All-in-One firmware Version: v1.6.80

[StefanMK]

Finally gathered some guts to do the update All went flawlessly on the first try, no issues at all in the process. I will fly it later to see how it handles.

Some info on my setup:

Bird: Phantom 3 Standard
App: DJI GO app (Android 6.0 Marshmallow): 2.8.0
Firmware before update: 1.2.4+ (stock out of the box as bought)
Phone: Samsung Note 4
Remote Controler: Stock


Here's my process:

1. First and foremost, I placed my phone on Airplane mode so that the GSM radio is down, and placed my phone on the charger, and turned off the auto screen off and lock. Then I only enabled the wi-fi (without turning airplane mode off), and connected to the DJI app.

2. I connected to the phantom 3 standard, and returned the wifi password to the default one 12341234, then restarted both the remote and the aircraft, and reconnected to the remote with the default pass.

3. I formatted my SD card several times from the DJI GO app (just to be sure).

4. Uninstalled the DJI GO app from my phone, and went to my phone storage and removed every DJI, dji.pilot folders I can find.

5. Installed the DJI GO app from play store (android) from scratch.

6. Opened the DJI GO app, on normal wireless (home wi-fi), and I logged in with my account, then I closed the app, and disconnected from the home-wifi.

7. Turned on the remote, then the aircraft. On the first connection made in the DJI GO app, the new firmware alert was not showing. I turned off the aircraft then the remote, and exited the app.

8. I then connected to the normal wifi again, since the app already knew which software version my aircraft has, it synced I guess, and showed the new firmware alert.

9. Then again disconnected from home wifi and turned on the remote and the aircraft, and then once I connected to the DJI GO app, I was able to see the firmware prompt.

10. I then again formatted my SD card from inside the DJI GO app (just to be sure), and clicked on the upgrade button.

11. I was prompt to get connected to my home wi-fi so it can download the files. I did that and waited patiently for the files to download. Download of the files was constant at around 150KB/s and there were no break-ups.

12. Once the file was downloaded, I got prompt to connect to the Phantom wi-fi.

13. I disconnected from my home wi-fi, making sure I click "Forget network" in the wi-fi settings, so that it doesn't switch to that network accidentally in the middle of the upgrade.

14. Upgrade started, and it finished in roughly 15-20min. In the process, I was monitoring the down/upload on my phone wifi. It was constantly doing 270KB/s download and 18KB/s upload, until it started to upload the file to the aircraft, and it jumped to 2.5MB/s upload. Once it finished uploading the 60MB+ it returned to 270KB/s download and 18KB/s upload, and started the 4 beats tone (DDDD-DDDD-DDDD-etc..).

15. When it arrived around 50-60% things started to happen, first the gimble got loose, then it returned back to life, then all the lights were red, and then they all disappeared.

16. Around 70-75% the lights came back, and then I noticed that the link between the controller and the aircraft has broken (controller light was red, and the link light on the aircraft was blinking red/green/red/green/etc...). This was the scary part for me ... cause the biggest fear for me was the "No Link" issue. At that point the upgrade got stuck to 77% and I got scared... but I left it running saying to my self don't panic . After few minutes, I moved to 78% and I noticed that the controller light was no longer red, it became green again (in the meantime there were so many different noises lol, though not loud). The upgrade then moved very fast to 89%, but the link light on the aircraft was still blinking red/green.

17. The DJI go app said Upgrade complete, restart aircraft and remote. HOWEVER, I noticed on the begining on the upgrade process, the app said not to turn off the Radio and DJI app with a big NOT. And I just turned off the aircraft, and then turned it on again.

18. And voila.... the aircraft connected to the remote just fine, and I then clicked OK in the app to confirm the restart.

19. Only thing bugging me that the About section in DJI GO app was showing upgrade needed again.

20. I did step 4 again, and installed it from scratch, and guess what no more prompt to update the firmware, and in About section all was good and showing in order.


I was yet to go to fly and check it but I thought its more important to tell you my steps, it might help someone from getting out of trouble and guess what.... now its raining outside lol.

I'll write more on my first flight with the new firmware tomorrow

Hope this helps guys!

Cheers!

 

[RodPad]

Very impressed!, Thanks for the effort!
Let us know, How it goes.

 

[MikeK]

Doing the update on P3S is the worst thing - it always fail, and the bird makes horrible noises... I really don't like this update stuff

Then you are a normal human being.

There are some here who like it. They are special.

 

[RodPad]

Then you are a normal human being.

There are some here who like it. They are special.

Some of us like challenges, most of us are challenged.

 

[mcphipps]

Finally gathered some guts to do the update All went flawlessly on the first try, no issues at all in the process. I will fly it later to see how it handles.

Some info on my setup:

Bird: Phantom 3 Standard
App: DJI GO app (Android 6.0 Marshmallow): 2.8.0
Firmware before update: 1.2.4+ (stock out of the box as bought)
Phone: Samsung Note 4
Remote Controler: Stock


Here's my process:

1. First and foremost, I placed my phone on Airplane mode so that the GSM radio is down, and placed my phone on the charger, and turned off the auto screen off and lock. Then I only enabled the wi-fi (without turning airplane mode off), and connected to the DJI app.

2. I connected to the phantom 3 standard, and returned the wifi password to the default one 12341234, then restarted both the remote and the aircraft, and reconnected to the remote with the default pass.

3. I formatted my SD card several times from the DJI GO app (just to be sure).

4. Uninstalled the DJI GO app from my phone, and went to my phone storage and removed every DJI, dji.pilot folders I can find.

5. Installed the DJI GO app from play store (android) from scratch.

6. Opened the DJI GO app, on normal wireless (home wi-fi), and I logged in with my account, then I closed the app, and disconnected from the home-wifi.

7. Turned on the remote, then the aircraft. On the first connection made in the DJI GO app, the new firmware alert was not showing. I turned off the aircraft then the remote, and exited the app.

8. I then connected to the normal wifi again, since the app already knew which software version my aircraft has, it synced I guess, and showed the new firmware alert.

9. Then again disconnected from home wifi and turned on the remote and the aircraft, and then once I connected to the DJI GO app, I was able to see the firmware prompt.

10. I then again formatted my SD card from inside the DJI GO app (just to be sure), and clicked on the upgrade button.

11. I was prompt to get connected to my home wi-fi so it can download the files. I did that and waited patiently for the files to download. Download of the files was constant at around 150KB/s and there were no break-ups.

12. Once the file was downloaded, I got prompt to connect to the Phantom wi-fi.

13. I disconnected from my home wi-fi, making sure I click "Forget network" in the wi-fi settings, so that it doesn't switch to that network accidentally in the middle of the upgrade.

14. Upgrade started, and it finished in roughly 15-20min. In the process, I was monitoring the down/upload on my phone wifi. It was constantly doing 270KB/s download and 18KB/s upload, until it started to upload the file to the aircraft, and it jumped to 2.5MB/s upload. Once it finished uploading the 60MB+ it returned to 270KB/s download and 18KB/s upload, and started the 4 beats tone (DDDD-DDDD-DDDD-etc..).

15. When it arrived around 50-60% things started to happen, first the gimble got loose, then it returned back to life, then all the lights were red, and then they all disappeared.

16. Around 70-75% the lights came back, and then I noticed that the link between the controller and the aircraft has broken (controller light was red, and the link light on the aircraft was blinking red/green/red/green/etc...). This was the scary part for me ... cause the biggest fear for me was the "No Link" issue. At that point the upgrade got stuck to 77% and I got scared... but I left it running saying to my self don't panic . After few minutes, I moved to 78% and I noticed that the controller light was no longer red, it became green again (in the meantime there were so many different noises lol, though not loud). The upgrade then moved very fast to 89%, but the link light on the aircraft was still blinking red/green.

17. The DJI go app said Upgrade complete, restart aircraft and remote. HOWEVER, I noticed on the begining on the upgrade process, the app said not to turn off the Radio and DJI app with a big NOT. And I just turned off the aircraft, and then turned it on again.

18. And voila.... the aircraft connected to the remote just fine, and I then clicked OK in the app to confirm the restart.

19. Only thing bugging me that the About section in DJI GO app was showing upgrade needed again.

20. I did step 4 again, and installed it from scratch, and guess what no more prompt to update the firmware, and in About section all was good and showing in order.


I was yet to go to fly and check it but I thought its more important to tell you my steps, it might help someone from getting out of trouble and guess what.... now its raining outside lol.

I'll write more on my first flight with the new firmware tomorrow

Hope this helps guys!

Cheers!

Go through all of that?.....not for me. I will just stay where I am...lol

 

[gvsukids]

Go through all of that?.....not for me. I will just stay where I am...lol

You don't need to be so excessive, just installing from the menu works well. The screen doesn't shut off during update anyway, and it won't hook onto any other Wi-Fi.

 

[RodPad]

You don't need to be so excessive, just installing from the menu works well. The screen doesn't shut off during update anyway, and it won't hook onto any other Wi-Fi.

I disagree,
The remote provides the WiFi that your mobile device connects to, If the remote stops transmitting for any reason maybe it does a reboot (firmware gets loaded to it also). Your mobile is going to connect to another WiFi.
This could be why the Advanced / Pro doesn't have as many problems with firmware updates, since there mobile is connected to the remote with a cable not WiFi. I have always been nervous updating routers without a direct connect. I avoided it.

It seems excessive if don't have any problems, once you have problems, you wish you had a list.
From reading his list.
#17 "And I just turned off the aircraft, and then turned it on again." This could be a major fault, when the firmware says update complete, I think most see time to reset, and they reset all. I don't know, but I won't be updating mine for a long time.

 

[arcaine25]

With my 4k model, when it said update available, I switched to my Router WiFi, downloaded the update, once it was downloaded the app said so and gave an option of pressing "start", of course to start that I had to connect the mobile device BACK to the Phantom WiFi provided by the RC... Once I reconnected completely to the Phantom created WiFi, I pressed start, and it was done in less than 20 minutes, Phantom, RC, and Battery (battery update was for / from the update prior to this one, this most recent one is a minor update)
The issue I think a LOT of people have is that the proper order of power up is RC, let it sit a second, then connect your mobile to the WiFi it creates, Once the WiFi connection is established, open the DJI Go App, then turn on the Phantom itself.. that is the absolute PROPER start up order.

An Advanced and Pro series doesn't update from the mobile device, period (well, the RC does) and updates directly from a .bin file installed on the SD card... which is typically what happens on the 4k / Standard models once it's loaded to the bird via WiFi... so there is absolutely no mobile element when updating the Phantom itself on an Advanced and Professional model.

The Phantom 4 is somewhat like the WiFi models, but it requires an OTG like connection from the bird to your phone (the provided cable in the box) or tablet, then it transfers via said cable, or you connect it to your PC and use the Assistant software.

 

[dirkclod]

I'm still back 2 firmware updates on my standard and my 4K and me just fine where I'm at
Did update to the latest Go app but backed the old one up just in case .

 

[Buzz rabbit]

With my 4k model, when it said update available, I switched to my Router WiFi, downloaded the update, once it was downloaded the app said so and gave an option of pressing "start", of course to start that I had to connect the mobil BACK to the Phantom WiFi provided by the RC... Once that happened, I pressed start, and it was done in less than 20 minutes, Phantom, RC, and Battery (for the update prior to this one, this one is a minor update)
The issue I think a LOT of people have is the proper order of power up is RC, let it sit a second, then connect your mobile to the WiFi it creates, then turn on the bird.. that is the absolute PROPER start up order.
.

This is what I did, and also turned off wifi on all none used devices and home wifi.
Tried with ipad 4 iphone 5s iphone 6s and 2 android tablets.
Ios devices show update completed, android shows update failed. At no time has the update gone passed 40%.
Dji go app has been reinstalled on all devices. Bird still screaming, has now gone to repair shop.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[StefanMK]

Well guys the steps I took were only as a precaution, and by no means definitive and strict. It's just my opinion on what might logically cause an issue.

In fact the DJI update should be very straight forward, cause not everyone is tech savy, people just want plug and play DJI has many safety nets to put in the whole upgrade process.

 

[arcaine25]

This is what I did, and also turned off wifi on all none used devices and home wifi.
Tried with ipad 4 iphone 5s iphone 6s and 2 android tablets.
Ios devices show update completed, android shows update failed. At no time has the update gone passed 40%.
Dji go app has been reinstalled on all devices. Bird still screaming, has now gone to repair shop.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

that seriously sucks man, it sounds to me like a corrupt download, or a possible corrupt file in transition from your device to your Phantom, but no matter WHAT the cause, that seriously blows, and yes, shouldn't ever happen!

I'm still back 2 firmware updates on my standard and my 4K and me just fine where I'm at
Did update to the latest Go app but backed the old one up just in case .

Me too man, I backed up the old app / current app every time it's available as a physical download, that way I have the ability to revert if ever need be. I just wish I would have started doing that sooner!

 

[Buzz rabbit]

Just got the phantom back from the repair shop.
It was a corrupt firmware upgrade. Technician had to reinstall old firmware then reinstall new firmware.
All working now.
So what should I do-
1 carry on doing upgrades as needed
2 leave upgrade as current
3 sell the phantom and get something else.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[dirkclod]

No matter what you get you gonna have to do upgrades so you gonna have to ask yourself,
Do I want this or do I want that .
As far as doing further upgrades if it fly's well now you have it back ...why bother
From what I have read we can go back one firmware though haven't tried it but at some point they gonna stop that .
They did with the last one on my Vision and now that's what I have and it is not as good as the earlier one .
Was my own fault as I always jumped on the latest to report back but we could go back .
Learned my lesson on that .

 

[Buzz rabbit]

Current go app does not allow going back ( standard )


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[arcaine25]

Just got the phantom back from the repair shop.
It was a corrupt firmware upgrade. Technician had to reinstall old firmware then reinstall new firmware.
All working now.
So what should I do-
1 carry on doing upgrades as needed
2 leave upgrade as current
3 sell the phantom and get something else.

Hey, I got one right! haha Glad you got it back, and glad it is working. I agree with Dirkclod, ALL of them require updates unless you fly the cheapie Walmart toy grade ones. You're going to run into this with anything that you buy. If you decided you wanted something else, the Autel Robotics Xstar and Xstar Premium are getting good reviews, and I talked at length with a guy that was part of the testing and input for 18+ months on the development of the Xstar. The app for it feels familiar, and it flies well apparently.
You have to ask yourself, do you want the hassle of dealing with return / sale of your Phantom? Do you want to experiment with a new bird and find even worse issues or problems? Do you want to deal with larger or more restrictive flight / NFZ's? (Yuneecs NFZ are way bigger than DJI's, I posted about Yuneecs map having a NFZ for a small rural airport that DJI reports the NFZ at around 3 miles ish, where the Yuneec NFZ for the same spot brings the NFZ into my front and back yard, basically about 10 or so miles from the airport.. where the Autel NFZ don't even list it as an NFZ period.)

You may have better luck with an Advanced if you truly wanted to get rid of the standard. the Advanced, as of several updates ago, has 2.7k UHD for the camera, just like the standard, but you get Lightbridge, and an easy 3+ miles transmission distance. Upgrades are via a download onto your SD card, not WiFi. The only thing the App upgrades is your RC and Batteries, but still it's all based FROM the SD card in the bird anyway.

***EDIT*** The App updates the RC, the batteries get updated automatically as long as you have the .bin file on the SD card after upgrading the Phantom. As long as you do NOT delete the .bin file, every battery that you plug in will get updated initially.

But if you are dead set AGAINST DJI, i'd say go for that Autel Robotics.

 

[EddieM]

I just updated my P3S to the latest firmware. In memory, it was the smoothest update since I've had it (March of this year). It's the first one that went all the way through without a hitch! No flights yet so I have no idea about the "improvements". And I've never flown far enough away at this point to discover range issues so, we'll see. Anyway, just wanted to say that not all updates are horror stories!


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[RodPad]

With my 4k model, when it said update available, I switched to my Router WiFi, downloaded the update, once it was downloaded the app said so and gave an option of pressing "start", of course to start that I had to connect the mobil BACK to the Phantom WiFi provided by the RC... Once that happened, I pressed start, and it was done in less than 20 minutes, Phantom, RC, and Battery (for the update prior to this one, this one is a minor update)
The issue I think a LOT of people have is the proper order of power up is RC, let it sit a second, then connect your mobile to the WiFi it creates, then turn on the bird.. that is the absolute PROPER start up order.

An Advanced and Pro series doesn't update from the mobile device, period (well, the RC does) and updates directly from a .bin file installed on the SD card... which is typically what happens on the 4k / Standard models once it's loaded to the bird via WiFi... so there is absolutely no mobile element when updating the Phantom itself on an Advanced and Professional model.

The Phantom 4 is somewhat like the WiFi models, but it requires an OTG like connection from the bird to your phone (the provided cable in the box) or tablet, then it transfers via said cable, or you connect it to your PC and use the Assistant software.

Good Information!

 

[gvsukids]

Current go app does not allow going back ( standard )


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

It does by pressing the graduation cap in upper right corner. Then a menu pops up giving older firmware versions

 

[dirkclod]

Doesn't show none on mine . Heard that and tried . Not doubting it don't on some but not mine .