No GPS message despite being in GPS mode and many satellites

[mertsendag]

Hi folks,

Got my Spark a week ago, shipped from the US so I hope my issue does not require a replacement because that will be a problem.

My Spark displays "In flight (No GPS)" message in the air even when it says it is in GPS mode and has 14 satellites (see 1st picture). Spark will not exceed 30 meters of height in these No GPS cases. It says max altitude reached despite it is not limited in the settings. Home point cannot be recorded either.

And when it is on the ground (see 2nd picture), similarly, it says "Ready to go (No GPS)" when it seems to be in GPS mode.

And this is only when it is not in OPTI or ATTI mode, which it usually is (see 3rd picture).

These 2 screenshots show the situations (both no gps and opti) in flight data.

I have previously had GPS with lower satellites and exceeded 30 meters, so it is not entirely incapable.

Thank you very much in advance.

 

[pmshop]

I hate to tell you but you have the same issue I had with my first Spark brand new.
You are going to have to contact DJI support to turn the Spark in for service.

 

[mertsendag]

I hate to tell you but you have the same issue I had with my first Spark brand new.
You are going to have to contact DJI support to turn the Spark in for service.

Hi! It is painful to hear that as sending this back is impossible in my case. Have you seen the last screenshot? I had GPS there. Shouldn't it be the case that I always fail to get GPS if I have a faulty product?

 

[pmshop]

Hi! It is painful to hear that as sending this back is impossible in my case. Have you seen the last screenshot? I had GPS there. Shouldn't it be the case that I always fail to get GPS if I have a faulty product?

Not at all.
Exactly the same behavior.
It would connect but just as you, mostly would not.

One thing you could try, refresh the firmware with DJI ASSISTANT 2

 

[Arabak58]

Hello Mert,i see your point,like pmshop said try to download the new wirmware and try,hope it works,cause i see you live in turkey and it is a long way to ship it to us unless they have a dji service center in turkey.

 

[mertsendag]

Hi guys. I have tried taking off in a better location. It was a car park of a university. There were in fact trees around but not very close and certainly there were no tall buildings.
I have waited for some long minutes, my spark picked up satellites (only two bars), even entered GPS mode but still displayed a 'ready to go (no GPS)' message.

In flight, it switched to OPTI mode and displayed 'In flight (vision)' message.

After that, it lost connection. I may have had a part in it as a 3 story building blocked the signal, but I definitely didn't expect such a drastic response. It said aircraft disconnected and started to auto-land. I have tapped cancel but it wouldn't listen (says command timeout). Thankfully, it did not harm anyone and didn't crash. Here is the picture of complete blank screen.

Hope I can get help with this, is this normal? Do you get signal only where it is a very very open area, do you have examples of less than perfect environments where you had GPS lock? Last question, in order to exceed 30 meters, do you have to have a GPS lock, isn't being in GPS mode enough to exceed that threshold? (In my case I cannot exceed 30 meters unless I have GPS lock which is rare in my case as you know)

Thanks everyone.

 

[Andre Levite]

Hi guys. I have tried taking off in a better location. It was a car park of a university. There were in fact trees around but not very close and certainly there were no tall buildings.
I have waited for some long minutes, my spark picked up satellites (only two bars), even entered GPS mode but still displayed a 'ready to go (no GPS)' message.

In flight, it switched to OPTI mode and displayed 'In flight (vision)' message.

After that, it lost connection. I may have had a part in it as a 3 story building blocked the signal, but I definitely didn't expect such a drastic response. It said aircraft disconnected and started to auto-land. I have tapped cancel but it wouldn't listen (says command timeout). Thankfully, it did not harm anyone and didn't crash. Here is the picture of complete blank screen.

Hope I can get help with this, is this normal? Do you get signal only where it is a very very open area, do you have examples of less than perfect environments where you had GPS lock? Last question, in order to exceed 30 meters, do you have to have a GPS lock, isn't being in GPS mode enough to exceed that threshold? (In my case I cannot exceed 30 meters unless I have GPS lock which is rare in my case as you know)

Thanks everyone.

If you take off when status screen is yellow and says "No GPS - Ready To Fly" you will often switch to Opti /ATTI /Vision Mode. The drone won't hold position when hovering and won't have a Home Point for RTH feature. You really need a minimum of 10 satellites for those features to work reliably. I would never take off unless status bar is GREEN. I wish it didn't say "Ready To Fly" when status bar is YELLOW and no good GPS - it should say "Fly At Your Own Risk - Weak GPS Signal".

You were lucky you got it back - this time. Good for you.

 

[mertsendag]

If you take off when status screen is yellow and says "No GPS - Ready To Fly" you will often switch to Opti /ATTI /Vision Mode. The drone won't hold position when hovering and won't have a Home Point for RTH feature. You really need a minimum of 10 satellites for those features to work reliably. I would never take off unless status bar is GREEN. I wish it didn't say "Ready To Fly" when status bar is YELLOW and no good GPS - it should say "Fly At Your Own Risk - Weak GPS Signal".

You were lucky you got it back - this time. Good for you.

Is aircraft getting completely disconnected related to this? I could understand if it lost RC connection but it acted as if it was turned off...total nightmare

 

[Andre Levite]

Is aircraft getting completely disconnected related to this? I could understand if it lost RC connection but it acted as if it was turned off...total nightmare

Several odd things about that flight/post:

1. You say you were in GPS Mode but status bar is yellow and says NO GPS. You also said status bar showed bad GPS signal. I don't think you were ever in GPS mode

2. You said you were in clear open area but when signal was lost there was a 3 story building between you and the drone. That alone could disrupt the signal (and you were in ATTI mode).

3. It Auto-Landed when signal was lost instead of RTH - that's not the default behavior but maybe that's not what you meant

4. You are repeatedly unable to acquire enough GPS satellites despite several attempts at different locations. Sounds like a hardware or odd interference issue

I'm not trying to be critical - not one bit. Just trying to figure out what went wrong and several issues apparent

 

[mertsendag]

Several odd things about that flight/post:

1. You say you were in GPS Mode but status bar is yellow and says NO GPS. You also said status bar showed bad GPS signal. I don't think you were ever in GPS mode

2. You said you were in clear open area but when signal was lost there was a 3 story building between you and the drone. That alone could disrupt the signal (and you were in ATTI mode).

3. It Auto-Landed when signal was lost instead of RTH - that's not the default behavior but maybe that's not what you meant

4. You are repeatedly unable to acquire enough GPS satellites despite several attempts at different locations. Sounds like a hardware or odd interference issue

I'm not trying to be critical - not one bit. Just trying to figure out what went wrong and several issues apparent

Hi, let me clarify.

1- As you can see from the picture, it is in GPS mode (shows on the right) but it says ready to go (no GPS) on the left hand side. So I was actually in GPS mode but I had no GPS lock. This is my issue in the first place.
2- The building came into picture as I moved forward. It was far enough when I took off.
3- Since it did not have a GPS lock, there was no home point recorded, therefore it landed instead.
4- I seldom get GPS lock and home point recorded, so in the end it is capable of doing that but it just does it selectively.

Thanks

 

[hondacura93]

Hi, let me clarify.

1- As you can see from the picture, it is in GPS mode (shows on the right) but it says ready to go (no GPS) on the left hand side. So I was actually in GPS mode but I had no GPS lock. This is my issue in the first place.
2- The building came into picture as I moved forward. It was far enough when I took off.
3- Since it did not have a GPS lock, there was no home point recorded, therefore it landed instead.
4- I seldom get GPS lock and home point recorded, so in the end it is capable of doing that but it just does it selectively.

Thanks

This happened to mine, on my android. Switched to my iPad and re calibrated the compass and it resolved the issue

 

[mertsendag]

This happened to mine, on my android. Switched to my iPad and re calibrated the compass and it resolved the issue

Thank you. I will recalibrate the compass and try with an ipad as soon as I find one. I'll keep here posted.

 

[hondacura93]

You could probably borrow a friends iPhone aswell. Once I did the calibration I was able to use my note 8 again with no issues

Thank you. I will recalibrate the compass and try with an ipad as soon as I find one. I'll keep here posted.

 

[Barbara]

My two cents worth! Looking at the screen grabs you posted, I notice one thing in common for all the instances where it shows "No GPS", your GPS status, regardless of the number of satellites, shows only two bars. The one instance you posted with a GPS lock shows four bars.