Uncontrollable flight after latest update

[Blade Buster 17]

Fellow drones
Looking for help or suggestions on a phantom 4 which I lost after an uncontrollable flight.
I had updated my controller and drone on 8/11 and wanted to test my drones flight response.
At first, I kept receiving a battery error message so I removed the battery and charged it from 25% to 100%. It was dusk before I actually got it in the air and in received a "compass" error?
It was dark so I brought it down as soon as I could, but it was acting erratic.

Next morning, I wanted to check it again to make sure all was good. I inserted the battery, turned on the drone and controller and received another battery error? Said battery was bad and to replace it, never had this before the update.
I took the battery out, checked the female connector ports for dirt or anything causing trouble... all seemed fine. I put the battery back in and seated it very carefully and it seemed to fix the issue?
I again prepared to take off. I received a message stating "Home Point Recorded" RTH Altitude; 30m. I went straight up in the air. After 39 secs I received a warning regarding in-flight compass encounters magnetic field interference, please switch to atti mode if craft behave abnormally.

I could not control the drone, as it started drifting drastically. I tried to correct it and get it out of the air but it was too erratic. I had to raise the drone up to 300+ feet to not hit trees. At this point, I started receiving multiple errors and the drone just kept drifting with the wind. I tried everything to get back overhead, but my forward joystick would not move the drone forward but more sideways. I changed modes to sport and atti, but nothing seemed to help!
After approx 6 mins of flight the drone was basically out of range!

I tried jumping in my car to get closer to the location but I could not ever communicate again with drone! This has never happen before, or before the update!

Can anyone help me to determine approx where my drone went down? I have the flight record.

$1000 down the tubes! Absolutely loved this drone before my last two flights!!

 

[Meta4]

At first, I kept receiving a battery error message so I removed the battery and charged it from 25% to 100%. .

If you launched with a battery at only 25% there's a high probability your Phantom would have fallen from the sky.
Only launch with a fully charged battery.

I again prepared to take off. I received a message stating "Home Point Recorded" RTH Altitude; 30m. I went straight up in the air. After 39 secs I received a warning regarding in-flight compass encounters magnetic field interference, please switch to atti mode if craft behave abnormally.

I could not control the drone, as it started drifting drastically. I tried to correct it and get it out of the air but it was too erratic. I had to raise the drone up to 300+ feet to not hit trees. At this point, I started receiving multiple errors and the drone just kept drifting with the wind. I tried everything to get back overhead, but my forward joystick would not move the drone forward but more sideways. I changed modes to sport and atti, but nothing seemed to help!
After approx 6 mins of flight the drone was basically out of range!

A compass error will switch your Phantom to atti mode because it can't deal with conflicting data from compass and GPS.
Atti mode can be disorienting if you have not experienced it before.
The drone will drift on the wind.
You still have full control but without position holding ... it's like driving on ice with no brakes.
You need to identify the cause of the compass error.
Rather than a fault in the compass, a compass error is a perfectly good compass telling you of a problem it's detected in the local magnetic environment.

What can you say about when/where the compass was calibrated and what kind of surface you launched from?

Can anyone help me to determine approx where my drone went down? I have the flight record.

If you share your flight data, someone will look into it for you.
Go to DJI Flight Log Viewer
Follow the instructions to upload your flight record.
Come back and post a link to the report it provides

 

[DroneTurismo]

That sounds like a scary moment for sure. Sorry to hear that. Hope you can locate it and you get some answers

 

[Numone]

I suggest you upload your log asap. The clever people here can even estimate where you AC may've landed with that data.

 

[LarBear360]

I thought I read the Phantom will attempt to land at 10% battery vs. just fall out of the sky. I've been debating purchasing a GPS tracker for just such an emergency.

 

[Numone]

I thought I read the Phantom will attempt to land at 10% battery vs. just fall out of the sky. I've been debating purchasing a GPS tracker for just such an emergency.

Yes, it will auto land once the battery reaches criticality, but the easiest way to avoid that, is this.... don't fly the AC to the absolute limits of the battery! Simple really. I've never been passed 18%, which it reached on a 34,500' trip.

 

[LarBear360]

Yes, I panic and land at 30% every time!

 

[Meta4]

I thought I read the Phantom will attempt to land at 10% battery vs. just fall out of the sky. I've been debating purchasing a GPS tracker for just such an emergency.

I'm not taking about autolanding as programmed.
I'm taking about launching with a partially discharged battery.
The % battery indicator is not a good indication when the battery has been sitting around for a week.
Launching with a 25% battery is inviting a crash because the voltage available from the battery will be less than you expect.
There's a good reason that the manual tells you to only ever fly with a fully charged battery.

 

[Blade Buster 17]

Fellow drones
Looking for help or suggestions on a phantom 4 which I lost after an uncontrollable flight.
I had updated my controller and drone on 8/11 and wanted to test my drones flight response.
At first, I kept receiving a battery error message so I removed the battery and charged it from 25% to 100%. It was dusk before I actually got it in the air and in received a "compass" error?
It was dark so I brought it down as soon as I could, but it was acting erratic.

Next morning, I wanted to check it again to make sure all was good. I inserted the battery, turned on the drone and controller and received another battery error? Said battery was bad and to replace it, never had this before the update.
I took the battery out, checked the female connector ports for dirt or anything causing trouble... all seemed fine. I put the battery back in and seated it very carefully and it seemed to fix the issue?
I again prepared to take off. I received a message stating "Home Point Recorded" RTH Altitude; 30m. I went straight up in the air. After 39 secs I received a warning regarding in-flight compass encounters magnetic field interference, please switch to atti mode if craft behave abnormally.

I could not control the drone, as it started drifting drastically. I tried to correct it and get it out of the air but it was too erratic. I had to raise the drone up to 300+ feet to not hit trees. At this point, I started receiving multiple errors and the drone just kept drifting with the wind. I tried everything to get back overhead, but my forward joystick would not move the drone forward but more sideways. I changed modes to sport and atti, but nothing seemed to help!
After approx 6 mins of flight the drone was basically out of range!

I tried jumping in my car to get closer to the location but I could not ever communicate again with drone! This has never happen before, or before the update!

Can anyone help me to determine approx where my drone went down? I have the flight record.

$1000 down the tubes! Absolutely loved this drone before my last two flights!!

 

[Blade Buster 17]

Thank you all for your advise. Here is the flight TXT file.... DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

 

[Numone]

Thank you all for your advise. Here is the flight TXT file.... DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

Wow! That's some messed-up flight! Must've been scary. What I don't understand is although you got a compass error first at 25.6 secs, it still remained in P mode, which continued for almost a minute longer until the AC switched to ATTI at 1m.19s. Why didn't you try to bring it back during that first couple of minutes when you had some control? Anyway, is easy to sit here and criticise, so apologies.
Something seriously messed with the IMU and compass, but given you'd experienced a compass error the prior day, it would seem that it's a local problem, which perhaps should've been corrected before you flew again. Hopefully, someone can estimate where your drone went down.

 

[Bakersfield Quad]

Did you recalibrate the IMU, after the update? I was told by DJI to be sure to do so. Plus I was prompted to recalibrate the gimbal, sticks and compass, after upgrading to Go 4 ver 4.1.5.

 

[Blade Buster 17]

I did not re-calibrate! I was not prompted to re-calibrate as I had been previously. In hindsight, I realize that I should have, but I did not plan on flying very long the day I lost it. When I first received the drone, I would always be prompted to calibrate... this was the first screen that came up when I initialized the drone. For the last many flights (before the update) I was never prompted to calibrate and the drone flew flawlessly! Certainly my mistake, but as I said, I did not plan to fly very long that day, when it started drifting, I raised the drone above the houses and tree lines so not to crash. This is when I could not control it.

 

[Blade Buster 17]

I'm not taking about autolanding as programmed.
I'm taking about launching with a partially discharged battery.
The % battery indicator is not a good indication when the battery has been sitting around for a week.
Launching with a 25% battery is inviting a crash because the voltage available from the battery will be less than you expect.
There's a good reason that the manual tells you to only ever fly with a fully charged battery.

I guess I should clarify.... when I lost the drone, it was fully charged. The night before, I had approximately 25%, but was able to land the drone and re-charge that evening. The next day is when i lost control. The drone was 100% upon take-off.

 

[Blade Buster 17]

Wow! That's some messed-up flight! Must've been scary. What I don't understand is although you got a compass error first at 25.6 secs, it still remained in P mode, which continued for almost a minute longer until the AC switched to ATTI at 1m.19s. Why didn't you try to bring it back during that first couple of minutes when you had some control? Anyway, is easy to sit here and criticise, so apologies.
Something seriously messed with the IMU and compass, but given you'd experienced a compass error the prior day, it would seem that it's a local problem, which perhaps should've been corrected before you flew again. Hopefully, someone can estimate where your drone went down.

YES, it was extremely scaring and more frustrating!! I did try to bring it down as soon as it started to respond erratically, but there are many trees and houses around me so I did not want to crash into these objects. I tried every thing in my power to bring it to a point where I could drop it to the ground! Every time I tried to lower it, it went more sideways then down.
I looked at the flight pattern before I uploaded the link and I believe I can tell where it when down. I again went to the point of where the drone lost the final check point and search for hours. I even knocked on doors and ask neighbors. Nobody saw it and I cannot find it in the trees. This suck!!

 

[Bakersfield Quad]

Did you try find my drone or reviewing the flight logs to try to find the impact point?

 

[Blade Buster 17]

Fellow drones
Looking for help or suggestions on a phantom 4 which I lost after an uncontrollable flight.
I had updated my controller and drone on 8/11 and wanted to test my drones flight response.
At first, I kept receiving a battery error message so I removed the battery and charged it from 25% to 100%. It was dusk before I actually got it in the air and in received a "compass" error?
It was dark so I brought it down as soon as I could, but it was acting erratic.

Next morning, I wanted to check it again to make sure all was good. I inserted the battery, turned on the drone and controller and received another battery error? Said battery was bad and to replace it, never had this before the update.
I took the battery out, checked the female connector ports for dirt or anything causing trouble... all seemed fine. I put the battery back in and seated it very carefully and it seemed to fix the issue?
I again prepared to take off. I received a message stating "Home Point Recorded" RTH Altitude; 30m. I went straight up in the air. After 39 secs I received a warning regarding in-flight compass encounters magnetic field interference, please switch to atti mode if craft behave abnormally.

I could not control the drone, as it started drifting drastically. I tried to correct it and get it out of the air but it was too erratic. I had to raise the drone up to 300+ feet to not hit trees. At this point, I started receiving multiple errors and the drone just kept drifting with the wind. I tried everything to get back overhead, but my forward joystick would not move the drone forward but more sideways. I changed modes to sport and atti, but nothing seemed to help!
After approx 6 mins of flight the drone was basically out of range!

I tried jumping in my car to get closer to the location but I could not ever communicate again with drone! This has never happen before, or before the update!

Can anyone help me to determine approx where my drone went down? I have the flight record.

$1000 down the tubes! Absolutely loved this drone before my last two flights!!

Did you try find my drone or reviewing the flight logs to try to find the impact point?

I FOUND MY DRONE!! Actually, I didn't, but a kind neighbors son found it.... here is the story;

I had searched in the area where the flight logs stated it went down. I could not find my P4.
I received a phone call this past Friday on my way to work from a number within my area code. The caller started by asking if I was (My name), I replied yes and asked who is this? He replied by asking me if I lost something, I was slightly confused at first because this was my work phone he was calling me on and I didn't recognize the nunber? I thought for a second and it then dawned on me that it had to be someone who found my P4, so I said YES, a white drone! He laughed and said he had it. It had crash landed in his father house one street south from where the flight log stated it lost communication. His father let it sit there for two days thinking someone would collect it. After the second day, he called his son.
I asked how he found me? He explained that he took the SIM card which was docked in the P4 and looked at the pictures I had taken. I took a picture of my house from a height of about 200'. You can see my neighbors house and pool, my shed and the street I lived on, which makes a 90 degree turn. He proceeded to check Google maps, knowing I could not live too far from his fathers house. Sure enough, he found my house. He looked at a street level view of my house and noticed I had my truck in the driveway that I was selling at the time (google snapshot was from fall 2016!) and my number was on the back of the truck! He found my name by looking up my address in the county assessors website. Amazingly, he was a great guy and just wanted to return it after the fun he had tracking me down! I was stunned! We met later and her returned my P4.... gave him $100.

P4 had very little damage (lost a couple upper leg covers) Blades were scuffed but not broke.
When I got it home, I charged it fully, calibrated the compass and IMU. It is now telling me that my forward sensors need to be calibrated and to use DJI Assistant. I went to DJI's site to download the software from the P4 section. When I opened the software, it is for the Aspire??
can someone direct me to the software for my drone?