DJI Go 4 Stops / Crashes on Smart Controller

[W2EJ]

I have flown my Mavic 2 Pro with Smart Controller at least 50 times over the last few months with no problems. Yesterday, while flying, DJI Go 4 just stopped for no apparent reason. A message came on the screen saying that it stopped and there was a place to click to restart it. It did restart and it seemed normal but soon stopped again. While it was stopped, I still had full control and the RTH button on the SC still worked. When the app restarted, it looked like the altitude and distance were not correct but it otherwise worked as usual. The place I was flying at was a new one for me, and I noticed a large microwave tower nearby. I wondered if that could have something to do with the problem although I couldn't see why, so when I got home, I flew out of my backyard which I've done many times before, and had the same problem. Does anyone have any ideas? If I wanted to delete and reinstall DJI Go 4 on my SC, does anyone know how?

Since I posted the above, I did a factory reset on the Smart Controller and set it up again from scratch. Unfortunately it did not fix the problem.

I looked through the files on the SD card that's in the SC, and found some log files in a "Crash" folder. The times of these files seem to correspond to the times of these DJI Go 4 crashes or stops. They all say something about a memory allocation error, like it was looking for a certain amount of memory but couldn't get it. If there's someone out there that understands how to actually read these things (like maybe @sar104 or @Meta4 or @Bud Walker or @msinger) maybe you could help me figure it out. Thanx.

 

[IShouldBeWorking]

I can't read flight logs the way the experts can, but I can read software logs pretty well. What's going on here is the DJI Go app is asking the OS for more memory and the OS on the Smart Controller is saying "Sorry, I don't have any more free memory to give you." This causes the app to crash. So the thing we've got to find out is what would consume all the memory on your Smart Controller even after hard resetting it and just launching DJI Go. Do you have other apps installed?

 

[JRT]

I can't read flight logs the way the experts can, but I can read software logs pretty well. What's going on here is the DJI Go app is asking the OS for more memory and the OS on the Smart Controller is saying "Sorry, I don't have any more free memory to give you." This causes the app to crash. So the thing we've got to find out is what would consume all the memory on your Smart Controller even after hard resetting it and just launching DJI Go. Do you have other apps installed?

I had a problem like this one on my crystalsky... clear the video cache. Worked for me.

 

[RogerMav]

I had a similar situation a few days ago. First also more than 40 or 50 flights with no problem and then one day I had one good flight and then same day a couple of hours later DJI Go 4 crashed repeatedly (more than 7 times) so I stopped flying. Next day everything back to normal with no hard resets, I did nothing at all.
The only important detail about that day of the problems is that it was a very hot day (40 Celsius, 104 Fahrenheit). I'm going to check my flight logs to see what I see.

 

[IShouldBeWorking]

I had a similar situation a few days ago. First also more than 40 or 50 flights with no problem and then one day I had one good flight and then same day a couple of hours later DJI Go 4 crashed repeatedly (more than 7 times) so I stopped flying. Next day everything back to normal with no hard resets, I did nothing at all.
The only important detail about that day of the problems is that it was a very hot day (40 Celsius, 104 Fahrenheit). I'm going to check my flight logs to see what I see.

If you see the problem come back, you may also want to check your smart controller SD card for any app crash logs. That's where the original poster found his log. I'd be happy to help look at it if you need.

 

[Paul2660]

You can also check your SC under settings to see just how much memory/storage is being used. Normal should be around 4GB or so of 11GB total. Irregardless, not a good software design, and needs a fix. If the SC reaches a critical level of memory allocation, it should warn you long before it starts to kill DJIGo4. I am interested in the OP's total amount of storage that is left. This is another reason I have not tried to alter, or download other apps to the SC, due to limited amount of ram. NOT saying this was done by OP. However since my SC never keeps the right time, I always see the total amount of available storage each time I power it on since you go by that setting to get to time. I am assuming the SC is running on ram only? has no hard drive unless you put a SD card into it.

Also you can limit your video cache to 2GB. The Video Cache to me is worthless. As I understand it its only good for playback when connected to the drone? and can be used to create the stock DJI videos. But all in the same it would start to fill up a 11GB SC over time.

Paul C

 

[W2EJ]

You can also check your SC under settings to see just how much memory/storage is being used. Normal should be around 4GB or so of 11GB total. Irregardless, not a good software design, and needs a fix. If the SC reaches a critical level of memory allocation, it should warn you long before it starts to kill DJIGo4. I am interested in the OP's total amount of storage that is left. This is another reason I have not tried to alter, or download other apps to the SC, due to limited amount of ram. NOT saying this was done by OP. However since my SC never keeps the right time, I always see the total amount of available storage each time I power it on since you go by that setting to get to time. I am assuming the SC is running on ram only? has no hard drive unless you put a SD card into it.

Also you can limit your video cache to 2GB. The Video Cache to me is worthless. As I understand it its only good for playback when connected to the drone? and can be used to create the stock DJI videos. But all in the same it would start to fill up a 11GB SC over time.

Paul C

That was the kind of explanation I was looking for. I have not had the time to go in to DJI Go 4 and adjust those settings, but in the next day or so, I will, and I will post the results here. Thanx.

 

[HugoVB]

Hi, have the same problem, not during flight, but after connecting to the dji mavic 2 pro, the app stops. I have now put in an sd card and did a factory reset. Works fine for 1 flight. When restarting after switch off, the problem is back.. any ideas?

 

[Paul2660]

Only one question. Only one question. Why do you have an SD card in the smart controller? ST card for recording I would always leave in the drone. If you are trying to write video from the drone to the SD card in the smart controller over an HD link I can see that causing potentially big problems with DJI GO 4 locking up.

 

[HugoVB]

Only one question. Only one question. Why do you have an SD card in the smart controller? ST card for recording I would always leave in the drone. If you are trying to write video from the drone to the SD card in the smart controller over an HD link I can see that causing potentially big problems with DJI GO 4 locking up.

Oh, i was reading this post and in the first place i had only 1 sd card in the drone. After putting on in the controller as mentioned above, the problem was solved for one flight..

 

[W2EJ]

Only one question. Only one question. Why do you have an SD card in the smart controller? ST card for recording I would always leave in the drone. If you are trying to write video from the drone to the SD card in the smart controller over an HD link I can see that causing potentially big problems with DJI GO 4 locking up.

I have an SD card in the drone and the SC. I record my videos to the card in the drone. The one in the SC has logs and other stuff. I have been very busy lately with non-drone stuff, so I still haven't had the time to clear the cache and adjust the size of it and test it, but I will and I will let you know the result.

 

[W2EJ]

The Result. You guys were spot on. I cleared the video cache and reduced the size to 2Gb, and no more DJI Go 4 crashes. I really thought I had a major problem, but it was just a matter of the settings. It should have issued some kind of a warning rather that just stopping. Hopefully they will fix that one of these days. Thank you all!

 

[RogerMav]

If you see the problem come back, you may also want to check your smart controller SD card for any app crash logs. That's where the original poster found his log. I'd be happy to help look at it if you need.

Hi "IShouldBeWorking"

Thanks for your message. Yes I am interested to see what you can tell me about my crash. I did not reply earlier had being very busy with work. But finally pull out the txt files from the SC SD card. I will attached 3 of them. In total it was 9 crashes one after the other.

 

[IShouldBeWorking]

Hi "IShouldBeWorking"

Thanks for your message. Yes I am interested to see what you can tell me about my crash. I did not reply earlier had being very busy with work. But finally pull out the txt files from the SC SD card. I will attached 3 of them. In total it was 9 crashes one after the other.

Alrighty, so the full error info is below but all three files show the same kind of crash. A function is trying to work with a double precision numeric value but it’s null when the function tries to access it. The software doesn’t handle this unexpected condition and crashes. If you have some steps to consistently make this happen, it might be good to report it to DJI. This kind of thing usually happens because of a software bug that they should be able to fix. I hope that helps!

===== Crash =====
java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke virtual method 'double java.lang.Double.doubleValue()' on a null object reference
at dji.midware.data.forbid.model.FlyfrbAreaJniElement.convertFromProtobuf(SourceFile:76)
at dji.fscore.jni.JNIFSLimitDataManager.parseLimitProtoDataWithEmptyCheck(SourceFile:106)
at dji.fscore.jni.JNIFSLimitDataManager.access$100(SourceFile:26)
at dji.fscore.jni.JNIFSLimitDataManager$1.onSuccess(SourceFile:66)
at dji.fscore.jni.JNIFSLimitDataManager$1.onSuccess(SourceFile:63)

=======Thread info======Crash name:java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke virtual method 'double java.lang.Double.doubleValue()' on a null object reference
Cause is:null
Thread name is:Thread-28196 35036
Thread count is:91
Fd count is:254

 

[RogerMav]

Hi, thanks for the information. It makes a lot of sense what you have explained me.
Unfortunately can´t recall any steps. When ended the first fly earlier in the day everything work perfectly. I landed and then did proper shutoff or turn off. A couple of hours later after turning it on the problem started immediately. Turn on and off several times, restarted DJI go 4 several times with no luck. After trying everything for 15 minutes and 9 crashes, I decided to stop trying.
Will try to keep a watch for this problem and possible steps to cause it next time it happens.
Thanks anyway for your help.

 

[IShouldBeWorking]

Hi, thanks for the information. It makes a lot of sense what you have explained me.
Unfortunately can´t recall any steps. When ended the first fly earlier in the day everything work perfectly. I landed and then did proper shutoff or turn off. A couple of hours later after turning it on the problem started immediately. Turn on and off several times, restarted DJI go 4 several times with no luck. After trying everything for 15 minutes and 9 crashes, I decided to stop trying.
Will try to keep a watch for this problem and possible steps to cause it next time it happens.
Thanks anyway for your help.

You're welcome! One other thing I can say from those logs is that your issue is not likely the same as the users seeing out of memory errors. Yours appears to be a separate issue. Hopefully, you won't ever encounter it again.

 

[Raydee]

Mine has crashed a few times as well. Twice it crashed after using Facebook live and one time after exiting activetrack. I would like to try to clear the video cache and resize to 2gb. Can anyone lead me in the right direction?

 

[Paul2660]

Under the main settings tab, you can both clear the video cache and limit it's size to 2GB.

Paul C

 

[HugoVB]

Hi, thanks for the information. It makes a lot of sense what you have explained me.
Unfortunately can´t recall any steps. When ended the first fly earlier in the day everything work perfectly. I landed and then did proper shutoff or turn off. A couple of hours later after turning it on the problem started immediately. Turn on and off several times, restarted DJI go 4 several times with no luck. After trying everything for 15 minutes and 9 crashes, I decided to stop trying.
Will try to keep a watch for this problem and possible steps to cause it next time it happens.
Thanks anyway for your help.

I had continues crashes when in the pyrenees (mountains) in Spain. Could only fly after reset to factory settings on the smart controller. Now back home there is no issue anymore..

 

[CaptHook]

The Result. You guys were spot on. I cleared the video cache and reduced the size to 2Gb, and no more DJI Go 4 crashes. I really thought I had a major problem, but it was just a matter of the settings. It should have issued some kind of a warning rather that just stopping. Hopefully they will fix that one of these days. Thank you all!

Has the fix you tried kept working?
I would be surprised if so.
Looking at your crash log, it looks like a crash from lack of RAM memory, not SD card memory.

I have recently had the same crashing with the same 'OutOfMemoryError' crash log as you.
My cache was almost empty and setting was already at 2Gb.
2 days ago, had 13 crashes in a row. Unusable.
Reading on here and Google and checking my logs, here's what I figure.
(I didn't have problems before -> ->)

I recently installed Litchi through Amazon.
It works great and was an easy install and have had no problems with that app.
1st I kill the DJI GO app, then launch Litchi. Works perfect.
Then I kill Litchi, and launch DJI GO - lots of problems.
Shut down the the controller and aircraft. Try later. No joy.

Looking further, I saw the Amazon Store app still running in the background.
(from when I download/installed Litchi from Amazon)
I'm thinking that app has allocated memory that the GO app needs.
I have killed that app, and it doesn't automatically restart.
So I'm hoping that will fix the problem.
I haven't had a chance to fly yet since checking all this.
Will report back in a day or two.