P3P onwers - think twice before upgrading firmware

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Until DJI comes out with a fix to this totally screwed up update - stay away from it. I took the plunge and after a few flights and all kinds of attempts to fix the problems, I am putting my dear P3P on the shelf.

It is incredibly frustrating to find out that after the firmware upgrade I can no longer fly out without loosing connection and/or breaking up video feed. it is almost like the RF power has been reduced on both, the bird and the RC. I have NEVER seen RC up signal (control) go weak at less than one mile distance in a wide open and far away from RF noise area (desert). Meanwhile the video feed breaks up intermittently even at 20 feet distance.

Only a few days ago with the older firmware on both the RC and the AC, I few a 15 minute mission with over two miles in RF distance over mountains and through canyons sometimes not within clear line of sight and NEVER saw either signals drop below 100% and not a single glitch on the video down feed. With the current firmware I could not possibly repeat this mission.

Of course, there is no way to downgrade the firmware. I tried - It will not let me do it. It simply reports this in the firmware text file:

========== 2014.01.01 00:00:12 remo-con disconnect======
Packet: P3X_FW_V01.10.0090.bin
Result: Abort.
The current firmware does not support downgrade. Use a different version of firmware to downgrade the target version.
 
Until DJI comes out with a fix to this totally screwed up update - stay away from it. I took the plunge and after a few flights and all kinds of attempts to fix the problems, I am putting my dear P3P on the shelf.

It is incredibly frustrating to find out that after the firmware upgrade I can no longer fly out without loosing connection and/or breaking up video feed. it is almost like the RF power has been reduced on both, the bird and the RC. I have NEVER seen RC up signal (control) go weak at less than one mile distance in a wide open and far away from RF noise area (desert). Meanwhile the video feed breaks up intermittently even at 20 feet distance.

Only a few days ago with the older firmware on both the RC and the AC, I few a 15 minute mission with over two miles in RF distance over mountains and through canyons sometimes not within clear line of sight and NEVER saw either signals drop below 100% and not a single glitch on the video down feed. With the current firmware I could not possibly repeat this mission.

Of course, there is no way to downgrade the firmware. I tried - It will not let me do it. It simply reports this in the firmware text file:

========== 2014.01.01 00:00:12 remo-con disconnect======
Packet: P3X_FW_V01.10.0090.bin
Result: Abort.
The current firmware does not support downgrade. Use a different version of firmware to downgrade the target version.
Have you already tried the popular (but unofficial) debug file method to go back one version on the AC? You don't need to go all the way back to early versions, but if you liked the prior version this might help you.
 
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OK, I am a P4 flier, not P3,after the upgrade I had a signal loss RTH after 5000ft,I have flown 9000 ft in this location with no signal loss. I will have to repeat as there may have been other factors, even though it was a wide open area over the coastline and sea. Oh and UK controller.
 
Personally, I have seen absolutely no plausible reason to update firmware at all. I am still flying with 1.8.8 and no issues at all. Nothing can convince me that the updates do anything positive for the operation of the aircraft, or at least I should say that DJI will inform you of. If it flies to your satisfaction, don't mess with it.
 
I have not tried the popular debug file method. I'll take a look. Problem is - I may be able to downgrade the AC, but what about the RC? It has been upgraded too and for all I know, it may be the RC causing all these problems.
 
I have not tried the popular debug file method. I'll take a look. Problem is - I may be able to downgrade the AC, but what about the RC? It has been upgraded too and for all I know, it may be the RC causing all these problems.
Just use the popular "graduation cap" method to downgrade the RC.
 
Personally, I have seen absolutely no plausible reason to update firmware at all. I am still flying with 1.8.8 and no issues at all. Nothing can convince me that the updates do anything positive for the operation of the aircraft, or at least I should say that DJI will inform you of. If it flies to your satisfaction, don't mess with it.
This.
 
OK. I followed the debug method to downgrade from the latest firmware (AC) to the November/16 firmware (1.10.90) which I found to be the best ever given the vast improvement on video and image processing over the prior versions. It worked FLAWLESSLY using the DEBUG hack.
Now, I am working on the RC downgrade. Unfortunately, it forces me to go to from 1.9.2 (latest) to 1.6. It failed to download 1.8. What I want is the matching version that was the latest back in November 16. Not sure what number that is.
 
OK. I followed the debug method to downgrade from the latest firmware (AC) to the November/16 firmware (1.10.90) which I found to be the best ever given the vast improvement on video and image processing over the prior versions. It worked FLAWLESSLY using the DEBUG hack.
Now, I am working on the RC downgrade. Unfortunately, it forces me to go to from 1.9.2 (latest) to 1.6. It failed to download 1.8. What I want is the matching version that was the latest back in November 16. Not sure what number that is.
Excellent. Glad it has been helpful so far. Have you tried to fly with AC1.10 / RC1.6? I would expect that to work well since we regularly see people here say they've downgraded from RC1.8 to RC1.6 to get better video. Just a thought to keep in mind as you work through it. Plus, it's always good to change and test one thing at a time when troubleshooting. Good luck!
 
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Thank you all for your help! Before this, I tried to "talk" to DJI support about it (I used chat) - what an unbelievable waste of time!
 
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Thank you all for your help! Before this, I tried to "talk" to DJI support about it (I used chat) - what an unbelievable waste of time!
You're welcome sir. Happy to be able to help.

Regarding DJI support - I have sure seen many posts here from people who are thoroughly frustrated with getting incorrect information from DJI. I can't say that I've ever reached out to them myself, but I don't doubt the word of so many people who say the same thing.
 
So I know using the downgrade method in the go app downgrades the controller but dose it downgrade the aircraft?
No it doesn't.

AC downgrades are done using the one version older BIN if you are on 1.9 or earlier. If you are on 1.10 or later, DJI removed the ability to downgrade your AC officially but there are unofficial ways to do it as noted earlier in this thread.
 
No it doesn't.

AC downgrades are done using the one version older BIN if you are on 1.9 or earlier. If you are on 1.10 or later, DJI removed the ability to downgrade your AC officially but there are unofficial ways to do it as noted earlier in this thread.
Why the heck would they remove that?
 
I upgraded to 1.11.20. Is that a bad version?
I stopped updating at versions 1.6 and 1.4 on my Phantoms so I can't give you any first hand feedback if 1.11 will work for you. If you have more specific questions, perhaps search the forum or start a new thread so that @Roamer105 can keep this thread specific to his questions. :)
 
I stopped updating at versions 1.6 and 1.4 on my Phantoms so I can't give you any first hand feedback if 1.11 will work for you. If you have more specific questions, perhaps search the forum or start a new thread so that @Roamer105 can keep this thread specific to his questions. :)
I just don't want the new FW to [EXPLETIVE REMOVED] up my phantom and something bad happen like something not work right (RTH, homepoint etc.), or even worse... CRASH!!
 
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Before I updated my P3P I wasn't going to but then I took it for a flight and I gothink a few errors and one saiday something about to restart AC and if not to contact DJI support. Heck no I wouldn't contact support. I figured it had somthing to do with FW. So I updated. That's my story. :)
 

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