SD Cards, in my experience, cause a majority of the issues with failed Firmware Flashes. I have purchased a brand in the past that, because of the wonky format on the card from the factory, absolutely refuses to Flash even though it is the correct size and format. These cards were also highly prone to failure. Here are some points to consider:
- You must Factory Reset the device without any SD Card and then unplug it prior to running each Flash attempt.
- It must be a card formatted to FAT32. Cards 32GB and smaller come factory formatted this way by industry standards, but you can never be sure with off brand discount cards.
- The card needs to be blank with the proper .bin file copied to the root. If you are renaming the file, be absolutely positive you aren’t adding an extension when you don’t have to.
- Be absolutely positive you have the correct .zip archive downloaded for your model Cam.
- If a card fails to flash, try a new card. Preferably a reputable brand.
- If a firmware version fails to flash, try a different version. While they may have been pulled from the download site, that doesn’t mean other users don’t have them archived for posterity.
- It isn’t a bad idea to completely reformat the card with a new FAT32 format. Not a Quick Format or a Format in the cam. These just erase the data and leave the old File Allocation Table in tact. A full hard reformat.
- Use a scanning utility program to scan the card for errors and issues to make sure it is 100% healthy.
- Be sure you are following the Flash procedure step by step. Press and hold while plugging it in. Continue holding only until both lights activate simultaneously to show purple.