Interesting to hear. I just had the same issue with mine. I ended up buying a Novak XRS and now it works fine. If you don't have the cash to buy a new ESC and want to use a spektrum RX it can still be done. I noticed when I held the setup button on the XPS ESC and then turned the car on I was able to get throttle from there. The bad part is that you'll have to do that everytime you want to run it but it works. I think picking up an XRS is the better choice though. The only bad part is that since it's a "sport" ESC of Novak's, once you cut the wires to allow any new plugs (motor/battery) you void the warranty.