No image transmission signal
- Thread starter Phantom Titan
- Start date
Highly doubtful. There are commercial grade electrical components all over the place inside your car. I suspect one of the processors on the gimbal main board is failing due to exceeding operating temp. Inside the assembly, there are 2 chips, one TI, one Amberella (video processor), that have thermal pads glued to the case that are supposed to transfer heat away from the chips.There is also a tiny fan. I'm not sure if that is where the failure is occurring, but it seems likely given the effort the designer(s) put in to try to dissipate heat for these components in particular. I don't think it would be a simple resistor, if these fail, they typically burn open, and I see no evidence of this on my test sample.
Thanks Bert for the thorough list of SD cards used. I have a similar problem with my P3P but it is not with FW update V01.09.0060.
My versions: GO App v2.8.3, P3P v1.08.0080, RC v1.6.0.
The original Panasonic 16 GB UHS I, speed class 3 in a U; also a C10 class works fine.
However, I bought a Sandisk Extreme Pro 32 GB UHS l, class 3 in U; it seemed to work for one flight but on checking the Editor, there was only one video saved on my iPad; no other stills nor video I took showed up. Also, the card could not be formatted in the GO App, plus my Mac computer cannot read it.
Could the GO App or firmware have corrupted the card?
I would like to use a 32 GB capacity card like the Extreme Pro to shoot 4K video but I don't want to buy another card and have that be corrupted.
Why are the original 16 GB cards not experiencing the "No image transmission signal" error? Surely there must be other pilots using large capacity SD cards without problems.
My photos do not save to my iPad, I have to connect the bird, and download them.
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Multicoptertec - thanks for the reply. I actually have three problems:
1. No image transmission with Sandisk Extreme Pro 32 GB SD card on second use.
2. Apparently corrupted SD card during flight.
3. Only partial Videos but no Still Photos available.
Regarding #3, When the P3P is connected or when not, in the GO app, v2.8.3, I only see 1 video to Manage; although a second video and several stills were taken. Thinking back on that flight, I was using POI then paused it then moved the Flight Mode Switch on the RC back to P-mode. Could this have corrupted the SD card?
Nothing should corrupt the card, short of taking the battery out mid write. The micro SD connector is on the main gimbal board, which also contains the Amberella graphics processor chip. If the processor is flakey, this could all be related.
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That's a relief. Regarding the processor, I don't want to go there since this P3P has only seen a few flights. Having only used CD and CF cards in cameras, I have little experience in UAS use.
The problem remains that the P3P won't recognize the Sandisk 32 GB SD card. It recorded 4K video during its first use; now it won't even format. Bert O'Connor thinks it is a firmware issue.
Since you seem to be knowledgeable about the Phantom's hardware, can you tell me from the following startup sequence what is happening?
RC on, AC on, GO app on, sounds, camera gyrates then centers straight ahead, next (I think) droid voice "Home Point found"; "Safe to Fly" may be displayed, camera drops, App displays "No image transmission signal."
Being that you have data from the Phantom telling you to the the home point has been set, I would think you could also start up the motors. If you can, you have duplex communications. Again, this "No image transmission" error seems to be exactly what the problem is, and outside of a bad cable, it points to the gimbal main board as the culprit. Easy proof of this is swapping the camera with another. Easy to do if you have another to test. Did you try to update firmware again to see if the log file shows a failure of modules 8 & 15?
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One more thing. With the failures I have seen regarding the gimbal main boards, I have yet to see the camera drop as you described.
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Absolutely correct, I am seeing the same thing on 3 different P3 Pro models now. DJI will not sell the board, or repair the camera/gimbal assembly alone, they tell me to send in the whole aircraft. Some parts they sell, some the don't, and that is disappointing.you guys getting this error "No Signal" is that you either
A: flew in very warm/hot environment and flew one time to many and burned the gimbal board or
B: did an upgrade without cooling down the bird with external fan blowing on it while it was upgrading.
In either case the main board gimbal has a component in it when it overheats it's done.
seen it million times and it's the same thing every time.
let me guess, everyone having this issues on P3P right?
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The motors can be started! And, I will update the FW then let you know if there are module failures. Thanks for hanging in there with me.
Hi Hunch, my psp pro has the same issue with no transmission signal, however when i first switch it on cold, I have perfect transmission for about 30 seconds before it disappears again. This leads me to believe that it could be heat related. I am finding it difficult to understand why it works for a short time as one would think that if the main board componant was toast it would not work at all. Appreciate any additional thoughts you may have.
Kyrvas, I have no idea why certain MicroSD cards cause this problem and others don't. My being stuck with using only the 16GB MicroSD card is ridiculous. I received two replies from DJI Tech support regarding this problem, the first response from them offered suggestions that I had already tried via DJI's Online Chat Tech Support... none of their suggestions worked. Then I replied to them that I had tried all their suggested "fixes" and re-told them how swapping out the MicroSD card "fixed" the No Image Transmission problem... their response was in essence "sorry, we will refer this to our engineers" and basically a hearty "good luck" was all the support I got. There is a new firmware update 2.8.4 to add Geofencing (which I thought the DJI GO app already had... sigh) and 360 Pano capability and "bug fixes" of which they didn't bother to tell us what these "bug fixes" fixed. Then I hear there's yet another firmware update coming the week of July 11th (rumor really, not confirmed) so I don't know if the MicroSD card / No Image Transmission issue will be fixed so we can use larger capacity MicroSD cards. Frankly, I don't know if I'm going to update again out of fear that if I do, something else will go sideways with my P3P.
In my case, my P3P has been in 74F temp inside my house, when I updated the firmware, I didn't it inside my house at 74F temp. Before I updated the firmware, video image transmission was perfect using my 32GB MicroSD card, after the firmware update No Image Transmission error came up. Remove the 32GB MicroSD card, it transmits video image just fine, install a lesser 16GB MicroSD card and it transmits video signal just fine. Re-install my 32GB MicroSD card, No Image Transmission error occurs once again. So clearly, temperature was not an issue as all this testing was done inside, at 74F degrees, the P3P was never outside in any heat and it was not sitting around inside my house, turned-on, heated up. So I'm going to bet it was the firmware update, not heat, that is the cause.you guys getting this error "No Signal" is that you either
A: flew in very warm/hot environment and flew one time to many and burned the gimbal board or
B: did an upgrade without cooling down the bird with external fan blowing on it while it was upgrading.
In either case the main board gimbal has a component in it when it overheats it's done.
seen it million times and it's the same thing every time.
let me guess, everyone having this issues on P3P right?
Hi Bert - As noted above, post 23,
My versions: GO App v2.8.3, P3P v1.08.0080, RC v1.6.0. Like you, my problem relates to a 32 GB card. Recently, I was able to erase the card with Disk Utility on my Mac. Then I put it into the P3P and the GO app suggested that I format it (which I was planning to do after the erasing); the formatting was super quick.
Currently the NO IMAGE TRANSMISSION SIGNAL (NITS) is not displaying; I get Safe to Fly in P-GPS.
Next, probably tomorrow, I will transfer the current aircraft firmware v1.08.0080 to the 32 GB card then fly it. If the flight goes well, I will probably not update the firmware. If the NITS returns, I will consider updating the firmware to 1.9.60 to take Multicoptertec's advice and view the log file for module failures.
Kyrvas, I have P3P 1.9.60 GO app 2.8.4 RC 1.6.0. I tried your format of my 32GB SD card with my iMac then reformat it with the GO app, I still get the NITS error, but then my previously functioning 16GB SD card caused the NITS error! After a few reboots of the RC and the P3P, the 16 GB SD card works again... meaning I get stable Image Transmission again, so your method did not work for me. Yes, my RC was set up to auto update so mine is at 2.8.4Hi Bert - As noted above, post 23,
My versions: GO App v2.8.3, P3P v1.08.0080, RC v1.6.0. Like you, my problem relates to a 32 GB card. Recently, I was able to erase the card with Disk Utility on my Mac. Then I put it into the P3P and the GO app suggested that I format it (which I was planning to do after the erasing); the formatting was super quick.
Currently the NO IMAGE TRANSMISSION SIGNAL (NITS) is not displaying; I get Safe to Fly in P-GPS.
Next, probably tomorrow, I will transfer the current aircraft firmware v1.08.0080 to the 32 GB card then fly it. If the flight goes well, I will probably not update the firmware. If the NITS returns, I will consider updating the firmware to 1.9.60 to take Multicoptertec's advice and view the log file for module failures.
Bert - clearly I don't understand what is going on; why would rebooting several times produce recognition of the 16 GB card with no error msgs? What if you took the 32 GB card and Erased it in Disk Utility then Format it in your P3P?
Kyrvas, does it make sense that the type of MicroSD card put into the P3P's memory card drive would determine whether or not you get good or bad image transmission? No, it doesn't, none of this makes sense. The only difference between the method you used successfully (to solve this problem) was that your DJI GO app is one iteration older than mine (hence my mentioning that my DJI GO app auto-updated to 2.8.4) and your P3P firmware update is older than mine (my P3P is at 1.9.60) but my RC is at 1.6.0
With all that being said, I tried your method of "fixing" this problem .... YES I put both MicroSD cards into my iMac, formatted them on the iMac, then as you did with your SD cards, I put them in my P3P's MicroSD card drive and formatted them with the DJI GO app, just like you did. Then all I got was the dreaded NITS error, but after rebooting the RC and the P3P several times, the NITS error went away when I had the 16GB MicroSD card in the P3P... and BEFORE I tried your method, the 16GB card caused NO problems, only after I tried your method did the 16GB caused the NITS error, but as I said, rebooting the RC and the P3P with the 16GB card in the P3P eventually caused the NITS error to go away.
And FWIW, one of my two 32GB cards in the P3P now works with NO NITS error message. But I don't trust having the 32GB MicroSD card in it as the video image quality is choppy with the 32GB MicroSD card in the P3P, the video image is smooth with the 16GB card in the P3P.
All this trouble started when I updated the P3P's firmware to 1.9.60, BEFORE that update, I could use my 32GB MicroSD cards with no problems.
This isn't a problem I created or that I'm doing something wrong, this problem was created with DJI's 1.9.60 update.
I've told DJI's Tech Support, in extreme detail, how this problem manifests itself, how it came about with the last firmware update, and basically they said they'd refer it to their engineers.
The most recent RC firmware update did not fix this problem in one of their "bug fixes"... not that updating the RC would've fixed this anyways.
If your method works for you, great! But you didn't update your P3P firmware like I did, and therein lies the rub... I updated and shouldn't have.
If a further firmware update fixes the NITS error problem, I will not update my P3P ever again. This is complete BS, my 32GB MicroSD cards are SanDisk name brand cards designed for 4K video
throughput and they DID work until this last P3P firmware update, that's when the problem began.
Yep, it's a long reply to your comment. It is what it is.
Anything is possible, but I have a hard time relating the size of the SD card to the NITS error. What about with NO SD card installed, do either of you still get the error? My theory is that the Ambarella chip on the gimbal board is possibly overheating, causing random shutdown. There is a whimpy sill pad on the cover that is designed as a thermal transfer solution. This pad is pressed against the chip when the cover is installed. This and the little fan are supposed to keep the chip within operating temp. A possible test for the SD card theory is to try both when the bird is dead cold, before the chip has a chance to go into thermal overload. Note that there are actually two chips that have two thermal transfer pads, I suppose either one could be failing, partially when overheated, or permanently destroyed.
The NITS goes away when there is NO MicroSD card in the gimbal's SD card drive.
The point here that you and Kryvas don't seem to be noting or taking into consideration is that BEFORE I updated the P3P's firmware to 1.9.60, there was NO problem using my 32GB MicroSD cards. AFTER I updated the P3P's firmware to 1.9.60 is when the NITS problem began. I'm not the only one on these forums who have had this happen to, this problem is not unique to me and me alone, others have had the same **** issue.
I'm aware of the heatsinks... they're obvious to the eye, and the tiny cooling fan too. What's critical here is the NITS problem happens on a stone cold P3P in my temp controlled house. DJI states operating temp range for the P3P is 30 deg F to 104 deg F. My house is at 74 deg F, always. I don't let the P3P sit there and "toast" first THEN try out the different SD cards.
Ya, you're right, what size MicroSD card should not have anything to do with image transmission, but I don't believe in my heart of hearts that I have had a component(s) failure simply because, as I have been saying all along, this NITS problem occurred only AFTER I updated the P3P's firmware to 1.9.60. I refuse to believe that updating the P3P's firmware had nothing to do with the NITS problem... it did and does.
Now maybe the 1.9.60 firmware update did something to make those components overheat (however that can happen I do not know) but DJI is aware of it and hopefully working on it.
Once again, to make this clear, I am not the only one who has this problem AFTER updating my firmware to 1.9.60, may others on this forum have had the same issue at the same time.
Sure, some folks didn't get this issue with the last update, God bless them then. Me, I'm relegated to using 16GB max MicroSD cards and if that's what it takes to keep my P3P flying
then so be it.
FWIW, I had an important flight demonstration to give to a local FAA test site and almost up to the time of the demo, that damned NITS problem almost caused me to cancel the demo.
When I inserted the 16GB MicroSD card that "fixed" the NITS problem, only then was I able to drive out and give them my flight demo.
It makes no sense that the size of the MicroSD card should affect image transmission... DJI's website says I can use up to 64GB MicroSD cards in my P3P.
LOL, ya, right, whatever. If this was a MicroSD drive problem, then why does the 16GB MicroSD card "fix" this problem and the 32GB card doesn't ?
You can tell me that I am the problem and not the unit, or you can speculate something "fried" in the P3P, but know this: the P3P like the P4, like the Inspire, are all basically fying computers.
I've put a grand total of 1hr and 48 min flying time on my P3P since I purchased it last year ... so I don't fly it much... so it's not like I'm flying the crap out of it in the Summer heat, I'm not.
So it doesn't have much flight time but has had a ton of DJI updates on it.
I come from a professional video background and for only a moment wondered if the video being fed over Lightbridge was somehow a delayed playback from the MicroSD card and not a true
live feed from Lightbridge to my iPad 2 Mini (with hardware decode turned ON)... but allegedly video from the P3P's camera is fed "LIVE" through Lightbridge and transmitted back to the RC and into
my iPad.
I've pretty much thrown my hands up in frustration, I don't have time for this crap. DJI should (ya, right, whatever) test all eventualities BEFORE they put out a new firmware update.
They are a multi-billion dollar company, they can afford a team of folks to hook up every type of smart phone and tablet and memory card to their Phantoms to see if there are any problems
BEFORE they release a firmware update... but instead they do what all software companies have done since the 1980's... they release the software package and let the consumer flesh out
all the "bugs" before they release an update to correct that which they should have corrected in the first place.
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