Spark not connecting at all because of sd card

kbfifi · Nov 18, 2017

Hi all,

Just want to share my experience on this. After a very small crash it started: Could no longer acess the drone. No wifi and not even asistent would recognize it! Then suddenly it appeared to work gain. Now I understand why. If you have a bad sd card the drone apears to hang after boot. And the drone only blinks yellow not being connected. Note that if you insert the card after boot and connection you do get a (voice!) message about the bad sd card. For me it was enough to do a low level format (none-quick) of the card.

Hope this is useful.

Texas Gonzo · Nov 18, 2017

Makes perfect sense to me. These are afterall, highly computerized flying cameras. Any weak link in the chain...

Good to have info though. Tanx for the share!

kbfifi · Nov 18, 2017

Texas Gonzo said:
Makes perfect sense to me. These are afterall, highly computerized flying cameras. Any weak link in the chain...

Good to have info though. Tanx for the share!

Yes it makes sense indeed. Only point is that the card seemed fine under Windows. Apparently the Spark was a little more critical and was only satisfied after a low level format. I guess a good thing because it will prevent corrupted content.

On the the other hand it would have been nice to have some kind of indication that the Spark is in some failure mode and not only indicating it is disconnected. e.g. the status leds can pulse blink 3 times red or so. Moreover I dont see a direct reason why the Spark cannot connect. I should simply ignore a bad SD card! Bug in my opinion.

Texas Gonzo · Nov 18, 2017

Kbbfi, sounds like we're a lot alike... i simply can't let things go when weirdness happens (ocd for me probably, though not officially) . I usually atleast have to know *why* something went wrong, then figure out a fix so they don't do it again. I have a difficult time just letting things like that go, especially when there is this kind of investment involved. I end up pulling a LOT of all nighters over the silliest issues... like why 3 separate devices, basically the same in all aspects, behave 3 different ways in the same situations. Drives me whackadoodles!

Anyway, I've long been a voider of warranties [obviously]. My motto: If it ain't broke, tear it apart and see why not! The fun comes in putting whatever back together AND making it function better than new....

kbfifi · Nov 19, 2017

LOL! That's how I started with electronics. There was no radio in the house that was safe... And they didn't end up in a better state. Although I found they were ;-)

pmshop · Nov 19, 2017

As I posted in the thread you likned this to,
Before throwing away the other SD card, try low level format with SD Formatter.
A photography forum I am part of swears by it.
Also, If I ever have trouble with my SD cards not logging properly on my home made drones, this clears it right up.
Haven't bought a new SD card in over 2 years but only to expand my fleet with a new model.