MediaRecorder crashes on start

i am using the following code,works perfectly for me..

protected void startRecording() {
    // TODO Auto-generated method stub
    i++;
     mFileName = Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory().getAbsolutePath();
     mFileName += "/audiorecordtest"+i+".3gp";
    recorder = new MediaRecorder();

    recorder.setAudioSource(MediaRecorder.AudioSource.MIC);
    recorder.setOutputFormat(MediaRecorder.OutputFormat.THREE_GPP);
    recorder.setOutputFile(mFileName);
    recorder.setAudioEncoder(MediaRecorder.AudioEncoder.AMR_NB);

      try {
        recorder.prepare();
    } catch (IllegalStateException e) {
        // TODO Auto-generated catch block
        Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "IllegalStateException called", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();


    } catch (IOException e) {
        // TODO Auto-generated catch block
        Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "prepare() failed", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();

    }

      recorder.start();
}

 private void stopRecording() {
     recorder.stop();
     recorder.release();
     recorder = null;
    }

Try putting the start function in the same block as prepare function. maybe there's an exception blocking prepare from executing and goes directly to start thus causing an IllegalStateException.

    recorder.setAudioSource(MediaRecorder.AudioSource.MIC);
    recorder.setOutputFormat(output_formats[currentFormat]);
    recorder.setAudioEncoder(MediaRecorder.AudioEncoder.AMR_NB);
    recorder.setOutputFile(getFilename());


    try {
        recorder.prepare();
        recorder.start();
    } catch (IllegalStateException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    } catch (IOException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }

Ok, I got it. I guess you initialized mStartRecording to true.

Thus your if is going into the else block. In it, you stop a brand new instance of MediaRecorder and the state diagram doesn't allow that.

Make your media recorder a field of your class. And initialize properly your mStartRecording boolean variable to false. Re instanciate your media recorder only if your field is null.

if( recorder == null ) {
   recorder = new MediaRecorder();
   recorder.setAudioSource(MediaRecorder.AudioSource.MIC);
   recorder.setOutputFormat(MediaRecorder.OutputFormat.THREE_GPP);

   recorder.setOutputFile(mFileName);
   recorder.setAudioEncoder(MediaRecorder.AudioEncoder.AMR_NB);
}//if
if(!mStartRecording) {
    btn.setText("Stop Recording");
    try {
        recorder.prepare();
        recorder.start();
        mStartRecording = true;
    }  catch (IOException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }//catch
} else {
    btn.setText("Start Recording");
    mStartRecording = false;
    recorder.stop();
    recorder.reset();
    recorder.release();
    recorder = null;
}//else

These methods must arrange the order it will run. Here:

recorder.setAudioSource(MediaRecorder.AudioSource.MIC);
recorder.setOutputFormat(MediaRecorder.OutputFormat.THREE_GPP);
recorder.setOutputFile(mFileName);
recorder.setAudioEncoder(MediaRecorder.AudioEncoder.AMR_NB);