SD card reformat intermittently fails

[matti]

After few months in storage I powered up my never-crashed P3P with its well-behaved stock Lexar Class 10 U1 16 GB SD card that I always reformat in the AC.

In the Main Controller MC settings or in the main screen there was a new alert "Reformat Recommended" or "Advice Format". But MC reformat failed with an error "SD Card Format Timeout" and the camera settings reformat failed with an error "SD Card Formatting Failed".

In my repeated attempts I managed to successfully reformat the card just 2-3 times and eventually it always failed.

I could however take video and images to the card via the RC buttons while trying to take footage via the tablet's GUI did not do anything (DJI GO v3.1.23, iPad Pro 9.7", iOS 11.2.1). I even managed to update the P3P FW from P3X_FW_V01.10.0090 to P3X_FW_V01.11.0020 from the SD card which could be reformatted in the computer just fine (MS-DOS (FAT), Master Boot Record -- I also tried ExFAT but it made no difference).

I assumed that the SD card had gone bad and got a new Transcend Class 10 U1 16 GB SD card. But reformatting it in the AC failed in the same manner. Also an old 3rd (too slow) SD card failed to reformat in the AC (main screen warned that it is too slow).

Then in desperation I fired up my old iPad mini 1, downloaded DJI GO and, surprisingly, the Transcend card reformatted successfully many times.

Then I deleted the DJI GO from the iPad Pro 9.7", re-booted, re-downloaded DJI GO app, logged in to DJI and could reformat the card a few times until it failed and then succeeded again. Now I'm afraid to take the card out or try to reformat it.

What is going on? It seems the three SD cards are OK. Is the P3P disk drive going bad? Or is this a software issue?? What should I do if the disk drive is bad?

 

[solentlife]

What it is ... who knows .... but yes Micro SD card slots are notoriously bad !!

One thing that can happen ... the micro card being small and many of us having pudgy hands ... we transfer skin grease to the card contacts. Bit like fingerprints ... We put card in slot and it works. But as we keep doing it - the grease builds up in the slot contacts / card. Then we start to see intermittent contact.
The Micro card slots do not have strong contact springs to 'cut through' ...

How to clean ? I use a cloth for cleaning my glasses. Its a soft leathery feel to it special for eye glasses. I wipe the card with the cloth and keep inserting a few times to try and 'bring out' the grease ... wiping card each time its out.

Seems to fix some cards but not all ... worth a try.

Personally - I do not like keep formatting cards ... I prefer to cut and paste the files from the card to PC .... using card reader. I like to keep the FW bin file on the card in case of new battery etc.

Nigel

 

[Apilot101]

Personally - I do not like keep formatting cards ... I prefer to cut and paste the files from the card to PC .... using card reader.

Nigel

This ^

 

[matti]

Even though I can occasionally reformat the SD card(s), this seems to cause other intermittent problems:

Sometimes the Main Controller settings are affected so "Return-to-Home Atitude", "Set Max Altitude" and "Sensors" data are blank when after the successful reformat they were correctly filled just a minute ago.

So now I am wary to even fly the AC in its current state.

 

[solentlife]

That does not sound like a Card created / derived fault .... maybe the card fault is as a result of a system fault ...

I agree that if you are having intermittent User Setting faults - that something is amiss.

Says to me - that maybe re-install of APP and maybe FW is called for ?

Nigel

 

[Apilot101]

I agree with Nigel. I dont think the SD card has anything directly to do with the fields being blank. Those are controlled by the m306 module in the fw and cache in the Go app.

 

[solentlife]

Just a question ... with the blank boxes etc....

I noted that if I connect a cable to the AC and plug into the PC ... all my user setting boxes go to ZERO ... half the menu wasn't available etc.

Is OP connecting a cable when interrogating on the desk / bench ?

Nigel

 

[matti]

> solentlife: Micro SD card slots are notoriously bad

I cleaned the old SD card contacts with a cloth a few times, blowed into the SD card slot, and inserted the SD card numerous times. Then I got a new Transcend card. The old and the new card reformat just fine on a PC but only intermittently in the AC.

Those DJI GO settings intermittently revert blank in the same session and sometimes the AC sometimes is unexpectedly "disconnected". If I quit and kill DJI GO, disconnect-reconnect the tablet's Lightning cable (I tried another cable but it didn't help) and start DJI GO, then everything is sometimes OK ... for a while.

> solentlife: Is OP connecting a cable when interrogating on the desk / bench ?

No, I didn't enter flight data mode, if I understood your question.

> solentlife: if you are having intermittent User Setting faults - that something is amiss [...] maybe re-install of APP and maybe FW is called for

The failing SD card reformat and blank settings seem to happen intermittently. So this does seems to be some kind of a system glitch. I managed to update to the latest FW and with the DJI GO I logged-out, deleted, reinstalled, re-logged to the DJI GO. I tried to re-update the latest FW but "The firmware on the SD card is identical to or older than the current firmware on the aircraft."

Coincidence or not, I have only seen these errors with my previously well-behaved iPad Pro 9.7" (now iOS 11.2.1) while the old iPad mini 1 (iOS 9.3.5) and iPhone 6 (iOS 11.2.1) always reformat and show the user settings OK in my more limited tests.

Maybe a loose, corroded cable connection inside the AC?? Or a timing error with that tablet??

I tried to reset the iPad Pro 9.7" to factory defaults (no restore from a backup so all old data was ignored) but the intermittent reformat and blank user settings error persist.

Today I did a short flight with the P3P and the iPad Pro 9.7". I started with DJI GO to re-calibrate the compass and to set exposure: OK. Then quit and killed DJI GO and switched to Litchi but then I had to disconnect-reconnect the tablet to make Litchi talk to the AC (never had to do this in the past missions). The Litchi mission was OK.

So something is still not correctly working with my setup.

 

[matti]

I think I got also the iPad Pro 9.7" to work with this workflow:

Connect tablet to the RC.
Launch DJI GO, enter Camera view.
RC ON.
AC ON.

Then I can reformat the SD card(s) and see DJI GO settings (Multiple Flight Modes ON, Return-to-Home Altitude: 40m, Set Max Flight Altitude: 120m, Enable Max Distance & Set Max Flight Distance: 500m etc).

If I then switch to Litchi (as a habit I quit and kill DJI GO before switching to Litchi), Litchi might now be unresponsive (C2 + Camera settings dial does not tilt the gimbal, the mission might fail to start etc), and I may have to:

RC OFF.
Quit and kill Litchi.
Disconnect/reconnect the tablet cable.
Litchi ON.
RC ON.

...In the past I've had not needed to do this and I'm not sure if every step of this voodoo is necessary.

Maybe the current FW or DJI GO app is too fussy about timings etc?? Or maybe I have a loose/corroded flaky connection somewhere??

 

[solentlife]

Interesting as the Android sequence that works best for me is :

RC on
AC on... get green light on RC
Android on
Connect USB lead
Box pops up asking if I want GO or Litchi ... and if ONCE or ALWAYS ...

I tap GO and ONCE ... it auto starts into GO and goes to camera direct.

Latest GO / Latest FW ... Nexus 7 vers 2

Nigel

 

[matti]

I noticed that I can bypass these intermittent issues with DJI GO and Litchi by disconnecting/reconnecting the Lightning cable. I first thought my SD card or the card reader were failing but now I suspect it is a problem with iOS 11.2.1.

Seems there are similar problems:

DJI Go shows full telemetry but will not talk to aircraft

 

[solentlife]

I noticed a change in 'reliable' startup sequence.

I don't know if it affects IOS as well ... but for me with Android ... the startup of GO has become sensitive to when ..

If I do as I used to do with older versions of GO - start GO before RC / AC - it would kick in once green LED's on RC / AC .. no problem.
But now if I start GO manually without letting auto start by plugging in AFTER RC / AC are powered up - GO is greyed out ...
I then have to unplug and plug back in ... let autostart ask me which I want to use GO or LITCHI ... then it goes into GO fine.

If I didn't use Litchi - I would select ALWAYS and let GO auto start with cable plugin.

Nigel

 

[matti]

Those intermittent SD card formatting failures, blank Main Controller and Sensors settings, connection problems etc seem to have been cured with iOS 11.2.5 and DJI GO 3.1.27. The old SD card seems to work OK.