OK, I thought I re-logged in after being gone for 2 years +_ and wondered why/how I could not get 1 response to a post here regarding a serious problem & drone loss nand mis representation by dji regarding a Mavic 2 Pro would return to home if signal/connection to controller was lost. Not so in my case. I'll try to keep this to the point.

• Im 81, have a pace maker, 2 new hips and arthiritis everywhere. I should not be walking in the deep woods looking for a drone I can't afford to lose. I am a FAA certified pilot with 6 years of drone experience with DJI & Yuneec and recently bought my 2nd dji drone.
• I bought a new Mavic 2 Pro about 4 months ago and up to 7 days ago I absolutely loved it, it was perfect except for much shorter flight times than advertised. Average is much less than 30 minutes.
• I was flying over a closed golf course shooting video & stills in NC/SC for practice. Course has grown in and thickly wooded. I was at +- 300' up and less than 500 yds out. My Drone home point was in a clearing.
• 6-7 minutes into a flite I received a "low battery" warning. I kept shooting video but pressed return to home. I watched (on controller) as drone turned and begin to fly home.
• About 5-10 seconds later I received a "weak signal" message followed immediately by a "lost signal" message and my video screen went black (off). I've since watched the short final on my controller.
• Knowing it was returning to home I waited up to 25 - 30 minutes and still no drone.  I'll omit what I said then and several times later. Been back 4 times to search deep woods and grass areas with no luck - not knowing how far it actually flew.
• I contacted my DJI retail store and told him the story. He was sympathetic and said he would investigate with dji  & came back to state esentually dji was not assuming any responsibility. GREAT why should I expect anything better. Now Looking at replacing my  drone I asked him what my purchase options were and he's working on it but asked me what my dji forum message link was. He couldn't find it. Now I know why. I'll send him a copy of this one.
• Not being well experienced with dji Mavic I can't find the file where my flight GPS settings are kept on my controller, hoping they would tell me its last known location. Don't know if they have been kept or not or why the mavic didn't return home.  Is it a problem with controller or my mavic??  What recourse do I have with DJI?
• ANY help anyone here can offer & will be appreciated if I'm actually posting.  Thank you to anyone that responds.
  

mis representation by dji regarding a Mavic 2 Pro would return to home if signal/connection to controller was lost
Your drone will try to return home when signal is lost (unless you changed that setting and almost no-one ever does).
But strong winds or obstacles can prevent it returning.
It's also not clear whether your drone actually lost signal or if the drone lost power as that would also give the lost signal message at your end.

I can't find the file where my flight GPS settings are kept on my controller, hoping they would tell me its last known location. Don't know if they have been kept or not or why the mavic didn't return home.  Is it a problem with controller or my mavic??  What recourse do I have with DJI?
Your recorded flight data which is stored on your phone or tablet, can often help with investigating flight incidents.
Post your flight data and I'll look into it and tell you what it shows.

To do that ...
Go to: https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/
... where you'll find instructions.
That will give a report you can post a link for the report here.

Or you could just post the .txt file and I'll sort it out.

Hello there richardlbye1atmc.net.  I am sorry to read and to know what happened to your DJI Mavic 2 Pro. Since this unfortunate incident happened and you have lost the said DJI drone. Kindly please contact and get in touch with our DJI Support Team at https://www.dji.com/support?site=brandsite&from=nav for us to be able to assist you with regards to this matter. We have a team that will do there best to help you and give out the best resolution for the said issue. Again, I am sorry for your loss and thank you for your understanding.

This sounds potentially like a battery or battery cell failure.  Was it 100% charged at the start of flight?  

If a cell fails it'll autoland and as it gets lower, signal might cut off.

If you could upload the log files to phantomhelp or similar someone can take a look.

Go4 also has a "fine my drone" feature which should at least give the last received location of where it could be.

Labroides Posted at 1-10 20:31
mis representation by dji regarding a Mavic 2 Pro would return to home if signal/connection to controller was lost
Your drone will try to return home when signal is lost (unless you changed that setting and almost no-one ever does).
But strong winds or obstacles can prevent it returning.

OK Mike I guess I'm either to frustrated, to old, or just stupid or haven't given you enough info to effectively help me. I know you're trying. I'm just not getting it.
Someone suggested I use the find my drone feature on my controller. Well I had already done that and it showed that my drone was back at the home location wherec 4 adults searched every square foot within a 30 ft diameter arount it and more, plus I stood there for 25 -30 minutes waiting for it to show up.
??  Why do I go to a Phantom site when I'm flying a Mavic 2 Pro?
I use a smart controller when flying. It has the DJI GO 4 app
I connect my controller to the pc, both are turned on, using my controller I log into DJI GO 4 app and then get sent back to log in page because of a bad password or email address. I'll have to solve that problem first. IT Should not have changed in the last 2 days.  I'll be back. I'm determined to get this figured out. Please hang in there with me.   Aerialman

richardlbye1atmc.net Posted at 1-12 15:29
OK Mike I guess I'm either to frustrated, to old, or just stupid or haven't given you enough info to effectively help me. I know you're trying. I'm just not getting it.
Why to I go to a Phantom site when I'm flying a Mavic 2 Pro?
I use a smart controller when flying. It has the DJI GO 4 app

Why to I go to a Phantom site when I'm flying a Mavic 2 Pro?
Because it's a site that was started before DJI released the Mavic line.
Despite the name, it works just as well with flight data from any drone using DJI Go.

Sorry to hear about your loss.  You should upload you logs.  How to do so depends on what type of phone or table you have.  

The information on how to get the logs is further down the webpage where you upload your logs https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/.

You are in good hand if Labroides is willing to review your logs.  He is one of the best and has spot on analysis.  

JohnLietzke Posted at 1-12 15:59
Sorry to hear about your loss.  You should upload you logs.  How to do so depends on what type of phone or table you have.  

The information on how to get the logs is further down the webpage where you upload your logs https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/.

That's great to know. I just hope he doesn't give up on me. I've lost a lot of my pc ability through the years and often get frustrated. I'm detail oriented and carefully check everything before I fly.

richardlbye1atmc.net Posted at 1-12 17:47
That's great to know. I just hope he doesn't give up on me. I've lost a lot of my pc ability through the years and often get frustrated. I'm detail oriented and carefully check everything before I fly.

I always enjoy the challenge of solving flight data puzzles.
All that's needed is the .txt file when you find that.

Labroides Posted at 1-12 18:30
I always enjoy the challenge of solving flight data puzzles.
All that's needed is the .txt file when you find that.

Well Mike your patience with me paid off.
1st. I know where my mavic is.  I even have the gps location.  The bad news is it's alt. is 158 ft. up in a tree or at least that where it thinks it is 158 altitude., behind where i was shooting video.
2. My Mavic did start to Return To Home as I witnessed on my screen before I lost contact. It flew about 1/2 way home and for whatever reason it stopped, turned 180*around and flew back in a "slightly" different direction towards the pond. Barely got over the pond, ran out of power and landed in the tree. I think It would have made it home if it kept going but it would have been close.  All that being said I'm so excited I cant stand it.  Here's what I did to find the record I think .
Connected controller to pc, & turned cont. on.  Opened dji go 4 app, tapped flight records & my records popped up with all information,  went to last record, a map appeared & was loading, when it loaded i hit play ?? it started the flight showed the path and everything including warnings some I don't remember seeing after I hit RTH. Showed the RTH command I made, showed the drone turn and fly home & I thought it was going to be right there by my car somewhere but instead it turned around and went back toward the pond where I was shooting and ran out of power.
I looked for a button to save or send or something but didn't find it.  What did I miss.??? Is there more flight info I can find. There are 2 of us that use the drone but he's also certified. I see that some of that flite was @ 600 plus Ft. so he must have change some setting somewhere. I thought it was maxed out at 400ft. Could he have changed alt. setting somewhere? Let m e know what you recommend providing I can find it and get it down.   Thank for everything. God bless you and everyone that helped.

richardlbye1atmc.net Posted at 1-12 19:24
Well Mike your patience with me paid off.
1st. I know where my mavic is.  I even have the gps location.  The bad news is it's alt. is 158 ft. up in a tree or at least that where it thinks it is 158 altitude., behind where i was shooting video.
2. My Mavic did start to Return To Home as I witnessed on my screen before I lost contact. It flew about 1/2 way home and for whatever reason it stopped, turned 180*around and flew back in a "slightly" different direction towards the pond. Barely got over the pond, ran out of power and landed in the tree. I think It would have made it home if it kept going but it would have been close.  All that being said I'm so excited I cant stand it.  Here's what I did to find the record I think .

for whatever reason it stopped, turned 180*around and flew back in a "slightly" different direction towards the pond.
That sounds odd, RTH is very reliable.

But if you can post the .txt file, it will show what caused that.
The instructions at the Phantomhelp page show how to find the file.

OKI I don't know where I left off with this issue. I have been able to see the track the drone made until it ran out of power, which I think happened at 158 ft. altitude based on the messages i saw when watching the video. Messages I didn't see because we were disconnected when they occured. Messages indicated we were out of power and landed- 158ft of altitude. Tomorrow I search the tree and surrounding area for my mavic. Tonite Im shutting down frustrated because I've read and tried all of what seems important for me to down/up load the files but but I don't understand where I'm supposed to enter the command. On my pc or in my controller and if there where do I enter it??   I see the command on your help page but?? I looked on the  dji ctrolr and found nothing then entered it on my google page and nothing came up. In the mean tiime my dji dctrlr decided to do an update. Perfect When I get back tomorrow I'll try again. It should be easy but I dont get the response from the pc or controller that should be there. Human error I  know

richardlbye1atmc.net Posted at 1-13 18:07
OKI I don't know where I left off with this issue. I have been able to see the track the drone made until it ran out of power, which I think happened at 158 ft. altitude based on the messages i saw when watching the video. Messages I didn't see because we were disconnected when they occured. Messages indicated we were out of power and landed- 158ft of altitude. Tomorrow I search the tree and surrounding area for my mavic. Tonite Im shutting down frustrated because I've read and tried all of what seems important for me to down/up load the files but but I don't understand where I'm supposed to enter the command. On my pc or in my controller and if there where do I enter it??   I see the command on your help page but?? I looked on the  dji ctrolr and found nothing then entered it on my google page and nothing came up. In the mean tiime my dji dctrlr decided to do an update. Perfect When I get back tomorrow I'll try again. It should be easy but I dont get the response from the pc or controller that should be there. Human error I  know

I've read and tried all of what seems important for me to down/up load the files but but I don't understand where I'm supposed to enter the command.
The Phantomhelp page has directions to find the .txt file and someone with basic computer experience could do it in 2 minutes.
Do you know someone you can ask for assistance?
If you can find the .txt file and post it, I can read the data and give you a clear explanation of exactly what happened.
You won't need to upload anything ... I can do that if I have the .txt file.

Until I can see your data, I'm more in the dark than you.

Labroides Posted at 1-13 21:13
I've read and tried all of what seems important for me to down/up load the files but but I don't understand where I'm supposed to enter the command.
The Phantomhelp page has directions to find the .txt file and someone with basic computer experience could do it in 2 minutes.
Do you know someone you can ask for assistance?

OK I'll give it another try but I've got a medical issue I'm dealing with at the moment. I'll get to it asap.

I'm back and realize what my problem is trying to find my DJI flight records. with my smart controller connected to usb my pc is not recognizing that the dji SC is connected and therefore I cant get to any files. I was able to   see the DJI SC and log into  flight files and "think" i saved that days file to the clipboard -- but the cannot locate the clipboard I assume as part of the Phantom help section..  When I went back to  my DJI  SC  it was no longer connected.  If I do have a flight log file on the clipboard can you see it or is it just on my local site?   I'm going to reconnect and try again.  I assume you want just that days flight records???  Rich

I give up. after 4 hours of trying to find files on my smart controller (SC) when it appears now I get nothing.  Before when I could see the SC and open it I could open both the internal memory and the SD card and search for files.  Now I don't even see the SD card at all and the internal memory shows up as half full with no files to open and thats with my SC showing my GO 4 file open.  I'm wasting your time and mine and seemingly going backwards. I know the last flight record is there on my SC because I just watched again. I'm thinking my pc is screwed up or  and my usb port isn't right.
1 last thing today is I'll try is using my wife's lap top to see if it behaves differently.text

Dji forum response
Good morning DJI,  I want to bring you up to date from my end of things. I have been able to connect to my pc and open DJI GO 4 program but for some reason it does not bring up either the page or the information indicated on your help pages. That being said I feel there is something wrong with the/my controller or settings and we still don't know what went wrong with my last flight during a RTH final flight. I not able to provide you with the information you need to do the analysis required. The only way I see to solve the problem is for me to send you or the DJI SC service dept. my controller where you have the resources to get it looked at with competent engineers like yourself. It would be great if I could recover the mavic and return it as well but as of now i haven't found it in the 400 acre woods or pond.  A file in the controller shows that it began the RTH flight but the went blank and it never showed up a home. So its somewhere it isn't supposed to be. I also have a file of that flight and other jpg I took. I have 2 more searching trips into the wild planned this week using Lats & Longs but don't know how accurate they will be, however the dangerous animals, snakes, etc. are beginning to appear after the winter cold so I don't know how many more trips in I'll take. So far the owner of the property has been tolerating my trespassing out of sympathy, & helping the old man out etc.
How would we go about getting it looked at by DJI since it's only 4-5 months old? Your CS support group has reached out to me but I have not contacted them yet - not wanting to complicate what we were trying to get done. I certainly don't think this should cost me anything given it's operational age till now. Even the DJI battery should not have gone bad in that short time -if it did.
On the controller you'll see the last RTH flight I initiated after receiving a first low battery warning. In that video you'll also see the drone stop after traveling about 1/3 of the route home, turn approx. 180* and travel back past the original initiation point to a new location, stop and go into a landing mode and disconnect at 158' in altitude. That stop and turn is not something it is not capable of doing according to your words to me and I agree, plus it's an action I couldn't have initiated since I had been disconnect with the drone due to another failure "no signal".
Please get back to me asap so I'll know how to prepare my  next steps. I certainly thank you for all the effort you've put into helping me get through this problem and I'm truly sorry I wasn't much help.  Please advise and I'll do the same IF in the unlikely event I locate my drone and will be looking for a replacement.
In spite of this situation I still feel that dji Mavic 2 pro is the best drone in its class.

richardlbye1atmc.net Posted at 1-17 17:52
Dji forum response
Good morning DJI,  I want to bring you up to date from my end of things. I have been able to connect to my pc and open DJI GO 4 program but for some reason it does not bring up either the page or the information indicated on your help pages. That being said I feel there is something wrong with the/my controller or settings and we still don't know what went wrong with my last flight during a RTH final flight. I not able to provide you with the information you need to do the analysis required. The only way I see to solve the problem is for me to send you or the DJI SC service dept. my controller where you have the resources to get it looked at with competent engineers like yourself. It would be great if I could recover the mavic and return it as well but as of now i haven't found it in the 400 acre woods or pond.  A file in the controller shows that it began the RTH flight but the went blank and it never showed up a home. So its somewhere it isn't supposed to be. I also have a file of that flight and other jpg I took. I have 2 more searching trips into the wild planned this week using Lats & Longs but don't know how accurate they will be, however the dangerous animals, snakes, etc. are beginning to appear after the winter cold so I don't know how many more trips in I'll take. So far the owner of the property has been tolerating my trespassing out of sympathy, & helping the old man out etc.
How would we go about getting it looked at by DJI since it's only 4-5 months old? Your CS support group has reached out to me but I have not contacted them yet - not wanting to complicate what we were trying to get done. I certainly don't think this should cost me anything given it's operational age till now. Even the DJI battery should not have gone bad in that short time -if it did.

Your confusion  about how things work isn't helping matters.
If your drone crashed into a tree on RTH, you failed to set a suitable RTH height to clear obstacles on the RTH path.

If you could find the .txt file or get someone to help you do that (it's a two minute task), you could get help understanding what actually happened.
It seems that's not going to happen though.

To send the data to DJI, you need to synch your flight data (that sends the files to DJI).
You do that py clicking on the cloud icon  (top right) on the page you view the flight records on.

Labroides Posted at 1-17 18:56
Your confusion  about how things work isn't helping matters.
If your drone crashed into a tree on RTH, you failed to set a suitable RTH height to clear obstacles on the RTH path.

Morning, I've just read your reply and like you I'm not happy.
Now I'm going to tell you step by step my process so you can tell me where and what I'm doing wrong - But first I'll tell you 2 things that may help you.
1. My flite files (all) have been sync'ed to the cloud
2. My RTH altitude was above 400' until it had begun tio descend to land in the woods and stopped at 158'.(I thought it was maxed out at 400' but learned that apparently my partner found a way to change it and I didn't know or observe it because I had no idea he could do it.
Step by step
PC & controller connected
open go 4 app & tap 3 bar upper right
tap flight records tab
Flight data screen opens showing all flights & jpg, video files
Note all flight data has been sync'd
Tap on last flite data field, section loads last flite track etc.
When I started the flite I thought I would fly @ max alt.so i took it up only to find max alt. had been changed by partner
so this flight flew above 400 ft. most of flite.
I watched total flite including final leg which was pilot selected RTH above 400", which shows it flew correct direction for approx 1/3 of return then stopped turned 170*+- and started back close to where it came from and attempted to land but I think battery failed at 158' when it reported a landing. End of flite.
So I have a record of the final flite.. After watching the flite I returned to your Phantom select & download file page hit browse a file came up tapped down load and got this Error: The recaptcha challenge failed. If this continues to happen, please contact Mike@PhantomHelp.com. tried 2 more times and got these error messages : 500 - Internal server error.
There is a problem with the resource you are looking for, and it cannot be displayed.
This site can’t be reached.  The connection was reset.

So, if your willing please tell me where I went wrong and I'll try to get the files I know are there.

richardlbye1atmc.net Posted at 1-18 16:28
Morning, I've just read your reply and like you I'm not happy.
Now I'm going to tell you step by step my process so you can tell me where and what I'm doing wrong - But first I'll tell you 2 things that may help you.
1. My flite files (all) have been sync'ed to the cloud

1. My flite files (all) have been sync'ed to the cloud
That doesn't affect the recorded flight data and it should still be there unchanged.

2. My RTH altitude was above 400' until it had begun tio descend to land in the woods and stopped at 158'.(I thought it was maxed out at 400' but learned that apparently my partner found a way to change it and I didn't know or observe it because I had no idea he could do it.
If your partner pulled the left stick down during RTH, that will lower the drone.
The data will show exactly what happened.

So I have a record of the final flite.. After watching the flite I returned to your Phantom select & download file page hit browse a file came up tapped down load and got this Error: The recaptcha challenge failed.
Sorry .. but I've never even seen a smart controller, so all I could do is point to the instructions at the Phantomhelp log viewer site.
But you don't have to upload to Phantomhelp.
Once you find the .txt file that the instructions point to, all you need to do is post that and I can deal with it in a flash.
It might help to load it to dropbox or similar and post a link to where it is.

Since you're having trouble with the computer stuff, I'd recommend finding a friend that's comfortable with computers to help.

Labroides Posted at 1-19 02:50
1. My flite files (all) have been sync'ed to the cloud
That doesn't affect the recorded flight data and it should still be there unchanged.

Important info.  I have 2 points of interest

1. Yesterday I left for a dr. apt. and a trip into the woods searching for my drone  and returned some 4 hr. later & I left out a whole section of my pc/controller log in process.
I left out the steps where I was on your page and pressed the initial "Browse" section that took me to all the files on my pc.
I searched down and found the DJI Controller section & opened it.
It produced about 40 different files including internal memory and my SD card files.
I opened my internal mem. section an found only 1 that seemed -  to refer to flight ??? which i opened and there were several files but none that siad Flight records or files. I tried to open them all 1 by 1 and that's when I received the error messages that I sent earlier.  Failing that I went to my SD card section and did the same with the same result.  I've now done that routine several times with the same result.  In my mind (what I have left) I'm assuming I tried the correct process UNLESS you can & will point out what I did wrong.
2nd. point is after several trips into the woods yesterday I FOUND MY MAVIC. in tact upside down in a v. small opening under a huge live oak tree with no apparent external damage except being wet and some props had dings in them. My SD card looked fairly dry so after drying it totally late last night I inserted it into my pc and all of my images were there. Except for the grace of GOD and a general map on the controller that narrowed the area and my military training I'd never would have found it.

All of that being said hopefully you can tell me what I did wrong, what I need to do that's different so I can find the flight records that show the RTH flight that ended up in the woods, and how we should proceed with DJI checking over my mavic system.
Again I apologize for being so stupid.

I'm glad that you found the drone. Don't turn it on yet, unless you're absolutely positiv that it's totally dry. And remove the battery!

And replace the damaged propellers.

I somehow could manage to download the flight log data from the Smart Controller once but I had to search the internet to find where they exactly are in the jungle of all the folders and how they are named. Unfortunately I can't remember the process but I'm pretty sure that there are a lot of experts out here who are able help you.

You are by far not stupid, I'm only 59 years old, still working in the IT and it really wasn't easy.

Connect the smart controller to the PC, turn it on, enable data transfer and the path to the flighl logs should look like this: This PC ( the name of your computer )\Smart Controller\Internal shared storage\DJI\dji.go.v4\FlightRecord

Gjuro Posted at 1-19 12:12
Connect the smart controller to the PC, turn it on, enable data transfer and the path to the flighl logs should look like this: This PC ( the name of your computer )\Smart Controller\Internal shared storage\DJI\dji.go.v4\FlightRecord

Thank you sir this is the first time I had someone reply and suggest I do it this way. So I just came in turned on my pc and my controller.
Working on my controller 1st screen comes on with the DJI logo center screen for a few seconds. 2nd screen comes on with 3 choices * Charge controller,  * Transfer Data files and at the bottom *transfer photos.  This is quickly covered with a top message Charge rate is very slow, change to a faster charge rate (or words to that affect) I press ok to get rid of it and then press on transfer files in the center space.
The controller peeps like that's in process and it goes to the normal CONNECT screen with the dolphins etc.  I've done it a million times and nothing happens except the connect screen. I've pressed it lightly and as hard as I dare and it never gives me a choice to transfer files or transfer photos. Always stays on change charging source.  I've seen those choices many time and tried to chance to them with the same result. I'm so frustrated I could scream. Just don't know what else to try. Any suggestions will be welcome. Mike has been trying to work with me but is as frustrated as I am. The system is only 4+ months old and has worked perfectly up to this point except for 1 battery that never worked and I just kept it and said nothing  to DJI and ate $150.

FloridaNext Posted at 1-19 09:00
I'm glad that you found the drone. Don't turn it on yet, unless you're absolutely positiv that it's totally dry. And remove the battery!

And replace the damaged propellers.

Thank you sir, I appreciate you words of encouragement. I know the files are there and I've tried everything I think might work. Another gentleman suggested another approach using the Transfer file tap when it first starts up but that didn't work either although it looks like it should work. I just can't  select that option for some reason. VERY frustrating.

richardlbye1atmc.net Posted at 1-19 19:54
Thank you sir this is the first time I had someone reply and suggest I do it this way. So I just came in turned on my pc and my controller.
Working on my controller 1st screen comes on with the DJI logo center screen for a few seconds. 2nd screen comes on with 3 choices * Charge controller,  * Transfer Data files and at the bottom *transfer photos.  This is quickly covered with a top message Charge rate is very slow, change to a faster charge rate (or words to that affect) I press ok to get rid of it and then press on transfer files in the center space.
The controller peeps like that's in process and it goes to the normal CONNECT screen with the dolphins etc.  I've done it a million times and nothing happens except the connect screen. I've pressed it lightly and as hard as I dare and it never gives me a choice to transfer files or transfer photos. Always stays on change charging source.  I've seen those choices many time and tried to chance to them with the same result. I'm so frustrated I could scream. Just don't know what else to try. Any suggestions will be welcome. Mike has been trying to work with me but is as frustrated as I am. The system is only 4+ months old and has worked perfectly up to this point except for 1 battery that never worked and I just kept it and said nothing  to DJI and ate $150.

As far as I remember it was like this: When you connect the SC to the PC and enable data transfer, a new drive should show up in the PC Explorer. From there you can find the flight records in the folder '\Internal shared storage\DJI\dji.go.v4\FlightRecord'. Don't know if this is the exact name of the folder but when you see the SC in the PC Explorer you will certainly find something like that. After you found the folder with the flight records you can copy and paste them somewhere on your computer.

So actually you don't have to search on the screen of the SC but on your computer explorer after the USB connection has been established.

richardlbye1atmc.net Posted at 1-19 19:54
Thank you sir this is the first time I had someone reply and suggest I do it this way. So I just came in turned on my pc and my controller.
Working on my controller 1st screen comes on with the DJI logo center screen for a few seconds. 2nd screen comes on with 3 choices * Charge controller,  * Transfer Data files and at the bottom *transfer photos.  This is quickly covered with a top message Charge rate is very slow, change to a faster charge rate (or words to that affect) I press ok to get rid of it and then press on transfer files in the center space.
The controller peeps like that's in process and it goes to the normal CONNECT screen with the dolphins etc.  I've done it a million times and nothing happens except the connect screen. I've pressed it lightly and as hard as I dare and it never gives me a choice to transfer files or transfer photos. Always stays on change charging source.  I've seen those choices many time and tried to chance to them with the same result. I'm so frustrated I could scream. Just don't know what else to try. Any suggestions will be welcome. Mike has been trying to work with me but is as frustrated as I am. The system is only 4+ months old and has worked perfectly up to this point except for 1 battery that never worked and I just kept it and said nothing  to DJI and ate $150.

Any suggestions will be welcome.
The Phantomhelp site has simple instructions here:
https://forum.phantomhelp.com/t/ ... o-your-computer/256

The task should only take a couple of minutes.
If it hasn't happened after all this time, perhaps give up and move on.

richardlbye1atmc.net Posted at 1-19 20:04
Thank you sir, I appreciate you words of encouragement. I know the files are there and I've tried everything I think might work. Another gentleman suggested another approach using the Transfer file tap when it first starts up but that didn't work either although it looks like it should work. I just can't  select that option for some reason. VERY frustrating.

To everyone that is watching this horror show in summary where it's been pointed out that the information ie a TXT file of my last flight should only take an average person 2 minutes to find where as I've been working on finding it since about 1947, or thereabouts. (A little humor from me) I've gone to extremes  and found another person who has the same smart Controller (SC) and he is foolish enough to let me borrow it so I can see if there are any differences between the 2  SCs, and strangely there are, in fact mine is missing the1 file I'm looking for, the Flight Record File - even tho the flight itself is on my SC. Here's what I did out of frustration and not giving up ever. Ill start with his and I'll abbreviate where I can.
1. Connected and turned on both PC & SC his is called m500
2. On SC came up  dji logo thn 3 files Chge unit  Tranfr files  Tranfr photos   pressed Transfr files screen shows dolphins .
3 on my pc go to my pc icon select his m 500 SC select ISS (intrnal Shrd  Storge -  16 foldrs  + 1 doc -  slect  DJI slct  Go 4 file  - 14 foldrs + 1 doc - slct Flight records -  up[ come 14 TXT files + others  
4. I think those are what we're looking for on my SC   RIGHT or Wrong   ?????  If correct lets go to my SC & PC
----------------------------------------------------
11. Connected and turned on both PC & SC  mine called smart controller not m500
2. On SC came up  dji logo thn 3 files Chge unit  Tranfr files  Tranfr photos   pressed Transfr files screen shows dolphins .
3 on my pc go to my pc icon select  SC - SC select ISS (intrnal Shrd  Storge -  17foldrs ???  + 1 doc -  slect  DJI slct  5 fldrs - slct Go 4 file  - 17 foldrs ????  & [b]NO Flight Records but  thr is a  Flight  Record Thumb
with 1 image of map and pointer of where my drone was flying.
NOT Happy I repeat this whole test with identical results 2 more times.  On the 4th test  My Flight record shows up along with with several txt files and the  Flight  Record Thumb
with 1 image of map and pointer of where my drone was flying. Inconsistent results may explain why my drone began  a RTH that I initiated because of low battery but then turned around and went back close to where it began. I'm just saying  W T H goin on. Something is not right here.  Now I want to get my last 2   2021 flight records to you all but cut & paste makes a file 11.000 pgs long. how do I link them to a post here?? I need to find the  link address &  link text. No clue, never done it. Can someone tell me how plese.

richardlbye1atmc.net Posted at 1-20 18:49
To everyone that is watching this horror show in summary where it's been pointed out that the information ie a TXT file of my last flight should only take an average person 2 minutes to find where as I've been working on finding it since about 1947, or thereabouts. (A little humor from me) I've gone to extremes  and found another person who has the same smart Controller (SC) and he is foolish enough to let me borrow it so I can see if there are any differences between the 2  SCs, and strangely there are, in fact mine is missing the1 file I'm looking for, the Flight Record File - even tho the flight itself is on my SC. Here's what I did out of frustration and not giving up ever. Ill start with his and I'll abbreviate where I can.
1. Connected and turned on both PC & SC his is called m500
2. On SC came up  dji logo thn 3 files Chge unit  Tranfr files  Tranfr photos   pressed Transfr files screen shows dolphins .

Inconsistent results may explain why my drone began  a RTH that I initiated because of low battery but then turned around and went back close to where it began.
Hold off on making guesses about what happened.
The data will show what actually happened

Here's a screenshot to show you what flight record files look like in a folder listing.
The date of the flight is in the file name.

I'm just saying  W T H goin on. Something is not right here.  Now I want to get my last 2   2021 flight records to you all but cut & paste makes a file 11.000 pgs long. how do I link them to a post here?? I need to find the  link address &  link text. No clue, never done it. Can someone tell me how please.
You'll need to upload the flight record to a site like Dropbox, Google Drive, One Drive etc and post a link to where the file is.
As an example, here's a link to a flight record that I've put up on One Drive:
https://1drv.ms/t/s!Ak13vG6CU8yVgnVbU2aoKov4acPS?e=iStsQ3

Or ... you can upload The flight record to the Phantomhelp Log Viewer site which will give a summary report.
You can then copy and post the link to the Phantomhelp summary.

Thanks Capt. I opened your flight record and scrolled down. I got 1 like that when I copied and pasted it into word doc. Trouble was it literally ws on 11,0000++++ pages with big spaces of blank paper and it had different lingo in it.  I'll go back in and see if I can download it to my dropbox. Thanks for your help. fingers crossed

Don't know what this file is of but this is a file from the date of the lost flight. This time stamp is not close to when I lost it.  It is a video of when I pressed the RTH command and the short flight headed home for about 10 seconds total before I lost video and control. I  know there is another video that shows the complete flight from launch to when it landed 158' in the woods track and everything.
There might be another 1 I'll go back and look.  Let me know if these are what you need. Probably not  By the way I tried you latest directions usb to usb and the drop down screen is much different that what you described, for example the is no turning on usb storage etc . but there are;  network,,dark part advanced  b.t.  hdmi,   linking,   go share, capture,. record,  land others.
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Let me know.  rich
End

Second record much later in the same day
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richardlbye1atmc.net Posted at 1-21 13:24
Don't know what this file is of but this is a file from the date of the lost flight. This time stamp is not close to when I lost it.  It is a video of when I pressed the RTH command and the short flight headed home for about 10 seconds total before I lost video and control. I  know there is another video that shows the complete flight from launch to when it landed 158' in the woods track and everything.
There might be another 1 I'll go back and look.  Let me know if these are what you need. Probably not  By the way I tried you latest directions usb to usb and the drop down screen is much different that what you described, for example the is no turning on usb storage etc . but there are;  network,,dark part advanced  b.t.  hdmi,   linking,   go share, capture,. record,  land others.
GmcONIA9PFzHw1gpPLLPoqev3ytAH5KO3S/CJpMsylg=

Let me know.
I already did in my previous post.
If you want help, I need to have the actual file, not a cut and paste of some of the unreadable stuff inside the file, because there's no way to make sense of that.

A dropbox link would be good.

OK, I finally got my flight record to show up in my list of files (took over 6 hours) of loading and reloading in go 4 and I've copied 2 of the last flight files into dropbox and they are there. The problem is I've never used dropbox and don't know how to get those 2 files to you using a link or whatever. I opened "add a link and it asked for a link address ???   and a link text ???   I'll wait to hear back from you. "God I hope this is right."

https://www.dropbox.com/t/iVRUpmMiQp2m0O7h

Did you get 2 flight records via dropbox?

richardlbye1atmc.net Posted at 1-21 19:15
https://www.dropbox.com/t/iVRUpmMiQp2m0O7h

Did you get 2 flight records via dropbox?

Hi Richard,

Had a look at your flight, sorry for your loss.

At 4m52s  a RTH was initiated bc of the SmartBattery ; 24% battery left at 2048 ft away from home
Your drone flew back home, at 5m12s RTH was cancelled by you at 1609 feet from home. (23% batt)
Heading to home was 018 degrees, drone facing home wich is normal as it was in a RTH.


Between 5m12 and  5m56s your drone in the same postion ONLY you had yawed the craft 180 degrees, now pointing away from HP!
Followed by forward input, so drone flew away from home.....
Distance out 1581 ft to 2101 ft where it started an autolanding, 14% batt left at height of 698 feet, so 14% needed to land safely.
Last recorded position = 33.88367900, -78.58096400 at 628 feet. During autolanding it did not moved further away from HP.

Chart will explain all.



cheers
JJB

richardlbye1atmc.net Posted at 1-21 19:15
https://www.dropbox.com/t/iVRUpmMiQp2m0O7h

Did you get 2 flight records via dropbox?

You can see what was going on in the flight here:
https://www.phantomhelp.com/logviewer/5DET26ME1O7I1W65MLVX/

Your problems started with launching for a longish flight with the battery already at 46%.
You flew out 2000 ft, missing or ignoring a warning at 4:43 (25%) which said: The remaining battery is only enough for RTH. Return home now.
You continued flying out and initiated RTH at 4:52.7 with the battery at 24%.

RTH brought the drone to 1600 ft when you cancelled RTH at 5:12.8 (23%).
The warning was repeated at 5:21 (22%) and 6:49 (15%).
You dawdled there until 5:57.5 (20%) and then instead of coming home, you sent it back to near where you initiated RTH earlier and left the drone there.
At 6:49.3 with the battery down to 17% you sent the drone higher, from 488 ft up to 700 ft (battery now down to 14%).

That's when the drone gave up and commenced autolanding because it had only just enough battery left to get down to earth sfely, rather than falling from 700 ft later.
Signal was lost at 7:56.4 with the drone 2100 ft out and battery down to 11%.
The drone was still about 150 ft above the ground (less above the trees) and still descending.

The big problem with this flight was that your situational awareness was not very good.
The app tells you how far away the drone is and what the battery level is.
You really need to know where the drone is all the time and aim to get it back to home with the battery around 30%.
That gives you a comfortable safety margin to deal with unexpected problems.

richardlbye1atmc.net Posted at 1-21 19:15
https://www.dropbox.com/t/iVRUpmMiQp2m0O7h

Did you get 2 flight records via dropbox?

Congratulations Richard    knew you would get there eventually  

Well done both JJB and Labroides in presenting this information.

Its now very clear what was happening and its just fantastic that all this information is available from the RC. I guess that is part of what you are paying for when you purchase a DJI drone and RC. I am sure that Richard has learned a lot from all this as I have. Very happy to learn that you also found the Drone and in hopefully good condition.

It has been very interesting to follow all this in this forum and I have also learned a lot as a beginner. Many thanks again to both captains JJB and Labroides.

richardlbye1atmc.net: Great you finally worked it out. It took you a long time but at the end you managed it all. Hope you still enjoy your hobby in future.

Again, kudos to JJB and Labroides for their patience and great analysis of the incident. I hope when I'm in the age of 80+ you're still available and willing to help me with my problems too.