We use a couple GoProHD Hero cameras for some of our POV video footage. You can read a full review of these cameras HERE although this model is older, the current GoPro cameras are the Hero3 models.
Anyway, after using the cameras for about three years without any problems, when I plugged one of the cameras into the USB port of my computer to charge the battery, instead of the red light on the front of the camera coming on indicating the camera was charging, the light began flashing weakly. I disconnected the camera from the computer and pushed the power/mode button on the front of the camera and nothing happened. I took the battery out and replaced it with a battery from another camera and powered it up, the camera turned on normally. I turned the camera off, waited a few minutes and tried it again and the camera did not power up. I took the battery that would not charge and put it in another GoPro, plugged it into the computer with the USB cord and got the weak flashing red light. I immediately unhooked it from the computer and pulled the battery out.
Clearly there was a problem, either with the camera or the battery. Since I got the flashing red light on two cameras with the same battery, I suspect the battery is defective, maybe a short circuit, and may have done some damage to the camera.
If the camera was still covered by the GoPro warranty, it could have been sent back to the factory and have them check it out. In this case, I would have sent the camera and the battery. Since this camera is beyond the warranty period, we would have to take care of the problem ourselves. We decided to try a “hard reset” of the camera and hope that would bring the camera back to life. If you have a problem like this with your GoPro, here’s how to do a hard reset:
GoPro Hero and Hero II
GoPro Hero 3 and 3+
GoPro Hero 4
The “hard reset” may not work in every situation, but with a dead camera that’s out of warranty, there are not a lot of options. The battery that gave the weak blinking light when charging is going in the trash.
We have become aware of a last ditch attempt to salvage GoPro cameras that appear dead. We have not tried this ourselves and recommend that you do not do any of this unless you have a GoPro camera that appears completely dead, you’ve tried everything else and the camera is out of warranty. You will also need to have some knowledge of Linux and be able to follow instructions. You can check it out here if you want to give it a try.
The Camera is blincking red but dont start…
I have 2 gopro hero 1 and both of them dont work.
Please help me 🙁
Did you try the hard reset procedure described in this blog post?
I did try this hard restart and it did not work. The camera is working – ie when I turn it on the light on front blinks and the tone is heard, but the front screen doesn’t work. I have the LCD screen for the back of the camera, so I can see the settings that way, but I can’t use the LCD screen most of the time because it drains the battery and can’t be shut off.
I emailed GoPro last night…Waiting to hear back from them. Of course my warranty expired in August…
Hello Tim
I hope things work out for you. Keep in mind that these small cameras aren’t going to last forever. They want you to buy another one!
Ron B
Having the same problems with mine. Battery charged up fine, but the camera is locked on the start screen, can do nothing from there. Hard reset doesn’t appear to have worked. The camera is a couple of years old, but I’ve only shot maybe an hour of video with it in that time. It has been through no hard use, no drops, no weather, nothing. There’s not a chance in Hades I’d buy another one if this one won’t work. Too many cheaper alternatives out there to drop big bucks on something that works for two hours and quits.
Hard reset worked for me on a Hero2 and I even fogot to take out the SD card
My fairly new Gopro 3+ stopped working, I believe water may have leaked into the camera housing. I dried the camera out in rice for five days, cleaned it up and now I am having problems to power the camera up.
Should I keep trying to hard start the camera or do I accept defeat and purchase another one. During my attempts to hard start up the camera, a dim red light was displayed at the rear of the camera, after an attempt to charge via the USB this light changed to blue.
I had this problem with my GoPro original Hero HD camera and this reset fixed the problem first go. My camera had been sitting unused for about 6 months, I am continuing to use the battery that was in it with no issues.
Thanks a lot for this post WatermanAtWork, you saved me a lot of time and money!
Glad you could get your camera running again.
Thank you!!!!
I tried everything but nothing worked exept for this!!!!!!
Glad that it worked for you.
hi. i have a hero 3+ black edition. i was using it one day and there’s still 1 bar left on the battery, transferred all my pix to my iphone at night and the next day while driving for 3hours i charged my camera in the car.. upon reaching our destination i got the 2bars for battery and used it underwater a few times then decided to view the pix on my phone so i turned the wifi on. i was able to view it and everything’s good. i decided to turn it off to make it rest for awhile before we head back to the water. after a few shots under water, i decided to turn on the wifi so i can transfer all the pix but it won’t turn on anymore. i thought maybe the battery’s all drained so i waited to reach home before i charged it. when i tried to turn it on after charging, it wont power on anymore. i tried the hard reset but it still wont turn on. i see the red light in front to indicate that it’s charging. everytime i press any button the red light at the back flashes. only a single blink though. i don’t know what to do to revive it. do u have any other solution aside from this. please help me..
You might try another battery. Sometimes, when the battery is worn out or defective, the camera light will indicate that it is charging, but the battery cannot accept or hold a charge. Also, you may want to consider using a memory card reader to download your content from the camera.
Thank you very much !!
worked easly for me . Before reading your Blog i opened i checked for any hw issue.
If it can help . my battery is still working but i think to change it anyway.
Last information : It happened to me after a period of one year without using the camera ( model HD hero original )
One again thank you.
ive had this issue with my go pro 960 hd for a long time i have to do the hard reset every time i use the camera sometimes it works and other times i can try it for hours with no luck, guess im going to have to upgrade to a new one!!
Hello. This kind of happened to my gopro hero 1 and this worked! Can’t take the battery out but I took out the SD, left it for a few mins, held down the shutter button and put in sd card (every time I put sd card in while it was broken it said “busy” so it did that again. Then holding the shutter button I pressed the power button and it worked!! Thanks so much! Was panicking as this was one of the first times we used it! Thank you so much
It’s nice when things work out…
Hi, I tried your Hard Reset tips, but the GoPro Still wont open.
Thanks so much! Nothing worked when I tried it but thanks to you it does now!
I got a go pro hero today I turned it on and then off but whe iv tried to turn it on it won’t come back on can anyone help thanks ????
I am having a similar problem with my Hero 4 Silver… It will not even turn on anymore, with a fully charged battery. I have tried the hard reset directions described. The camera will turn on, but the LCD doesn’t display anything, and I cannot turn it back off (without taking the battery out). The camera is only 3 months old, and has been used sparingly.
I have the HERO brand new, cheapest model. Doesn’t have wifi and i cannot take out the battery. though fully charged, at times it will not turn on which is frustrating when i have my shots set up to go, and nothing. i hate to think that i will have to remove the SIMS card to make it work when in environments outside my home. i am almost over the thrill of a gopro after reading so much negativity. any suggestions before i just ditch it? thanks
If it is a new camera, contact GoPro, get a return authorization and send it to them for repair or replacement under the camera warranty.
Waterman, yes,going to do that. Thanks for your time.
Hi I am on holidays and the GoPro was working fine but for some reason it has stopped turning on. I have tried the hard reset I have seen in other forums (take battery out, hold down shutter button, insert battery, hold down power button) but nothing seems to work.
When I insert the USB charging cable the front red light turns on (not flashing but stays on) but it still doesn’t turn on. I have tried by battery in someone else’s GoPro 3+ and it turns on fine so I know it is not a battery issue.
Please help!
Thanks
I’ve found that when you are charging the GoPro battery with the USB cable and the red light stays on(not flashing), but the battery does not charge, it means the battery is dead. With normal use, the batteries only last a couple years, at best. Keep in mind that the batteries from the earlier Hero HD and Hero 2 HD are not the same as the batteries in the more recent GoPro models. They are not interchangeable. Just like anything else, GoPro cameras can be defective and will eventually wear out. Out of the two GoPro Hero2 cameras I have, one had to be returned under warranty and I’ve gone through three batteries.
My gopro just keeps on flashing blue even if i load ot or not but i cant turn it on, help
thank you! worked on a frozen 3+ black
Bought new battery. Still won’t turn on
I dropped my Hero4 last night, wont turn on, tried everything. I would like to repair it myself, but I’m having trouble diagnosing exactly where the problem is & what would need to be replaced.
Any ideas would be great.
Cheers.
first i dropped my gopro into the water! it was damaged but then i fixed it and it was working normally! after a week it suddenly wont turn on! So i decided to change my battery, i bought anew one and it worked while testing it, going back from the shop i charged my battery tried to turn it on but it didnt, and sometimes whie trying to turn it on i see my screen blinks black for a second then turn off! its very weird i searched for an answer or similar problem but i diidnt find
( hero 4 ; silver) why does my gopro turn brighf white on my screen even if im trying to take a video or picture? Nofhing bug white on the screen. And when i try to charge it, the battery icon and a plug icon blinks >~< pls help!
hi guys, i need your helps. and of course the issue here is my gopro hero 4 wont turn on. im trying to do the hard reset now. been trying two to three other method but it still wont turn on. hope this one working on my gopro. its so depressing since my vacation date is just a week from now. >< pray for my gopro.:)
My 3+ Black froze on a start screen after changing various settings quickly one after the other. Tried everything from the GoPro site with no luck. The hard reset above worked perfectly . Thanks so much 🙂
May I say that you rock man!!! This reset worked perfectly for my Go Pro 2 model after taking the battery out for just a few second.
Thanks!
Hi, i dropped my go pro hero 3+ in water with the non water proof case and then after a minute of realising i opened it up and took out the battery right away and put all the go pro stuff in a rice bag, then around a week later after letting it sit in rice i put everything together and powered it but one problem is that the led’s were going crazy (red and blue) so i immediatly took out the battery again…
can someone also tell how does the go pro warrranty last? I got my go pro on christmas and its now july…. someone help plz…
You have to hold down the power/mode button down for 15 – 30 seconds and the lights will stop blinking. You can now then it on normally and should work fine. This happened to me too and that is what I did.
Hi there,
I have a new Hero4, have done about 1 hour of recording total..Will only record for a few minutes then shuts downs completely. I have slowed camera down 720 /30, held mode button in for 8 sec to reboot, re formatted SD card, changed to Sandisk 64 gb SD card, changed battery’s .
Tried all in your Blog. Any other sergestions would be appreciated
Thanks Rusty.
Hi to all
My hero 4 black had the same freeze as all above with a bad quality film when it did work,after trying absolutely everything I had read and told i put in the freezer as last resort,(in it’s protective case, no battery or SD card) Next morning after I had forgotten about the damn thing,it WORKS!!
Have an original GoPro Hero. Has worked wonderfully over the last few years. Brought it to Hawaii and was snorkeling in 12-15 feet of water (saltwater, specifically!) when I dropped it. It was in the water housing but apparently the add’l pressure at that depth and the fact it sat there a couple minutes led to a small amount of water leaking in. I had assumed I’d fried it at that point.
What’s happening now is it appears the battery has charged up as normal (full 3 bars in the display) but otherwise the display shows three dashes where the file number would appear and the camera icon is blinking continously. I’ve tried the hard reset but it doesn’t work. Whenever I push the shutter button I get a single beep. It powers on and off as normal.
Any clues or intuition about what might be the problem (other than I’m an idiot for dropping it) and/or how I might be able to fix it? Thanks!
hey waterman I am in need of some help. I bought the hero 4 black and used it fine for about a month. after a surf I tried to charge it with one battery bar and the red light will not display anymore off or while on. Now I believe the battery is dead and it will not light up at all. I have tried a few different cables and USB chargers but nothing has work also tried charging off the computer. I’m gonna try the hard reset but not sure if it will work. please help I’m on a surf trip far from any stores thanks!
If the camera is still under warranty, contact GoPro for an RMA number and send it to them for repair or replacement.
Hey bro I got this brand news GoPro Hero entry level series that I bought couple of weeks ago. Now I got the problem with it as it won’t tirn on properly. I mean I turn it on and the screen doesn’t show anything except sometimes it shows “BUSY”…Could you tell me how to resolve this problem?!
Sorry to hear you’re having problems with your GoPro. You might try taking the battery out of the camera for a couple hours and see if that helps. Make sure there is a memory card in the camera and the card actually works. Try the hard reset. If nothing works, if the camera is under warranty, send it back to GoPro.
Good luck.
Hi
Bought a GoPro HERO4 few months back
Used it ONLY for 4 or 5 days ……
Now the Battery is Not Charging ….. there is No LED Indicator (no light on) …… camera does not turn on …..
I have tried the basics Like:
* Remove / clean & re-insert the battery
* removed and formated the memory card
* tried charging thru USB port on different laptops
I DO NOT have any other charging device.
What should i do??
I need HELP!!!!
Hello there!!!!
Camera not charging ………….. on closer inspection it seems Pin has broken inside ……. and the Battery charger socket pins looks damaged ……
The USB port Charger that received I have a different shape (Flat on the longer side with a step and curvature – Fillet / Rounding joining the steps) ….. where as the socket in the camera has a slightly different shape (Flat on the longer side with a step and Taper / flat edges joining the steps – like a Taprezoid shape) ….. ….. Bought a GoPro HERO4 few months back ….. on 11th April 2015 …… why the different shape for charger and socket????
The Camera was not charging ….. on closer inspection i found that the pins inside the Battery charger socket looks damaged ……
now I have 23questions:
* Why did they supply different shaped charger v/c different shaped Battery charger socket??
* Could there be a mistake in your packaging / supply of charger
* How do i set right my camera???
I need a solution at the earliest.
Rgds
JATIN
I think the best thing to do would be to contact GoPro and return the camera, battery and charger to them and let them check it out.
Good luck
Ron B
I had the same problem (camera not charging and LEDs dead even when plugged). My Hero4 (almost brand new, less than a month) suddenly presented the charging issue, at closer inspection of the USB socket I found out that the plastic that holds the 5 little metal prong was bent. I touched it and fell off, all the metal prong are torn inside I suppose that I either been not careful enough with the USB cable (unlikely) or was defective from the start and just got worse over time (charged at least 10 times)… After carefully unbending the pins to avoid shorts, the camera powered up again properly. I am now using an external charger and everything seems fine. I just lost the USB connectivity… hope this helps a couple of you.
Cheers
hi my gopro +LCD wont turn on. it just keeps on blinking blue led light.
Hi. I have the gopro 3+ black ed. The camera won’t turn on and hard reset fix it but once it turns off it has a hard time turning back on. Battery has been changed. As card works. Sometimes I have to do a jump start to turn on the unit. It is now out of warranty. What else can I do?
You are a farming genious. We are on vacation and our Hero 3 quit. I searched and found your page. Saved me some pissed off time. Right on brother!
My camera is the go pro 3 plus and the wifi (blue) light is flashig, but I can’t turn the camera on. I tried charging but the red light didn’t flash. Has this happened to anyone else? How can I turn it back on? Please help me!!
My gopro 3+ black freeze after i changed default power mode to record. Before that, the default power mode setting is on photo, and it worked just fine. Anyone knows why this happened and how to fix it? My gopro is out of warranty. Tried the hard reset after i pull out the battery and SD overnight but no luck. Thank you
What about hero+
Hi my gopro hero just stops recording for no reason and then it is frozen have to push the power button in long to get it to shut down
Any one had this problem or a solution
Plz help
Work for me, thanks!
After i had charged my GoPro Hero 1 HD, i had turned it on to see if it had charged, it did. Then i put it in my pocket for 20 minutes then took it out and i was ready to use it. I turn in on and instead of the LCD screen showing the number of picture/video files i have, it shows the three little dash marks — as if i hadn’t recorded anything. So i thought that for some reason my SD card was not being recognized, so i took the battery out and the card. Then i put the battery and SD card back in and now it wont turn on anymore. I am only able to charge it and that is all. I’ve tried every single recovery option i could find on the internet and still doesn’t work. Its never gotten wet or even the slightest drop of water on it before. I also read that no matter what GoPro you have, they can get a little hot, But they will NEVER overheat. So what can i do?
Try the cheapest option first; make sure your memory card is good. Turn on your camera, go to the menu and format the card. If the card is formatted properly and the camera still doesn’t work, try a different card. Plug the card that’s in the camera now into a computer and see if it works there. If the card is OK and the battery holds a charge, something is wrong with the camera. Did you try the hard reset procedure? Do it a couple times to be sure. If the camera still doesn’t work, it may be fried. I have two older Heros that get used a lot, neither one has ever come close to being hot. An overheating electronic device is never a good thing. It’s an old model, to have one die of “old age” would not be unexpected. If the camera is dead and you want to buy another one, there are a number of cheaper options than GoPro that are just as good.
Good luck with your repair attempts.
Ron B
Hey guys, I need a really quick suggestion. My hero 4 black would not turn on or light up when I turn it on. I have used it just for 3 days or something. Brand new but I’m kind of screwed because my flight is leaving in a few hours. I tried to format the SD card and it’s not no brand but nothing seems to work. I have tried two other batteries but even when I try your hard reset steps nothing pops up on the screen on the front. PLEASE HELP!
Held shutter and pushed power on my hero plus and it automatically turned off and started charging and I was able to use it again thank you!
Thanks mate!
Go Pro Hero 3+ just came back from the dead!
Have an original HD Hero. Turns on OK but cannot change the modes. This. Can still record video as it is frozen in this mode. Turn on and red light flashes continuously. Managed to get it working normally by some sever fiddling with button sequences. In going through the modes and doing some resolution changes, the problem has reappeared. Any Ideas?
Have you tried updating/reloading the camera firmware?
I have a GoPro plus and it won’t turn on. I’ve had it since Christmas and just days after I got it it wouldn’t turn on. No flashing lights, nothing. I’ve charged it, tried to update it, nothing aswell! Please help!
If it is under warranty, get an RMA and send it back to GoPro
hi! I have problem with my gopro hero 4 silver. i have try to charge it but the red light does not turn on. i tried different sources of power such as the wall charger and via the USB port, but it seems non of it work. I can’t try the hard reset as my gopro doesn’t even turn on. What should I do? I hope you can help me.
Make sure the battery is good. See if you can borrow a battery or buy another one. They are relatively inexpensive. Has the camera worked in the past then stopped working?
I can’t believe it! This worked on my Hero 2 that was so unresponsive and dead I seriously thought it was trash. I’m shocked and super happy this thing works again! THANK YOU!!!!
It’s nice when things work out…
When i turn on my go pro hero 4 black. it only shows “HERO 4” and it wont go to the video, photo, settings etc. Help me. what is the problem?
I just got my go pro hero 4 and it won’t turn on… I have everything hooked up and put together, but it still won’t turn on. Even when i try to charge it the red button doesn’t flash. What can i do. I’m stressed about this:(((
Are you sure the battery is good. They die slowly until one day they don’t hold a charge.
Hi, I have just received a hero 4 session as a present which was working but now nothing. When I charge the camera the front red light will stay on but nothing else will work at all. Any ideas??
Hi – I have just bought a hero for my husband- it will let me download short bursts of film to my camera but not longer filming sessions – just comes up with there has been an error try again! Its a new memory card (and a new computer running windows 10). Frustrating as he had just completed a 12k muddy obstacle course which is why we bought it and would love to watch it! Anyone else come across this problem and did you find a solution? Thanks
Omg!!!! We were on our tour while our go pro hero suddenly stopped working and my bf was keep nagging me that I ruined everythg n stuff. It was bothering me so much I decided to just google it while we sat down to wait for our tour bus to pick us up and ur solution was the best !!! Thank you so much ur a genius and that made me a genius too !! LOL
The battery may not be good. Try another battery and see if the problem persists.
Hi, I cannot change my battery it is built in. Any other ideas please?
Is it still under warranty? If so, contact GoPro for RMA and send it in.
Thank you so much for your help!!
Hi! I have a go pro hero 4. A friend of mine used it but told me that when they are connecting, it happens to update. However the red light wont stop blinking, i tried to remove the battery and memory, but nothing works. Hope you can help me
Out with this one. Thanks
Try a different battery.
Waterman help me!!! My hero 4 black shutter button iaint working..the camera hasn’t been dropped
Unfortunately, it sounds like your camera has been damaged. If it’s out of warranty, you can check around the internet and see if it can be repaired. Most of the time, people just replace broken cameras. There are cheaper cameras than GoPros available.
Hello my 15 year old is distraught! He bought a GoPro Hero3+ black edition two years ago, used it for about two weeks then had it put in storage as we moved.
Next week he is embarking on an action packed trip to Africa and the camera wont work! He has tried two different batteries (both been in storage too) and found that after doing the update via his phone the camera died.
Unfortunately we dont have the receipt. GoPro have offered a discount if we purchase another! This was purchased out of saved up hard earned pocket money so can’t see that happening.
Appreciate any help you can give us.
Thank you.
Very many thanks.
My GoPro3 was blinking on and off and not responding. Taking the battery out didn’t help and I could not reset, the buttons were not responding. I took my SD car out, erased it using Disk Utility in Mac OS X and put it back in. GoPro3 now works fine. Apparently a corrupted SD card can cause strange behavior that can be solved for formatting the card
I have this problem with a hero 4 session. Nothing works, even resetting doesn’t work, since the whole screen doesn’t turn on. When charging the charge indicator only turns on for about 10 seconds and then it turns of again. What should I do?
Make sure your battery is good.
I am sorry but how can you hard reset gopro hero 4 black when it wont turn on or charge? Thanks.
Had a hero5 black for 3 days and after firmware update to 1.5.5 the LCD screen has stopped working. The touchscreen function still works as I can change settings, but no image is on the screen. Very annoyed and GoPro support arent really helping. Anybody else experienced this?
Thanks for the up, my Hero 2 was completely dead but is now fixed again -Thanks
Hi. Have a problem with a hero 1.when i turn it on its automaticly starts foto every 2 seconds, and the upper button does not work . I tried the reciept of hard reset and its doesnt worked too.
Hi! Can you pls help me. My gopro hero 3 black cant be turned on. Blank screen, no lights. But when charged, the front red led will turned on but the camera still cant be turned on. Pls help.
Try a different battery.
Hello, I have a problem with a GoProHero3 camera, I mistakenly put on the Memory Card 3.0 software
When I switched on the GoProHero camera, it started updating and I removed the battery and I did not want to let it do so, now it does not just start flashing the red LED and if you press the wi-fi button, the blue LED lights up, but not Displays nothing on the display
Can anyone help me ,pls ??
Hello. I have one New GP H5. All functions its goog just no charging. Soft 2.0. The 3 leds its lighting. Charging icon its on display.. but in 8.. 9h the % not moving. Sd card Lexar 633x and battery its original. GOPRO online suport dont have idee :(. ( charging battery with external charger)
I have the GoPro hero so I can’t take the back off and there is no light that comes on at all I’ve tried everything that I come across including holding the power button for 10 secs and taking out the sd card and changing USB cables and the thing is new just got it.. the one time I got it to come on was when the sd card was out and it said that on the LCD screen so I put it in and it said busy and stayed there for a long time like 3hrs so I cut it off and it was back to step one
If the camera is new, send it back under the warranty.
HI watermelonatwork, my Gopro 4 black suddenly stopped working. It didnt fell or anything one day it was charging the next day it wont turn on. Barely even used it. Its out of warranty. Now all I have is a dead camera. I dont know what to do with it. I wanted to fix it bad.
Funny thing is, the camera stopped working the same time they released the latest gopro. I was thinking maybe they remote control some of the Gopro cam to suddenly stop working forcing us to buy a new one since the same happened to my cousin’s gopro 4 silver (crazy thought I know)
Anyway when I talked to a Gopro rep, he said all they can do is give us a 40% discount in any product purchase in their website in exchange for our old cam. I refused since I dont have extra money to buy a new one. Plus the shipping fee is way too expensive.
I hope you can help me. Tried all the fix BTW. Anymore suggestion? Can I reboot it via my laptop? Im using a macbook pro. Im desperate!
Cheers!
Try a different battery. They don’t last forever. Try the hard reset or perhaps try reloading the camera firmware from your computer. At this stage, you have nothing to lose, try everything.
Why is my gopro hero 4 won’t come on. And it new.
Is it charging? Are you sure the battery is good? If it’s new and it doesn’t work, contact GoPro for warranty service.
Very helpful. My goPro is able to boot now =)
Great job it worked thanks
Hi, i have a Gopro 3 hero, and it turns on, but when i try to charge it, it wont charge. Also my PC doesnt recognice it when i plug the USB cable.
Can you help me?
Thanks!
my go pro hero 8 wont turn on. red light stays on and thats it. Performed reset in all combinations with or without sd card, wall plug, different batteries. Im at a complete loss. Gopro would only offer me a discount on the newest model. Please help
I plugged my entry level 2014 into my laptop and now it is stuck on the USB icon even unplugged and unresponsive
Hello
Unplug everything. Turn off camera and take the battery out for a few minutes. Put it back in and try it.