# Sentry Mode System Error



## cain04 (Apr 16, 2018)

Hello everyone,

Has anyone been receiving a “Sentry mode has turned off due to sentry system error” since updating to 2020.12.5? Not sure why this is happening. I also installed a Seagate 500Gb ssd drive and not sure if one of these or both are the culprit. 
I received a notification about this yesterday afternoon and shortly after 12pm today. Not sure if something triggered the system or writing to the ssd at these times but I find it alarming as it makes me feel the system will go down and not provide protection or footage of the car.
Thanks for your help!


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## pacific dunes (Jan 6, 2018)

I have the same Samsung 500GB SSD and now my sentry and associated drive space is deactivated, as if the drive doesn't exist. It appeared to break after that 2020.12.5 update.


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## cain04 (Apr 16, 2018)

pacific dunes said:


> I have the same Samsung 500GB SSD and now my sentry and associated drive space is deactivated, as if the drive doesn't exist. It appeared to break after that 2020.12.5 update.


Did you get the same error message? Sorry to hear about the drive and Sentry. Did you manage to get it to work again?


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## Jay79 (Aug 18, 2018)

Happened to me last night, your not alone


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## cain04 (Apr 16, 2018)

Jay79 said:


> Happened to me last night, your not alone


I just came back to the car. Definitely something wonky happening with Sentry. I was able to launch the viewer. But the clips are all really short. After exiting the viewer. The camera stayed grey. Then the camera icon disappeared altogether. Rebooted and unplugged and it seems to be ok now. I'll keep an eye on it. I booked a mobile service for it just in case but I think I'll cancel and call in instead.
Interested to hear about others experiences.
Thanks!


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## cain04 (Apr 16, 2018)

Jay79 said:


> Happened to me last night, your not alone


Hey Jay,

thanks for letting me know. Do you use an SSD? I just heard back from Mkbike Service and they are attributing the problem to the SSD. They are telling me that ssd is not an approved device for Sentry mode and this they will not explore the further. Unless it is a USB drive this problem will occur.
I find this hard to believe and in a bit surprised at how they're not willing to explore this issue more, given that it occurred after a firmware update.


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## Jay79 (Aug 18, 2018)

cain04 said:


> Hey Jay,
> 
> thanks for letting me know. Do you use an SSD? I just heard back from Mkbike Service and they are attributing the problem to the SSD. They are telling me that ssd is not an approved device for Sentry mode and this they will not explore the further. Unless it is a USB drive this problem will occur.
> I find this hard to believe and in a bit surprised at how they're not willing to explore this issue more, given that it occurred after a firmware update.


Yeah I'm using a Samsung SSD. Never had an issue before. I doubt it has anything to do with it, just doesn't make sense


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## cain04 (Apr 16, 2018)

Jay79 said:


> Yeah I'm using a Samsung SSD. Never had an issue before. I doubt it has anything to do with it, just doesn't make sense


I was shocked at how quickly dismissive Tesla Service was about this. As soon as they read SSD, they basically said it's not supported and wouldn't entertain any troubleshooting or bug reporting. Since I installed the latest firmware and the drive within a short period of time I just wanted to know which, if not both, were the culprit.

They told me they wouldn't support until recommended device were in place so I put the USB key back that I have been using for over a year. I woke up this morning to the same error message. Looks like a bug in 12.5. I messaged them to go through the logs and see if they can help or Report to the engineers.

has anyone been able to do anything to get rid of the problem with this software and their setup?

thanks!


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## BluestarE3 (Oct 12, 2017)

Any of you happen to be using ext4 filesystem on their USB storage device? After I updated to 2020.12.5, my dashcam was disabled and there was a warning triangle at the top with a message that I have to reformat my device to a supported format. I'd been using ext4 for months without issue after they added support for it, first with music and then with TeslaCam. So, I reformatted it as ext4 again and it still didn't work. Next, I formatted it to FAT32 and that did the trick. I'm assuming it's a regression error and that ext4 will be supported again in a future release?

The good news is that ext4 still works on my music partition.


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## cain04 (Apr 16, 2018)

BluestarE3 said:


> Any of you happen to be using ext4 filesystem on their USB storage device? After I updated to 2020.12.5, my dashcam was disabled and there was a warning triangle at the top with a message that I have to reformat my device to a supported format. I'd been using ext4 for months without issue after they added support for it, first with music and then with TeslaCam. So, I reformatted it as ext4 again and it still didn't work. Next, I formatted it to FAT32 and that did the trick. I'm assuming it's a regression error and that ext4 will be supported again in a future release?
> 
> The good news is that ext4 still works on my music partition.


I've only been using FAT32. I've heard about this with those using the Roadie, but that has since been corrected. Looks like Tesla only wants FAT32 for sentry now.


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## sduck (Nov 23, 2017)

BluestarE3 said:


> Any of you happen to be using ext4 filesystem on their USB storage device? After I updated to 2020.12.5, my dashcam was disabled and there was a warning triangle at the top with a message that I have to reformat my device to a supported format. I'd been using ext4 for months without issue after they added support for it, first with music and then with TeslaCam. So, I reformatted it as ext4 again and it still didn't work. Next, I formatted it to FAT32 and that did the trick. I'm assuming it's a regression error and that ext4 will be supported again in a future release?
> 
> The good news is that ext4 still works on my music partition.


Yes, ext4 for dashcam/sentry use doesn't work anymore.


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## cain04 (Apr 16, 2018)

Just heard back from Tesla Service, they have confirmed with engineers and product development teams that this is a bug in 12.5 and will be fixed in an undetermined software release.


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## JohnL (Apr 16, 2020)

sduck said:


> Yes, ext4 for dashcam/sentry use doesn't work anymore.


Sir: I have a 2019 Model 3 and just loaded 2020.12.5. My usb stick is exactly the scan disk recommended by tesla. It is formatted fat32. the dashcam icon shows it is recording however there is only sentry mode video actually recorded and no dashcam video. do you have any suggestions. johnl


sduck said:


> Yes, ext4 for dashcam/sentry use doesn't work anymore.


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## cain04 (Apr 16, 2018)

JohnL said:


> Sir: I have a 2019 Model 3 and just loaded 2020.12.5. My usb stick is exactly the scan disk recommended by tesla. It is formatted fat32. the dashcam icon shows it is recording however there is only sentry mode video actually recorded and no dashcam video. do you have any suggestions. johnl


Hi John,

When you view the folders of videos, only the videos saved by the Sentry Mode being triggered or when you tap on the camera icon will be saved. If you're driving and you click that camera, only the last 10 minutes are saved. Otherwise, the last hour (I believe) is saved in the recent folder and gets erased as new video form the last hour is saved. I hope this helps!


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## JohnL (Apr 16, 2020)

cain04 said:


> Hi John,
> 
> When you view the folders of videos, only the videos saved by the Sentry Mode being triggered or when you tap on the camera icon will be saved. If you're driving and you click that camera, only the last 10 minutes are saved. Otherwise, the last hour (I believe) is saved in the recent folder and gets erased as new video form the last hour is saved. I hope this helps!


Thanks. I removed the USB stick from the Model 3 and plugged it into my MAC. I can see all the dashcam files on my MAC. However the new viewer in the car says there are no files to view. Looks like a bug and I will try and alert Tesla. Cheers/JohnL


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## BluestarE3 (Oct 12, 2017)

JohnL said:


> Thanks. I removed the USB stick from the Model 3 and plugged it into my MAC. I can see all the dashcam files on my MAC. However the new viewer in the car says there are no files to view. Looks like a bug and I will try and alert Tesla. Cheers/JohnL


On your Mac, were those files located in the Recent clips or the Saved clips folder?


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## JohnL (Apr 16, 2020)

BluestarE3 said:


> On your Mac, were those files located in the Recent clips or the Saved clips folder?


Recent clips


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## BluestarE3 (Oct 12, 2017)

JohnL said:


> Recent clips


That's the point @cain04 was making above. The on-board viewer lists only the saved clips -- either saved automatically by a Sentry Mode event, or explicitly saved by you when you press the dashcam icon or toot your horn (assuming you've enabled this). Recent clips contain the rolling dashcam clips that are temporarily saved when you drive your car and they get overwritten unless saved. If you want to view an event that just occurred, you should explicitly save it and then you can view it on the touchscreen in your car. If you want to review the temporary footage in the Recent clips folder, you'll need to pull your storage media and plug it into your computer, tablet or phone.


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## JohnL (Apr 16, 2020)

Many thanks for your help. JohnL


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## SalisburySam (Jun 6, 2018)

Same Sentry error message the first time I set Sentry after getting 12.5. Using a Samsung T5 500GB SSD FAT32. 

I did a two-button reboot but got the same error the next night.


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## Boggtj01 (Sep 27, 2017)

I've been using a SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive (USB C & USB A) 128GB for a long time now and never had an issue. Last night I got the same error as cain04. I've not checked to see if its working correctly since the error. Glad they finally admitted that its a software bug, but I hate how they always say it'll be fixed in an upcoming software update as I've a different issue with my charge port light that is supposedly supposed to be fixed with a software update and its been months with no fix. It'd be nice if they'd give a bit more clarity and say we have it scheduled to be fixed in a specific software version, but with so many that they're likely working on its unlikely.


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## cain04 (Apr 16, 2018)

Well... the perfect, annoying storm just happened.

I've been receiving the same error message a few times this week but since I know it's a glitch I've been ignoring it. Tonight I got one late after my car had been sitting in my condo garage for a while because of all of isolating I've been doing with the rest of the world.


I decided to see if it was linked to the sentry mode being triggered or not, so I went to the car. I figured it would be good to check up on it as it had been 4 days.

Sure enough, my neighbour in the garage doored my car. 9 sentry alerts. No footage on the drive. This isn't the first time he has done it either, but I had it fixed and ignored it to be kind and neighbourly.

Now I feel vulnerable and screwed about how to proceed with this and future events.

I don't think Tesla keeps footage but does anybody know who I can contact in Canada/North America for assistance with this?

Thanks everyone.


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## cain04 (Apr 16, 2018)

Has anyone who has updated to 12.6 and had Sentry issues with it shutting off or recording events to your media seen an improvement with this update? Thanks.


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## Tony Rigano (Aug 19, 2018)

Had similar instance with my sentry mode. 1:30 am the sentry kicked in. Did it again about 5 minutes later then nothing. Only have a flash drive (128 gb).
wife got mobile notification but I didn’t.


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## RonAz (Oct 16, 2018)

I can't seem to deactivate Sentry at home. It flashes and turns on the screen when I walk by in the garage. I have rebooted, turned Sentry off and on and enabled and disabled the home location. This all started after 12.10.


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## BluestarE3 (Oct 12, 2017)

RonAz said:


> I can't seem to deactivate Sentry at home. It flashes and turns on the screen when I walk by in the garage. I have rebooted, turned Sentry off and on and enabled and disabled the home location. This all started after 12.10.


Are you able to turn off Sentry Mode completely and have it stay off? In other words, the problem is that you just aren't able to exclude your home location?


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## RonAz (Oct 16, 2018)

Correct. I can turn it off, but I can't exclude activation at home. It may be that it does not know where home is? It knows where home is in navigation mode though.


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## BluestarE3 (Oct 12, 2017)

RonAz said:


> Correct. I can turn it off, but I can't exclude activation at home. It may be that it does not know where home is? It knows where home is in navigation mode though.


What about HomeLink? Do you have that and, if so, does it know where home is? I have a feeling it's a bug in Sentry Mode; I seem to recall reading other reports of similar issues in the recent software version(s).


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## RonAz (Oct 16, 2018)

Homelink is working as always. Very short range compared to the door fob though. I have a gate at my lot and it knows when I approach the gate. Then when I get to the garage door the homelink screen comes up again for opening the garage door. It seems to just be a Sentry problem. Perhaps a future update will resolve it.


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## Long Ranger (Jun 1, 2018)

RonAz said:


> I can't seem to deactivate Sentry at home. It flashes and turns on the screen when I walk by in the garage. I have rebooted, turned Sentry off and on and enabled and disabled the home location. This all started after 12.10.


And I assume you've actually been driving the car and not just doing the steps listed above in your garage? I just ask because I know that when I've disabled the home location it didn't immediately turn off Sentry. I had to put the car in gear and then Park for Sentry to turn off.


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## RonAz (Oct 16, 2018)

Yes I've been driving it. I live in the country so I am always isolated. 
When I leave and go somewhere I turn Sentry on, if I don't turn it off when I get home it activates when I walk by.


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## cain04 (Apr 16, 2018)

With 2020.12.11, I have seen the sentry mode errors shutting off the system has stopped.

A continued concern is that I get into the car and see sentry mode events, but they are not being recorded to the drive. I have formatted the drive, rebooted the system and this still stays the same.

Is anyone else experiencing this with their Sentry Mode? Any feedback and responses are greatly appreciated.


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## cain04 (Apr 16, 2018)

I’m reviving this as I’m still having issues over 4 months later and hoping for some help or guidance.

Ever since 2020.12.x my car has not been recording sentry events to the drive consistenly. Switching drives makes no difference. Neither does switching USB ports.

screen shows sentry events, but upon looking with the in screen viewer or the computer shows no recordings or many missing ones.

In addition, I’m convinced the side repeater cams are not working as well or are less sensitive to sentry alerts. I park in a garage in a middle spot between two cars. Before, when cars would leave or enter it would record. Now, nothing.

Tesla was initially very hesitant to provide any help. They kept telling me it was a beta function and they do not guarantee protection to the car. Ummm... ok. But it was working fine before and now it isn’t! They were very reluctant to even look into it for me or to seek out solutions, even ones I suggested like rolling back the firmware for comparison, testing the ports, the cameras. Checking logs etc.

i found on mobile service tech who has been helpful and wanting to get a resolution but has fallen off the radar a bit I terms of follow up. I’m tired of this not working and I’m reaching out to see if others have or are experiencing this and how you got this resolved.

Thank in advance for your replies!s


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## lance.bailey (Apr 1, 2019)

does sentry mode not allow saving videos up to the Tesla mothership/cloud? can you do that until SSD support is fixed? that would at least get you sentry recording of the door dings.

Bit disappointing in your reports of their response

it is your SSD not the update
it is the update, but will get fixed in the future
it's only beta so sad that it did not work
there have been many updates in the last 4 months - none of them addressing a bug they introduced. New functionality - sure, that can take a while to schedule into release, but I would think that bug fixes would be prioritized; more so ones introduced into previously functioning code...

(now how do i get down from this pulpit ...)


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## cain04 (Apr 16, 2018)

lance.bailey said:


> does sentry mode not allow saving videos up to the Tesla mothership/cloud? can you do that until SSD support is fixed? that would at least get you sentry recording of the door dings.
> 
> Bit disappointing in your reports of their response
> 
> ...


there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the drives. I've tried multiple and they all do the same thing. Everything was fine until 2020.8.3. As soon as the in-car viewer launched things have been awful for sentry.

i really wish this would be resolved. The most they say is that if it's a bug it will be fixed in an update (4 months and 6 updates at least since then) or is beta so it's bound to not work. I don't accept that. Especially when it it was working fine before. The way it's functioning now it's a roll of the dice if it works.

Anyone else having this problem and can shed some light on what worked?

thanks!


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## cain04 (Apr 16, 2018)

I’m at my wits end with this.

I still have problems with sentry. This has been going on for 5 months. Currently sentry:

1. Shows events on the screen but doesn’t record over 90% of them.
2. Barely triggers on the repeaters cameras. Only the front camera seems to trigger anything.

This broke around 12.5. Tesla has not been wanting to help me with this. At last point of contact, they wanted to charge me to have a mobile tech. Come out to look at this because they said “it’s in beta”. I argued about the car being under warranty still and them being dismissive about this issue.

I found a really nice tech who’s been willing to help me informally but contact with him is spread out every 2 weeks and he only says he’s talking to other techs and engineers to “see if they have any updates”.

I”ve tried multiple drives, reset the car, and tried triggering sentry on my own to see if I can notice patterns on when it records and when it doesn’t.

Is anyone else having this problem or have it solved? I’m desperate and I have no idea what to do.

Thanks!


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

cain04 said:


> I'm desperate and I have no idea what to do.


Have you tried one of the USB drive models that Tesla recommends?

From the Model 3 Owner's Manual:

Although not a comprehensive list, Tesla has confirmed through testing that the following flash drives meet the requirements for Dashcam and Sentry Mode use:​
SanDisk Ultra Fit USB 3.1 Flash Drive
Samsung MUF-64AB/AM FIT Plus -200MB/s USB 3.1 Flash Drive


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## cain04 (Apr 16, 2018)

Hi Garsh,
I have the first one and I tried it along with a few others. All perform the same way. Any other thoughts? I appreciate any help.


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## SimonMatthews (Apr 20, 2018)

garsh said:


> Have you tried one of the USB drive models that Tesla recommends?
> 
> From the Model 3 Owner's Manual:
> 
> ...


I used to use a thumb drive, but after some time, the car flashed up messages abut it being too slow.

What works for me is M.2 SSD in a USB enclosure. These are small and intended for much higher endurance than a thumb drive.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

cain04 said:


> Hi Garsh,
> I have the first one and I tried it along with a few others. All perform the same way. Any other thoughts? I appreciate any help.


I'm not sure. Having a service center that doesn't want to solve the problem really sucks. But being able to say that you are specifically using one of the recommended drives means that there's one less thing they can say that you're "doing wrong".

I think you just have to keep pestering them. Sure, it may be "beta", but it's also a feature that you paid additional money to have, and it's advertised as a feature in the release notes and the owner's manual. Maybe also try to call Tesla corporate and complain about the service center refusing to address the issue?


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## cain04 (Apr 16, 2018)

garsh said:


> I'm not sure. Having a service center that doesn't want to solve the problem really sucks. But being able to say that you are specifically using one of the recommended drives means that there's one less thing they can say that you're "doing wrong".
> 
> I think you just have to keep pestering them. Sure, it may be "beta", but it's also a feature that you paid additional money to have, and it's advertised as a feature in the release notes and the owner's manual. Maybe also try to call Tesla corporate and complain about the service center refusing to address the issue?


hey Garsh,

I think you're right. It's been t.5 months and I've been really patient. The tech that's unofficially helping me has been nice but over the past 3 months hasn't been responding and each new update doesn't resolve the issue. I'm also noticing that the repeater cameras shift from being bright to dark, which I've never noticed before.

I'll try reaching out to someone at corporate.

Thanks


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## Airwolf (Jun 18, 2020)

I am running 36.10 and experiencing similar issues. Sentry mode randomly will show a red x in the icon and will be offline. Can’t access any recordings. I am also running the Samsung 500gb SSD.

Tesla service advised to use a Samsung flash drive because “ the USB ports not providing enough power to sustain the SSD!”

Going to try it but I think it’s another waste of time! They’re chasing their tails!


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## cain04 (Apr 16, 2018)

Reviving this thread: Is anyone still having issues with Sentry showing alerts on the in-car screen but have missing recording on their drive? Looking to see how anyone solved this.

Thanks everyone!


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