Updated to latest firmware and software only to discover that my drone now will not hover in place. It drifts down into ground or slides in all directions. I've tried everything to fix it, Calibrations of every kind (IMU, Compass, Controller, VPS) I've tried downgrading and factory reset. I live on a farm so there is no interference at all in the middle of the field. I find it a strange coicidence that it was working fine before Firmware update out of the box. Never crashed, only flown maybe 4 times. Had it for less than a month. Now I'm terrified to fly it. Not happy. Debating on whether I should just take this thing back to bestbuy because troubleshooting a $1500 drone doesn't sound like fun.

Make sure you didn't accidentally put the flight mode switch at left rear of Remote Controller in the "A" setting, which would turn off GPS positioning; make sure it is in the "P" setting.

TheMann58 Posted at 2017-3-11 12:59
Make sure you didn't accidentally put the flight mode switch at left rear of Remote Controller in the "A" setting, which would turn off GPS positioning; make sure it is in the "P" setting.

Nah man... Just assume that I've exhausted everything short of taking the thing apart. I know how the controller functions. I have P-GPS lock with 15 Satellites in an open field. So it isn't that. I've also tried disabling the VPS functions just to eliminate possibilities.

I guess I could try putting my drone in the freezer, but at that point is it REALLY worth $1500? Maybe I should have bought the Inspire. Then again, if it has any issues like the p4p has then maybe I should just wait a year for DJI to get these software issues fixed. Its unacceptable that I have to expect a potential crash after every firmware update.

Syndicate_X Posted at 2017-3-11 13:08
Nah man... Just assume that I've exhausted everything short of taking the thing apart. I know how the controller functions. I have P-GPS lock with 15 Satellites in an open field. So it isn't that. I've also tried disabling the VPS functions just to eliminate possibilities.

'I've also tried disabling the VPS functions just to eliminate possibilities.'

If anything, having VPS on should make it more stable, not less, that's the whole purpose of VPS.

Geebax Posted at 2017-3-11 13:36
'I've also tried disabling the VPS functions just to eliminate possibilities.'

If anything, having VPS on should make it more stable, not less, that's the whole purpose of VPS.

Well on or off makes zero difference. I'm at a loss. Best Buy wont take it back for exchange or anything so I'm screwed with DJI once again... Sigh...

Here is a quick question, are you loading the factory defaults and redoing the setup from scratch after a firmware update?

I also had a nightmare scenario that happened after a firmware update, but once I redid the update and did a factory default reset as well I have had no issues with that update or the latest.

I just see people saying they did a firmware update, and then recalibrating everything, but still having issues.  Knowing full well how firmware works, in that they either map/translate the previous settings properly and populate new settings appropriately, or, in a lot of cases, they load a simple set of "vanilla" defaults for new settings and no interpretation of previous settings.  In some cases there are just programming flaws were they expect to do the former and in the process end up totally screwing up a bunch of settings.

In any case it is basically a rule of thumb that you reset to factory defaults after any and all firmware updates on just about any device, let alone something critical like a drone/controller.

Now as far as doing a full recalibration, I don't know how they setup the firmware and how well all of that is or is not "insulated" from the firmware upgrade.  If it is like the factory defaults and needs to be done every time, so be it.

Geebax Posted at 2017-3-11 13:36
'I've also tried disabling the VPS functions just to eliminate possibilities.'

If anything, having VPS on should make it more stable, not less, that's the whole purpose of VPS.

It makes mine unflyable since the last fw update !!!

I'm curious, when the drone is sitting stationary with no movement, ACC1 or Accelerometer 1 shows a yellow dot saying it's in use. Is this normal?

Brian Fist Posted at 2017-3-11 14:10
Here is a quick question, are you loading the factory defaults and redoing the setup from scratch after a firmware update?

I also had a nightmare scenario that happened after a firmware update, but once I redid the update and did a factory default reset as well I have had no issues with that update or the latest.

I have done such and had no changes...

Did you update your controller also, My controller didn't update when the p4p done the update. I had to open the app again and it was in the aircraft status that my controller needed updated. I just got done with a 46,000 feet flight with the farthest distance away from me being 18,300 feet away and everything work great. Maybe downgrade the firmware and try the update again.

Syndicate_X Posted at 2017-3-11 13:35
Well on or off makes zero difference. I'm at a loss. Best Buy wont take it back for exchange or anything so I'm screwed with DJI once again... Sigh...

This attitude that DJI is nothing but problems is ignoring the fact that most users that have no problems at all.
It also makes it hard to find a solution when you've convinced yourself that there is none.
The Phantom 4 pro is a fine product that works beautifully and there's probably a simple reason for what you've observed.
One thing that should always be looked at when users complain about drifting is: what height is it at and what is the ground surface under it?
The VPS is great at locking the Phantom relative to the ground .... as long as the ground has a texture that it can recognise.
If you are down at VPS height and the ground has no clear pattern like grass or concrete, that is hard to lock on to.
Since you've tried recalibrating everything (and most or all would have been just fine anyway), connect up to Assistant and reset factory defaults.
And if all else fails, try to roll back your update or refresh it.

I will say, that a lot of what people say when stating that a firmware rollback won't put the drone back "to the way it was" just does not make sense.  If the firmware update process totally replaces the existing firmware, and a factory reset redoes everything else back to "factory fresh" state, then nothing else could be different.

Now, if with some of these firmware updates, if they are updating any sub-controllers that do not get updated with other updates (for example some of the Intel BIOS updates that actually update the microcontroller on certain CPUs), then we have a real situation where a firmware update could cause a "permanent" change that rolling back to previous firmwares would not "fix".

As it stands I have ZERO knowledge of the inner workings of the P4P, so I can't say that is the case or not, but considering all of the sub-systems on these very complex devices, I most certainly CANNOT take that out of the equation.  And I have a funny feeling it would be VERY hard to get a solid answer from DJI if their firmwares actually update sub-controllers or not, and if so, if there is any way at that point to get them back to "factory fresh" without sending it into DJI.

Honestly, if they do have sub-controllers that get updated, it is somewhat irresponsible for them NOT to offer a "known good" revision (such as the one previous to 1.02.0304) that would not have all the sub-controllers codes in them to be able to do a "factory full reset" to bring the system back to a "known good" state.

If, in fact, they do not ever update sub-controllers and have only one full and complete firmware image at all times, and if everything in each firmware is a complete and full replacement of all running code on the system, then there should be ZERO reason you could not just roll back to a previous revision and be back to where you were before.  <- I would LOVE to hear and answer from someone at DJI if that is a true and honest overview of how the firmware works on the P4P, or if they do, in fact, at times, update sub-controllers as well.

That kind of clarity would go a long way to providing a level of assurance that firmware updates will not cause "catastrophic changes" in our investments.

And, trust me, plenty of companies have crippled products, either by mistake, or actually on purpose by firmware updates.  Heck, some have gone to great lengths to even disable previous products to get the customer base to upgrade (none of this applies to the P4P or DJI, just pointing out how critical firmware changes can really be).

Brian Fist Posted at 2017-3-11 21:02
I will say, that a lot of what people say when stating that a firmware rollback won't put the drone back "to the way it was" just does not make sense.  If the firmware update process totally replaces the existing firmware, and a factory reset redoes everything else back to "factory fresh" state, then nothing else could be different.

Now, if with some of these firmware updates, if they are updating any sub-controllers that do not get updated with other updates (for example some of the Intel BIOS updates that actually update the microcontroller on certain CPUs), then we have a real situation where a firmware update could cause a "permanent" change that rolling back to previous firmwares would not "fix".

The code in the DJI products certainly does not do a complete exchange of the code in the device at upgrade time. There are a number of modules that contain seperate sub-assemblies and are only upgraded when DJI consider it necessary, so it make be necessary to go back several steps, then come up through a couple of revisions in order to get a device back to a stable condition. But having watched a few years of this activity, I am convinced that whoever is in charge of software/firmware at DJI is not disciplined enough to exhaustively checkout new revisions before pushing them out onto unsuspecting customers. They certainly do not appear to have the approach that would be considered essential at larger corporations. And for that reason, I disabled updates of all sorts back some time ago when my aircraft was operating well.

In defence of DJI though, a lot of what happens gets blamed on DJI, particularly in the area of operability with Android devices. Phone makers, and I point the finger directly at Samsung, come up with their own 'fiddles' to the Android code which then cripple some feature that DJI had written into their app, and as soon as that happens you get some non-technical nong come on here and demand that DJI fix the problem.

And then it needs to be said that a good number of the problems that people complain about on this forum are due to customers who buy some obscure brand of phone, are are convinced by the sales blurb that is it Mega-Powerful, and in reality it is weak as water and can't run the DJI app at all.

In regards to Android issues, I completely agree.

Android was "supposed" to be a 100% vanilla OS that the various manufacturers could "layer" on top of to provide enhance features/functionality, but at the base it was supposed to be 100% vanilla.

Manufacturers such as Samsung ended up hacking the hell out of the base code to provide "better" features.  In all actuality they ended up crippling the devices for anyone that wants to use them for more than social media stupidity and the bundled apps they originally offered, which is their plan all along, that way when they stop providing updates you are forced to move to a newer device (which was 100% AGAINST Androids primary objective, to offer an OS that allowed apps to run on many platforms/devices/revisions with complete functionality).

Oh the greed of corporations... Did I mention I have a thorn in my side with Samsung since they decided to strand a 2014 product in a 2013 OS revision and drop support for it when it wasn't even out for a year (ie, ALL of the product base was STILL within full warranty)???  I am talking about the Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4... Great device, great screen, great performance, totally stuck on Android 4.4.2 FOREVER (especially now that Cyanogen Mod is shut down as well)...

Rgb2448 Posted at 2017-3-11 15:00
Did you update your controller also, My controller didn't update when the p4p done the update. I had to open the app again and it was in the aircraft status that my controller needed updated. I just got done with a 46,000 feet flight with the farthest distance away from me being 18,300 feet away and everything work great. Maybe downgrade the firmware and try the update again.

Yes I did update the controller as well. I also calibrated it a couple times and didn't see a difference.

Labroides Posted at 2017-3-11 15:06
This attitude that DJI is nothing but problems is ignoring the fact that most users that have no problems at all.
It also makes it hard to find a solution when you've convinced yourself that there is none.
The Phantom 4 pro is a fine product that works beautifully and there's probably a simple reason for what you've observed.

I would love not to have to send my drone in to DJI, wait two months and then get someone else's reman drone that probably was dunked in the ocean. Just isn't worth the hassle. I'll figure another way out. It's just a huge PIA..

UPDATE: I seem to have fixed the issue after countless attempts. I ended up rolling back Firmware on the AC to the last release 1.02 and then did a factory reset. After that just did every calibration I know of (IMU, RC, VPS, Compass) and now it seems to be flying good again, maybe even a little better than when I bought it. I don't know exactly why it's functioning well now but after the second go of upgrading (tried 1.03 again) downgrading and then factory reset, it seems it did the trick. I left the RC with the current firmware update cause it didn't seem to have any negative effects on the AC. I'm gonna stay away from 1.03 until the next update. I'd rather not crash into stuff because of it.

Well I attempted to update the FW to the latest version of 1.03 after I noticed a new release. Results were the same. Drone will not hold hover. Drifts all over the place by about 5-6 ft. Ive tried factory resets and all calibrations and its like ive done nothing. Pretty irritated I cant seem to update my drone at all without it flying erratically. Weighing my EBay options right now. I refuse to deal with DJI "support". Anyone have any possible solutions? Im not seeing anyone dealing with this issue recently, Just pre 1.02. I cant seem to move past the last 1.02 fw release without having a drastic change in flying behavior. So far the only thing ive done with this drone is troubleshoot it. NEVER BUYING A NEW DJI PRODUCT. My P3S flies better than the 4 pro...

Same problem!! Same ........

If you go like 30 meters in the air it still drifts?

Had same problem after update, but a compass calibration did the job.
Now Im on most resent AC Firmware and RC firmware and the P4P is just
perfect.
Hope You find out whats wrong with your AC

FiShBuRn Posted at 2018-3-21 04:23
If you go like 30 meters in the air it still drifts?

yes always drift

How do i found the fw 1.02? i want to use my phantom!