DJI Mavic, Air and Mini Drones
Friendly, Helpful & Knowledgeable Community
Join Us Now

changing component's will or will not Calibrate

billru

Member
Joined
Jun 7, 2021
Messages
18
Reactions
20
Age
64
Location
Texas
I am new to all the drone worlds, I brought a Mavic 2 for parts and I would like to try refurbished it so I can learn the workings on this drone, I have been reading and watching videos but I ran across something I can not clarify so I am hoping someone here can help.
I have read that with the new or after a certain firmware its lock there is no rolling back which leads to my question, if you get errors or if you change component's ( gimbal board, motor arm, IMU, etc.) you will not be able to calibrate your drone it will need to be sent back to DJI to clear errors or calibrate. If the firmware is around 1.03 its not lock and you can do all the repairs, calibrate and clear errors. You can or can't rollback the firmware with a third party application, I have been unable to clarify.
Can someone clarify you can or can not( repair drone on the latest firmware, clear errors and calibrate), ( Rollback Firmware with a third party application)
 
While I am not super technical enough to try and repair a drone from the ground up, I have seen discussions where there are just certain functions & features that require DJI to implement the adjustments, they probably have special software that is not available to public to do that.
 
if you get errors or if you change component's ( gimbal board, motor arm, IMU, etc.) you will not be able to calibrate your drone it will need to be sent back to DJI to clear errors or calibrate.
That sounds unlikely.
I've never heard of it.
 
The inability to roll back is to do with the introduction of no fly zones, they do not want you to downgrade just to avoid the no fly zones.
You have not said if you have tried and/or failed to update any firmware.

I have heard that the camera is matched to the gimbal board but I have never had an issue when swapping either.

Others have said that the camera may need to be returned to a specialist repairer to match a replacement camera and board. I wont believe it until it happens to me.
 
Thank you Fizzbang for the reply
I have a couple of used Drones that I brought, one supposedly hit water the other had a crash, I have taken both apart and all looks good, I reassembled with new cables then powered up(The drone powers up, beeps and the light light up) but got no gimbal movement. I have taken gimbal back apart and reassembled a few times still no gimbal response I even tried the (py comm_og_service_tool.py) calibration procedural, still no response. I google around for tips and that's where I ran into the question that I asked for truth or myth on the following( you can not change parts as they are paired by DJI, can not clear faults it needs sent back to DJI to clear.) At moment I have ordered another Gimbal mainboard to try
 
Thank you Fizzbang for the reply
I have a couple of used Drones that I brought, one supposedly hit water the other had a crash, I have taken both apart and all looks good, I reassembled with new cables then powered up(The drone powers up, beeps and the light light up) but got no gimbal movement. I have taken gimbal back apart and reassembled a few times still no gimbal response I even tried the (py comm_og_service_tool.py) calibration procedural, still no response. I google around for tips and that's where I ran into the question that I asked for truth or myth on the following( you can not change parts as they are paired by DJI, can not clear faults it needs sent back to DJI to clear.) At moment I have ordered another Gimbal mainboard to try
The key to this is getting a firmware update or downgrade to load successfully (100% and the green tick). If the firmware is good and there is no response then the issue has to be a physical one.

Its always best to try and fix the software first.
go here download and install.
go to this associated site and download all the firmware's.

I also have the old "Assistant 2" program installed as well as the correct "Assistant 2 for Mavic".
Using the "Assistant 2" program you can do a factory reset. (Just how much actually is reset I don't know) but you can then use "Assistant 2 for Mavic". to upgrade step by step.

And/or flash the appropriate firmware using Drone-Hacks.

Lots of things to try before dismantling the gimbal.

I crashed my first Mavic Pro 2 and it worked fine for months afterwards. The gimbal then started wobbling and I could not update the firmware.
I sent the drone to an approved repairer (asking for a diagnosis on the gimbal).
The repairer said that the drone required three replacement arms (nothing about the gimbal) and a hefty price tag just short of the cost of a new drone.
So I was now determined to fix it myself.(There was, and still is, absolutely nothing wrong with any of the arms of that drone)
After a few months with no success I bought a new Mavic Pro 2, but I continued with the damaged drone. I dismantled and rebuild the gimbal. However I was still having firmware update issues.
I then saw Mavic 2 zoom for sale with a faulty zoom camera.
I bought the faulty zoom and swapped the cameras and camera boards. All the cameras and boards were interchangeable but I still had firmware issues every time I used the body of my original drone with any camera combination. Anyhow bolstered by my success at repairing gimbals and swapping cameras I bought yet another cheap crashed Mavic 2 pro drone(repaired the gimbal and swapped the camera with the other drones.)

Almost one year on from the initial crash I tried again with the original drone and one of my rebuilt and repaired gimbals.
The firmware would not successfully update and/or downgrade no matter what combination of cables/batteries flashing the firmware direct; Go4App; or "Assistant 2 for Mavic".

After another month of trying I was successful in updating the firmware (I now have three Mavic 2 Pro's and a Mavic zoom all of which have been updated and function correctly).

As stated above The key to this is getting a firmware update or downgrade to load successfully (100% and the green tick).
 
The key to this is getting a firmware update or downgrade to load successfully (100% and the green tick). If the firmware is good and there is no response then the issue has to be a physical one.

Its always best to try and fix the software first.
go here download and install.
go to this associated site and download all the firmware's.

I also have the old "Assistant 2" program installed as well as the correct "Assistant 2 for Mavic".
Using the "Assistant 2" program you can do a factory reset. (Just how much actually is reset I don't know) but you can then use "Assistant 2 for Mavic". to upgrade step by step.

And/or flash the appropriate firmware using Drone-Hacks.

Lots of things to try before dismantling the gimbal.

I crashed my first Mavic Pro 2 and it worked fine for months afterwards. The gimbal then started wobbling and I could not update the firmware.
I sent the drone to an approved repairer (asking for a diagnosis on the gimbal).
The repairer said that the drone required three replacement arms (nothing about the gimbal) and a hefty price tag just short of the cost of a new drone.
So I was now determined to fix it myself.(There was, and still is, absolutely nothing wrong with any of the arms of that drone)
After a few months with no success I bought a new Mavic Pro 2, but I continued with the damaged drone. I dismantled and rebuild the gimbal. However I was still having firmware update issues.
I then saw Mavic 2 zoom for sale with a faulty zoom camera.
I bought the faulty zoom and swapped the cameras and camera boards. All the cameras and boards were interchangeable but I still had firmware issues every time I used the body of my original drone with any camera combination. Anyhow bolstered by my success at repairing gimbals and swapping cameras I bought yet another cheap crashed Mavic 2 pro drone(repaired the gimbal and swapped the camera with the other drones.)

Almost one year on from the initial crash I tried again with the original drone and one of my rebuilt and repaired gimbals.
The firmware would not successfully update and/or downgrade no matter what combination of cables/batteries flashing the firmware direct; Go4App; or "Assistant 2 for Mavic".

After another month of trying I was successful in updating the firmware (I now have three Mavic 2 Pro's and a Mavic zoom all of which have been updated and function correctly).

As stated above The key to this is getting a firmware update or downgrade to load successfully (100% and the green tick).
Well I am having a devil of a time getting it to refresh firmware, I have uninstalled, cleaned registry then reinstalled Dji Assistant & Drone hack, cleaned the cache on drone, changed the com port Baud rate and can not get pass 20% in either, program. I am gonna try again today and I'll post the comments on my success or failure
 
Well I am having a devil of a time getting it to refresh firmware, I have uninstalled, cleaned registry then reinstalled Dji Assistant & Drone hack, cleaned the cache on drone, changed the com port Baud rate and can not get pass 20% in either, program. I am gonna try again today and I'll post the comments on my success or failure
Bin there: It took me months of trying.
Firmware update fail 20%-22% fail, seems to be an inconsistency in firmware between the battery and the drone.

Do you use a PC or a Mac?
I read that DJI sometimes uses unsigned drivers which windows blocks by default.
The only reason I ask is that I installed my "Assistant 2" programs on my windows PC whilst allowing unsigned drivers.
Let me know if you use a windows PC and don't know how to do this.

That aside
My suggestion:
Use "Assistant 2 for Mavic" (mine is on a windows 10 PC) ignore any massages about faulty drives
Connect the RC Controller via a usb cable to the PC. Also connect the Mavic to the PC.
To see both icons in the Assistant 2 home page at the same time (Both devices, and the PC, will all have to be switched on)

Start by updating the RC controller firmware to the latest firmware first (leaving the drone switched on). (Hopefully with success 100% and a green tick)
(I don't think I switched of the controller at this point but in subsequent tries I think the drone update stalled with the controller left on)

Now update the drone (You might get inconsistent firmware messages and Fly zone updates to be installed.)
The controller will probably say that the drone has a USB cable plugged in.
If the Drone update fails turn off the controller and the drone and try again.

Try again; first the controller and then the drone. (Hopefully with success 100% and a green tick)
During this process the battery should also update in the background.

Finally you have to update the drone again with any other batteries you have just to make sure that there are no inconsistent firmware issues.
 
I finally can load the firmware to the latest or downgrade per DJI Assistant or the DJI4 phone app so the firmware issue is done but now I can not get the Gimbal to respond.
I have
1)changed cables, (3 sets)
2)I have taking the gimbal apart 3 times, looked at cable connector pins under microscope all looks good, gimbal moves freely,
3)swapped with another Gimbal,
4)swapped the gimbal main board (2 times)
5)ran the py comm_og_service_tool.py script(over and over) after each change on hardware
6)swapped the main Core board
7) Downgraded Firmware
Still get no response from Gimbal and it is not recognized in the DJI4 screen, I have googled for possible ideas, I have changed the above numerous times still nothing. I am starting to think its something to do with the hardware serial numbers not paring to each other.
Can someone share some insight or ideas or suggestion
 
Wanted to update, I finally got the gimbal to respond, the issue was me doing, somehow the pitch motor was unplug which made a open circuit. I am gonna recharge batteries then try to calibrate IMU,compass, visions and gimbal, I will update status for who ever is interested.
 
Glad you got there in the end.
I guess you mean the connections inside the roll arms. The first time I tried a repair I completely destroyed the ribbon cable connection by squashing it too hard when clearly it was not aligned properly, that meant a replacement of the camera box and pitch motor, and hope that the other half was OK (which it was).

It depends on the size of your fingers whether the job is simple or hard.

It does give you great confidence once you have disassembled and successfully rebuilt it, but a pain in the head when it does not work.
The next test: Try a panorama. Stitch it with ICE rescale it with GIMP and add sky if you wish.

Mind you; I think at the time of writing this, you literally have a bit of a storm in America. Keep your head and drone down.
 
Lycus Tech Mavic Air 3 Case

DJI Drone Deals

New Threads

Forum statistics

Threads
130,585
Messages
1,554,095
Members
159,585
Latest member
maniac2000