Grounded on Day 2. Camera Fail?

[Wolfiesden]

Jesus, drone is only 2 days old. I flew today at lunch (3rd flight). Tonight, had to run to the store with the granddaughters so didn't get to try to fly until now. Picked up a new uSD card and a set of gloves that makes touch screens work.

So I power up the controller, fire up GO. Turn on the bird. And...no video. Nothing in Lichi, nothing in GO. I can't change any settings for the camera. I can change things for the bird. The gimbal scroll wheel does not move the gimbal. The C1 does not move the gimbal either.

Its never been crashed. It rode in a blanket in the back seat of my truck to and from work. I used the gimbal lock when not flying.

The camera swooshes around as normal (assume its checking the gimbal). Most of the time it will then level. And then it drops dead like GLADOS at the end of Portal 2. Limp.

I have tried every possible power up sequence I can think up. I even powered up the bird with no controller on. Does the same thing every time. I have tried with the new SD card I bought (32g Sandisk Ultra) and with the 16g that came with the Phantom.

LED on camera:
Rapid green flashes for a while
Goes black
Rapid flashes for a while
Sometimes a RED solid then green solid then repeats.

All the while the gimbal is a limp noodle.

I am growing more and more frustrated with this thing.

I recorded the boot process using my phone. Maybe yall see something here I am not.

 

[Dacon Productions]

I remember seeing something similar to this. Check the ribbon cable all connections, and the 2 gray ribbon cables between the drone and the gimbal plate.

 

[Wolfiesden]

Did. Even used a flatblade to ease the top two cables' (coming from inside the drone) connectors up a bit and then reseated the connectors. Checked all the ribbon cables too.

I even formatted (FAT32) the new SD card on the PC. Doesn't seem to matter if its got the new or old SD.

It did make the base folders on the new SD but thats the end of that.

 

[Dacon Productions]

Just ideas.
Reload the software again with the original card.
Delete/reinstall Go app.
On this forum if I remember another guy used a different micro SD card and drone got screwed up. Don't know, but I had problems with my DSLR camera when used some SD cards. Looks like drone is not seeing the camera.

 

[Wolfiesden]

Just ideas.
Reload the software again with the original card.
Delete/reinstall Go app.
On this forum if I remember another guy used a different micro SD card and drone got screwed up. Don't know, but I had problems with my DSLR camera when used some SD cards. Looks like drone is not seeing the camera.

I did try putting P3S_FW_V01.04.0010.bin on the SD (new AND original). Booted it up but it never begins the upgrade beeps.

GO shouldn't have anything to do with this. It should boot up without the controller even turned on.

 

[Wolfiesden]

Well, been sitting for +35 minutes with a copy of 1.4 firmware sitting on the SD card. Its never made a beep to signal its loading firmware. I am leaving it sit over night.

I am frustrated to the point of throwing this in the garbage after its had a visit from my sledge hammer. Or I may hand it to the 9yr old with a screw driver and tell her to have fun because thats about what this POS is worth right now.

 

[Richard W]

The drone's status lights (rear) flash some unusual sequence of greens and red.
Have you checked the sequence meaning against the user manual?

 

[Mako79]

Try without the SD card...

 

[Meta4]

Well, been sitting for +35 minutes with a copy of 1.4 firmware sitting on the SD card. Its never made a beep to signal its loading firmware. I am leaving it sit over night.
I am frustrated to the point of throwing this in the garbage after its had a visit from my sledge hammer. Or I may hand it to the 9yr old with a screw driver and tell her to have fun because thats about what this POS is worth right now.

If you have symptoms that look like a dead camera, it's worth trying a different SD card.
Rarely, the camera takes a dislike to something about a card and what you describe is exactly what it does.

 

[Wolfiesden]

I have tried 2 different SD cards. A new one and the original. To be CLEAR, it started this behavior when the original card was still in it. I hadn't even unboxed the one I bought yet. I was trying to power it up so I could change the reset setting to incremental for the image numbers prior to putting the new card in so it would maintain the numeric sequence.

The new card didn't get put in until I was in the diagnostic phase and the camera was already acting up. Formatted it on PC (fat32).

I tried with the BIN file in the root of the original card. In the root of the new card. I let it sit for >30 min for EACH card. Last night I let it sit all night long until it drained the battery, sometime around 7-8 this morning. Powered it up, with a different battery this morning. Same behavior.

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And yes, I tried it with and without any card.

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The patterns of green and red are in another thread that predates this issue:
Advanced - 4 Green - 2 Red Means? | DJI Phantom Forum
The pattern of 4 short green and 2 long red is not in any FAQ I can find.

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I have sent contact to DJI through two paths (email and via their web form) requesting a prepaid shipping label.

If they respond I will box it up and they can deal with their defective product.

If they do not, I will institute a PayPal dispute for the entire purchase price. If successful, they can have it back if they pay shipping.

If all that fails. There will be a youtube video documenting the problems since day one and the refusal of DJI to rectify the issue. And finally a range day when it warms up around here. Pretty sure that will be popular on a lot of forums, drone and gun forums.

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I really appreciate everyone here and what you have done to try to help. I just don't think this is getting resolved. I am frustrated with it and I am about done with it.

This is one of the best and most interactive forums I have ever had the pleasure to encounter. Yall are helpful and very knowledgeable. And most of all yall are kind to noobs. A rare combination. Thank you.

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So, if DJI refuses to fix this and I have no confidence they will hearing many of the other (non)support reports. Are there any parts off the P3A that would be good to salvage before it meets a 3000fps 190g 300 WinMag round? I was in a thread about the motor screws, I could take two maybe three out of each motor, it would still fly good enough with only 2 per motor, not sure about only 1. Good enough to be a fun target at the range anyway. Basically anything that it doesn't require to fly for a few minutes and can be salvaged.

I will have the 4 extra props, the bag of extra parts (think it has the extra camera shocks and other stuff), extra battery, the charger and the 4port charge bay for sure. Probably the RC, dunno. It may meet with some tannerite though. If the battery survives range day, then there will be 2 batteries. Anyway, anyone in the Milwaukee area want dibbs on these in the event I don't need them anymore (ie DJI doesn't fix it)? If so shoot me a PM. First gets their choice of any/all.

 

[msinger]

Well, been sitting for +35 minutes with a copy of 1.4 firmware sitting on the SD card. Its never made a beep to signal its loading firmware.

If the firmware attempts to install, it'll create a TXT file on your memory card. If you do not see that file, then you are most likely doing something wrong. The most common errors are copying the zipped file to the memory card, copying the BIN to a folder on the memory card, or copying a renamed BIN file to the memory card. If needed, you can find detailed firmware installation instructions here.

 

[Wolfiesden]

If the firmware attempts to install, it'll create a TXT file on your memory card. If you do not see that file, then you are most likely doing something wrong. The most common errors are copying the zipped file to the memory card, copying the BIN to a folder on the memory card, or copying a renamed BIN file to the memory card. If needed, you can find detailed firmware installation instructions here.

It was unzipped. Copied direct from the zip. Placed in the root of both SD cards. It was not renamed. It was not in a folder.

 

[msinger]

Which version of the firmware is currently installed on your Phantom?

 

[Wolfiesden]

Which version of the firmware is currently installed on your Phantom?

Here is what the GO says in the about:
GO: 2.4.3
RC: 1.4.30+
Firmware: 1.4.10+

That is what I posted here:
4 Green - 2 Red Means?

 

[msinger]

Well, that's your problem. You have 1.4 installed now and are trying to install 1.4.

 

[Wolfiesden]

Well then how do you get it to reinstall a firmware then?

 

[msinger]

I haven't tried this, but you can apparently reinstall like this:

If that does not work, then you could try downgrading to 1.3.2 and then upgrading to 1.4. Or, install 1.6.

 

[Wolfiesden]

Just curious, what can we do with the two mini-usb ports (one on drone body, one on gimbal chassis)? Any useful info that can be gleaned from those?

 

[Wolfiesden]

I haven't tried this, but you can apparently reinstall like this:

If that does not work, then you could try downgrading to 1.3.2 and then upgrading to 1.4. Or, install 1.6.

I am willing to give that a go when I get home tonight after work. I will try with 1.4.10 if it don't buy that, I will try 1.3.2. I have them archived in my dropbox:
Dropbox - Phantom3

 

[msinger]

what can we do with the two mini-usb ports (one on drone body, one on gimbal chassis)?

The port on the gimbal is used to access the contents of the memory card. The port on the body is used to access logs stored on the internal memory card.