GPS issue and being ghosted by Parrot... how can I DIY fix this?

[phototastic.world]

Hi all,

First post here, please let me know if I'm missing any important details.

I bought an Anafi in September 2020 to get nice aerial shots, mostly using the various cinematic modes. About a half year into owning and casually using it, the GPS module on the drone stopped working (red status in FreeFlight).
I started a support ticket with Parrot, and was told to perform a factory reset which was supposed to fix the issue. After performing all the required steps, the GPS was still unavailable, which I told them... They have since completely ghosted me and do not respond to the ticket (which is still open). I have tried contacting them multiple ways to no avail and I feel like Parrot is just not giving support anymore?
First of all, I'd appreciate if anyone could tell me what else I could do to get this ticket advanced or to get a hold of an actual human in their customer support, as I can't seem to get through on their phone lines either.

That said, I've basically lost hope of getting this fixed by them, or rather, I'm running out of time. I have some travels planned mid December during which I absolutely want to be able to use the drone.
Is there an aftermarket part that I can buy and replace to restore GPS functionality? Is that a separate module, or would that require the entire motherboard to be swapped?

Thanks for your help!

 

[Gipsz Jakab]

Hi all,

First post here, please let me know if I'm missing any important details.

I bought an Anafi in September 2020 to get nice aerial shots, mostly using the various cinematic modes. About a half year into owning and casually using it, the GPS module on the drone stopped working (red status in FreeFlight).
I started a support ticket with Parrot, and was told to perform a factory reset which was supposed to fix the issue. After performing all the required steps, the GPS was still unavailable, which I told them... They have since completely ghosted me and do not respond to the ticket (which is still open). I have tried contacting them multiple ways to no avail and I feel like Parrot is just not giving support anymore?
First of all, I'd appreciate if anyone could tell me what else I could do to get this ticket advanced or to get a hold of an actual human in their customer support, as I can't seem to get through on their phone lines either.

That said, I've basically lost hope of getting this fixed by them, or rather, I'm running out of time. I have some travels planned mid December during which I absolutely want to be able to use the drone.
Is there an aftermarket part that I can buy and replace to restore GPS functionality? Is that a separate module, or would that require the entire motherboard to be swapped?

Thanks for your help!

1. Enter "Parrot Anafi GPS Module" into the search engine.
2. Buy one
3. See this:

4. Repair

 

[Anthony]

Hi all,

First post here, please let me know if I'm missing any important details.

I bought an Anafi in September 2020 to get nice aerial shots, mostly using the various cinematic modes. About a half year into owning and casually using it, the GPS module on the drone stopped working (red status in FreeFlight).
I started a support ticket with Parrot, and was told to perform a factory reset which was supposed to fix the issue. After performing all the required steps, the GPS was still unavailable, which I told them... They have since completely ghosted me and do not respond to the ticket (which is still open). I have tried contacting them multiple ways to no avail and I feel like Parrot is just not giving support anymore?
First of all, I'd appreciate if anyone could tell me what else I could do to get this ticket advanced or to get a hold of an actual human in their customer support, as I can't seem to get through on their phone lines either.

That said, I've basically lost hope of getting this fixed by them, or rather, I'm running out of time. I have some travels planned mid December during which I absolutely want to be able to use the drone.
Is there an aftermarket part that I can buy and replace to restore GPS functionality? Is that a separate module, or would that require the entire motherboard to be swapped?

Thanks for your help!

They way parrot says how to do a factory is not true but could be called correct what I have just said could sound like a contradiction I am technically trained in computers a parrot reset is not a technical reset what means is problem is hidden by a softwware reset which means it's still there the true reset and this applies to all to computers circuit boards this is something I learned because of people's fixing computers what you have to do is allow all power from the drone with battery still connected to drain just leave it turned on not connect to controller at least 2weeks what happens is drone forgets everything when you start the recharge of battery connected to the drone the circuit board is back to when it left the factory I have done this several times and if has always worked you must quickly connect to controller and do camera calerbration because very quickly a message is sent to the app to up date just let it do it

 

[Gipsz Jakab]

They way parrot says how to do a factory is not true but could be called correct what I have just said could sound like a contradiction I am technically trained in computers a parrot reset is not a technical reset what means is problem is hidden by a softwware reset which means it's still there the true reset and this applies to all to computers circuit boards this is something I learned because of people's fixing computers what you have to do is allow all power from the drone with battery still connected to drain just leave it turned on not connect to controller at least 2weeks what happens is drone forgets everything when you start the recharge of battery connected to the drone the circuit board is back to when it left the factory I have done this several times and if has always worked you must quickly connect to controller and do camera calerbration because very quickly a message is sent to the app to up date just let it do it

English is not my mother tongue. I always use a compiler and it has worked well so far, but I can't interpret what you wrote. It’s completely confusing and it’s like you don’t even comment on the previous topic.

 

[San2C]

Parrot are seemingly not providing ANY support for Anafi. As per their website, they don't even provide a warranty anymore for Anafi. I contacted them recently just too get an Anafi repaired that mysteriously became infected with "vertical camera error" while it was sitting in its case for a year. They would not provide ANY assistance after they made me jump through hoops providing information. Then I contacted a drone repair company who had to contact Parrot and after jumping through even more hoops and providing every shred of information imaginable, they outright refused to provide any assistance. If they were an American company, I'd be making complaints to consumer protection agencies.

 

[Anthony]

English is not my mother tongue. I always use a compiler and it has worked well so far, but I can't interpret what you wrote. It’s completely confusing and it’s like you don’t even comment on the previous topic.

A true factory reset can only happen when all power is drained that wipes the history clean so when power is slowly returning the drone cannot remember leaving the factory that is a true factory reset it will look for the app and reinstall it, if all calibrations work before app installs its self and after app is installed its a software problem I did this to a new anafi no problem with camera until software was installed this is how to reset all computers I have done this plenty of times to computers and they all return back like they have just left the last factory check

 

[Gipsz Jakab]

A true factory reset can only happen when all power is drained that wipes the history clean so when power is slowly returning the drone cannot remember leaving the factory that is a true factory reset it will look for the app and reinstall it, if all calibrations work before app installs its self and after app is installed its a software problem I did this to a new anafi no problem with camera until software was installed this is how to reset all computers I have done this plenty of times to computers and they all return back like they have just left the last factory check

I still don't understand what this has to do with the first post where the GPS module is faulty.
(By the way i translate your text into my language anyway, every word is a meaningful word, but I don't understand what you have to say. Words don't come together into meaningful sentences.)

 

[Nidge]

As you're not getting any joy from Parrot, the advice from Gipsz Jakab to open your Anafi yourself, is probably your best shot.

The Anafi isn't too difficult to work on, and my experience with Anafi faults, is that they can often be traced to poor connections with the connectors Parrot used to interconnect the various components to the main board.

 

[San2C]

For what it's worth, I opened my Anafi recently and looked at the board. Mine had a pretty robust metal retainer holding the main connector on.

 

[Anthony]

I still don't understand what this has to do with the first post where the GPS module is faulty.
(By the way i translate your text into my language anyway, every word is a meaningful word, but I don't understand what you have to say. Words don't come together into meaningful sentences.)

There is a term if a person is technically educated in land surveying I was the last year before machines replaced knowledge ( the term is the starting point has to be true ) GPS is not true ,its how untrue it is GPS positioning is not accurate So explain what is GPS module is faulty

 

[h-elsner]

A true factory reset can only happen when all power is drained that wipes the history clean

This not true. It's only valid for common RAM modules not for flash memory.

Drones do have flash memory as well as the sensors like GPS. If power was off for a long time the calibration values and sensor BIAS are still there. I don't know if a true factory reset (which is a SW reset, done by SW) will also remove and reset all BIAS and calibration values but I doubt.
To recommend a factory reset by Parrot service is a kind of of helplessness or unwillingness to help, I don't know.

If GPS was off for a long time the downloaded correction values and sat positions are no more valid. It could take up to 12 min until the latest infos (GPS almanach) are received. Almanach will be sent by sats every 12 min only.
So, it's a good idea to let drone powered on sit outside in an open area and wait till it get GPS fix. Do a compass calibration before. If it will not get GPS fix in 15min then the next idea would be exchange the GPS module, hoping there no other reason that pre-flight check failed.

br HE

 

[Gipsz Jakab]

There is a term if a person is technically educated in land surveying I was the last year before machines replaced knowledge ( the term is the starting point has to be true ) GPS is not true ,its how untrue it is GPS positioning is not accurate So explain what is GPS module is faulty

He continues to talk as if he had had a stroke.

 

[edwardfcy1970]

This not true. It's only valid for common RAM modules not for flash memory.

Drones do have flash memory as well as the sensors like GPS. If power was off for a long time the calibration values and sensor BIAS are still there. I don't know if a true factory reset (which is a SW reset, done by SW) will also remove and reset all BIAS and calibration values but I doubt.
To recommend a factory reset by Parrot service is a kind of of helplessness or unwillingness to help, I don't know.

If GPS was off for a long time the downloaded correction values and sat positions are no more valid. It could take up to 12 min until the latest infos (GPS almanach) are received. Almanach will be sent by sats every 12 min only.
So, it's a good idea to let drone powered on sit outside in an open area and wait till it get GPS fix. Do a compass calibration before. If it will not get GPS fix in 15min then the next idea would be exchange the GPS module, hoping there no other reason that pre-flight check failed.

br HE

Absolutely Agreed!!

 

[Szaszák György]

A Parrot látszólag SEMMILYEN támogatást nem nyújt Anafinak. Webhelyük szerint már nem is vállalnak garanciát az Anafira. Nemrég felvettem velük a kapcsolatot, csak azért is, hogy megjavítsanak egy Anafit, amely rejtélyes módon "függőleges kamerahibával" fertőződött meg, miközben egy évig a tokjában ült. SEMMILYEN segítséget nem nyújtottak azután, hogy átugrottak az információval. Aztán felvettem a kapcsolatot egy drónjavító céggel, akiknek fel kellett venniük a kapcsolatot Parrot-val, és miután még több karikát ugrottak át, és minden elképzelhető információfoszlányt megadtak, határozottan megtagadták a segítségnyújtást. Ha amerikai cégről lenne szó, panaszt tennék a fogyasztóvédelmi ügynökségeknél.

SSzerintem azért nem segít, mert Anafi=Made in China...