My controller had full batteries. I was checking to see if there was any firmware updates for the phantom, and it said I could upgrade the firmware in the controller.
I clicked "update" and after 8-12 seconds it said "failure, power cycle controller and try again."
I turned on the controller, but the red light wouldn't come on.

Waited for 5min, tried again. same thing. (except the red light has never come on again)

Any ideas? Is it toast?

The front LEDs are for indicating where the nose of the aircraft is. They light up solid red only after the motors have started spinning.
Please try the upgrading process on another computer with the latest assisstant software if it is possible.
What's the firmware vesion of the main controller?

Please try to replace the controller's battery to see whether it can be turned on.

DJI-Blair Posted at 2014-10-13 13:49
Please try to replace the controller's battery to see whether it can be turned on.

Hi,

exact same thing just happen to me.
Batteries are new but the controller seems dead.
Any idea what went wrong?

Is it the V3 controller you have, the one with gimball wheel in left upper corner ??

What was the firmware update version?

hi, the same thing has happened to me today. checked for up grade, and now my controller does not light up when switched on.
any ideas???

There is NO updates for basic controller, only for the new one with gimball wheel in left upper corner.
If you have basic, DONT upgrade, even if program tell you there are new software for it.

Gerry1124 Posted at 2015-1-4 01:55
They have the new v3 controller with the thumbwheel for the camera.

I couldn't see it in my crystal ball    

The same thing happened to me.  I have a phantom 2 that I just got for christmas.  I updated the phantom, which went fine.  I then downloaded the RC assistant, and tried to update the controller.  It said there was an error, and it wouldn't light up red.  I tried again it it fails again.  I restarted my computer and tried a 3rd time with success.  Now my controller lights up green instead of red and beeps when it turns on.  Works!!!  BTW I have the older controller with the gimbal control on the back.

viper46664@comc Posted at 2015-1-4 04:17
The same thing happened to me.  I have a phantom 2 that I just got for christmas.  I updated the pha ...

Ditto- this happened to me today as well.  I'm using Mac OSX 10.10 Yosemite and v1.2 of the RC assistant.

me too. today i upgrade button and after power failure message, the controller won't wake up!!! what the....:@

b.w.j@joergense Posted at 2015-1-4 01:46
There is NO updates for basic controller, only for the new one with gimball wheel in left upper corn ...

But why appeared for the basic controller?????

Several posts on this already.
Follow Gerry's advice!
De Install Dji Win Driver Installer and the RC Assistant and the Phantom Assistant...
START FROM SCRATCH! It seems to have resolved this for several people that have done this.

nemobox Posted at 2015-2-1 23:30
But why appeared for the basic controller?????

Common DJI failure, like so many others

viper46664@comc Posted at 2015-1-4 04:17
The same thing happened to me.  I have a phantom 2 that I just got for christmas.  I updated the pha ...

Thanks viper46664!!  The exact non-functioning of my RC occurred tonight after trying to upgrade the firmware.  Your recommendation of restarting the computer, re-opening the RC assistant and trying to upgrade again worked.  And like you I have the older RC with the gimbal lever on the back, and the power light is now green instead of red (green instead of red is something I had wished for when I first got my phantom in November 2014 since this just seemed consistent with the colour of the flight LEDS when indicating things are a go).

The method of uninstalling the Windows drivers, Assistant software, restarting machine and reinstalling those worked for me too. Those were some incredibly tense 20 minutes. When I heard the startup chime I started breathing normally once again. Thanks to everyone who posted and confirmed that the uninstall/reinstall process successfully upgraded the firmware!

I am on a Mac - had this same thing happen to me. So I unplugged the RC unit from the USB, quit out of the RC application, restarted the Mac. Then plugged the USB back into the computer and the RC unit. Relaunched the RC application, turned on the RC unit (even though it indicated it was not on), ran the updater again from the RC application, and the update was successful. Cycled the power on the RC unit, she powered up normally and beeped. WHEW!

DJI-Blair Posted at 2014-10-12 21:49
Please try to replace the controller's battery to see whether it can be turned on.

New batteries nothing happens

Same thing happened to me. After updating firmware of my phantom 3 pro controller the remote went dead after rebooting. Won't light up!