Smart Controller Freeze

[tomgomes]

11-30-20....Mavic 2 Pro, Smart Controller....screen freeze with altitude and distance not functioning. Fortunately, M2P close in, and controls were working so I was able to land safely. It did not initiate RTH. I wish I would have tried to use the RTH button. It could have been a disaster if it were out of sight. I suspect that this is an android problem which apparently doesn't affect the actual controls. So, what if it happens again and is out of sight? Apparently, the drone doesn't recognize that it is disconnected....otherwise, it would have initiated RTH. I suspect that the RTH button would work. If not, the only other choice would be to reboot the controller.....which would really make me nervous, especially since I'm over water quite often. It was mentioned in this thread, but not answered. Has anyone tested a reboot during flight? I assume that the reboot would at least initiate RTH or, hopefully a reconnection.

 

[Repaid1]

11-30-20....Mavic 2 Pro, Smart Controller....screen freeze with altitude and distance not functioning. Fortunately, M2P close in, and controls were working so I was able to land safely. It did not initiate RTH. I wish I would have tried to use the RTH button. It could have been a disaster if it were out of sight. I suspect that this is an android problem which apparently doesn't affect the actual controls. So, what if it happens again and is out of sight? Apparently, the drone doesn't recognize that it is disconnected....otherwise, it would have initiated RTH. I suspect that the RTH button would work. If not, the only other choice would be to reboot the controller.....which would really make me nervous, especially since I'm over water quite often. It was mentioned in this thread, but not answered. Has anyone tested a reboot during flight? I assume that the reboot would at least initiate RTH or, hopefully a reconnection.

The App has nothing to do with being "Connected" to control of the drone...nor does it have anything to do with a manual pushing of the RTH button on SC. The App is merely a intercept of what is being transmitted back via radio frequency from the drone to controller. A quicker way to try to establish full display is to NOT Reboot whole system as that will indeed give a RTH disconnected lack of signal to aircraft.

Rather, pull down on top of display to give Android quick menu. Click the "Recent" Icon, then touch and "Flick" up the Go 4 app to close it. Swipe up Android Menu to close. Press the App Main screen button (4 stacked blocks, Circled Icon, lower right corner). From there all installed apps will show. Press the Go 4 Iconand it will restart the App.

While I have never had any disconnect/freeze, this would be the fastest way to restart the Go 4 App and not require a full reboot and loss of signal. Practice it a few times, so that you can do this routine in under 10 seconds. Most times from reports that Apps are freezing it's that your onboard memory is getting full...you need to go through and clean out cache and other "Crap" that you don't need on Controller...such as video files in cache which "hog" alot of room.

If your not savvy on the ways of Android and it's file structure..... Just back up all your "Crap" And do a factory reset of the SC and start over, it will wipe all that cache for you.

OF Note: Don't panic...IF you had established a home point on your take off as you should have. Just Press manual RTH...it will come home and land.

 

[Paul2660]

11-30-20....Mavic 2 Pro, Smart Controller....screen freeze with altitude and distance not functioning. Fortunately, M2P close in, and controls were working so I was able to land safely. It did not initiate RTH. I wish I would have tried to use the RTH button. It could have been a disaster if it were out of sight. I suspect that this is an android problem which apparently doesn't affect the actual controls. So, what if it happens again and is out of sight? Apparently, the drone doesn't recognize that it is disconnected....otherwise, it would have initiated RTH. I suspect that the RTH button would work. If not, the only other choice would be to reboot the controller.....which would really make me nervous, especially since I'm over water quite often. It was mentioned in this thread, but not answered. Has anyone tested a reboot during flight? I assume that the reboot would at least initiate RTH or, hopefully a reconnection.

When the screen froze, did you still have a green light on the front of the controller, if so you were still connected. Also have you checked available free space on SC? You need at least 4.5GB of space and if you upgraded to latest firmware that has the fly app installed for the Mavic Air 2, you just lost some more space as the Fly app takes up some room. You can see the available space in the file manager menu. If you have not considered limited the cache on the controller, to 2GB or less, it will fill up gradually and you can reach a point where the controller will crash due to limited resources (ram) It only has 11GB total space available and normal operations will take up around 6GB.

Glad you were able to get it back safely.

If the green light on the controller was still lit, you could have used the RTH button on controller also.

I agree rebooting the app on the controller while drone is in flight is not something I would want to do unless a last option.

Paul C

 

[tomgomes]

The App has nothing to do with being "Connected" to control of the drone...nor does it have anything to do with a manual pushing of the RTH button on SC. The App is merely a intercept of what is being transmitted back via radio frequency from the drone to controller. A quicker way to try to establish full display is to NOT Reboot whole system as that will indeed give a RTH disconnected lack of signal to aircraft.

Rather, pull down on top of display to give Android quick menu. Click the "Recent" Icon, then touch and "Flick" up the Go 4 app to close it. Swipe up Android Menu to close. Press the App Main screen button (4 stacked blocks, Circled Icon, lower right corner). From there all installed apps will show. Press the Go 4 Iconand it will restart the App.

While I have never had any disconnect/freeze, this would be the fastest way to restart the Go 4 App and not require a full reboot and loss of signal. Practice it a few times, so that you can do this routine in under 10 seconds. Most times from reports that Apps are freezing it's that your onboard memory is getting full...you need to go through and clean out cache and other "Crap" that you don't need on Controller...such as video files in cache which "hog" alot of room.

If your not savvy on the ways of Android and it's file structure..... Just back up all your "Crap" And do a factory reset of the SC and start over, it will wipe all that cache for you.

OF Note: Don't panic...IF you had established a home point on your take off as you should have. Just Press manual RTH...it will come home and land.

Thank you so much. Android is all new to me as is the M2P. I had a Phantom 4 pro for a few years using an IPad mini and never had a problem like this. I suspected that the RTH button would work or that RTH would work on disconnect. Rebooting the app and not the controller makes sense.

 

[Repaid1]

Thank you so much. Android is all new to me as is the M2P. I had a Phantom 4 pro for a few years using an IPad mini and never had a problem like this. I suspected that the RTH button would work or that RTH would work on disconnect. Rebooting the app and not the controller makes sense.

No Problem Sir...just run through that sequence a few times as I described and burn it in your brain housing group (Military saying ) That way your good to go. Don't forget to check your on board memory, I think that may be causing this issue, It wouldn't hurt just to be safe to use Asst 2 and refresh the App either.

 

[tomgomes]

When the screen froze, did you still have a green light on the front of the controller, if so you were still connected. Also have you checked available free space on SC? You need at least 4.5GB of space and if you upgraded to latest firmware that has the fly app installed for the Mavic Air 2, you just lost some more space as the Fly app takes up some room. You can see the available space in the file manager menu. If you have not considered limited the cache on the controller, to 2GB or less, it will fill up gradually and you can reach a point where the controller will crash due to limited resources (ram) It only has 11GB total space available and normal operations will take up around 6GB.

Glad you were able to get it back safely.

If the green light on the controller was still lit, you could have used the RTH button on controller also.

I agree rebooting the app on the controller while drone is in flight is not something I would want to do unless a last option.

Paul C

I was in a little bit of a panic mode, so did not check the green light. Thanks for your advice....android is new to me and I will now be better prepared for next time.

 

[Repaid1]

I agree rebooting the app on the controller while drone is in flight is not something I would want to do unless a last option.

Paul C

I think you meant to say rebooting controller should be a last option? Rebooting the App should be first option as I described.

 

[tomgomes]

Yes, exactly.....but I think my first option would be the RTH button to get it safe. Hopefully clearing the memory issues will prevent it from happening again.

 

[scoble08]

Have flown Mavic Pro2 several times the past month without a problem. Yesterday took several photos of my house. Left the drone hovering and viewed the 3 images. Went back to main GO4 screen which looked normal with the same view it was in when looking at the images. The drone responded to stick commands but the screen was frozen as if the last image viewed became the screen background/wallpaper. No gauges (altitude, distance etc.) moved as the drone moved. I tried the back button and pause button to no avail. The only way to get back to GO4 was to turn the SC off and then on. After noting the screen was functioning correctly, viewed the images agian. Same freeze. Rebooted controller to get back GO4.

Has anyone experienced anything like this?

I second this, ".., pull down on top of display to give Android quick menu. Click the "Recent" Icon, then touch and "Flick" up the Go 4 app to close it. I also, close any other apps that show on the "Recent" screen. I do this before every flight.

 

[langcpht]

I second this, ".., pull down on top of display to give Android quick menu. Click the "Recent" Icon, then touch and "Flick" up the Go 4 app to close it. I also, close any other apps that show on the "Recent" screen. I do this before every flight.

Agreed, as a veteran Android user, this is the easiest way to deal with an app crash/hang. But, the bigger problem here is that this is even happening in the first place. I personally think that an app that's built specifically for one hardware configuration should be absolutely rock-solid and not experiencing hangs or crashes in the first place. Workarounds aren't solutions to problems.

 

[DanMan32]

Yes, exactly.....but I think my first option would be the RTH button to get it safe. Hopefully clearing the memory issues will prevent it from happening again.

I think you mean storage. Memory is a different resource that can also get cramped if a lot of apps are running.