Hi everyone!
I'm new to the forum and fairly new to the drone world! I've been looking at the various posts on the forum and finding a lot of the comments and advice most helpful, so hopefully someone somewhere might be able to offer me some advice with a couple of problems I'm having.
I have got myself a Phantom 3 professional drone and up to now have been very happy with it, a most impressive aircraft!!! However, the other day I had a message come up that said 'critical low voltage' so I landed the drone safely, no crashing, and noticed on my iPad screen that the aircraft and the battery needed a firmware update,  this is where the problems have really started, I've upload the latest firmware onto a nicely formatted up to date sd card, checked to see the firmware had been unzipped was on the card and was the only thing on the sd card, so all good so far, started up the drone, with plenty of battery power, the drone comes on, the gimbal goes through its warm up circular movements, and then just flops downwards pointing to the ground, at this point there is nothing showing on the camera view on the screen of the iPad and the settings say that the gimbal is disconnected!! The lights on the aircraft show red at the front and fast flashing yellow on the back. So that's the first problem right there! Then I turn the drone off, put in the sd card into the drone and turn on, the drone and gimbal goes through the same warm up procedures but the firmware will not start to update, no tones beeping and no red to green lights flashing, problem 2!  So at the moment I'm grounded much to my frustration! I'm not sure if the problems are linked, meaning that the firmware won't update due to the gimbal being disconnected or the gimbal won't work due to the firmware needing to be updated!! Sorry for the very long post but I thought it's better to explain as much as I can about the problem, I've followed many of the various videos on YouTube regarding the different ways to format the sd card and ways of updating the firmware to the aircraft but all to no avail

"I've followed many of the various videos on YouTube regarding the different ways to format the sd card and ways of updating the firmware to the aircraft but all to no avail"

Such as?  
Have you checked the hidden log file on the drone's sd card ? It will say if all firmware locations were successful and are up to date.
Did you put 1.6 firmware on the sd card and depress the link button while powering up?

Maybe you need to update to 1.3 first then update the rest of the way via the app...

So many variables to this.

Hi,
I've been looking into the hidden log thing on the sd card but at the moment not having much luck finding and accessing it.
When you say depress the link button while powering up, could you explain that a little more!  
Regarding the firmware I will try updating an earlier firmware n see what happens!

Andyk Posted at 2016-2-2 23:05
Hi,
I've been looking into the hidden log thing on the sd card but at the moment not having much lu ...

Have a read of This it's about as comprehensive a guide as you can get.

Aardvark Posted at 2016-2-2 23:20
Have a read of This it's about as comprehensive a guide as you can get.

It worth reading any threads posted by sploodge big asset to the forum.

Ok will do, thanks for the info

Andyk Posted at 2016-2-3 07:55
Ok will do, thanks for the info

Although it is titled for 1.5.0030 exactly the same principles for any build update.

Andy,

Looks like you're getting your answers so I hope you've sorted things out. I do notice that you said the live view to the camera went blank during the update. When doing the bird update the controller should be off, therefore, there should be no live video feed. Don't try to do the bird update with the controller on. Good luck.

Jerry

Hi Jerry,

Yeah I have been trying to update the firmware with the RC off, I noticed the camera was off when I turned both units on to see if there was any way or reconnecting the camera which
At present shows 'disconnected'. I'm not getting that far at the moment with it but Aardvark has left me some good info that I need to work through to see if I can get this bird back up in the sky!!!
Andy

Andy, when you update firmware on the aircraft DO NOT turn on the RC, only the aircraft is supposed to be on.Just reattempt everything with the RC off.
It will work. reformat the SD card and start voer with only the BIN file on the SD card.
The gimbal light will alternate red/green for up to 25 minutes and when it goes steady green you are done.
Also, it will take about 30 seconds or so until the update starts. While updating it will make 4 beeps DDDD,DDDD,DDDD and so on. When finished it will make 3 beeps D-DD,D-DD,DDD and solid green light. then your done.

I suggest going into the academy page and watching the video tutorials and reading the manual.
let us know when your up and flying.

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-2-3 19:02
Andy, when you update firmware on the aircraft DO NOT turn on the RC, only the aircraft is supposed  ...

Hi,

Hi

I have tried doing as you described about 20 times or more now and the aircraft is just not responding to the sd card, also tried 4 different sd cards too! I do try and have always tried the update with the RC off, only the aircraft is on, I think it may be that because the camera flops downwards to the floor after the initial camera warmup cycle that the drone does upon start up once I start the aircraft, this might be the problem why I can't upload the firmware! Maybe!! But I'm not sure, The firmware on the aircraft is the latest version so I'm confused as to why its asking for an update to the aircraft.  Frustrating is an understatement!

Andyk Posted at 2016-2-4 04:33
Hi,

Hi

Can you post a screen shop of it saying that an update is required and also an screen shot of the about page that shows what version everything is on.

The attached button does not select when pressed so can not send the screenshots Ken!

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-2-3 20:38
Can you post a screen shop of it saying that an update is required and also an screen shot of the  ...

1

2

3

Andyk Posted at 2016-2-4 05:14

What about a screen shop of the About page too.
And also post the hidden log file on the SD card after you attempt an update.

the about page is the first pic, there should be 3 that i sent

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-2-4 05:18
What about a screen shop of the About page too.
And also post the hidden log file on the SD card a ...

What I'm looking for is to see if your hidden log file looks like this. If it does then you will need to send it in for warranty repair.

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-2-3 21:18
What about a screen shop of the About page too.
And also post the hidden log file on the SD card a ...

cant access the log file on the sd card, not sure why, i have the hidden file box ticked in properties but cannot find the log to post to you

Andyk Posted at 2016-2-4 05:27
cant access the log file on the sd card, not sure why, i have the hidden file box ticked in proper ...

Here's detailed instructions. See if this works for you.
Windows system :
http://windows.microsoft.com/en- ... den-files=windows-7
Mac system :
http://ianlunn.co.uk/articles/qu ... mac-os-x-mavericks/

thanks for the info Ken,  i have this already set up on my computer but i still cant get any more info from the sd card, what a pain this is, its really frustrating for me that i cannot
get this problem sorted out, i i've tried so many times and so many different ways / variations of formatting card, downloading firmware etc. that i'm at a point where i'm not sure
how to get this thing fixed!!

You shouldn't be expecting to see anything on the device screen, when it's turned off, doing an update to the drone. ;-) so that's a hindrance...

This simple procedure can be so frustrating, when it fails to cooperate with us. So, I ponder Only one simple question I have, to ask you:
Ah, when you copy and paste the bin file from the zip file you download, are you only copying the bin file, and not the folder it comes zipped within?
I know it seems elementary, and obvious to most, but I went through this once, and couldn't get beyond point zero.
Unless that bare~naked bin file is loaded onto the (formatted in the drone) micro sd card, it won't establish a proper connection to the update filed... ;-)
Hate to hammer away at this simple step, but it is a definite-finite roadblock for anyone not familiar with its basic requirement.

As it's already getting late, I wish you early "Success" ;-)

RedHotPoker

Hi,
Thanks for your help!
Yes I'm only copying the bin file once I've extracted it from the original downloaded zip file, this is the only file that is on the sd card when I put it into the drone. I can't access the log file to see any additional info which might help solve the problem either!

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-2-3 21:02
Andy, when you update firmware on the aircraft DO NOT turn on the RC, only the aircraft is supposed  ...

But if IT not beep beep?

mikael.svantess Posted at 2016-9-30 06:21
But if IT not beep beep?

It takes 15-20 minutes for the aircraft, during that time you should hear 4 faint beeps and the camera LED flash Red/Green. Then when it's finished you should hear 3 beeps and the camera LED will be solid Green.
And you can verify what firmware you are on by looking in the general settings and scrolling down to About.

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-9-30 05:45
It takes 15-20 minutes for the aircraft, during that time you should hear 4 faint beeps and the ca ...

I get green lamp, bit no beep, no tex-file is on the sdcard. And the drone is not working but have contact with the RC.

mikael.svantess Posted at 2016-9-30 15:16
I get green lamp, bit no beep, no tex-file is on the sdcard. And the drone is not working but have ...

Are you sure you are downloading the file from the correct webpage.

This is the page for the Phantom3 Pro  http://www.dji.com/phantom-3-pro/info#downloads

And this is for the Phantom 3 Advanced  http://www.dji.com/phantom-3-adv/info#downloads

And you have to extract the BIN file and only put it onto the SD card.

In the Academy section of the app are videos and one showing how to update firmware, please watch it. From when you open the app, choose your aircraft and tap the top right icon (graduation hat) and that will take you there.

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-9-30 16:19
Are you sure you are downloading the file from the correct webpage.

This is the page for the Phant ...

Thank you, i have seen all video abort uppg.