Wyze Cam Pan - Keeps restarting/resetting on it's own

I am also experiencing these issues. I read above it could have to do with the amount of movement detected; however, that is not true in my case. I have three cams lined up staring at a white wall at this present moment and they continue to cycle on and off. Firmware is updated, the microsd cards are of appropriate size and speed, I have a top of the line gaming WIFI 6 router with fiber-optic 100 mb/s internet to the house. Additionally, my resolution continues to change from HD, to SD, to 360p. While one theory is that this is a result of weak internet connectivity, my wireless router is approximately 5 feet away so I am not very convinced there is any validity to that theory. I will note, I did not have these issues when I had only one Wyze Cam Pan; however, after purchasing these three new ones (and a Cam 2.0) and installing the latest updated firmware, I am having issues. Finally, in the event this is noteworthy I have an IPhone XSMax Plus. In the event anyone needs more information to help diagnose these issues let me know. Thanks!

I resolved the restarting issues by flashing the firmware to an earlier version. I first tried reformatting my microsd cards; however, that effort did not resolve the problem. Additionally, I am still having trouble with my cams switching from HD to SD. I am speculating, but I believe the HD to SD issue may be a problem with the app rather than the cameras? Any thoughts there?

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The cams are switched to the mode selected. For example, for my Nest cams, if I switch Video Quality to some other value, the cam actually goes offline for 10-15 seconds as it resets to the selected mode. I assume the Wyze cam does also.

I experienced this problem where mine would reset every few minutes on the latest firmware. I tried 2x 8GB MicroSDHC and a 64GB MicroSDXC card formatted manually to FAT32. No luck.

I did have success with the following steps (some probably aren’t necessary):

  1. Flash manually to 4.10.5.98 using the demo.bin method on the 8GB SD card
  2. Re-run setup and observe it actually started continuous recording mode for the first time ever.
  3. Use the Eject SD card option from Local Storage menu.
  4. Rolled the dice and downloaded 4.10.5.111 and put it on the 64GB SD card and flashed manually.
  5. Seems to be still working!

Perhaps my system filesystem was corrupt from the OTA and re-flashing it recovered it. Also verified that the camera is certainly able to read my 64GB MicroSDXC card.

Support pat to flash firmware manually:

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This worked for me. After inserting the SD card the camera was constantly rebooting and giving me the spinning wheel. I used the same SD card to manually flash the firmware back one release then used it again to flash to current release. So far everything is working as it should. I think you are right about the OTA firmware update.

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I appreciate you sharing this information. I was having the daily resets from just one of my Pan Cams, the other was fine. Also, this cam would not stay in a position I wanted it to, It kept re-centering after a few seconds. This drove me crazy.

Chat support wanted to go through all these useless gyrations, I finally just closed the chat and searched here. Thanks again for sharing, I hope this resolves my woes…

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Ours frequently switch from HD to 360P. Heck, just to check that, looked at 1 of our 3 now, it was on HD, now it’s at 360. Very annoying.

I can’t seem to get the manual flashing instructions to work. The sd card is one supplied by Wyze.

I insert it into my macbook, I copy over the firmware zip file and rename it to demo.bin. I then insert it into my wyze pan cam. I hold down the set-up button and then insert the power cord. The instructions say in 3-6 seconds the light should turn solid blue but it never does, it just belts out “ready to connect” a few seconds later.

I’m at a loss. I know these things aren’t expensive but it’s been almost a month since I purchased it and the device is useless to me. If they know the latest firmware is so bugged, why are they pushing it out to new devices? I would’ve never updated it when it prompted me if I known. :frowning:

Here is what I did:

  1. Insert the sd card. If prompted to repair it, do it. If you have data on it that you do not want to keep, also format it (quick format works great).

  2. Copy over the firmware file (not the folder) you wish to use, and rename it. Make sure you are using the right firmware (separate firmware exists for the Cam and the CamPan).

  3. Safely eject the sd card from the computer, and then pull it out.

  4. With your cam unplugged, insert the sd card, hold down the magical button, and then plug in the unit. Wait until the light starts flashing yellow and blue (I think that is what it will flash) and then release the button.

If I am wrong here, someone please correct me. I’m at work and trying to remember the process from memory.

I’ve never paid attention to this issue, cause I keep all the Wyze cams at 360, but I thought I’d test.

Select camera → tap “360” → select “SD” … can see resolution has changed …

Exited the app, restarted it , selected camera … i can tell it’s at 360 even though it displays “SD” … so I tap “SD” (upper left corner) and select “SD” at the list again and when the video displays. it’s obviously now at “SD” as it should.

Again, I exit the app, restart it , select camera … it’s back at 360 AGAIN, even though it displays “SD” … so I tap “SD” and select “SD” again and when the video displays. it’s obviously now at “SD”. But anytime I stop the app, then fire it up again, it’s back at 360

So yea, this is an issue

Sounds right. The firmware zip file is a compressed file that would need to be extracted typically in a folder. Go into the folder and you want to copy the file that ends in .bin. Copy that file to your microSD card at the top of the directory. Be sure and rename the file to demo.bin then follow Chad’s instructions. I

Will.B, reinstalling the firmware fixed my restarting problem. Originally Support was suspicious it was the microSD card but it seemed to happen with 3 different cards which ruled that out. Also the strange part is the Wyze 32 microSD card seemed to fail more than the ScanDisk ones. But after the firmware reinstall it is ALL GOOD now!!! :partying_face:

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Thanks everyone! I realized that I was downloading the zip file and just renaming it. Mostly because I misunderstood the instructions to say only unzip on a PC. It’s all fixed now. :slight_smile:

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I am glad I found this thread. It made me crazy to pinpoint what the issue was, why it was restarting.
First I thought it is something to do with the wifi. Since it disconnected for about a minute and was not able to access the feed. I thought it may be due to congestion and I tried changing the router channels manually. It did not help.
Then I thought it may be the wifi reception, so I bought a new wifi extender and setup the cam to use the new network. There was same issue with that.
Now I was sure it is not the wifi.
Then my next doubt was power supply. That something wrong with power cable. I replaced the usb cable with another branded cable. But it had the same issue.
I took the SD card next and analyzed few videos during the failure period. The videos were corrupted at the end. So I tested my Samsung pro endurance 32 GB card with H2testw and there were no issues with the card.

Now I am going to try flashing the old and new firmware and check out the results.
I have already ordered a replacement from amazon but lets hope the firmware reflashing will resolve this issue.
Will keep you posted.

What type did you get?
A Powerline?
A repeater?

I ask because a repeater can be deceptively anti-bandwidth, especially if they’re using the same band to communicate with devices and then communicate with the main router. In these cases. the bandwidth can easily be halved.

Modern. dedicated mesh routers/repeaters will communicate on a dedicated band between themselves, thereby allowing devices to utilize the band they’re dedicated to.

Personally, I prefer Powerlines to extend the Wifi, if not using a dedicated mesh type system.

I got a Netgear WN3000RPv3
It was setup as an extender with a different SSID than the original Wifi. In this case does it use different band or same band?
For now I don’t need a mesh, may be later for a bigger home.

Another issue which i faced is while flashing the firmware.
The cam wouldn’t read the firmware file and show blue solid blue light after pressing setup button while power on.
I had to format the card inside/via the cam and then add the firmware file in the root directory.
And the flashing worked (Finally got the solid blue light after pressing setup and plugging in power)
I guess Windows does fat32 format in a different way compared to cam?
I reformatted it again to fat32 on the PC. Will see how the cam works now.

Update : Tried reflashing old and new firmware but see no improvement.
The timeline still have portions of no recording. attaching the screenshot.
Does anyone still face such issue?

Formatting the micro SD card and manually installing the firmware worked. I tried many different things but formatting the SD card fixed it.

  1. format card
  2. copy over in demo.bin
  3. put card into camera
  4. push setup button while plugging in power
  5. wait 30 secs
  6. setup new device.

I hope that helps someone.

FWIW I went through 2 RMAs of a PAN and never got it to stop restarting every few hours with every possible troubleshooting technique. I have since removed all PANs from service. Not worth the unreliability.

I have been facing this on 1 of the pan cams after about 4-5 months of continuous use. I believe this may have to do with some rotation/position sensors and them getting dislodged/dislocated due to the pan/rotation of the cam. I am gonna open the cam n chk myself as I also tried several of the suggestions from the support site & forums & still have the issue making the cam useless :imp:

I’m still having the pan v1 issue. It restarts every 15 minutes or so. The first 2 years I had it, it worked fine. My other pan works fine, as does my Pan V2.