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Having trouble with DJI Assistant 2 (cannot connect)

shuggins

Well-Known Member
Join
Oct 11, 2018
Messages
67
Age
55
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Grapevine, TX
Hello! How's everyone doing? My spark started acting funny lately. It does this sudden acceleration and deceleration...up and down randomly. It will takeoff and hover for a few seconds then land or .... just random thrusting. Everything as far as connecting to satellites, etc, is fine. In doing research, many have fixed this exact issue by resetting to factory setup, then updating to latest firmware. Both of these tasks can be done with DJI Assistant 2 (so I learned). I have downloaded the version I see that will work with Spark. Assistant will load up and I followed directions on firing up Spark and connecting micro-usb cable from Spark to usb input on 3 different computers. Nothing. Assistant just shows it's waiting for me to connect Spark. Nothing I do will show "Spark" as a connected device the way I have seen in videos and forum posts on DJI Assistant 2.

Anyone else suffered with this? I tried on Windows 8, 10, 11...and also MacOS 11 and the latest (Monterrey). All of them are the same. Won't recognize the Spark from Assistant 2.

I am not sure what to do. Really sad about it... Thanks for any insights you all might have.

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Scott
 
Last edited:
You may have already tried this, but when you connect your Spark to your computer have you tried changing how the connection interacts, media transfer, storage, file transfer, etc?
 
Well, that's interesting you mention that. It never has responded - knowing that a USB device has been plugged in...the OS never pops up the familar, "What do you want to do with this device?" or whatever windows says. I've used Assistant 2 (years ago with a Phantom 3 pro). I thought it was a firewall issue, but I have ruled that out As well.

Thanks for your reply though. Have you ever tried another route to get the Spark to reset to factory settings? I was unable to find anything else besides Assistant 2.
 
Hi there, i suffered from this for weeks and found out just an hour ago how to do it,
you need to update the drivers for windows to detect the spark
before you follow any of these steps make sure your spark is charged and you have a usb cable,

take the spark and turn it on, DO NOT PLUG THE CABLE INTO THE PC until you hear the little "do do do do" noise, once that noise has stopped then plug in your cable to the computer.

Step 1: press the start key and type in "device manager" and open it,
step 2: you will see a list of items like at the top you will see "audio inputs and outputs", "computer", "disk drives" etc,. On this list your looking for the tab with "libusb-win32 devices", click the little grey arrow next to the portable devices tab and it will show a device called "vision interface 3" or something very similar to it.

Step 3: right click on this device and press update driver, then click browse my computer for drivers.
step 4: click on the browse button on the right hand corner and the file explorer will come up, your going to go to the place below,

MY PC->C DRIVE-> Program Files (x86)->DJI PRODUCT->DJI ASSISTANT 2->Drivers->winusb

Step 5: once you have selected this folder click ok on the bottom of the tab and you will be back in the menu before, untick the box called include subfolders, This bit is important DO NOT PRESS NEXT, Instead click on "Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer"

Step 6: you should be presented with 2 options, they should both be the same name, DO NOT PICK THE BOTTOM ONE, instead double click the top option and your pc should ask you to reboot, let it reboot and while it is rebooting, unplug your spark and turn it off,

Step 7: once your pc has fully rebooted turn on your spark and wait for the start up noise to finish then plug in the cable and wait about 5 seconds, then load up dji assistant 2 and it should go first time.

hope this guide helps you in fixing your problem with your spark.

hope you have a good day, regards, mrmaxwell
 
WOW! Thank you for the very detailed response. My mood has gone from complete defeat to new-found optimism. 😀. The family is asleep but I'll be up at the crack of dawn to try this out. Thank you for the very detailed, step-by-step response. This is something I can even follow. I'll report back shortly.
 
WOW! Thank you for the very detailed response. My mood has gone from complete defeat to new-found optimism. 😀. The family is asleep but I'll be up at the crack of dawn to try this out. Thank you for the very detailed, step-by-step response. This is something I can even follow. I'll report back shortly.
So...did this fix your hopping Spark? I need to know because this has happened to mine.
 
Working for me.
Just remove, clean and reconnect connectors.
Use a soft shim, like in the video.
Thanks. Your video is my backup plan because I'm a little nervous about taking my spark apart like in the video. If the spark reset does not work I will definitely give it a try. 😃
 
Don't take apart the Spark, at the moment.
Just remove the cover, locate the Vision connector, remove and reconnect.
Then use soft shim on ALL connectors.
Close cover and try.

If you don't resolve, take apart the mainboard and follow instructions.
 
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Don't take apart the Spark, at the moment.
Just remove the cover, locate the Vision connector, remove and reconnect.
Then use soft shim on ALL connectors.
Close cover and try.

If you don't resolve, take apart the mainboard and follow instructions.
Thanks!
 
For me, so far, I was able to get it up and running by doing a combination of things: I cleaned the connectors like you suggested above...but also, the side "slider" on the batteries can get "stiff". I am talking about the black plastic on the sides of the batteries used to get the batteries out of the Spark. They get stiff and won't move forward and backward smoothly any longer, which for me, caused the battery to not stay 100% connected. I cleaned (as best I could) under the sliders and now it connects into place very well. Doing that and cleaning the contacts in the spark and the pins on the battery did the trick.

I did not have to try the (great) write up by MrMaxwell above. I still want to try it so I can be ready to flash it and reset the firmware in the future. Thanks to all for the replies. This forum is the best!
 
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Good question. I am using aftermarket props (red and white). They seem fine, but I have the original props still in the box. I will try those as well just to see...but my issue (for now) is solved.
 
Try to take-off in a rude way, very quickly.
If bounce again, change propellers!
 
Hello all - well...my "fix" for my jumping Spark did not stick. It's doing it all over again. So, I decided to use Carsco's remedy from the video above. I got 4 of the 6 screws off as shown at this point in the video:
However, I cannot seem to get the two in the middle off. They spin endlessly. I have the correct hex tool that fits it correctly (at least I think I do). I couldn't get those off so I put the other screws back on and gave up. Anyone else struggle getting the two middle screws on the bottom off?

Thanks!
 
Right-on! The middle two screws (the second set of them shown in the video) does indeed have silicon in them. Very nice find! None of the other screws have that. I took a safety pin and, yes, I was able to pry out the silicon in those two screws. Weird. Now, I'm trying to watch the video you posted .... will update later.
 
Update: I did use the video posted above to take the top cover off spark. Then I found where to disconnect the Vision Sensor cable and then reconnected it. Put it back together and fired it up. It booted up fine - but now a new error: Cannot Take Off. When I tap on the error I see GPS DIsconnected. I took the cover back off and the GPS ribbon cable had become loose. I tried to get it to reconnect and ended up bending the pins. Carefully straightened them and and tried pushing the connectors onto the board. One end connected the the GPS module, but the other end would not - and I kept trying and now the copper pins have began falling off the cable. Done.

Well, at least the end of Spark wasn't boring. Stepping back for a bit... we'll see.
 
I took the cover back off and the GPS ribbon cable had become loose.

I wonder why you touched the other flats.
You should have operated only on the vision flat on front.

Anyway, GPS flat it costs $10 on Ebay.

 

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