If you have a spy pen, sometimes it seems to be 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 get you up and running again.
1. Perform a hard reset
Most of the time, simply inserting the end of a paper clip into the opening below the status light on the back and performing a hard reset will get your Spy Pen working. Simply bend the end of a small paper clip and insert it directly into the opening. When you meet resistance, press lightly and you can feel the reset button pressed.
Make sure it goes in straight and not at an angle, or you could damage some of the internal components. Drop it and try to turn it on.
2. Discard the USB cable
If you are using a USB cable to connect the Spy Pen to your computer or 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 connecting it directly to the computer.
Do not use a USB hub, as sometimes there is not enough power for it; just plug it directly into your computer’s USB port. On some computers, use the USB port on the back, as front USB ports are sometimes weaker.
3. Ditch the 110V wall charger
Just like the USB cable, the 110V wall charger adapter will also fail at some point; so if it doesn’t seem to charge, try charging it for 3 hours on the computer’s USB port. If the status light is on while charging, it is receiving electricity to charge the battery.
4. Put the spy pen back into 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 don’t move it back to video mode, the computer will say that it is not recognized. Try moving the switch back to the original position.
5. Erase and reformat the spy pen
If Spy Pen appears as a removable drive on your PC, simply right-click on the icon and release “Format”. Then check the “Quick Format” button, then press OK. The drive will be erased and reformatted. This usually takes care of any thoughts that go that far.
On an Apple computer, use Disk Utility to erase the drive and format it as MS DOS 32. Then eject successfully; on a Mac, right-click the drive and select eject. On a PC, click the green left-down arrow at the bottom right of the monitor, then click eject to properly eject the device.
That’s our report on “5 Ways to Make a Dead Spy Pen Work”. If your pen still doesn’t work and you bought it from us, it has a 365-day BS-free replacement policy. Otherwise, you will need to contact the company that obtained it.
