I bought an eBay drone with the hopes of repairing it, but cannot activate it due to an error with the serial number. DJI tech support says they can't help and I should seek getting my money back from the seller. However, I wonder if I can just replace whatever electronic board contains the serial number information. Question is - which item is that?  I may try to swap it out from another salvage bird.

thanks!

It may be already activated. Have you tried to fly it yet? I have bought 3 used DJI drones and they were all activated already. That does not affect my ability to use them.

Hi there. Thank you for reaching out. Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee that this will work properly after your assessment for the said unit. What we can advise is, you can follow what the support team says or you can send the unit to us for proper diagnostics. Thank you for your understanding and support!

It's locked. What you've bought is a drone that was stolen/taken from his original owner,  or the original owner tricked you to buy his used drone while he used the DJI fly-away insurance to get a new one. This is why you must ensure your seller has deregistered the drone from his account before you buy it.

GaryDoug Posted at 7-19 18:04
It may be already activated. Have you tried to fly it yet? I have bought 3 used DJI drones and they were all activated already. That does not affect my ability to use them.

Hi Gary,

Newer DJI drones have activation locks. It came along with the DJI Fly-Away insurance ( can buy a new same model drone for half the price if you can't find the body of your sunk bird). By activating the insurance, the original bird would be banned from DJI activation service so it can never be used again with DJI Fly.

GaryDoug Posted at 7-19 18:04
It may be already activated. Have you tried to fly it yet? I have bought 3 used DJI drones and they were all activated already. That does not affect my ability to use them.

I’m getting an activation error therefore it won’t fly. Otherwise I wouldn’t have posted what I did.

DJI Paladin Posted at 7-19 19:09
Hi there. Thank you for reaching out. Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee that this will work properly after your assessment for the said unit. What we can advise is, you can follow what the support team says or you can send the unit to us for proper diagnostics. Thank you for your understanding and support!

You cannot guarantee “what” will work???
Are you saying that replacing the main CPU board MAY not fix the issue?

FriedChicken_II Posted at 7-20 00:03
It's locked. What you've bought is a drone that was stolen/taken from his original owner,  or the original owner tricked you to buy his used drone while he used the DJI fly-away insurance to get a new one. This is why you must ensure your seller has deregistered the drone from his account before you buy it.

I understand that. Heartbreakingly I’ve heavily damaged my brand new Air 2 and attempting to use some of the salvageable hardware to repair a second hand drone. Unfortunately my attempt was thwarted by the electronics from a non-activateable donor.

My question (again) is: what item is responsible for that activation error. I suspect that it’s the lower board (accessible by removing the bottom cover).

Is that correct??

Thanks

i-Zapp Posted at 7-20 02:51
I understand that. Heartbreakingly I’ve heavily damaged my brand new Air 2 and attempting to use some of the salvageable hardware to repair a second hand drone. Unfortunately my attempt was thwarted by the electronics from a non-activateable donor.

My question (again) is: what item is responsible for that activation error. I suspect that it’s the lower board (accessible by removing the bottom cover).

oh that's a sad story....

I wonder how did you crashed your drone that hard that your motherboard has been crashed? Usually you can just swap the motherboard / mainboard between the drones.

i-Zapp Posted at 7-20 02:51
I understand that. Heartbreakingly I’ve heavily damaged my brand new Air 2 and attempting to use some of the salvageable hardware to repair a second hand drone. Unfortunately my attempt was thwarted by the electronics from a non-activateable donor.

My question (again) is: what item is responsible for that activation error. I suspect that it’s the lower board (accessible by removing the bottom cover).

The first board that you met behind the lower cover of your drone should be the motherboard.

FriedChicken_II Posted at 7-20 05:18
I wonder how did you crashed your drone that hard that your motherboard has been crashed? Usually you can just swap the motherboard / mainboard between the drones.

sadly, no. water damage.

i-Zapp Posted at 7-20 05:38
sadly, no. water damage.

.......

FriedChicken_II Posted at 7-20 00:05
Hi Gary,

Newer DJI drones have activation locks. It came along with the DJI Fly-Away insurance ( can buy a new same model drone for half the price if you can't find the body of your sunk bird). By activating the insurance, the original bird would be banned from DJI activation service so it can never be used again with DJI Fly.

The Mini 2 I gave away was bound to the remote by the insurance, but since the remote went with it, I guess it does not matter. MY step son is using it just fine. Also, I bought a used MA2 online with no remote. It also works fine for me.

i-Zapp Posted at 7-20 02:45
You cannot guarantee “what” will work???
Are you saying that replacing the main CPU board MAY not fix the issue?

Thank you for your response. We do not recommend a DIY repair on the said unit as we cannot guarantee that this will work and might receive some unknown issues. You can send the unit to us for proper diagnostics. Thank you!