the SD Card is unreadable by the file system. The PC asks whether you want to format the SD card
- Forensic analysis of the SD card with disk recovery tools (e.g. Stellar Photo Recovery) show a small number of intact images/videos. Invariably, these start with IMG_0001.mp4 . There are certainly not the number of files one would expect from a full set of batteries.
- We have never seen this problem in the earlier Browning Advantage camera models.
- This problem occurs with cards as small as 32 GBytes, but also on 64, 128, and 256 GByte Cards
Browning Response
To be fair, Browning has responded to several folks with this problem by suggesting that they use slower (< 100 MByte/second) SD cards. This is a clue to the root cause, for sure. It’s also impractical advice for us, since the larger cards we prefer for extended deployments also operate at higher bandwidths. The camera firmware ultimately chooses the operating speed for the SD card. So it seemed like there might be an opportunity to actually fix the problem for newer SD cards.
Debugging SD Card Corruption Bug
These intermittent, rarely occurring problems are invariably difficult to debug. Indeed, this has taken me over a year in elapsed time to understand the symptoms. Recently, I’ve spent several weeks of focused work in the lab to reproduce the problem and validate a fix. The rest of this post only covers the ideas that turned out to be right. I won’t bore you with all the dead-ends I actually encountered over several weeks of debugging.
Starting with the symptoms, I was able to conclude:
- At some point during the cameras deployment, often after taking only a single video, camera corrupts the SD card. This makes the card unreadable by the camera.
- The camera firmware, on encountering the corrupted SD card, crashes. One result of this crash is that the camera firmware stops functioning. Critically, it does not run the timer which turns the camera off between triggers. Left in the crashed state, the camera consumes the battery charge in about a day.
- The problem is not related to the difference in file system formats between cards of 32GBytes and smaller, which use a FAT32 format, and cards 64 GByte and larger (which use the ExFAT file system format). This points to a problem “further down” to software storage stack.
This is a good start, but it gives only very limited insight as to what causes the SD card to become corrupted. The one clue is that corruption is most often associated with the writing of the first image/video file.
Reproducing the Bug
To get any further, I needed to reproduce the problem in the lab under conditions and with tools that would help me figure out what was going wrong.
I found that I was able to elicit infrequent behavior from the camera that hinted at read/write errors to the SD card by:
- Erasing the SD card using the Delete All menu
- Arming the camera
- Triggering the Camera
- Taking one 5 second video
I performed this sequence many times while examining the diagnostic print messages. Most of the time, the print messages showed everything fine. But on every 10th attempt, or so, detected some “early signs” of errors from the print message. These occurred in cases where the camera reduced the clock speed to the SD card in the face of detected errors.
Root Cause
It appears that in updating the directory structure in the file system to create the “DCIM” and then “xxxxBTC” directories to store the first video in, the firmware can run into write errors which leave the file system in an inconsistent (unreadable) state.
Based on this hypothesis, I wrote a simple diagnostic designed to focus on the specific act of powering on the SD card, and then doing a series of read and write operations as quickly as possible.
The purpose of this diagnostic was to cause an actual data failure (not just the precursor behavior I could observe with a dozen or so attempts by hand).
With the diagnostic, I confirmed that if the SD card clock speed is maxed out, data is not reliably written to the SD card.
The Fix
Instead of allowing the camera to (optimistically) try to run the SD card at it’s maximum speed, and getting occasional data corruption as a result, I simply limit the SD card speed right from the start. This works because the SD card can easily keep up with the incoming video data even at the lower speed. There is probably a way to fix the firmware so that it could reliably work at higher SD card frequencies. such a fix may be necessary in the future for higher resolution video footage. Browning, please take care of this!
Note that as of this writing (2023-11-14) I do not have many hours of camera time to confirm that the problem is indeed solved. However, I was able to test this fix with my simple diagnostic program. Without the fix, the diagnostic program reliably encounters write errors. With the fix, it does not. So I’m confident that the fix will also prevent the much rarer write errors that have frustrated many of us when using the HP5.
You can download my firmware patches, which now includes this fix, from by GitHub site here.
Workarounds
If you’d rather not load a non-Browning firmware image onto your camera, there are some things you can do to reduce the chances that this bug gets you:
- When deploying the camera, after executing the “Delete All” menu item, take at least one photo/video. You can do this by pressing the “E” button while the camera is in the live-view mode. This creates the DCIM and xxxBTC subdirectories when the SD card is already stable in “menu mode”. It means the camera doesn’t have to create them on the fly on it’s very first trigger.
- Use a Slow SD card: This problem is related to cards with rated bandwidth’s in excess of 80 MB/s. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to find the newer, higher capacity cards in lower speed variants.
Comments
Let us know in the comments below whether these fixes work for you, and especially if they don’t!
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Great work! My only point of disagreement is that this has not been rare at all in my experience, but a huge issue which has ruined half of my 3 season camera placements with HP-5s. Card capacity seems to be a bigger risk factor than speed.
Thanks. The failure was “rare” in terms of the time it took me to reproduce, but I can see that it wasn’t rare for you! If you try one of my new firmware images, please let me know if it fixes the problem. It’s possible there’s another bug lurking out there, but I hope not.
I set out my old Recon Force Edge with the new firmware for a week. The card was not corrupted, but all videos were in black % white, even in mid day. When I was at the camera, the lights came on, even though it was during daylight.
Hmmm. That’s not good. In tests I did here, I get the correct behavior. So I can reproduce the bug, can you post the camera settings you were using? Thanks.
This has no happened with my Spec Ops Edge, as well: Browning Spec Ops Edge. Video, 1 minute, ultra, Motion detection long range, trigger speed fast, battery type lithium.
Unfortunately, I set this camera out in a spot that had been DEAD for 8 months, and, of course a cougar with 3 young kittens came by at 10AM. The videos were all in B&W. While the videos were all obtainable, the card will not now format in my Mac.
Very sorry to hear. This will require some detailed debug. Please expect an email from me shortly
Good morning.
I have this problem on my Spec Ops Elite HP5 and it’s not rare to happen, it’s a frustration.
At the time, I contacted Browning, sent my camera to them, as I’m from Brazil, I spent a considerable amount to send it to the USA.
After a week they sent me the same camera back free of charge.
They just configured the camera differently than I use, with a high recording interval and short videos, but that’s not how I use it.
I configured it my way and installed it in the woods, same problem as you described, corrupt card and no power in the batteries.
I sent a message that I would send the camera again to the USA, they told me it wasn’t supposed to be sent and they sent me a note free of charge for me to Brazil, this new one still works perfectly today.
Even using slow cards, the problem persists, I use the 128GB SanDisk Ultra.
You speak of slowness in writing and not in reading, correct?
See my table.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1PcZkJ588yCqOAqZog6W6LRzFaBPUECyqMhWF9BUPT7s/
I really don’t know what to do, the camera is great and it’s unused here at home.
Yours sincerely,
Erik from Brazil.
Thanks for the additional data on card types! Please try downloading and installing my new firmware image for the BTC-8E-HP5 at my GitHub site: https://github.com/robertzak133/unified-btc-reverse You are looking for the image at https://github.com/robertzak133/unified-btc-reverse/blob/main/targets/btc-8e-hp5/created-burn-images/RELEASE/brnbtc82.BRN I bet this will fix your problem. Let me know.
With regard to speed. The answer is a little involved, which is why I left it out of my original post. The Read and Write speeds are the result of several factors. The first is the maximum data rate. These have been steadily increasing, requiring more complex circuitry and firmware. I have found that these Browning cameras can handle a data rate of 50 Mhz * 1/2 byte = 25 MBytes/second. Newer SD cards are capable of peak data rates of 100 MHz * 1/2 Byte = 50 MBytes/second, and 200 MHz (100 MBytes/second), and higher. The key thing for this bug is the data rate, which I’ve found needs to kept at 50 MHz * 1/2 byte = 25 MBytes/second. The advertised write speed for SD cards includes other effects, which reduce the bandwidth. For example, the maximum rate at which the SD card allows new write operations to be posted (the SD card firmware itself has some fancy book-keeping and allocation tasks to do to support writes). I don’t think these factors contribute to this bug.
Good afternoon.
I understood your explanation.
It’s strange that the new camera that Browning sent me works perfectly, regardless of the card used.
Did Browning fix it via hardware on the new Spec OPS HP5 cameras or was it a new firmware that they didn’t release to the public?
Thank you very much.
I have a theory 🙂 As I understand the current firmware, it always tries to run an SD card an its maximum frequency. If it detects an error while doing this, it reduces the clock frequency and tries again. The sooner the firmware encounters an error, the earlier it will switch to the lower (reliable) clock speed, and the less likely it is to corrupt the file system. I believe that some (most?) hardware, due to manufacturing variation, *always* fails at higher frequency. Ironically, these cameras are likely *never* to encounter the bug, since the firmware will quickly switch to a lower frequency. This is essentially what my firmware fix does by always operating the card at a lower frequency.
Of course, it could be that there is a newer, unannounced firmware patch available. What firmware version does your working camera have (visible on “firmware update” menu)?
Goodnight.
Sorry for the delay, here’s a photo of the original firmware that was in it.
I installed your firmware and put the camera in the woods.
https://i.postimg.cc/zvP9JgcS/IMG-8178.jpg
When I check the camera, I’ll tell you if it hasn’t crashed with your firmware.
Thank you for your hard work in providing us all with alternative firmware.
No problem. The version of firmware in your camera is the same mine, so I’m pretty sure Browning has not released their own firmware fix for this bug.
I really hope my firmware fixes the issue you’re having 🙂
Good afternoon Mr Bob Zak.
Yesterday afternoon I went to see the trail camera in the woods with its alternative firmware and it was still working correctly.
In summary.
recorded: 91 videos of 30 seconds, 9.68gb. (03/12-16/12)
[img]https://i.postimg.cc/26WjdWWw/bob-zak-firmware.png[/img]
I was very happy to see the camera still working and recording records.
Thank you very much for your hard work in researching and developing a fix for the problem cameras.
The camera recorded a newborn deer with its firmware.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&user_id=polones&verifiable=any
Thanks.
Erik from Brazil.
That’s great news! And congratulations on the capture of a newborn fawn. I was quite confident the fix would work, but it’s always reassuring to hear that it does, and so many thousands of miles away. Your file listing confused me for a second, with the different convention for listing DD-MM-YYYY vs. MM-DD-YYYY. Make sure to try out the new time format options in the extended menu, which can get you the DD-MM-YYYY version of the date on the info-strip.
Good morning.
unfortunately I got the year wrong in the configuration and didn’t notice it in the woods. Worse, I forgot to fix the year again.
I was a little nervous, I almost pissed on a snake(Bothrops jararacussu), I was wearing high-top, protected boots, the snake didn’t attack, but I was scared.
In January I will look at the camera again and fix the date and take the opportunity to put it in the official format used here in Brazil, DD/MM/YYYY.
Snake
https://postimg.cc/gallery/26njSqQ
The snake is on the left of the photo, above the stick. I didn’t even see the snake when I passed by, my friend saw it and told me to run right away.
Have a good day.
Erik from Brazil.
Well, that’s terrifying. I recall reading about the dangers of snakes in the tropical jungles in Alan Rabinowitz’s 1991 classic “Jaguar”. Fortunately, that’s about as close as I’ve gotten.
I WAS NEVER GIVEN A CONFIRMATION ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF PURCHASE OF CAMERA TRAPPING TECH. PLEASE SUBMIT ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
?? Sorry, Dave, I don’t understand your question. The only thing for sale via our website is Janet’s Book: Camera Trapping Guide, available on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Camera-Trapping-Guide-Behavior-Wildlife/dp/0811719065 Is this what you’re referring to?
I have 3 HP4’s and one Edge. I haven’t seen the problem. I have mine set for video only and 2 min long. (the night time defaults to 20Sec)
Thanks. I had my Spec Ops just last month fail 100% after a 3 week set to capture any videos. I had the same cam give me a format fail also a set before that but after reinstalling the SD into anther camera and reformatting it and reinstalling it into the HP5 it worked. I format SD cards every time I set a cam no matter what. The last set I had no problems with the camera. I own 3 HP5s and haven’t set the 2 new ones yet and now I’ll do the test. I also have 3 I run for a customer, but I haven’t had any problems with them yet. I run only MacBook Pro computers and now I’m testing all cams with a test trip every time as you suggested and realize I was doing this the last time I set my HP5s. Thanks
Thanks for commenting and for this additional information. Indeed, in previous posts I have described our process or formatting SD cards in the PC (or Mac), and then again in the camera itself. In all honesty, I don’t have any strong data to suggest this is necessary or sufficient. However, the idea of triggering the camera once, after a new (blank) SD card has been installed *does* actually have data. In particular, as I describe, the bug seems more likely to occur when the firmware has to create new directories before storing an image file. A write error at this time can apparently wedge the file system. A test trigger will create these new directories, and thereby reduce the impact of a write error.
This is great work, Bob, thank you so much for doing this! In my experience, the SD card wasn’t always completely corrupted beyond use, but it would have anywhere from 1 to 10 videos before it just stopped recording for the week. Sometimes the batteries were completely drained, but not always. I hope that you will send this blog post directly to Browning service. The brand new camera they sent me to replace the camera that had this issue had the exact same issue on its very first deployment. As far as I could tell the SD card wasn’t corrupted, but the batteries were drained completely to zero in less than a week. Browning service tried to blame the fact that I was using an external battery rather than the battery tray. I’ve been using these rechargeable 12 V batteries for years with other model cameras with no issues whatsoever. Browning needs to know that this is a serious issue with their cameras and they need to fix it and give people refunds. This is completely unacceptable.
I am interested to see if the bug you describe (which has slightly different symptoms that have I’ve seen) is fixed by my firmware upgrade. Let me know if you try.
A while ago, I made some weak attempts to find someone technical at Browning to discuss bugs like this. I never got any bites. Since then, my work reverse engineering their firmware has probably made it even less likely that they’ll respond to me directly. Frankly, it has also made me less likely to try to contact them. Still, everything I do is public — feel free to forward a pointer to this blog in your next exchange with Browning support!
Bugs like these expose the weaknesses of the network of various business relationships which go into a “Browning” camera. Browning itself merely licenses their brand. The Prometheus Group, based in Georgia in the US, markets the cameras, and provides customer support. I believe Prometheus specifies the requirements for new cameras to 3rd party IP providers which then develop the hardware and firmware. Thus, fixing bugs like these, especially those that are hard to reproduce, or deeply technical, must somehow make it 3 levels deep through commercial interests and relationships that are mostly focused on the next generation. Of course, this is an explanation, not an excuse. I agree that at least Browning and the Prometheus Group should be more interested in fixing these things.
BTW — in the post I mentioned that we have never encountered this problem on our Advantage series cameras. I confirmed that the Advantage firmware can *only* operate SD cards at low clock rates, which avoids this bug. All more recent cameras (the Edge and Elite HP4, HP5s) in the SpecOps/ReconForce line, based on my findings, have newer firmware (and likely hardware) that is subject to this type of failure. Some specific cameras more than others. All I’m saying is that it may be hard for your to find a stock Browning camera that is sure not to have this problem.
And, finally, I have reason to suspect that due to common hardware and software modules used by 3rd party suppliers who develop most of the firmware for all trail cameras (Browning or no), that Browning Cameras are not the only ones subject to this failure.
I know, I’m just full of sunshine today 🙂
I have a Browning Elite HP 5. Was running a 32 gig San Disk Ultra 80 mb/s from my old Bushnell cam. HP 5 ran with no problems. Bought two 64GB San Disk Ultra 140 mb/s. I shot several videos and still shots after formatting 1 of the cards via the camera. Upon checking the videos and pics on my lap top I could view the photos but they wouldn’t delete using the computer. Computer said the photos were write protected. SD card protection switch was not in the locked position. The switch was worked back and forth numerous times with the same message saying the card was write protected. The card was then formatted in the cam again. Pics were deleted but computer said the card was write protected when trying to format the card on the computer. The other identical card was never formatted in the cam. The card was able to be formatted on the computer with no problems. This card was then put into HP 5 cam, several pics were shot. Cam recorded pics and could be viewed on my lap top. Photos could not be deleted and the card could not be formatted via the laptop. Same message as first card. Card is write protected. The 32gb card appears to not have been affected when used in the HP 5.
I contacted Browning and they stated I probably had got bad cards. Stated they haven’t been having any problems. Advised me to try a new card.
I bought a a new San Disk Image Mate 64gb 140mb/s. Put it in cam took several shots and viewed them on my laptop. Couldn’t erase any pics and the card would not format on the computer. Just like the other two cards the computer said the cards were write protected.
Fast forward: After several times (10-15 or more)of re-formatting the 64 gb card, taking several pics and formatting in the cam. Then checking them on the computer 2 out of the 3 cards started working correctly. Still working on the third card.
It appears that the cam is somehow writing something to the cards during the formatting process which makes the cards seem like they are write protected. Don’t know if others have had the same problem.
Gary — this is very interesting behavior. I believe you are spot on. The SD cards do allow protocol-level write protection of files and blocks. I agree with you that the camera is writing undesired contents into the card. I believe this is done as the camera is waking up to take a picture and trying to operate the SD card at a speed the camera (firmware) can’t handle (As opposed to during the “Delete All” function. I had this same idea, and wrote some diagnostic programs that tried to elicit flaky behavior from the “delete all” command — all unsuccessfully). Eventually, while trying to access the SD card at high speed, the firmware recognizes that it needs to operate a lower speed. But the longer this takes, the more potential there is to write bad data almost anywhere in the SD card (including into the control structures which enable write protection). If this hypothesis is correct, the firmware fix I describe in this post should also fix this problem.
Good morning everybody.
Stopping by once again to leave my story.
Just remembering that the camera was unused and at home, because of this problem in the topic.
I installed the firmware developed by Mr. Bob and everything was resolved, firmware installed on 12/03/2023 and yesterday (01/06/2024) I went to check the camera again and everything is working perfectly.
My camera and its settings:
Browning Spec Ops Elite HP5 firmware WWL8EH5_231114P
Smart IR Video: on
Video recording only: 30 seconds
Delay: 1s
IR Flash: long range
I am immensely grateful to Mr. Bob, without the firmware, the camera would be unusable, at the time it was sent to Browning for repair and they did not solve the problem, the camera was already condemned due to this software problem with no solution until today on the Browning website.
Yours sincerely,
Erik from Brazil.
Thanks for checking back in. I’m very happy the firmware fix worked for your camera!
When taking a video in the live view mode, what buttons do we press to stop the camera from recording to it can be set up in the field. After recording one video in live view mode I had to turn the camera off for it to stop recording
Once you start taking video in view mode, by pressing the “E” button, you have to wait for the camera to take a video of whatever duration you selected in the “VIDEO LENGTH” menu. E.g. if you set the camera to take 1 minute videos, the camera will take a full minute video after pressing “E” . After that, it will automatically arm itself. You can see this happening by watching the video time count down to zero in the upper right corner of the display. When it’s done it says “Ready”. After 20 seconds or so, it will arm itself.
Please help! We got several Browning Dark Ops Pro DCL model BTC-6DCL and deployed with 256 Gigabytes SD with write speed of 200 MB/s. In typical camera, I got approx 8 good videos (MP4) and the others recorded but unreadable. What is the fix? Thanks: we are conservation biologists and this is a fundamental Italian project. Yours, Marco
Marco — sorry to hear of your plight. It sounds like you have an SD card with 8 readable files and lots of other (properly named), but unreadable files? Is this the case? What does the file system say about the sizes of the unreadable files? Are they about the size of the readable files? How about the creation dates? Do they look reasonable?
And when you say “Unreadable” — I assume you mean they won’t open in your favorite video viewer.
Assuming all these, the best I can recommend is to use a photo/video recovery tool. I’ve had some luck with a product for the PC called “Stellar Photo Recovery”, but there are others.
Because you can see a lot of other files, I don’t believe this is a variant of the “card corruption” bug described in this post. But this also means I can’t be much more specific with advice.
See below in capital letters and thanks!
It sounds like you have an SD card with 8 readable files and lots of other (properly named), but unreadable files? Is this the case?
YES
What does the file system say about the sizes of the unreadable files?
NOTHING
Are they about the size of the readable files? How about the creation dates? Do they look reasonable?
I CAN ONLY SEE INFO FOR THE WHOLE SD CARD. IT SAYS THERE ARE SOME GIGABYTES OF VIDEO ON THE CARD
And when you say “Unreadable” — I assume you mean they won’t open in your favorite video viewer.
DO NOT OPEN. CANNOT COPY AND CANNOT PASTE SOMEWHERE ELSE
Assuming all these, the best I can recommend is to use a photo/video recovery tool. I’ve had some luck with a product for the PC called “Stellar Photo Recovery”, but there are others.
YES, BUT FOR THE FUTURE, WHICH CARD WILL WORK. IS IT TRUE THAT 200 MB/s TOO FAST?
Because you can see a lot of other files, I don’t believe this is a variant of the “card corruption” bug described in this post. But this also means I can’t be much more specific with advice.
I think the short answer is likely, “Yes — a 200 MB/s SD card is too fast.” Sounds like you should be using SD cards rated at 80MB/sec or lower. Longer answer: (On second thought) This does sound like a variant of the “SD card corruption” issue described in this post. It seems likely that this problem exists in the BTC-6DCL, given the high degrees of software sharing between different camera models. I suspect that the “200 MB/s” SD cards are in fact too fast for this camera. Not fundamentally so: the camera does not require this speed to capture video; and the camera could choose to operate these parts at lower speeds. But in practice, as the firmware tries to operate the SD card at the highest speed possible until it detects errors. The problem is that data corruption, including of the file system structure can occur before the firmware switches to a lower speed. That would account for the behavior you’re seeing.
I’ve not worked with the BTC-6DCL, so I don’t have a firmware fix for it.
In general, the more modern SD cards with higher capacities also operate at higher speeds. I was able to find a 256GB micro-SD card from SanDisk advertised as “low speed” (60 MB/s). It comes with an adapter to standard SD card form factor. I’d give it (or an another low speed SD card) a try. https://www.newegg.com/sandisk-256gb-microsdhc/p/0DF-07XM-00026 Let us know if it fixes your problem.
PS: with regard to data in your current SD card. If this is the “card corruption” bug, there’s a fair chance there is really no additional data there, as the camera itself cannot read the SD card to boot and take new photos/videos. The size of data given by the OS could be the result of a corrupt of file system metadata, and not the presence of actual files. Still, if the data is important, at least looking for it with a forensic tool is probably worth it. But be prepared for disappointment 🙁
Hello Bob, on Browning website have a software update for BTC-7E with a similar correction of what u have done, do u know if this software update from them will correct the same problem u found? I’m asking this because my BTC-7E is with the same problem u found and I don’t know if the software update from Browning will correct this issue or I will have to use yours.
“The Recon Force Edge trail camera is designed to work with SD cards ranging in size from 8GB to 512GB. See your cameras instruction manual for the brands we recommend for optimal performance. Faster SDXC memory cards will have the UHS rating, or Ultra High Speed, represented by a number inside the letter “U.” U1 means it’s 10 MB/s; U3 means it’s rated at 30 MB/s or higher. This refers to the write speed of the SD card.
Some users may experience problems when using a SD card with a U3 rating. This can range from the display giving different SD card related errors to 0kb and/or unreadable files. The software upgrade and instructions provided below will resolve this issue. Should you have any questions or need further assistance our Support Services team is available Monday through Friday from 9am to 5pm CST at 888.618.4496, Option 2
Download the instructions below labeled: SW Upgrade Instructions – Recon Force Edge. Open and carefully read and follow.
Download the software below labeled: BRNBTC70.BRN. Do not open. Follow instructions provided.”
The latest Browning firmware update for the BTC-7E *does not* have the fix for the “corrupt SD card”. I know this because I used this file you mention as the foundation for my firmware additions and the fix to the “corrupt SD Card” bug. In general, all the firmware images for the {7,8}{E, E-HP4, E-HP5} that I’ve published on my GitHub site are based on the most recent Browning firmware updates that I am aware of. I would install the latest Browning firmware on your camera, as it’s possible your camera is experiencing a different bug. It can’t hurt. But if you are still get corrupted SD cards, the only fix I’m aware of is in my hacked firmware images. If you go down this path, let me know how you make out.
Thanks for the reply Zak! Yes, I tested yesterday and u are right, for mine BTC-7E the official firmware from Browning didn’t work. I installed yours and until now without error. Thank u very much, I’ll keep u informed.
That’s great news! Hope to the new firmware works out for you. Let me know if you run into any problems with it.
1st – what a trove of fabulous help! I have 2 x Recon Force Elite BTC-7E-HP4. I have downloaded your fix to the SD Card issue but I get ‘Card Error’ almost immediately and at the FW Upgrade screen I cannot select ‘Yes. Current FW is BTC7EH4_MO2240F
Thanks again.
Thanks — it certainly represents a fair amount of my time 🙂
OK — so you have copied an image onto an SD card for the BTC-7E-HP4. But when you put the SD card in your camera, the screen shows a “Card Error”. Subsequently, the menu system doesn’t let you select “update firmware”. Bummer 🙁
Have you tried the same SD card back in the PC? Is it readable there? If not, you could try reformatting it in the PC and reinstalling the firmware file. I would remove it from the PC and reinstall it to make sure it’s readable there. If it’s not, I’d try a different SD card.
Let me know if this doesn’t work.
Hi – Yes, card error immediately on switch on. I have tried with 3 SD cards and all readable on PC. Followed all of your steps. Am going to try a brand new slower sd card – hopefully arriving today. Will report back of course. Thanks again.
Hi Bob, thanks for all of your efforts, your articles are an invaluable resource for me. I have a recon force BTE-7E-HP5 which shows exactly this problem, every time. However, it’s still happening after installing your firmware. Any ideas? Do I need to get the EEPROM replaced?
It’s also notable that we have 9 other cameras (same model) which don’t show the bug, at least yet. Is it normal for certain units to be buggy while others are fine?
Cheers from Germany.
What ?! 🙂 To your first question: As long as you are able to update the firmware and change settings, I’m pretty sure that replacing the EEPROM won’t help anything.
I have found that the rate at which the bug (I fixed) occurs can depend on cameras. Some cameras never seem to fail, others seem to fail every once in a while.
I have never seen a camera fail in this way *all the time*. This, and the fact that my firmware fix didn’t help, leads me to believe that your 7E-HP5 has a different problem. Just so we’re on the same page, can you describe exactly the symptoms you’re seeing on the failing camera? Do you have access to a slow SD card, and if so, does it fail in the same way?
I’m happy to try and debug this online, but if you are more interested in getting a camera out in the field ASAP, a camera that fails all the time, even with a slow SD card, seems like it would be an easy warranty case.
Hello Bob, thank you for the post! We did encounter the same issue repeatedly and came across your post, which is actually introduced from Browning technician. It seems like they did take your test very seriously! Another common issue we’re having now is that the battery drained relatively fast in recent models, especially 7E-HP5. We thought it might be something to do with the LED, since Browning claimed to have the new Radiant 5 illumination technology. Under the same environment and the same setting, 7E-HP5 operated shorter, sometimes up to a month’s difference. Just wonder have you, or have you heard anyone encountered the same situation. Cheers! 🙂
Thanks for the info! First I’ve heard that Browning follows my blog 🙂
Regarding “faster battery drain” in your 7E-HP5’s, what is the “IR Flash” setting you’re using, and what is your comparison point? One of the things I did notice when hacking the firmware for these cameras is that the “IR Flash” settings behave differently in different cameras models. For example, the power with “Economy Flash” on the HP5’s (4.6 Watts), is about 5% more than the “Economy Flash” settings on the HP4 (4.4 Watts). In the other settings: Long Range (4.6W), and Blur Reduction (9.2W), the power was the same for both HP5s and HP4s that I measured.
Then there’s the firmware. There is code in these cameras which is intended to modulate the actual flash power used depending on the lighting conditions. If it were my design, I would have the user setting be the “max” power consumed, and adjust the LED power down on a video-by-video basis depending on the ambient lighting, if possible. I spent a long time trying to understand the existing code, but never did figure it out, so I’m not sure if it works, or works the way I would do it :(. It’s pretty convoluted. In any case, it’s possible that there is some difference in the firmware between camera models which could lead to different actual flash power.
Hello Bob,
I’m wondering if the sd card corruption & link with internal clock spped is due to the fact they can provide 60 fps videos.
I ‘m fan of browning & 60fps smooth video which are not available in other trail camera manufacturers but may be they do not manage correctly the need of “fast writing” & sd card speed.
does the problem is the same if 60fps videos are not selected but only 30fps?
hope they will read your blog & fix it quickly!
We’re big fans of the 60 FPS capture HD (“Ultra”) video capture supported by Browning Cameras. But I don’t think support for this feature is at the root of the “SD card corruption” bug. Here’s why:
As it happens, writing MP4 compressed “ULTRA” (HD) video out at 60 FPS consumes less than 1 MByte/second of bandwidth into the SD card. This rate is easily handled by relatively slow (by current standards) SD cards. This data rate has remained consistent over the last 4 generations of Browning Cameras, starting with the Advantage series, whose firmware only supports relatively low clock and data rates.
[This requires that the SOC be capable of compressing an incoming HD (“ULTRA”) video stream from the Sony image sensor at full video line rate – which the iCatchTek V35 and V38 devices do]
I suspect this bug was inadvertently introduced into the Edge/HP4/HP5 Browning models when the software library for SD card support was upgraded to handle higher bandwidths for other camera applications, but the end-to-end design was not adequately verified. The fact that the new firmware often negotiates to the lower clock rate supported by the Browning cameras without errors allowed this bug to “slip through the cracks” in Browning’s validation methodology.
Hi Western MA Bob, I just stumbled upon your site while looking for troubleshooting help for my BTC-8E-HP5. The problem I am experiencing is that I put the camera out in the field and come back later a week later to find the batteries dead and the SD card filled with thousands of images with no motion in them. I’ve got nothing to lose on this unit so I will be installing your firmware in hopes that your superior engineering skills surpass those of the folks at Browning. Curious though if you’ve seen the phenomena I’ve described before. In your judgement a hardware or software problem?
Glad you found us. Unfortunately, I don’t have high hopes that my firmware will help with your problem.
Maybe it will, but in the likely case it doesn’t, here are some other ideas:
1. If the images are all taken one after another, or in clusters of consecutive “false” captures, you may be dealing with “run-on triggering” (you can find a description of this in my continuously updated How (some) Trail Cameras Fail This didn’t use to be an issue with the HP5s, but for some reason, the recent batches of this camera are prone to this problem. You should be able to reproduce this problem with the camera in a still room. Trigger the camera once (e.g. by walking in front of it). If you get more than a single image or video, you likely have this problem. If this is the problem, I would try decreasing the PIR sensitivity, and increasing the Photo Delay to 5 or even 10 seconds. Also, don’t use “Smart PIR” setting. I suspect this is a hardware problem, caused by an out-of-spec (or incorrect) component in the PIR sensor amplifier, but I don’t know this for sure. It’s not a firmware problem.
Or… (much less likely, in my experience)
2. You may have a bug with the PIR sensor itself. Set the camera up for “Aim Test”. The red LED on the front of the camera should only come on when you trigger it by walking in front of the camera, or waving your hand in front of the sensor. If the camera is in a still room, stably mounted, the LED should stay off. If its coming on, there’s a problem with the PIR sensor. You could try changing the PIR sensitivity setting, but if that doesn’t work, it will need to be replaced.
I’ve had run on triggers on HP4 and maybe HP5. I don’t get thousands, but I’ve seen 15+ recordings in a row. Each time camera was under warranty and was replaced by Browning.
Thanks for the information. This is disappointing. If you get to the point where vendor won’t replace, let me know. I’m curious about what’s actually going on with these cameras.
I’ve had this corruption happen a couple times. It’s been awhile, so I’m not sure if it was Recon Force Elite HP4 and/or HP5. Usually I have to toss the card. All my cards are 64gb because I can have a lot of activity and sometimes a day or two of wind can trigger 100+ recordings. I record for 1 minute with 1 second delay.
Also the cards are 170mb/sec and now every order they are coming as 200 Mb/sec. Great speed for moving from card to computer.
I just yesterday received 4 more cards from Amazon. 2 are for a new camera but 2 are for spares when I get corruption.
Is this firmware just for the HP5 or for both regarding the card corruption?
I’ve never had a case where a PC could not reformat a camere-corrupted SD card. But it sounds like this is what’s happening with yours? This would point more towards and SD card failure than the Browning bug.
You’re right about almost all large capacity SD cards operating at much higher clock frequencies than can be used safelyl on Browning Elite, HP4, and HP5 cameras (at least). It takes a long time to access such huge capacity at low data rates (though a low data rate works perfectly fine in the camera, since it will keep up with the rate at which images/video can be generated). I would expect the “corrupted sd card” issue to occur more frequently with faster cards.
BTW — if you are planning to try my firmware fix to this problem, wait a little while. Turns out my earlier fix was incomplete. I’m planning on a fix to the fix in a week or so.
Glad you mentioned to wait. I just setup 2 cards with each of the firmware.
I also like that you added some many useful additional features such as battery % on the info strip. Regarding the battery %, all my Browning cameras have either the solar panel or battery pack and when plugged into the camera the screen shows Ext Pwr. In that situation, will the strip show the internal battery %.
It’s possible I might be mistaken regarding being able to reformat a corrupt card. However, I think the card would not even mount on the iMac to be able to reformat. I also believe there might have been some times I actually could reformat.
Regarding battery life in the info strip — nope, sorry, the info strip will also say “EXT” (power).
Working on that firmware fix to the fix for “SD card corruption” bug today.
Hi Bob,
I recently got a new Elite HP5 and before putting it out in the field, I loaded your upgrades with those much wanted features. I tested the camera at home and to my dismay, it experienced run on triggering. Flash screen did upgrade to Red Fox. As a test, I went back to the original firmware (thank you) and the camera did not experience run on triggering while tested.
This was done quickly and could have been a one time event as I did not test this multiple times because I wanted to get the camera out in the field.
I don’t remember if I had a 128 GB card in the camera for the test, but it was very possible, incase that plays into the equation somehow. I did not get the “Reformat” error message.
Just wanted to share this if it ads info but it may be a one time event related to my camera.
I wonder if the newer HP5’s are somehow different than your original model that you wrote the software for or that it matters if it was a Recon Force vs Spec Ops model?
Thanks
Hmm — thanks for the info. That’s too bad 🙁 Haven’t seen that before, but I’ll double check this function in my next release.
I’m not aware of any changes in the HP5 firmware.
(I have had folks report that the the fix to corrupted SD card bug doesn’t always work 🙁 )
I too had failures with the older HP5 firmware — battery was dead after just one evening, SDXC card was corrupt. The more recent firmware update worked much better, but I’m still seeing corruption. This is on a SanDisk Extreme Pro 200MB/s 128Gb SDXC card.
I’m also seeing the battery report “B100” all the time. When I recharge I know for a fact they are not 100%. These are Eneloop NiMh.
Rats. This is not the first I’ve heard that my fix for corrupted SD cards is incomplete. The big challenge with this bug is that it is difficult to reproduce 🙁 If you, or anyone else, has a camera + SD card combo that fails reliably with my latest firmware, please let me know. I’d be interested in “borrowing” your camera to help debug this problem further.
Short of this, I’d be interested to know if first taking test photo/video when using a new card helps at all in preventing this problem. You can do this easily from the “preview” menu just by pressing the “E”(enter) button. It will take a photo (if in trail camera mode), or a video (if in video mode), and then automatically arm itself. This step causes the necessary directories to be created on a newly formatted SD card. I think “corrupt SD card” bug occurs when the firmware tries to create these directories on the first trigger, but confirming data is hard to come by.
Re: Battery meter. The enhanced info-strip in my firmware just displays the Browning factory battery status, which just isn’t that accurate, even when the “battery type” menu is set correctly (in your case to NiMh). Doe the on-screen battery meter in preview mode show the same value as the info strip?