Mavic Air 2 Fails To See MicroSD Cards Over 32Gb

[JMDavies]

Hi,

I am new to this forum, and generally happy with my new Mavic Air 2 that I bought in November 2020.

However, from the outset it has intermittently failed to recognise SD cards over 32Gb - I have tried 64Gb and 128Gb. Note that I only use Sandisk Extreme and Sandisk Extreme Pro - as recommended on the official DJI website. Occasionally, after ejecting and re-inserting the SD card a few times with the drone ON, it recognises it, but then it fails to recognise it again next time I switch the drone on, with the SD card still in. I have tried reformatting the SD cards in the drone (while they are still recognised), but I am reluctant to fly with the SD card, after re-inserting a few times, for fear of loosing valuable footage if it decided to 'un-recognise' the card in mid-flight.

I contacted DJI Support in December, but they just advised me to reload up-to-date firmware - which I did. After that, we had COVID lockdown in the UK, and I was laid up after a knee operation, and have only recently had the opportunity to follow up the problem.

DJI Support have now sent me UPS label and mailing instructions to send the drone to their nearest repair centre... in Holland! I am not happy with this - I will lose use of the drone for up to a month, UPS expect me fill in EU import forms (in triplicate!) and may charge me EU VAT for shipping and import.

Has anybody else had this MicroSD issue with a Mavic Air 2? Can it be solved by carefully cleaning the SD slot? What course of action did you take?

 

[Phantomrain.org]

,One of the reasons why we send drones back is if the SD card slot is set to far back as to where we struggle with getting it in, With that said we have never had an SD card slot not work properly with Sandisk Extreme Plus 128 GB cards.

I feel as though there might not be a fix.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Mavic in the Rain.

 

[JMDavies]

In this case, I have not had trouble getting the microSD cards in and out - they seem to be just flush with the outside of the slot when fully engaged.

Strange that 32Gb cards always work reliably (?) - I am not a micro-electronics engineer, but it implies that one contact fork, for addresses above 32Gb, is not engaging.

Maybe I should bite the bullet and fill in those UPS EU import forms...

 

[Dave Maine]

Are you initializing the big cards in the drone or on your PC?

 

[BrokenAero]

Have you tried formatting a 64GB or 128GB SD card with the DJI Fly app to make sure that is formatted as exFAT and not FAT32? You can also format as exFAT with your computer.

 

[Tadass910]

Working fine

 

[JMDavies]

Are you initializing the big cards in the drone or on your PC?

As I said in the original post, I am formatting (and regularly reformatting) them in the drone - I don't know what you mean by 'initialising'. I don't have a PC - only Apple-Macs here.

 

[JMDavies]

Have you tried formatting a 64GB or 128GB SD card with the DJI Fly app to make sure that is formatted as exFAT and not FAT32? You can also format as exFAT with your computer.

When you say 'with the DJI Fly app', do you mean in the drone with the controller connected? If so, yes. Reformatting always works if the drone recognises the card; otherwise you cannot reformat it, if the drone doesn't even recognise that there is a card present. I have reformatting all these cards in the drone many times. If the the drone recognises the card (after repeatedly pushing it in and out of the slot), then it can be written to successfully. I have explained all this to DJI Support and they are certain it is a hardware issue with the reader - hence my question as to whether anyone has tried physically cleaning a microSD slot.

 

[JMDavies]

Working fine

Not working fine.

 

[Macinfo]

As I said in the original post, I am formatting (and regularly reformatting) them in the drone - I don't know what you mean by 'initialising'. I don't have a PC - only Apple-Macs here.

You can easily format them on your Mac if you want to see if makes any difference, you need to use the Disk Utility and once the card is selected, you can chose to Erase it from the icons on the tool bar, which will then let you name it, defaults to untitled, which is fine, and then format exFat for scheme, probably MBR or Master Boot Record, the others are Apple related, though I am not sure whether it makes much or any difference.. Probably to something it does.. not sure about your MA2.

If the symptoms do not change, Maybe try a V10 not V30, if that all fails, then you have no choice, there is more than likely something wrong with the card slot in that drone..

 

[JMDavies]

You can easily format them on your Mac if you want to see if makes any difference, you need to use the Disk Utility and once the card is selected, you can chose to Erase it from the icons on the tool bar, which will then let you name it, defaults to untitled, which is fine, and then format exFat for scheme, probably MBR or Master Boot Record, the others are Apple related, though I am not sure whether it makes much or any difference.. Probably to something it does.. not sure about your MA2.

If the symptoms do not change, Maybe try a V10 not V30, if that all fails, then you have no choice, there is more than likely something wrong with the card slot in that drone..

None of this explains why all my Sandisk 32Gb Extreme microSD cards work fine every time, but none of the Sandisk 128Gb Extreme or 64Gb Extreme Pro work (reliably) - sometimes the bigger cards work, sometimes they don't - this implies it has nothing to do with formatting.

Incidentally, when I have tried reformatting my 32Gb cards (which all work) on the iMac using DiskUtility, they never work on the drone after, but I get a completely different error: "Format not recognised", then it allows me to reformat them on the drone, and they are all OK again.

 

[tlswift58]

If DJI "thinks" there is an issue and sent you a UPS label - I'd send it in. Let them figure it out. You'll probably get a replacement drone in the process.

I've never had an issue using the 6 / 128 cards myself and I've got several. It's my PC sometimes that seems to not like them and saying there is errors when there isn't. I simply format in drone and go my merry way.

 

[Macinfo]

None of this explains why all my Sandisk 32Gb Extreme microSD cards work fine every time, but none of the Sandisk 128Gb Extreme or 64Gb Extreme Pro work (reliably) - sometimes the bigger cards work, sometimes they don't - this implies it has nothing to do with formatting.

Incidentally, when I have tried reformatting my 32Gb cards (which all work) on the iMac using DiskUtility, they never work on the drone after, but I get a completely different error: "Format not recognised", then it allows me to reformat them on the drone, and they are all OK again.

I was trying to see if formatting them optionally in your iMac, would have worked to solve the issue, not explain why the 32 works and the larger one's do not.

However if you tried formatting it with Disk Utility and it failed, not sure what options you may have selected were.. Stopping to look closer at my SD card, which is a V30 64GB which is working fine.. i looked at it in Disk Utility and its formatted exFat and guid partition map, not MBR or Apple. However, formatting it with the Disk Utility just may not work.

There appears to be just something wrong, and if you have a label to ship it off for repair, I think your at the point where you just need to use it, or keep flying with 32gb max until something crops up there if ever..

 

[JMDavies]

Thanks for all the advice. On balance I think I will go through the complex EU import process of sending it to repair in DJI Holland (**** Brexit!).

What I haven't mentioned in this thread is that I also have a DJI Mavic Mini (mk. 1) - which isn't as good, but I can still carry on flying

Thanks, guys.

 

[BrokenAero]

When you say 'with the DJI Fly app', do you mean in the drone with the controller connected? If so, yes. Reformatting always works if the drone recognises the card; otherwise you cannot reformat it, if the drone doesn't even recognise that there is a card present. I have reformatting all these cards in the drone many times. If the the drone recognises the card (after repeatedly pushing it in and out of the slot), then it can be written to successfully. I have explained all this to DJI Support and they are certain it is a hardware issue with the reader - hence my question as to whether anyone has tried physically cleaning a microSD slot.

I can feel your tea kettle . . . With a bright LED light and your phone, take photo or two of your Micro SD Card Slot. Then examine them to make sure there isn‘t any lint, a gnat, bead of styrofoam, bent contact, etc that is causing the failure. My slot has worked flawlessly and it looks like this:

 

[JMDavies]

Update do my problem to everyone who kindly contributed to this thread: My Mavic Air 2 returned OK from repair under warranty in Holland (more EU bureaucratic delays on the way back, too ) and it is fine - they found a hardware fault with the card reader and said they were going to change a whole motherboard. It arrive back in a shrink-wrapped new box (minus battery, but with new spare propellers) - can't make up my mind if they just send a new one or actually did the repair. Anyway it works/flies fine and now is now happy with my 128Gb Sandisk Extreme.

 

[sinbrad]

You sent away with battery but returned without?

 

[JMDavies]

You sent away with battery but returned without?

No, sorry - I was less than clear - I sent it away without battery, propellers or SD card, as instructed - expecting it back in the same condition (mended, but without anything). However, they put in a new set of propellers - so I now have 3 sets (the original Mavic Air 2 comes with a spare set, as you may know).

 

[Yaros]

Working fine

I have the same one and it works fine too!

 

[JMDavies]

My Mavic Air 2 now works fine too, since DJI Repair Centre in Holland changed the main motherboard - so clearly it was a hardware fault at manufacture. It now works with the microSD cards recommended by DJI (which it didn't before).