Hello,

have brand new P4A+ version because the previous one fell down the sky after 2 weeks of flying. As I get full refund I gave it a second change and bought a new one.

Working as IT engineer more then 10 years I would like to sum up the bugs I found myself after using the device for few days.

Please note that P4A+ was unboxed with latest firmware available 01.00.0128 and so was the RC and I live in Europe – Czech Republic.

1+2) Users out of Chine are getting ‘Link Chinese phone number message’ + Flight simulator issues
After unboxing the bird I ran a flight simulator. After flying for about 10 minutes the bird stopped responding to RC commands and became uncontrollable. I tried to exit the simulator and run it again but this didn’t help. I turned off the bird and RC and powered it on again. When I powered on the RC I got the message to link the phone number (see screenshot). It was apparently meant for China users. I did factory reset to get rid of the message which never popped up again since then.

3) SD card format doesn’t fork for Kingston microSDXC 64GB UHS-I U1
I’ve purchased Kingston microSDXC 64GB UHS-I U1 which should be supported according to user’s manual. SD card works great in bird unless I try to format it from the DJI GO app. Once I try I get the message wrong SD card (immediately which means the bird doesn’t even try to format it). I’m sure the card is OK. Once I format is as exfat and insert it to bird it works.

4) Flight route data (e.g. battery status) not updated when viewing flight log.
When I open the flight log I either do get the wrong percentage of battery from the beginning of the flight or don’t get the battery status at all (see screenshot). Even if I move the slider further in time of the flight the battery status is not updated in 80% of time.

5) Chinese map is loaded in flight log application.
When I open the flight log the background map with Chinese characters is loaded (see the screenshot). The workaround for this is to close the flight log, open the map manager and reopen the flight log which loads the appropriate map.

6) I’m getting message for Spark users. I can’t get rid of it click the ‘Ignore’ and ‘I know’ makes no difference.

I’d like DJI to let me know if they are aware of these bugs or not and whether/when they will be fixed.

Sorry for the troubles that have been caused and thank you so much for your feedback.
For the Chinese phone issue, this is because if the network’s IP address is in China or GPS is in China, once you put the drone to the local network with GPS signal, the request will disappear.
For the SD card issue, how about after formatting via PC, did it work properly now?
For the flight route not updating issue, please help to sync your flight record and PM me with your DJI email account.
Other cases, I will forward to the engineers to look into.

DJI Thor Posted at 2017-9-28 23:38
Sorry for the troubles that have been caused and thank you so much for your feedback.
For the Chinese phone issue, this is because if the network’s IP address is in China or GPS is in China, once you put the drone to the local network with GPS signal, the request will disappear.
For the SD card issue, how about after formatting via PC, did it work properly now?

1) My network IP is not in China and drone was placed at my home in Czech Republic. This is bug and I suppose it has something to do with the state when the drone was placed at home without GPS signal and I ran the Fligh simulator. This should be tested by your QA team and fix. Please report it further to your engineers.

2) Like I wrote, when I format the SD card in my computer as exfat filesystem, it works just ok in the drone. There is also some bug which prevents the drone to format the SD card

Thank you

DJI Thor Posted at 2017-9-28 23:38
Sorry for the troubles that have been caused and thank you so much for your feedback.
For the Chinese phone issue, this is because if the network’s IP address is in China or GPS is in China, once you put the drone to the local network with GPS signal, the request will disappear.
For the SD card issue, how about after formatting via PC, did it work properly now?

@DJI THOR, I've PMed you but didn't get the response from you till now. Will you look at it for me please ? Thank you.

DJI Thor Posted at 2017-9-28 23:38
Sorry for the troubles that have been caused and thank you so much for your feedback.
For the Chinese phone issue, this is because if the network’s IP address is in China or GPS is in China, once you put the drone to the local network with GPS signal, the request will disappear.
For the SD card issue, how about after formatting via PC, did it work properly now?

Can you please confirm you've received my message and forwarded bug description to DJI engineers ?
I tried to report the bugs because I believe these should/could be fixed by you engineers. Could you please stop ignoring my posts ? Thank you.

shamot Posted at 2017-10-5 12:19
Can you please confirm you've received my message and forwarded bug description to DJI engineers ?
I tried to report the bugs because I believe these should/could be fixed by you engineers. Could you please stop ignoring my posts ? Thank you.

Hi Shamot, I am terribly sorry for the late reply. I had received your PM and going to forward to the engineers. Since it had been a long vacation in China, the dealing time might be a little delay, but our engineers are all back to work now, will help to escalate the feedback. Very appreciate your patience.

DJI Thor Posted at 2017-10-9 03:17
Hi Shamot, I am terribly sorry for the late reply. I had received your PM and going to forward to the engineers. Since it had been a long vacation in China, the dealing time might be a little delay, but our engineers are all back to work now, will help to escalate the feedback. Very appreciate your patience.

Thank you for keeping me updated,

I think the issue I listed as 5) was fixed with latest RC/Android firmware for P4A+. I hope the rest will be fixed soon.

shamot Posted at 2017-10-9 06:28
Thank you for keeping me updated,

I think the issue I listed as 5) was fixed with latest RC/Android firmware for P4A+. I hope the rest will be fixed soon.

For the map, it will use Here map priority, but if it fails when initializing, it would use Amap, Amap is mainly using in the Chinese language, so it will have Chinese character. No worries, I had checked your records, this case is normal.
Now, for the first two questions, the solution is the 2#.
3. I was told to use the SD card that officially supported. You can refer to our production's web.
6. Our engineers are aware of this issue and working on it.
All in one, very appreciate your feedback, which may greatly help us to understand the users' experiences and what are the users' needs. Should you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us at any time, we're glad to help.

If the SD card will not format, it is a sure sign that the card is not fast enough to work in the aircraft. Try a Sandisk Extreme Pro card instead, they are far more reliable.

DJI Thor Posted at 2017-10-9 18:38
For the map, it will use Here map priority, but if it fails when initializing, it would use Amap, Amap is mainly using in the Chinese language, so it will have Chinese character. No worries, I had checked your records, this case is normal.
Now, for the first two questions, the solution is the 2#.
3. I was told to use the SD card that officially supported. You can refer to our production's web.

On the official web page of P4A+ is this information regarding SD card compatibility (http://www.dji.com/phantom-4-adv/info#specs):

Supported SD CardsMicro SD
Max Capacity: 128GB
Write speed ≥15MB/s, Class 10 or UHS-1 rating required

My SD card is 100% compatible with P4A+.
It is UHS-I (UHS: Ultra High Speed) and can read/write up to 90/45 MB/s.

There is not any real issue with the SD card itself. The drone refuses to format the card immediately what means the format process doesn't even start for some reason (it actually formated my SD card once without problem from the camera settings menu but it fails every time when I try this from status menu which appears once I click "go to fly" to open the DJI GO app).

Like I wrote before, once I format the card on PC there is no issue with the card. I think your QA team should test this behavior and fix this issue as it is apparently strange software/firmware behavior.

What about issue I mentioned as 4) ?

Thank you

shamot Posted at 2017-10-9 23:36
On the official web page of P4A+ is this information regarding SD card compatibility (http://www.dji.com/phantom-4-adv/info#specs):

Supported SD CardsMicro SD

Could you please help to point out which records will contain this issue? Thank you.

DJI Thor Posted at 2017-10-10 01:02
Could you please help to point out which records will contain this issue? Thank you.

sorry, this one was for RC.
But the manual is saying:

The Phantom 4 Advanced / Advanced+ comes  with a 16 GB Micro SD card and supports Micro SD cards up to 128 GB. A UHS-1 and above Micro SD card is recommended due to their fast read and write speeds that support high-resolution video data.

https://dl.djicdn.com/downloads/ ... _User_Manual_EN.pdf (page 63)

Supported SD Cards
Micro SD, Max Capacity: 128GB. Write speed ≥15MB/s, class 10 or UHS-1 rating required

I wouldn't say my UHS-1 card goes against this requirement.

shamot Posted at 2017-10-10 01:49
sorry, this one was for RC.
But the manual is saying:

If it is possible, please try the SD card which comes with the drone, if it works, then it could be related to the SD card.

DJI Thor Posted at 2017-10-11 02:05
If it is possible, please try the SD card which comes with the drone, if it works, then it could be related to the SD card.

SD card which comes with the drone works fine. My Kingston 64GB is a brand new card and was tested many times on PC. There is no issue formating this card as exfat, no errors, everything is fine. The card works great in drone once it is inserted as formated with exfat FS. This is the reason I am reporting this to you so that you can pass it to your QA which should test this specific SD card and fix the issue in firmware which is probably there.

DJI Thor Posted at 2017-10-11 02:05
If it is possible, please try the SD card which comes with the drone, if it works, then it could be related to the SD card.

What about issue I mentioned as 4) ?

Thank you

shamot Posted at 2017-10-11 04:30
SD card which comes with the drone works fine. My Kingston 64GB is a brand new card and was tested many times on PC. There is no issue formating this card as exfat, no errors, everything is fine. The card works great in drone once it is inserted as formated with exfat FS. This is the reason I am reporting this to you so that you can pass it to your QA which should test this specific SD card and fix the issue in firmware which is probably there.

For this case, theoretically, it could now mainly relate to the SD card itself, but I'll forward it to our engineers to look into. For the Q4 you mentioned, would you please help to point out which records that covered this issue?

DJI Thor Posted at 2017-10-13 02:02
For this case, theoretically, it could now mainly relate to the SD card itself, but I'll forward it to our engineers to look into. For the Q4 you mentioned, would you please help to point out which records that covered this issue?

as to Q4) I mentioned it actually affects all flight in flight log and I'd be surprised if engineers didn't reveal this issue. If your engineers are really not aware of this issue I can shot it to my mobile phone and publish it at youtube for better demonstration. Please let me know if you are able to reproduce a problem or not.

shamot Posted at 2017-10-17 12:00
as to Q4) I mentioned it actually affects all flight in flight log and I'd be surprised if engineers didn't reveal this issue. If your engineers are really not aware of this issue I can shot it to my mobile phone and publish it at youtube for better demonstration. Please let me know if you are able to reproduce a problem or not.

We played back your flight records and the data updated along with the flight time. If it is possible, please help to export the flight records that cache on your RC, or record a video when you playback the record, upload to Dropbox so I can download it and forward to our engineers. Here's the flight record cache route: DJI\dji.pilot.pad\FlightRecord. Thank you for your assistance.

DJI Thor Posted at 2017-10-18 01:11
We played back your flight records and the data updated along with the flight time. If it is possible, please help to export the flight records that cache on your RC, or record a video when you playback the record, upload to Dropbox so I can download it and forward to our engineers. Here's the flight record cache route: DJI\dji.pilot.pad\FlightRecord. Thank you for your assistance.

I will upload the cache data as well as record the playback on screen. I'll let you know once it's done. Thank you.

As to the card, have you tried using a speed check program with it to see if it really has the speed it claims.  I've found sometimes they are greatly exaggerated in speed.

Fwiw, my first Kingston card failed in my new Nikon with an "ERR" on the screen.  When I switched it to the Sandisk, the "ERR" message went away.  Even though it was an SD card, the camera refused to accept the Kingston for whatever reason.  It would work in the PC though, but not in the camera.  Go figger.

DJI Thor Posted at 2017-10-18 01:11
We played back your flight records and the data updated along with the flight time. If it is possible, please help to export the flight records that cache on your RC, or record a video when you playback the record, upload to Dropbox so I can download it and forward to our engineers. Here's the flight record cache route: DJI\dji.pilot.pad\FlightRecord. Thank you for your assistance.

here is the record where you can see some flight data is not updated correctly on the screen (see battery level for example)

https://photos.app.goo.gl/VmdrwrG81A0VaB9Y2

fansa84fe8a4 Posted at 2017-10-18 09:03
As to the card, have you tried using a speed check program with it to see if it really has the speed it claims.  I've found sometimes they are greatly exaggerated in speed.

Fwiw, my first Kingston card failed in my new Nikon with an "ERR" on the screen.  When I switched it to the Sandisk, the "ERR" message went away.  Even though it was an SD card, the camera refused to accept the Kingston for whatever reason.  It would work in the PC though, but not in the camera.  Go figger.

no, I haven't do any speed test.

I can do it but the read/write speed of the device has nothing to do with an ability to create an exfat filesystem. On the contrary if read/write speed should be an issue there would be glitches when storing data to storage device and its filesystem....speaking as being IT engineer for 13+ years.

shamot Posted at 2017-10-19 12:13
no, I haven't do any speed test.

I can do it but the read/write speed of the device has nothing to do with an ability to create an exfat filesystem. On the contrary if read/write speed should be an issue there would be glitches when storing data to storage device and its filesystem....speaking as being IT engineer for 13+ years.

I believe the camera system does a check on the SD card when it is inserted, and can reject it if it finds errors. Some cards just do not work reliably in the aircraft, whereas Sandisk seem to work reliably all the time. And if you are an IT engineer, you would be aware that DJI cannot create a special formatting program for every make of SD card.

Geebax Posted at 2017-10-19 14:28
I believe the camera system does a check on the SD card when it is inserted, and can reject it if it finds errors. Some cards just do not work reliably in the aircraft, whereas Sandisk seem to work reliably all the time. And if you are an IT engineer, you would be aware that DJI cannot create a special formatting program for every make of SD card.

what kind of special formatting program for every make SD card are you talking about ? There is not any magic about formating a device to specific filesystem and it is truly not dependent on what device vendor it is. Only thing what matters is a block device detected by firmware kernel upon which the filesystem is then created no matter what parameters the device has. It is as easy as calling:
mkfs.exfat -n Phantom /dev/mmcblk0p1 which works like a charm on my Linux machine for the very same SD card. SD card was also tested for bad blocks and there is zero.

Another thing is that when I insert the same SD card to my RC (I have P4A+ with the screen) I can always format the SD card here without any errors like on PC. It prove the formatting issue is related only to drone and its firmware. Once the formated card is inserted to bird there is no more problems with it.

You DJI guys have some firmware problem when detecting some specific devices or while trying to format them. I'm convinced it should be tested by DJI QA team (this takes you an hour of time with couple of different SD cards) instead of pointing out my SD card is broken (which is not true) and if it proves it should be fixed ASAP as this is rather annoying bug.

shamot Posted at 2017-10-19 12:06
here is the record where you can see some flight data is not updated correctly on the screen (see battery level for example)

https://photos.app.goo.gl/VmdrwrG81A0VaB9Y2

Hi there, our engineers had checked the video and confirmed that this is normal. And they are aware this case, maybe it will be optimized in the future.

DJI Thor Posted at 2017-10-25 02:26
Hi there, our engineers had checked the video and confirmed that this is normal. And they are aware this case, maybe it will be optimized in the future.

ok, thanks for confirming this

DJI Thor Posted at 2017-10-13 02:02
For this case, theoretically, it could now mainly relate to the SD card itself, but I'll forward it to our engineers to look into. For the Q4 you mentioned, would you please help to point out which records that covered this issue?

Hello,

did you report the SD card problem to DJI engineers ? Do you have any updates on this ? This is very annoying bug. When I want to format the SD card I need to insert it to RC and format it there then insert it back to bird. I would like to have a working possibility to format SD in the bird directly

The issue mention in #1 as 5) is still present and is very annoying. Can you confirm you are aware of this problem and will fix it soon ? This issue has been there for many months and I want to be sure this will be fixed. I want a 100% working product otherwise I'll be forced to return it to local seller as this is under warranty. I bought a DJI product with some, rather minor but sill issues that don't seem to be fixed in near future. Is DJI working on it or what's the problem please ?

shamot Posted at 2017-11-3 06:07
Hello,

did you report the SD card problem to DJI engineers ? Do you have any updates on this ? This is very annoying bug. When I want to format the SD card I need to insert it to RC and format it there then insert it back to bird. I would like to have a working possibility to format SD in the bird directly

For the SD card formatting, I was told to advise users to use the recommended card, or there will be a compatible issue.
For Q1, the engineers are aware of this issue and are working on it. Will get it addressed in the later version.
For Q5, it is because the map fails to acquire Here map, so it shows Amap.

DJI Thor Posted at 2017-11-7 18:21
For the SD card formatting, I was told to advise users to use the recommended card, or there will be a compatible issue.
For Q1, the engineers are aware of this issue and are working on it. Will get it addressed in the later version.
For Q5, it is because the map fails to acquire Here map, so it shows Amap.

Please repeat our prior conversation about the SD card. I' am using 100% COMPATIBLE SD card which is supported officially in DJI P4A manuals. Would you please fix this issue ?

As for Q5, I understand the reason. If the map fails to load this is also an issue which should be fixed. Can you confirm this will be fixed in near future ?

I actually don't understand the purpose of DJI support when I report the problem you confirm it is a problem but don't fix it. I don't get the point and I'm kind of disappointed by this attitude.

shamot Posted at 2017-11-8 05:48
Please repeat our prior conversation about the SD card. I' am using 100% COMPATIBLE SD card which is supported officially in DJI P4A manuals. Would you please fix this issue ?

As for Q5, I understand the reason. If the map fails to load this is also an issue which should be fixed. Can you confirm this will be fixed in near future ?

I understand your feeling, but when it comes to that the SD came with the drone works properly, it is hard to say then. In this situation, I am not disproving you, and I will have our engineers confirm again. So it would be really nice if you could provide the screenshot of the error message on the screen, and take a photo of your SD card. Thanks a lot.

You still post in the wrong forum, this is P4 not P4A, please correct!

Geebax Posted at 2017-10-9 18:53
If the SD card will not format, it is a sure sign that the card is not fast enough to work in the aircraft. Try a Sandisk Extreme Pro card instead, they are far more reliable.

Use the Sandisk's in both P4A and Mavic. 1st thing I did when I purchased the drones. Can't fault them for speed and quality.

shamot Posted at 2017-11-8 05:48
Please repeat our prior conversation about the SD card. I' am using 100% COMPATIBLE SD card which is supported officially in DJI P4A manuals. Would you please fix this issue ?

As for Q5, I understand the reason. If the map fails to load this is also an issue which should be fixed. Can you confirm this will be fixed in near future ?

Addiction, please also provide us with an original photo, and the info we required above. Please upload the pics to Dropbox so I can download them. Thanks.

DJI Thor Posted at 2017-11-13 23:24
Addiction, please also provide us with an original photo, and the info we required above. Please upload the pics to Dropbox so I can download them. Thanks.

having the same problem here my sd card does not format also if it is i cant tell i have to put it in my phone in order to format it.

Dannytidwell75 Posted at 2017-11-14 12:32
having the same problem here my sd card does not format also if it is i cant tell i have to put it in my phone in order to format it.

Could you please provide me with the info needed on 30# and 33#. Thanks in advance.

DJI Thor Posted at 2017-11-15 04:12
Could you please provide me with the info needed on 30# and 33#. Thanks in advance.

here I am providing you with the photo of my SD card and the footage of error when trying to format the card in the bird. Please note that I can format the very same card without any issues in DJI RC or on any other PC.


https://photos.app.goo.gl/Xao5G3pz6h480IN32
https://photos.app.goo.gl/csodhnizP1WSDLxB2

DJI Thor Posted at 2017-11-15 04:12
Could you please provide me with the info needed on 30# and 33#. Thanks in advance.

HI there, have you seen the photo and video I've uploaded ? Do you need anything else for further investigation what's wrong with firmware in the bird that it doesn't manage to format the SD card which can be formated in RC ?

shamot Posted at 2017-11-21 07:50
HI there, have you seen the photo and video I've uploaded ? Do you need anything else for further investigation what's wrong with firmware in the bird that it doesn't manage to format the SD card which can be formated in RC ?

Sorry for the late reply, but an original pic from the SD card is still needed. Thank you so much.

DJI Thor Posted at 2017-11-22 03:41
Sorry for the late reply, but an original pic from the SD card is still needed. Thank you so much.

Hi, what photo are you talking about ? I've made a photo of the SD card and posted a link at #36:

https://photos.google.com/share/ ... 3JQSjVzOS1meGZfbnhR

can you open the photo and see the picture of my Kingston Micro SDXC 64GB Class 10 UHS-I ?

I also upload the zoomed part of the image here as the attachment.

shamot Posted at 2017-11-23 00:38
Hi, what photo are you talking about ? I've made a photo of the SD card and posted a link at #36:

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOT3d1a5DLqZy1taKR3UxUBRFNT2xal4X0y1YRLdc68XhiC0fGiOhfVE9FMfH52xA/photo/AF1QipNintiBwZ_lvzN5we1r0b01OeFIRii3G2Y9_m_4?key=RjdRam95SEVDUHZ4czJzQ3JQSjVzOS1meGZfbnhR

You have already been given a solution to this, buy a Sandisk Extreme series SD card, format it in the camera and use it. They are very reliable, whereas many others are not. Personally, I have never had any great success with any product made by Kingston, but I have never been let down by a Sandisk product. And you can format almost any SD card in a PC, but whether it will work properly in the aircraft is another thing. I know you said it works in the aircraft, but are you testing it out on a lengthy recording in 4K at say 60 fps? When pushed, it may be a completely different story. The fact that the card does not format in the aircraft should be a clue, ask yourself why no-one else is claiming the same thing.