hello crew,
oh boy i am angry now! just arrived thailand kosamui island yesterday for a 1 week drone trip. made all updates, planned this for months, spend a ton of money. arrived yesterday night and made one short flight to ensure everything is working fine. i fly for 5 minutes and everything was great.
spend an hour to drive to a nice location. standing here on amazing beach and cant fly...

START THE P4 AS USUAL AND THEN SEE: "AIRCAFT LOCKED. UPDATE TO LATEST VERSION.

WHAT THE HELL DJI!!! are you guys loosing your mind now?!
NO INTERNET HERE! and if, i need login with password and account but impossible because the rubish build in screen dont let me do that.

i tried to log in 4 different wifi spots now and everytime it say:
DOWNLOAD ERROR CHECK YOUR INTERNET CONNECTION! yeah very funny DJI.
last week we discussed about the problem that you MUST NOT FORCE CUSTOMER TO UPDATE. and you said:"its fine you can ignore and just fly"
and now? i swear i saw this s*** coming before i start my travel. i KNEW DJI WILL SCREW THIS UP AGAIN!

and now we have it. i try to calm down and just make the update but can not so i am loosing it here. i al so incredible angry for DJI.

HOW TO FIX THIS?
-no computer here
-the wifi spots i log in say it cant use to make latest update

DJI TEAM HELP ME NOW

it says i must connect it with that special DJI usb cable which of course i didnt bring because last 2 updates worked perfect over wifi!{:4_154:}

what kind of adapter cable i meed to make that work? just regular usb to mini usb?


UNLOCK MY P4 RIGHT NOW!

PandaFlyingcat Posted at 2017-6-24 01:49
it says i must connect it with that special DJI usb cable which of course i didnt bring because last 2 updates worked perfect over wifi!

what kind of adapter cable i meed to make that work? just regular usb to mini usb?

What FW you on, and how did you manage to fly first five minutes, ?

I think your going to have to upload firmware or downgrade, once you've uploaded and are signed to dji app you will not need internet.

You probably need OTG cable and USB to mini USB.

PandaFlyingcat Posted at 2017-6-24 01:49
it says i must connect it with that special DJI usb cable which of course i didnt bring because last 2 updates worked perfect over wifi!

what kind of adapter cable i meed to make that work? just regular usb to mini usb?

Sadly DJI.

Do not know how Litich will behave. Seemed it's worth a try.

Best regards, Leif.

I think DJI should pay for your trip in full!!!!! This is total crap.. I plan on flying tonight to capture fire works display and i'm affraid something will go wrong.. the problem is you don't know if anything is wrong until you get to your destination... hope all works out for you,,

Well. DJI said no internet is required for flying. Even you do not update, you still can fly with restrictions. I wanna know how DJI explain this issue. Can dji explain in what circumstances the phantom will be completely grounded?

I doubt the inbuilt screen is able to download Litich. It is easy for people to say that "once you sign in and you do not need internet". However, that request is now suddenly coming up at the time you cannot reach internet. That is the problem. If you have personal cell phone and it connected to network, you may try to share wifi and see whether having internet.

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-6-24 02:39
What FW you on, and how did you manage to fly first five minutes, ?

I think your going to have to upload firmware or downgrade, once you've uploaded and are signed to dji app you will not need internet.

thanks for answer. i was on the firmware from 2 days ago. the last one came out a week aho or so. i could fly this morning and everything was fine. i turned on the wofo from that rubish build in screen to download the map from this area which is not working by the way. suddenly i got a message: YOUR PHANTOM IS LOCKED UNTIL YOU UPGRADE TO LATEST FIRMWARE!!!

yes i agree DJI should pay my trip and i will get a lawyer for this after i am back. stucked here with a bricked drone.

steps i made so far:
- try to find a mini usb to usb femail port - FAILED
- download the latest firmware with 817mb after hours waiting in a internet cafe and stick the .bin file in the p4 to manually update - FAILED
if nothing works and DJI is not able to unlock my drone for some days i will visit them in shenzhen and sue the company.

next step:
find out how i can force the p4 to upgrade firmware from SD card where i download the latest just now.

and which file need to be on the empty sd card? the zip file or the *.bin file?
in my p3 i just make a sd card empty, put the firmware on, stick it in and start drone. after some minutes of VERY annoying noise the update was done most times.

SUGGESTIONS? (please remind that i NOT have the special USB to mini cable here and i am on an island so i cant buy that either)
need find a way to unlock it, upgrade via wifi or force upgrade via firmware on SD card. please help, crew!

PandaFlyingcat Posted at 2017-6-24 01:49
it says i must connect it with that special DJI usb cable which of course i didnt bring because last 2 updates worked perfect over wifi!

what kind of adapter cable i meed to make that work? just regular usb to mini usb?

From the pictures it seems that an update of the no-fly zones is required, most probably because you now are in a totally different location from where you normally are. If so, it is not a "complete" firmware update, just the geofencing data for your new location.  The OTG cable may be required to put that data into the aircraft (I for one thought that this kind of data would go into the App, not in the aircraft). Anyway it is always a good thing to bring all your small  accessories with you when travelling... and the OTG cable  doesn' take that much space in the box... Now, I don't know how big that island is, if you are lucky you might find a shop that carries  the cable (it is just a cable with a micro USB-A on one side and a female USB-A on the other side). You will also need a male micro USB-A to male USB-A cable to connect the micro USB Port in your RC to the female USB in the OTG cable. Good luck!

Can you get the .bin file (not the zip file) onto the mini sd card? If you can, put it in the controller and go into the settings and do a "local" update.

thanks alot guy i will try both.
get the bin file on card and try to manually upgrade. i cant find the option in settings from the integrrated screen. i got the plus model.
second advice is also helpful and i will definetly try to hack a cable together by cutting it if nothing else work!

and yes it says the update is just 89mb and not 817 like the one i download

OK, start up the controller:
Tap on the "gear" icon
Then tap on the "system settings" (little gear icon below "feedbacK" )
Scroll to bottom of next screen and tap on "Update"
On the next screen tap on the three little dots in the upper right hand corner of the screen.
This will bring up the screen with the "Local Update" option.

I should have added to the last post that it sounds like Antonio may be correct because if the update you need is only 89mb it is probably the no fly zones that need updating. If you can't find a cable maybe someone from home can overnight you what you need??

updated manual. everthing works fine. but the drone is still locked because the 89mb update icant make. {:4_154:} i will destroy something here soon!

bought 2 identical micro USB canles andnhack them together now.

DJI UNLOCK MY DRONE NOW DAMMIT!

lol. can a moderator please ban this columbo guy account for talking such bs in a forum where people come try to help each other because DJI cant stop screw things up? i already said i have the cable requested from the app and its still not working you dingleling. nobody is interested in your useless story.

PandaFlyingcat Posted at 2017-6-24 10:22
thats is i wasted a full day of my horrible expensive holiday to fix djis s.h.i.t problems!
cable doesnt work, updating over wifi doesnt work, update over SD card doesnt work, reset everything doesnt work.
DJI screwed this one up big time.

Excuse me, PandaFlyingcat, but has it ever dawned on you that maybe you are doing something wrong?

Antonio76 Posted at 2017-6-24 10:41
Excuse me, PandaFlyingcat, but has it ever dawned on you that maybe you are doing something wrong?

yes, maybe by get a new p4?  i have phantoms for many years and never experienced something like this before. what mistake i could made for example? just now the p4 was able to start motors without update warning. turn them off again andntry turn on: aircraft locked.

PandaFlyingcat Posted at 2017-6-24 10:38
lol. can a moderator please ban this columbo guy account for talking such bs in a forum where people come try to help each other because DJI cant stop screw things up? i already said i have the cable requested from the app and its still not working you dingleling. nobody is interested in your useless story.

How do you normally update firmware, you seem to be having major problems, dji are not going to able to do anything for you until Monday , so instead of spending all your time being frustrated. Put on your shorts get your sun cream head down to to the pool, double vodka on the rocks and chill, and live to fight another day.

All the stupid banner headlines are not going to help you and people will eventually get exhausted and leave you to your own misery.

Having your firmware and software up to date is your responsibility, and particularly when going on such a trip, what were your plans if new firmware came out next Tuesday . You need to take some responsibility it was you after all who forgot your OTG lead. Give yourself a break.

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-6-24 10:52
How do you normally update firmware, you seem to be having major problems, dji are not going to able to do anything for you until Monday , so instead of spending all your time being frustrated. Put on your shorts get your sun cream head down to to the pool, double vodka on the rocks and chill, and live to fight another day.

All the stupid banner headlines are not going to help you and people will eventually get exhausted and leave you to your own misery.

yeah you are right. like i said i got the original cable from a guy who also bring his drone. plug it in and nothing happens. the button to start the firmwareupgrade stays blank and you cant click on that. we tried everything and followed all suggestion. so the people who blame me for getting here unprepaired can shut it now, thats obviously not the problem and my own cable would not make it better if i bring that here.

normaly i did all updates via remote. it says: there is a new update. click on it and it started always without any trouble. i came here prepared, made all recent updates and triple check everything before travel. drone was working back home. and drone was working perfect after i land here in thailand this morning. today i fly around for some minutes, shoot some videos and put it back in the box-erverythong wonderwul as expected. next time i took it out i got this strange message that its locked and need firmware update. and now you can start the motors for some seconds here and there like nothing happend.
but if you put it outside and try start its locked again.
anyway, i will enjoy the time here, you are right. thanks

PandaFlyingcat Posted at 2017-6-24 09:32
DJI UNLOCK MY DRONE NOW DAMMIT!

Do you have the latest DJI GO App installed? Maybe this is the problem. Other guys had the same problem which disappeared when they updated DJI GO (It probably was released just after you made your 5 minutes flight after arriving on the island.....)

eColumbia01 Posted at 2017-6-24 10:23
Can we have a moderator from DJI shut down this thread. I don't know if the original poster is just a kid or an adult that never grew up. However these forums are not the place for folks to publicly have their tantrums.
For me, the idea of some guy on Koh Samui frantically running around looking for an internet connection and/or some usb wires strikes me as just too funny. I wish folks would not try to help this guy and let him stew in his own misery.
A couple of years ago I met a man on an island off the coast of Cambodia. This guy brought his drone all the way from Belgium. After flying the drone for 5 minutes - something went wrong and he was grounded for the rest of his trip. I did not understand why the guy did not come prepared for things to go wrong. Just like I do not empathize with the current poster on not being prepared.

No need to shut the thread down just because he's frustrated.

Crack The Sky Posted at 2017-6-24 10:44
Here's a suggestion.
Get a life.
Leave your toy drone in the motel room and enjoy your vacation.

Perhaps the joy in his life presently comes partly from the experience of flying his drone at new locations he can't always visit. He purchased the drone to do the only thing it is designed to do, yet he cannot do that one thing at a time he most wants to do it.

PandaFlyingcat Posted at 2017-6-24 10:52
yes, maybe by get a new p4?  i have phantoms for many years and never experienced something like this before. what mistake i could made for example? just now the p4 was able to start motors without update warning. turn them off again andntry turn on: aircraft locked.

I have no idea about what kind of mistake you may be doing, since I am not there to check what you are doing, I can only rely on what you say you are doing or have done, and forgive me but you come out as quite confused. That said, I am just trying to help... One thing is puzzling me, and it is a message in one of the pics you uploaded, which you can find here . The message says something about downloading an upgrade from the DJI GO 4 page. What is it? I have no idea, since I use iOS  and i get updates from the Apple App Store, while you have the RC zith inbuilt screen, which runs Android OS. Is there something in your menus to access a DJI GO 4 page? If so, then it is there that you might get the needed update... BTW, this is the Phantom 4 Pro forum, not the Phantom 4 Advanced forum, so you may get a better help there. (I saw that there is a thread about a locked drone, with a link to another thread that ends with a solution... You may want to go there. Good luck.

This all stems from DJI trying to enforce restricted flight areas via firmware and software.  It is not the responsibility of DJI to enforce local laws. It is the responsibility of the operator to follow the local laws and accept the penalties if violating those rules.  The culture of this Chinese company to impose their warped view of law enforcement may be ok for operating in China, but not in most other places.  Not sure what options we have other than to stop buying their products.

hdlou94 Posted at 2017-6-24 03:33
I think DJI should pay for your trip in full!!!!! This is total crap.. I plan on flying tonight to capture fire works display and i'm affraid something will go wrong.. the problem is you don't know if anything is wrong until you get to your destination... hope all works out for you,,

DJI Announced this upgrade was coming a long time ago. His trip is not dependent on a drone ffs.

I suppose if the fireworks hit your drone and it crashes you will blame DJI for not having an avoidance system.

PandaFlyingcat Posted at 2017-6-24 04:25
thanks for answer. i was on the firmware from 2 days ago. the last one came out a week aho or so. i could fly this morning and everything was fine. i turned on the wofo from that rubish build in screen to download the map from this area which is not working by the way. suddenly i got a message: YOUR PHANTOM IS LOCKED UNTIL YOU UPGRADE TO LATEST FIRMWARE!!!

yes i agree DJI should pay my trip and i will get a lawyer for this after i am back. stucked here with a bricked drone.

Good luck paying thousands in lawyers fees you wont recover not the cost of your trip.  You are in Thailand you have arrived at your destination. The firmware upgrade was announced a long time ago.

Not DJI's fault if you are in a place with no or poor internet. I just took my drone to Cebu Philippines did some nice flights there.  Lucky me.

Crack The Sky Posted at 2017-6-24 10:44
Here's a suggestion.
Get a life.
Leave your toy drone in the motel room and enjoy your vacation.

Well I went on vacation and went diving for two weeks in Cebu. Did 36 dives, flew in a Gyrocopter, and yes I brought my P3S and got in some some sunset shots and did a video of the location I dive in.

I also brought my drone on the dive bought to film a location but forgot my phone back at the dive shop. bummer.   I'll be taking it back to Cebu on my next vacation.

I hope this video helps calm down our lad about to have a head explosion and probably destroy his drone in a tantrum.

thanks for answer guys.
ok i try to make it less confusing:

i have a p4 advanced plus with integrated screen in the remote.
its identical to the 4 pro plus except some sensors missing on mine so it should be ok but i will check the solution you mentioned for advanced model.

as i have the build in screen i can not install latest go 4 app or any other software. so i also dont understand why the message on my screen say i must "download latest firmware on the dji go 4 app webside"
that makes no nense.

i tried to find a new version but the build in screen wont let me install anything new on it.

for now i am more confused than ever. its not that i am a noob who bought a drone and fly to vacation, angry because somehing isnt working as expected. i appreciate your help guys and i know its kinda messed up now. some things in this whole worst case scenario dont make sense at all and from all my years of experience with buggy dji stuff, i also never had a situation like this before.

the messages on my screen changing every couple of minutes.
what we know for sure now is that the problem caused by the flight zone update which is 89mb. there is this white screen showing up and ask me to UPDATE NOW. if i click that nothing happen, the button turn white to confirm i click it and then--->nothing. if i deactivate build in wifi it say no internet connection.

if i hit the red message on main screen to update to latest firmware i get to the other white screen with the phantom 4 symbol and the blue USB to micro USB cable.
if i connect that, the "START TO UPGRADE" button also stays white all time. unable to click it.

what really riddles me is the fact that the drone stands on table, ALL LED RED, doing nothing there and not click around in software, suddenly rear LED turn yellow and i can start the motors. the "motors are locked until formware upgrad" message disappear for some seconds. i stopped motors, put props on and went on balcony. then drone is locked again and ask me to make latest firmware update.

all of this is indeed confusing and i am clueless what to do anymore.
i know you try to help and of course i checked everything 10 times in order to not make any mistakes on my side. i also have a private contact of a DJI shop in my phone from the place i live. he have no idea what to do in this case.

long story short: what options are left? install assistant 2 on a computer and try to make the update?
drone refuse all ways to make the update. i thought it might be a wifi problem so i made a mobile hotspot on my phone. internet is definitly working since i can open the dji forum on the build in screen of remote. but when i try do the update and download the 89mb he just do nothing anymore

Richard in Bois Posted at 2017-6-24 13:29
This all stems from DJI trying to enforce restricted flight areas visa firmware and software.  It is not the responsibility of DJI to enforce local laws. It is the responsibility of the operator to follow the local laws and accept the penalties if violating those rules.  The culture of this Chinese company to impose their warped view of law enforcement may be ok for operating in China, but not in most other places.  Not sure what options we have other than to stop buying their products.

Not buying DJI products sounds like a perfect solution to your over-exaggerated concerns about DJI firmware and DJI Go.

Enjoy whatever substandard drone you end up with.

Labroides Posted at 2017-6-24 18:47
Not buying DJI products sounds like a perfect solution to your over-exaggerated concerns about DJI firmware and DJI Go.

Enjoy whatever substandard drone you end up with.

i like my p4 dont get me wrong guys.

but the fact that i confirmed exactly this problem with DJI a week ago before fly to prevent this kind of disaster and they assured that i can fly without internet anytime/ or ignore updates on vacation means dji screwed his up.
and the guys who making fun of this situation. lets see how much you laugh when this stuff happens to you and you cant fly on a remote location which was planned for months only to do areal photo/video. same can happen to all of us...

PandaFlyingcat Posted at 2017-6-24 19:10
i like my p4 dont get me wrong guys.

but the fact that i confirmed exactly this problem with DJI a week ago before fly to prevent this kind of disaster and they assured that i can fly without internet anytime/ or ignore updates on vacation means dji screwed his up.

I flew in a remote location without internet or very bad internet.  Wasn't an issue for me.

Of course you could have upgraded before you left on vacation.   I didnt though either

there was no update and drone flew wonderful. i also thought about that. latest update have nothing to do with my problem.

i reset everything to factory default. let me show you guys what happen when i turn screen on:



i start p4 and remote. it checks for updates and tell me i need do. so i click on update, connect the cable and then the button START TO UPDATE stays white. cant to anything. drone is locked and stay locked. whatever i do. thats strange. for sure a bug

PandaFlyingcat Posted at 2017-6-24 20:16
there was no update and drone flew wonderful. i also thought about that. latest update have nothing to do with my problem.

i reset everything to factory default. let me show you guys what happen when i turn screen on:

Panda, put everything back into this styro box and finally start enjoying your vacations, in the name of love! Your world will not turn upside down without a couple of beach videos you can watch on every travel channel, but the time wasted on desperate attempts to fix the issue will be lost forever ... Cool down and fix the drone when you back home, but for now try to score some local chicks ...

agree. seems there is nothing i can do. local chicks turning out to be all ladyboys here and my wife would slap the heck out of me thought lol. soooo just enjoy the amazing food here seems to be a good plan too.
thanks for all help fellas.