New Firmware V01.04.0602

[mindstorm]

I was so ready to send my drone back after talking to dji support. Thanks to many of you here and in other threads I was able to resolve my issue. The rep I last talk to was decent I guess but didn't even attempt to trouble shoot anything or pitch ideas based on the great community here (fixes) which you would think they monitor for issues and fixes. You guys rock and saved me from sending my drone to dji for "review repairs". [emoji854]

 

[Frankc]

I am lucky in that I usually sort out my own problems or dig into this and other forums for clues to 'fix' the updates.

Since I updated this time, on both the RC and the drone, DJI Go app I have had the following problems, so far. I only updated this afternoon.

1. The aircraft would not connect to the drone. I Fixed.
2. The maps satellite images would not show, I Fixed. Broken. I Fixed again?
3. The drones SD card would not accept any recording. On the screen it showed a line through a SD card symbol. I Fixed (I think)
4. The satellite images you could only download the ones for China. I Fixed.

Problems I have not yet fixed.
Constant message that my WiFi is interfering with the drone. Despite the fact that before the 'update' it had no problems at all with "interference". Also messages that there is "strong interference, fly with caution" Flown from the same spot for 3 years without problem before. My phone is off etc. I could probably change channels to get rid of the message but I am ignoring it for now.

Constant high wind warnings, inside the house.

What I am getting at is why do we have "updates"? May as well say "please download the latest errors"

DJI if you EVER read these forums please deal with these issues and TEST THEM before any more "updates" are released. Thank you.

 

[SRJ_Phantom_4_Pro]

Did you fix the issues you marked "fixed" or are you saying an update fixed them?

I think DJI could care less about how crappy their updates are. It is obvious with the crappy software they stuff down out throats!

 

[Frankc]

Did you fix the issues you marked "fixed" or are you saying an update fixed them?

I think DJI could care less about how crappy their updates are. It is obvious with the crappy software they stuff down out throats!

I am saying that the updated caused the problems and the I myself fixed them. NOT items fixed by the update, the exact opposite.

I have edited the previous message to try and make it clear I fixed the problems shown, and a few others.

 

[SRJ_Phantom_4_Pro]

So how about sharing with us just what you did to "fix" the issues.....

 

[Frankc]

First off I reset drone to factory settings using RC software.

The aircraft would not connect to the drone. I opened up the RC settings and found the LINK TO AIRCRAFT (not too sure of the wording) tapped that and then pushed in the red light on the drone to re-link the aircraft and the RC, took 3 attempts.

The maps I switched on my internet connection. Start page. Settings cog wheel. WiFi. Slider to on. Tapped my connection. Ensured it said "connected". Came out of there. Tapped "Go Fly" Three lines/dots top right. Went down to the two china connections. Put slider to green/ON. Came out of that section. Switched off RC. Waited a little while. Switched on RC back to China settings then switched them off. Out of settings. Turned off RC. Turned on RC. Front page the funny end icon at the top of page. Tapped that. New maps now available. Scrolled down to Europe. Tapped that. Scrolled down to England. Tapped that. The maps downloaded. Turned off RC. Turned on RC. I now have maps. Hopped around on one leg whilst singing "happy holidays"

SD card I formatted with the RC settings. Reset Camera settings to default in settings via RC

Should I really have to do all this for an "update"?

Hope this helps someone anyway.

Will see tomorrow when I fly.

If the problems still persist I may well try and downgrade the DJI GO software via an SD card? To its previous version. Did I see somewhere on here that someone had found the software I can put on a SD card to downgrade the DJI Go App?

 

[SRJ_Phantom_4_Pro]

Thanks for sharing. Not sure if I missed this but is this for a P4P or the plus?

 

[Frankc]

Plus. Got to go to bed now. Its midnight here.

 

[mindstorm]

I am lucky in that I usually sort out my own problems or dig into this and other forums for clues to 'fix' the updates.

Since I updated this time, on both the RC and the drone, DJI Go app I have had the following problems, so far. I only updated this afternoon.

1. The aircraft would not connect to the drone. I Fixed.
2. The maps satellite images would not show, I Fixed. Broken. I Fixed again?
3. The drones SD card would not accept any recording. On the screen it showed a line through a SD card symbol. I Fixed (I think)
4. The satellite images you could only download the ones for China. I Fixed.

Problems I have not yet fixed.
Constant message that my WiFi is interfering with the drone. Despite the fact that before the 'update' it had no problems at all with "interference". Also messages that there is "strong interference, fly with caution" Flown from the same spot for 3 years without problem before. My phone is off etc. I could probably change channels to get rid of the message but I am ignoring it for now.

Constant high wind warnings, inside the house.

What I am getting at is why do we have "updates"? May as well say "please download the latest errors"

DJI if you EVER read these forums please deal with these issues and TEST THEM before any more "updates" are released. Thank you.

Problems you have. It's reported here and I read this today that a few have reverted back to previous version for RC. Fixed issues you have for RC for the p4p+. I will be doing this too soon.

 

[SRJ_Phantom_4_Pro]

So are all the issues with this latest update only effecting the plus?

 

[GadgetGuy]

The biggest problem with this latest firmware update is the Trojan Horse of the Smart Return Home cram down embedded into it, along with all the newest GEO crap. You can no longer turn Smart Return Home off on the new firmware. This is not a bug. It was intentional and prompted by DJI's legal department/Brendan Schulman. Beware!

 

[smiller]

I'm not sure why anyone with a P4P pr P4P+ would even bother with this update as it has almost nothing in it for the user. If a future update down the line adds any significant functionality to the P4P line then I'll consider it at that time, but for now why deal with the potential hassle for... nothing?

 

[Raptorman0909]

I am not Brendan Schulman. I don't run DJI. Their profitability and legal liability is not my concern. I am a consumer of DJI aircraft, and I vehemently object to their cramdown of GEO, which is half baked and ill conceived and buggy as the day is long! There are other threads where these issues are regularly discussed by professionals. The overall concensus is that DJI can no longer be used as a professional tool solely because of DJI's implementation of GEO. It is unreliable and unpredictable. Alternate aircraft must be used when it has to work 100% of the time, without exceptions!

There are two aspects of this issue and I agree with you on one of them. I've stated numerous times and have YouTube videos going back to last year where I complain about DJI's software expertise and the latest update as well as the update process is a prime example of just how crappy DJI is with software/firmware. They are still playing 'pin the tail on the Donkey' with a shotgun as far as color profiles are concerned and there UI and device communication software is utterly dreadful. But, I do not fault them for having GEO tools and realize they have little choice in the matter -- I just wish they had better programmers to do a better job of it.

Going back a few months ago I attempted to fly in a location a few miles outside of a "Restricted Special Use Airspace" (R6413) but the Go 4 app indicated I was within the R6413 when I knew for a fact that I was a couple miles outside of it. I suspect that DJI took the complex shape of R6413 and simplified it into a rectangle and that resulted in the NFZ being bigger than it actually is. I'm not sure if that was laziness on there programmers part or maybe the memory that contains the GEO data is so limited that they need to use primitive geometries for the NFZ's.

So, I get that DJI does a crappy job with programming and that makes the GEO fencing issue all the more of a problem, but I do not fault them for working to make there drones less likely to cause an airliner to crash resulting in a hundred or more dead people. The day a drone takes down an airliner or even a helicopter is the day we drone pilots can call it quits -- we will lose our right to fly completely.


Brian

 

[GadgetGuy]

I'm not sure why anyone with a P4P pr P4P+ would even bother with this update as it has almost nothing in it for the user. If a future update down the line adds any significant functionality to the P4P line then I'll consider it at that time, but for now why deal with the potential hassle for... nothing?

Never, ever update, if you are happy on your current firmware! If it ain't broke, don't fix it, as Grandpa always said!

 

[GadgetGuy]

There are two aspects of this issue and I agree with you on one of them. I've stated numerous times and have YouTube videos going back to last year where I complain about DJI's software expertise and the latest update as well as the update process is a prime example of just how crappy DJI is with software/firmware. They are still playing 'pin the tail on the Donkey' with a shotgun as far as color profiles are concerned and there UI and device communication software is utterly dreadful. But, I do not fault them for having GEO tools and realize they have little choice in the matter -- I just wish they had better programmers to do a better job of it.

Going back a few months ago I attempted to fly in a location a few miles outside of a "Restricted Special Use Airspace" (R6413) but the Go 4 app indicated I was within the R6413 when I knew for a fact that I was a couple miles outside of it. I suspect that DJI took the complex shape of R6413 and simplified it into a rectangle and that resulted in the NFZ being bigger than it actually is. I'm not sure if that was laziness on there programmers part or maybe the memory that contains the GEO data is so limited that they need to use primitive geometries for the NFZ's.

So, I get that DJI does a crappy job with programming and that makes the GEO fencing issue all the more of a problem, but I do not fault them for working to make there drones less likely to cause an airliner to crash resulting in a hundred or more dead people. The day a drone takes down an airliner or even a helicopter is the day we drone pilots can call it quits -- we will lose our right to fly completely.


Brian

If I were DJI, I would be doing the same thing they are. As a spoiled consumer who expects his toys to continue to work as they did when first purchased, I am not happy. However, I have downgraded both my P4P's back to 1.02 and never updated the NFZ's or version 4.00 of GO 4, so I am good. I'll live with the 1.02 wrinkles until I retire the aircraft, or they commit Hari kari on their own!

 

[vsc]

No more "hardware decode" option in the GO4 app as well...could partly explain the poor live feed issues some are having..

I found that my iPad and iPhone was overheating and throttling, thus causing video quality issues (tearing, green bars, etc...typical issues with respect to dropped H.264 packets). In fact I could demonstrate this on demand with a hair dryer for a few minutes on the back of the Apple devices. My take is that hardware acceleration is no longer used forcing the video decode onto the ARM processor. Additionally a thread on the RC forum showed an analysis by a person that documented Apple provides no thermal conduction path from the processor to case on most of their iOS devices. Additionally the person show processor throttling over time with a high work load. Typically in 20-30 minutes the processor throttles providing a fraction of the cold throughput.

With a Samsung Tap S2 I tried to reproduce the same issue and was unable. Though the Samsung devices have issues with RNDIS over USB. But a work around is possible to get the controller and Tab to link up and they stay linked until restarting (app or controller, etc).

I was forced to get a Tab S2 and put aside my Apple devices at least as long as I'm working in summer temperatures.

With respect to the question DJI or Apple, given how much Apple is locked down it isn't clear who is at fault. With respect to my real job we use Android and in fact have implemented our Android app using the hardware acceleration (for H.264) provided by the Qualcomm processor for a similar video downlink (nothing to do with DJI, a much higher end airborne system).

 

[Brian Fist]

If I am not mistaken, this update includes a fix for the horizon gimbal tilt issue.

That issue has been a problem since the release of the P4P/P4P+ platform and unless you signed up for the beta you were stuck without a fix (and sorry, the beta firmware is a BIG issue, considering once you install it, until there is a "formal" release there is no way to downgrade back to a "factory" firmware without sending it in to DJI, so if they don't issue a formal release you are screwed).

If this *IS* the case, they knew it was going to be enough of a draw to get just about everyone to upgrade to it, thus the reason why the NFZ stuff was such a pivotal inclusion.

This firmware updates a LOT of sub-systems compared to other updates as well. I am more than a little convinced that is where people are running into problems with this update.

Personally I only do updates via Assistant 2 on a "known good" PC/laptop, and I do the update once, reset to factory settings, then do an update again and again another reset to factory settings. I started doing it that way after the very first firmware upgrade that caused the bird to act erratically. After that experience I have never had a firmware update issue doing it twice. I actually think it is the sub-system updates that have the issue (gimbal, camera, etc) compared to the main controller itself.

 

[Raptorman0909]

I've done almost all of my updates with Assistant 2 on a Windows 10 laptop that never had a problem in the past, but with this latest update Assistant 2 would not connect to the drone -- I'd get the animation of the USB cable but it never showed the cable plugging in and I could not update using it. Am I supposed to run out and buy a new laptop that may or may not work because DJI changed something that broke the connection process making the previously functional laptop no longer work? This is similar to the dreadful connection software DJI has to connect the RC to a tablet.


Brian

 

[smiller]

If I am not mistaken, this update includes a fix for the horizon gimbal tilt issue.

There's been some speculation, but all the release motes say is 'Optimized gimbal performance to improve its stability during flight', which some people have taken to mean gimbal tilt but who knows what it really means, if anything. Regarding a true fix to the horizon tilt, that's been predicted for at least the last four updates and I'll believe it when I see it.

 

[Raptorman0909]

There's been some speculation, but all the release motes say is 'Optimized gimbal performance to improve its stability during flight', which some people have taken to mean gimbal tilt but who knows what it really means, if anything. Regarding a true fix to the horizon tilt, that's been predicted for at least the last four updates and I'll believe it when I see it.

The main issue I've had with the gimbal is when yawing the AC the video is too often jerky even though the yaw motion is smooth. I think the gimbal is introducing the jerkiness because it doesn't quite handle the yaw action properly. I'd really love to see that fixed.


Brian