Phantom 3 worked awesome for weeks. NOW: lost signal + corrupted videos

[CKP]

My phantom 3 went through 40+ flawless flights , some at very long distance, sometimes nearly a mile away from the controller with no issues. If it lost signal, it turned around and came back safely - the recorded video showed the drone turning around and coming back to me, the video file was not interrupted and looked great all the way. All was great!

Then, something weird started happening, the drone loses signal MUCH closer to home AND when it does, it STOPS recording video (I see it on the controller, there is a sounds and the time stops)! Also, a third symptom is that the drone video files are now often corrupted with visible broken transmission, bars, messed up colours, etc which is weird as it is not the controller that records the video, but the drone itself, and previously for 3+ months, lost signal never created corrupted or interrupted video (which made perfect sense).

What happened??? Again, it was working flawlessly for many many flights and now loses signal much closer to home (in various cities/places, not just one place, I might add), stops recording and messes up files.

I have not changed anything, no new firmware etc. The only thing is that there may have been 2 weeks since the last good flights.

Please help! Someone mentioned I might have to re-pair the drone with the controller, but I am still able to fly the drone just fine when it has the signal, so should I really do this? Many thanks for your guidance! Is it software or is my drone broken? BTW, when I have signal, the recorded video is perfect. But I lose it so quickly and then everything basically goes to heck.

 

[macheung]

If it was only 3 months old, then it is probably still under warranty. You contacting dji to see if they can help

 

[neocacher]

Did you inadvertently upgrade DJI Go to 3.0? I did and had that problem. If so, upload Firmware 1.6.8.0 and problem should be solved.

 

[CKP]

App version is still the same: 2.8.1. Also it says 1.6.80
My tablet is not connected to the internet so there is no way it would automatically get a new version.

Any other clues? Would the pairing of RC and drone be required? Somewhere I;ve read that if the drone sat idle for some time it forgets the RC pairing to some extent... I find that hard to believe since the drone flies OK until it loses signal. help... If nothing, DJI support it is...

 

[alokbhargava]

You can always try RE-pairing but it's not lost in course of time.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

 

[Neon Euc]

Hmmmm.... Have you tried flying in another location and see what happens? Thinking out if the box but maybe their might be a new cell phone tower that has been put up interfering with the signal. Long shot I know. But travel in another location about a mile away and try again and see what happens

Sent from my Power using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[CKP]

I have pre-empted that question:

"now loses signal much closer to home (in various cities/places, not just one place, I might add), stops recording and messes up files."

 

[Neon Euc]

I would Definitely downgrade the firmware then test each one. Time consuming I know. But it will determine if it's software or hardware

Sent from my Power using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[CKP]

Well, I am VERY hesitant to do that given I've been on the same FW since I bought it and things were absolutely perfect.... I am afraid that is not the way to go for that reason...

 

[CKP]

Is there any explanation why recorded video is corrupted (random bars, colours and flickering of the screen?) since Phantom is supposed to be recording all the time, no matter if signal is lost or not?? Hardware malfunction? It worked in such cases before....

Here is a sample of broken/ cut off/short and totally corrupted video.

 

[CKP]

***UPDATE: Not believing that my drone has somehow magically suffered a mechanical / electronic failure, I have focused on the software and uninstalled the GO app, rebooted my device and reinstalled it.
So far so good.... Video is no longer broken and corrupted! I've lost signal once but the video is intact.
I suspect there was a glitch in the app (which I saw some signs of before) that with time became even more corrupted (some bad cache files?) and I presume the app was sending a wrong signal to the drone to either shut off the video when the signal was lost or the drone was confused by the corrupted app and wrong signals it received from my device and in turn messed up the video.
I will post a further update. The app, BTW, was installed on a Samsung Tablet (about 3 yrs old) / Android. One suspicious sign I have seen for some time was an intermittently unresponsive red video record button - often times I had to press it 5 times before it would begin recording.... Maybe that has something to do with the way my app got corrupted with time.

 

[CKP]

Happy to report that the culprit was a CORRUPTED/MALFUNCTIONING DJ GO APP (VERSION 2.8.1). That same version worked OK for three months (40+ flights), then out of a blue, it started sending wrong signals to the drone which in turn began interrupting video recording and destroying video files.
Uninstalled the app, installed a new one, v 2.9.1 and so far so good. If the drone loses signal, the video is still continuously recorded without any issues!
The device is an older Android Tablet (Samsung).
Thanks everyone. What a weird and unusual situation, but glad it is resolved.