If you have a Spy Pen, sometimes it just appears to be either stuck with the light on, or dead and won’t turn on. We wrote this report to show you some of the tricks we found to getting your it to work again.
1. Perform A Hard Reset
The majority of the time, just inserting the end of a paper clip in the opening below the status light on the back, and performing a hard reset, will get your Spy Pen working. Just bend a small paper clip end out, and insert straight into the opening. When you meet resistance, push lightly, and you can feel the reset button depressed.
Make sure it goes straight in, and not at an angle, or you could damage some of the components inside. Let go and try to turn it on.
2. Rule Out The USB Cable
If you are using a USB cable to either connect the Spy Pen to your computer, or to the 110V wall charger adapter, one day the cable will fail. If you use the USB cable because you can’t connect the pen directly to the computer, try just plugging it directly into the computer.
Don’t use a USB hub, as sometimes there is not enough power for the it; just connect it directly to the computers USB port. On some computers, use the USB port on the back, as front USB ports are sometimes weaker.
3. Rule Out The 110V Wall Charger
Just like the USB cable, the 110V wall charger adapter will also fail at some point; so if it does not seem to take a charge, try charging it for 3 hours in the computers USB port. If the status light is on while its charging, its getting electricity to charge the battery.
4. Put The Spy Pen Back In Video Mode
Several Spy Pens have switches to go to photo mode, or voice activation mode. If you move the switch to change modes, and you do not move it back to video mode, the computer will say it is not recognized. Try moving the switch back to the original position.
5. Erase & Reformat The Spy Pen
If the Spy Pen shows up as a removable drive on your PC, just right click on the icon and let go on “Format.” Then check the “Quick Format” button, then hit OK. The drive will be erased, and reformatted. This usually takes care of any pens that make it this far.
On an Apple computer, use Disc Utility to erase the drive and format as MS DOS 32. Then eject properly; on a Mac, right click on the drive and select eject. On a PC, click on the green Left arrow down at the lower right part of the monitor, then click on eject to properly eject the device.
That’s our report on “5 Ways To Get A Dead Spy Pen To Work.” If your pen still won’t work, and you purchased it from us, you have a 365-day no B.S. replacement policy. If not, you will need to contact the company you got it from.