RED flashing status light!

[cheddar-man]

Never had this before..... flying yesterday, no problems. Fired everything up in doors today, to make some changes to the camera settings, and they wouldn't link, just got a RED flashing status light on the back of the drone, under the battery compartment.

Checked the manual and it suggests IMU error - calibrate. So I did, several times with no success. Also calibrated the Compass for good measure but again. no change.

Tried all three batteries, no change.

Sent an email to DJI Support and then came here to post the question and in the suggestions you get when you enter a subject it came up with this one so I went outside and sure enough, as soon as it got some satellites all was well! I brought it back inside and although it still flashes RED now and then, I could start up and fly in doors with no issues.

Hope this experience helps someone else!

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

Remove the mSD card and see what happens. A corrupt or miss named video/photo file has been known to cause problems, I ran into it with an M2Z.

 

[cheddar-man]

Thanks but as I said, just establishing some satellites solved the problem.
Cheers

 

[cheddar-man]

However, that doesn't answer the question "why has this started to happen".
I have been flying indoors since I bought the M2 in January and now, suddenly, it won't link/run without satellites.
Any ideas folks?

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

Thanks but as I said, just establishing some satellites solved the problem.
Cheers

Ah note to self "read the full post ...........""dummy"".
Let's see if I can redeem myself.

Did you perhaps see a warning message similar to that of screenshot "1" in the attached? I get it or an equivalent most of the time with the Mavic Mini and Mini 2 indoors.
If so press the message. When I press that message I end up on the screen numbered 2.
Pressing "unlock" takes me to screenshot "3"
Pressing "Agree" enables me to fly but with a caution warning as shown in screenshot 4.

NOTE, strictly speaking I think that means that the drone will be in ATTI but it appears to be that as soon as the drone is airborne it realises there is enough light for the VPS to work and it flies 'as normal'.
If it did 'stay?' in ATTI mode there would be NO postiion holding and NO braking so it would be risky to fly indoors. .........BE CAREFUL

Other points I made two recent discoveries that appear to be still holding true.
1) Whether or not the warning of screenshot 1 appears is influenced by the colour of the surface under the drone. For me this is normally darkish wood but recently I happened to set the drone down on a white surface and there was no warning. When I removed the white and left the wooden surface or replaced the white with black I got the warning. When I put the white back the warning disappeared.

2) Whilst taking those screen shots I wanted to black out the back ground so I switched the drone's camera from automatic exposure to manual exposure and adjusted the setting to grossly UNDER expose the scene. The "Unable to take off....." warning disappeared whilst the drone's camera was so set, it reappeared when I switched the exposure back to automatic.

 

[cheddar-man]

Many thanks YP, I'll fire it up later and see exactly what it's telling me. The only thing last time was the RED rear light on the drone.
May also be colour involved as it was on a wooden table.
The only thing is I've been flying from here many times since I bought it and never had an issue!

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

Yep when I get the message I have the red light too. It reverts to normal when ever the message disappears etc. etc..
Just to repeat, if you try to fly it be wary just incase the lighting is too dark. I'd suggest the white/dark surface thing is the safest experiment.
I also sometimes get a bit of drift, 2-4ft, at first. So don't launch close to anything.