Trouble is still in paradise.    Reproduced the problem in BOTH the DJI Go application as well as the Litchi application.    Is a logic board fix what is needed, or is this something I should hold tight on for a software fix?

WilliamDJI Posted at 2017-1-13 06:41
Thanks for the reply

I sent mine in late Dec and they received it on Jan 6 (DJI California)

That's too bad, but hopefully DJI-Ken will help!
The online status is 'Under repair' right now and it has been for the last couple of days.
Regarding logic board -- they sent me an email with invoice and there was a statement about logic board replacement. Which status do you have right now for your case?

I can confirm what NomadRT has reported.  I just flew using the litchi app and the problem occurred almost constantly.

I switched to the DJI go 4 a app for the next flight and problem never occurred once.  So the issue is either hardware / firmware rather than the DJI Go 4 app based on my own experience.

I'm going to resume the support case I had open with DJI as this is really getting in the way of the Mavic experience Imo, and wastes lots of time while flying trying to get it to descend properly.  I can still totally believe this is a firmware update because there are some flights where the issue never occurs at all, and others where it's unbearably bad.  It almost seems like the initial calibration for the downward sensors isn't done correctly on some powers whereas other times it behaves perfectly.

@DJI-ken

So did 3 VPS calibrations, one IMU calibration and one stick calibration. Went for a test flight today. Excellent weather, sunlight, midday. VPS should be thriving.
Hovers 50 meters above ground (height registers correctly), bird tells me I have 0,0-0,5 to maybe 1-2 meters (ground) clearance - and the value flickers, as if the sensors are all jittery. Appropriately, whenever I tried to descend, the craft would start autolanding, because naturally, it believes it is just above ground.

So to bring it down, I disabled VPS and precision landing. It now flies ok. Sure, it has no clue of what ground clearance it has, but I can compensate by piloting more aware etc.
So Ive concluded that currently, the VPS is just a hazard, it serves no purpose and makes it impossible to bring the craft down.

What to do?  Wait for a software update or RMA? Or just ignore the VPS as some failed experimental sensor and fly on without it?

fans707604b2 Posted at 2017-1-14 03:00
I can confirm what NomadRT has reported.  I just flew using the litchi app and the problem occurred almost constantly.

I switched to the DJI go 4 a app for the next flight and problem never occurred once.  So the issue is either hardware / firmware rather than the DJI Go 4 app based on my own experience.

100% my same experience where one flight will be fine and the next it completely dominates the entire flight.    I'm unsure if any hardware replacement will fix it.   I've been waiting in the hopes that a firmware fix will do the trick.

JegerLars Posted at 2017-1-14 04:41
@DJI-ken

So did 3 VPS calibrations, one IMU calibration and one stick calibration. Went for a test flight today. Excellent weather, sunlight, midday. VPS should be thriving.

I'm in the exact same boat.   I'd rather not ship my craft and have them crack it open if it's firmware.   There is a risk for further problems any time a piece of equipment is cracked open that it will cause other problems.

Just did another long flight and again VPS issues continuously while it was enabled.  At the end of the flight the VPS prob was so bad that the constant clearance readout flickering between 0.1-0.3m caused the craft to keep ascending *above* the 120m limit I had set in the app.  It ended up getting as high as 150m (illegal in UK), at which point I disabled VPS to get it back down.  It's an absolute pain, because otherwise the craft flies amazingly and the image quality I am getting from photos/videos is superb.  This one problem is spoiling it.

I checked the case I had open and DJI has marked it as solved 3 days ago.  I've now done a follow up case and will see what they say.  Would be nice to just get an update from DJI if this is indeed a simple firmware bug that can be addressed via firmware, or if it's a hardware problem.  I've done all the calibrations several times and it makes no difference.

I definitely want to have this fully resolved soon, and definitely before spring, as I'll be using the mavic a lot more then.

NomadRT Posted at 2017-1-14 05:01
I'm in the exact same boat.   I'd rather not ship my craft and have them crack it open if it's firmware.   There is a risk for further problems any time a piece of equipment is cracked open that it will cause other problems.

I suggest we wait till the next firmware update before we ship our units back. There still plenty of warranty left. I don't want to make this mistake again, a month ago I bought a new p4 pro and had IMU calibration errors, the day after I returned it the problem was fix with firmware update. At the time everyone was saying it was hardware related. So I'm waiting.....

I think there are many people having this VPS issue, some not reporting it, others probably dont now the difference.

R&L Aerial  Posted at 2017-1-14 06:59
I suggest we wait till the next firmware update before we ship our units back. There still plenty of warranty left. I don't want to make this mistake again, a month ago I bought a new p4 pro and had IMU calibration errors, the day after I returned it the problem was fix with firmware update. At the time everyone was saying it was hardware related. So I'm waiting.....

I agree that waiting for a software update is a possible approach, but do we have any idea how long that will take, or if DJI is even looking into the problem?

@DJI-ken

Same problem here. It wants to landing even at high level but I do nothing and it goes up meter after meter.I can stop it when i put down the stick ans it say landing.

Sachem Posted at 2017-1-14 08:13
Same problem here. It wants to landing even at high level but I do nothing and it goes up meter after meter.I can stop it when i put down the stick ans it say landing.

Welcome to the club.

DJI-Ken Posted at 2017-1-10 09:30
R&D is working on it, if you feel safer sending the aircraft in after verifying it is indeed an aircraft issue then feel free to contact support and start an RMA.

Ken, can you guys look at this flight log? I recorded it today, the problem occured, had to disable VPS to finally bring the drone down.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5nk3pn ... 4_16-19-02.DAT?dl=0

Has anyone yet tried a firmware downgrade to the previous firmware version to see if this rectifies the problem?

I have a similar issue - mavic refuses to land sometimes and hovers at 1-2M even when full stick down and no obstruction. Happens almost all the time when im trying to land and I need to keep readjusting it before it would land properly. I actually crashed my mavic on the very first day because I had it indoors and it refused to land and kept drifting sideways. Pretty sure it has something to do with the downward sensor not working properly

JegerLars Posted at 2017-1-14 10:37
Ken, can you guys look at this flight log? I recorded it today, the problem occured, had to disable VPS to finally bring the drone down.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5nk3pna8rquvmmr/DJI_ASSISTANT_EXPORT_FILE_2017-01-14_16-19-02.DAT?dl=0

I cannot view DAT files, what is your email and I will forward it on to R&D.
And a ticket# too if you've started one.

After I turned off the VPS the problem never surfaced again, and actually love flying the Mavic now (yesterday did a 1.8km from homepoint flight above the sea... awesome!).

But I start to realize that the disabled downward VPS will block me from using Active Track and maybe other cool features.

My strategy: I'll wait until the next firmware version and hope this will fix it. If not, I'll raise a ticket for RMA.

By the way, another observation I made was that one of the two ultrasonic sensors make a slight clicking sound whereas no such thing is observed from the other sensor. Could that be the issue?

Quick update - tried today again two (2) shorter flights with downward VPS enabled... and in both cases the problem surfaced again. It was very obvious that the 'clearance-to-ground' suddenly indicated -0.1m while approx. 10 to 20 meter of the ground. This triggered the Mavic to go into an infinite ascend until I either forced land (i.e. 3 seconds left stick down), or disabling the downward VPS again in the menu options.

@DJI-KEN: Any update on the progress on the firmware update? Can we expect one shortly?

JoostBoZ Posted at 2017-1-15 03:58
Quick update - tried today again two (2) shorter flights with downward VPS enabled... and in both cases the problem surfaced again. It was very obvious that the 'clearance-to-ground' suddenly indicated -0.1m while approx. 10 to 20 meter of the ground. This triggered the Mavic to go into an infinite ascend until I either forced land (i.e. 3 seconds left stick down), or disabling the downward VPS again in the menu options.

@DJI-KEN: Any update on the progress on the firmware update? Can we expect one shortly?

Tried a few flights today, exact same problem, it flies quite well with the VPS off though.
Reluctant to send it in for RMA.
Crossing fingers for a SW update.

DJI-Ken Posted at 2017-1-14 17:45
I cannot view DAT files, what is your email and I will forward it on to R&D.
And a ticket# too if you've started one.

Sent requested info in a PM.

iPurvis Posted at 2017-1-14 16:48
Has anyone yet tried a firmware downgrade to the previous firmware version to see if this rectifies the problem?

Yes, I've tried everything possible.

Took another flight today, the VPS error occured and craft was climbing to the moon on its own. Though I got it down ok by disabling the VPS.

Have a look:

R&L Aerial  Posted at 2017-1-15 05:29
Yes, I've tried everything possible.

Thanks for trying that out, the user JegerLars posted a video below your comment with a video, he has his phone/tablet removed from the controller, I'd assume that this then removes the app from the whole situation, coupled with your firmware downgrade I'm now more inclined to think this is now a hardware issue....

iPurvis Posted at 2017-1-15 05:36
Thanks for trying that out, the user JegerLars posted a video above your comment with a video, he has his phone/tablet removed from the controller, I'd assume that this then removes the app from the whole situation, coupled with your firmware downgrade I'm now more inclined to think this is now a hardware issue....

Yeah I agree iPurvis, has anyone had their Mavic turned in and had a hardware fix? How did it turn out?

JegerLars Posted at 2017-1-15 05:49
Yeah I agree iPurvis, has anyone had their Mavic turned in and had a hardware fix? How did it turn out?

Delsonrus RMA'd his mavic, Report back was a logic board replacement and something to do with sport mode too.... Check back through the thread to find it, I think it's on page 6, I don't think he's sure if the logic board replacement was for the VPS or sport mode issue but until the RMA he was unaware of the sport mode issue, but there is also now confusion about what's actually happening with his mavic. I'm only a 3rd party relaying memories so it'll be best if you check back in the thread.

I'll join this club too. Switching VPS off is not so bad, but TapToFly then also doesn't work (didn't try the other features. That sucks... I'll wait for the next firmware update.

Rover Hoofdman Posted at 2017-1-15 08:27
I'll join this club too. Switching VPS off is not so bad, but TapToFly then also doesn't work (didn't try the other features. That sucks... I'll wait for the next firmware update.

did you turn off VPS or just precision landing? Turning off the precision landing seems to have solved it for me.

JoostBoZ Posted at 2017-1-14 20:03
After I turned off the VPS the problem never surfaced again, and actually love flying the Mavic now (yesterday did a 1.8km from homepoint flight above the sea... awesome!).

But I start to realize that the disabled downward VPS will block me from using Active Track and maybe other cool features.

Did you try just disabling Landing Protection (if you're on Android) or Precision Landing (if on IOS)?

Jason Lane Posted at 2017-1-15 09:45
Did you try just disabling Landing Protection (if you're on Android) or Precision Landing (if on IOS)?

I tried doing an isolated disabling of the landing protection - no luck, the clearance/VPS problem is still there.

But the drone flies quite well without both the LP and the VPS - so maybe just wait it out... Hope the R&D is aware of this seemingly quite common problem.

Mine is being repaired after they said the vps was broke and also sports mode. Not sure what they are fixing as have no report yet.

One odd thing is sports mode worked fine when i sent it in.

FlameBoy Posted at 2017-1-15 16:25
Mine is being repaired after they said the vps was broke and also sports mode. Not sure what they are fixing as have no report yet.

One odd thing is sports mode worked fine when i sent it in.

That's interesting to know.
Disabling VPS also fixed waypoints mode issue i had also (i presume the system confused itself because it was not able to keep the programmed height.

I would just like to know if it's software or hardware.    Right now I'm minimizing my Mavic usage (have been for about a month now) because of this issue.

JegerLars Posted at 2017-1-15 04:51
Sent requested info in a PM.

I did not get a PM.

Jason Lane Posted at 2017-1-15 09:45
Did you try just disabling Landing Protection (if you're on Android) or Precision Landing (if on IOS)?

I now fly constantly without the full Downward VPS turned off. Turning off only Precision Landing doesn't really help.

After yesterday's attempt to try once more with the Downward VPS enabled, and that the problem almost immediately surfaced again, I'm sure we all know here in this thread that this is the problem. Other forums (e.g. http://mavicpilots.com/threads/f ... 9/page-6#post-45995) mention exactly the same issues.

I'm indeed keen to know from DJI-Ken if this is now confirmed being either a hardware or firmware issue.

My strategy is still to:
a) keep flying with Downward VPS disables (as I just simply love to fly the Mavic in the first place and keep learning on based on the functionality available);
b) await the next firmware update and have my fingers crossed that the issue will be resolved with such new firmware; and
c) if the next firmware does not fix the problem, I'll raise a problem ticket to repair the faulty hardware.

JegerLars Posted at 2017-1-15 11:04
I tried doing an isolated disabling of the landing protection - no luck, the clearance/VPS problem is still there.

But the drone flies quite well without both the LP and the VPS - so maybe just wait it out... Hope the R&D is aware of this seemingly quite common problem.

Wow. That's an interesting observation. With Landing Protection disabled on my Mavic, it would not ascend no matter how close I put my hand to the bottom, simulating a faulty reading of low ground clearance. And yet yours would still ascend with Landing Protection disabled? Very weird.

*Note - I don't have the VPS issue that you guys are having. I just ran some tests with my "healthy" Mavic to try to determine the expected behavior.

JoostBoZ Posted at 2017-1-15 22:27
I now fly constantly without the full Downward VPS turned off. Turning off only Precision Landing doesn't really help.

After yesterday's attempt to try once more with the Downward VPS enabled, and that the problem almost immediately surfaced again, I'm sure we all know here in this thread that this is the problem. Other forums (e.g. http://mavicpilots.com/threads/force-landing-wtf.1109/page-6#post-45995) mention exactly the same issues.

Hi JootBoZ,

Someone has already done a firmware downgrade and there is a video of the problem occuring when using the controller with no phone or tablet. And also considering this isn't happening to all mavics it would suggest a certain batch of faulty hardware within the drone itself.

My only other consideration is, did the problem occur after the latest firmware upgrade? Are there any reports of VPS problems prior to 26/12/16?
EDIT: Just read through the thread you linked, Some reports of VPS problems back in November, to me, its looking like a hardware problem as there have been firmware updates since then

NomadRT Posted at 2017-1-15 19:10
I would just like to know if it's software or hardware.    Right now I'm minimizing my Mavic usage (have been for about a month now) because of this issue.

I would like to say when I first got my drone it was working perfect. I only ever flew it in the same locations (2 of them) and then this issue started to get worse with every flight to the point is was happening after 30 seconds into taking off.

This would suggest it's a hardware issue (remember the xbox red ring of death issue) but the issue is the drone has on board memory that could have also got corrupt.

FlameBoy Posted at 2017-1-16 03:03
I would like to say when I first got my drone it was working perfect. I only ever flew it in the same locations (2 of them) and then this issue started to get worse with every flight to the point is was happening after 30 seconds into taking off.

This would suggest it's a hardware issue (remember the xbox red ring of death issue) but the issue is the drone has on board memory that could have also got corrupt.

I got my Mavic in late december, problems started in early January, literally a week out of the box and after the latest firmware, I had no fly time prior to the new firmware so can't comment on anything beforehand.

My problems are currently intermittent, last 2 flights were perfect, not yet had a chance to test since last week, but like many are saying, I'm gonna wait and see if a firmware sorts out the problem and if not I'll start an RMA

iPurvis Posted at 2017-1-16 04:20
I got my Mavic in late december, problems started in early January, literally a week out of the box and after the latest firmware, I had no fly time prior to the new firmware so can't comment on anything beforehand.

My problems are currently intermittent, last 2 flights were perfect, not yet had a chance to test since last week, but like many are saying, I'm gonna wait and see if a firmware sorts out the problem and if not I'll start an RMA

I was on the firmware that was released before Christmas for about 3 weeks.

The issues then started to happen.

I then upgraded to latest firmware that came out and still had same issue.

FlameBoy Posted at 2017-1-16 04:45
I was on the firmware that was released before Christmas for about 3 weeks.

The issues then started to happen.

Did you RMA yours? Any reports?