Bought a used Spark, drifting while hovering & altitude wrong

[dougiefresh27]

OK, so my first "real drone" was a used Spark. Probably my biggest error. But I got it with a controller for $215 which is a heck of a deal or so I thought. No visible scratches or anything, perfect condition.
I connect my phone via cable to the remote, make sure all is updated, home point recorded, more than 12 satellites connected and all should be good.
But on my first flight, I take off, rise to about 20 feet and let it get a visual I think then I went up to about 60 feet. It was very sluggish and went up another 5-8 feet. That scared me right away so I brought it down.
I recently reset the IMU and compass and did a simple hover test. It wants to drift within a 12-15 foot area with tons of GPS locks. That should not happen.
When I fly it forward and release the controls, it is very sluggish to respond. My Mavic Air snaps to a stop not this fella.

I'm really at a loss.
I thought if I reset it to factory settings that would help. When I look that up I find I should download the Assistant 2 but it doesn't exist on the play store and when I do it from the DJI site, my computer won't let me open it.

I'm afraid to fly it more than a few feet away for fear of losing control of it.

I'm open to all ideas.

I'm almost ready to trash it and buy new but I'd hate to waste the initial money plus the sweet Lego skin I put on it.

Can you help?

 

[dat1]

I agree, it's a pretty skin. Perfect for winter flights...
Did you get error messages after calibration ?
Did you try to control it with a phone or pad, just to
be sure that the remote is not the issue ?
I'm not familiar to DJI Assistant 2 but I'm sure that
some pilots here, can help.

 

[Andre Levite]

Are you using Assistant app on Windows or Mac?

 

[jmbsmt63]

OK, so my first "real drone" was a used Spark. Probably my biggest error. But I got it with a controller for $215 which is a heck of a deal or so I thought. No visible scratches or anything, perfect condition.
I connect my phone via cable to the remote, make sure all is updated, home point recorded, more than 12 satellites connected and all should be good.
But on my first flight, I take off, rise to about 20 feet and let it get a visual I think then I went up to about 60 feet. It was very sluggish and went up another 5-8 feet. That scared me right away so I brought it down.
I recently reset the IMU and compass and did a simple hover test. It wants to drift within a 12-15 foot area with tons of GPS locks. That should not happen.
When I fly it forward and release the controls, it is very sluggish to respond. My Mavic Air snaps to a stop not this fella.

I'm really at a loss.
I thought if I reset it to factory settings that would help. When I look that up I find I should download the Assistant 2 but it doesn't exist on the play store and when I do it from the DJI site, my computer won't let me open it.

I'm afraid to fly it more than a few feet away for fear of losing control of it.

I'm open to all ideas.

I'm almost ready to trash it and buy new but I'd hate to waste the initial money plus the sweet Lego skin I put on it.

Can you help?

Do a search for that error with trying to open the assistant file...there is a fix for that but I don't remember the exact fix..

Did you try to calibrate the remote?

 

[dougiefresh27]

I've tried so many things I'm starting to forget. I wanted to rule in or out the remote. So I connected it only with the phone and it was still behaving the same way. So I ruled out the remote. Something is wrong in the drone. Software? Hardware?

 

[dougiefresh27]

I agree, it's a pretty skin. Perfect for winter flights...
Did you get error messages after calibration ?
Did you try to control it with a phone or pad, just to
be sure that the remote is not the issue ?
I'm not familiar to DJI Assistant 2 but I'm sure that
some pilots here, can help.

I love the skin. If it would fall in the tall grass I can still find it was my thought.
The error message was on my laptop, not a Mac, that did not allow me to load the DJI Assistant 2 which I find now is a program that is no longer updated so I think it is just outdated.
I was originally using the remote connected via cable to my phone or tablet but decided to rule the remote out by flying only witht the phone.
With the phone it again behaved squirrely.

 

[Andre Levite]

I love the skin. If it would fall in the tall grass I can still find it was my thought.
The error message was on my laptop, not a Mac, that did not allow me to load the DJI Assistant 2 which I find now is a program that is no longer updated so I think it is just outdated.
I was originally using the remote connected via cable to my phone or tablet but decided to rule the remote out by flying only witht the phone.
With the phone it again behaved squirrely.

DJI Assistant is not outdated. It works fine on Windows -- you just need to run in Administrator Mode

It will allow you to manually update your firmware.

But I'm concerned that a used Spark that only cost $100 and is malfunctioning on day one is broken. I hope I'm wrong. If DJI Assistant doesn't work it may need a trip to the mother ship

 

[dougiefresh27]

I guess the big question is, should I reset it to factory and will this fix this unknown problem?

 

[dougiefresh27]

DJI Assistant is not outdated. It works fine on Windows -- you just need to run in Administrator Mode

It will allow you to manually update your firmware.

But I'm concerned that a used Spark that only cost $100 and is malfunctioning on day one is broken. I hope I'm wrong. If DJI Assistant doesn't work it may need a trip to the mother ship

I did pay $250 but that is neither here nor there.
Yes, trying to avoid a trip to the mothership

 

[jmbsmt63]

I did pay $250 but that is neither here nor there.
Yes, trying to avoid a trip to the mothership

I suggest you do whatever resets you can first then Work on getting the DJI Assistant program installed to "get into" the Spark a bit more intensively than normal and maybe try going to a different firmware when you do get the Assistant program going.

I found a post with some info that I copied below a slight modification in the registry might be required if you can't get it installed as an Administrator:


"DJI Assistant 2 version 2.0.7 released 3/21/2019. It appears to have fixed the problem with running on Windows 10, at least it did for me.

This app has been blocked for your protection
DJI Assistant 2 for Mavic 2.0.6.exe

Don't have to go change the regedit

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System\EnableLUA to 0

NOW set back to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System\EnableLUA to 1


NO MORE Block Message"

 

[jmbsmt63]

I did pay $250 but that is neither here nor there.
Yes, trying to avoid a trip to the mothership

Any chance of getting ahold of the seller? Give them a chance to either help you get it flying or prep them for a return/refund?

 

[Chrislaf]

Here’s a UTube video showing how to fix Assistant 2 being blocked.

It’s the same fix that @jmbsmt63 is detailing above.

Chris

 

[sgrinavi]

I guess the big question is, should I reset it to factory and will this fix this unknown problem?

Can't hurt - I reinstalled my firmware and it seemed to help me.

 

[dougiefresh27]

Any chance of getting ahold of the seller? Give them a chance to either help you get it flying or prep them for a return/refund?

I doubt it, it was a Facebook Marketplace purchase.
Most likely he screwed it up and sold it cheap.
I still think I can get it figured out

 

[lmel2005]

I've tried so many things I'm starting to forget. I wanted to rule in or out the remote. So I connected it only with the phone and it was still behaving the same way. So I ruled out the remote. Something is wrong in the drone. Software? Hardware?

If your problem is software related, then resetting firmware, would solve it.

If it remains, you have probably a hardware problem, and you should send spark to the hospital.

 

[dougiefresh27]

If your problem is software related, then resetting firmware, would solve it.

If it remains, you have probably a hardware problem, and you should send spark to the hospital.

Agreed

 

[irvine]

I agree, it's a pretty skin. Perfect for winter flights...
Did you get error messages after calibration ?
Did you try to control it with a phone or pad, just to
be sure that the remote is not the issue ?
I'm not familiar to DJI Assistant 2 but I'm sure that
some pilots here, can help.

Yes the DJI DOWNLOAD 2 is good I got it from Google and downloaded the app to my laptop surprising what it can do.Good luck regards Irvine (Portsmouth UK)

 

[Ourbirdy]

I guess the big question is, should I reset it to factory and will this fix this unknown problem?

Check props