Firmware upgrade problem

[AntoineD]

I'd be very grateful for some advice here.

A few days ago I bought a Mini 4 Pro and did the setup routine but the drone wouldn't start up and I got the message 'firmware out of date'. So I tried to update it via the controller but I got 'not connecting to server'. Had a chat with DJI and was advised to update the firmware with the DJI Assistant 2. I chose the firmware labelled 'current' and installed it. Drone would still not activate and I was still getting 'firmware out of date'. So tried updating the controller. It said it had the current firmware but I refreshed it anyway. Still no luck.

What can be going wrong here?

 

[Conservative Nihilist]

Having one's drone grounded unless a firmware update is accepted means that such an update is being imposed by force.

As a Mini 3/DJI Fly user, I'll be watching this thread carefully. I'm now a bit worried about my Mini 3 getting grounded under the same pretext because I pass on ALL firmware updates out of personal preference. I'll need to run a test flight to see if the same trap awaits me.

 

[Felix le Chat]

Having one's drone grounded unless a firmware update is accepted means that such an update is being imposed by force.

As a Mini 3/DJI Fly user, I'll be watching this thread carefully. I'm now a bit worried about my Mini 3 getting grounded under the same pretext because I pass on ALL firmware updates out of personal preference. I'll need to run a test flight to see if the same trap awaits me.

This situation will only arise with drones registered and operated in the EU bloc and the proposed date for full enactment by EASA is 1st January 2026.

The British CAA is also aligning with EASA regulation and plan to introduce not only 'class' marks and RID but also mandatory firmware updates (safe flight databases) by the same date.

Part of the mandatory process involves effectively crippling the drone from being able to fly unless the relevant update is installed.

 

[Conservative Nihilist]

The tightening regulations are going to make drone flying an obsolete hobby. If limitations are being imposed by force in the EU, that type of restriction could be applied globally, as a consequence of politics.

 

[Cafguy]

What other choices did you have and what firmware version is on the drone now? do you need to update the Battery perhaps?

 

[AntoineD]

But the thing is, I UPDATED to the latest firmware, as labelled by DJI Assistant. But it still said the firmware was out of date and the drone still won't work. Any ideas anyone?

 

[AntoineD]

Just giving a bit of extra info here to clarify matters. The two firmware versions DJI Assistant 2 offers when I open it are V01.00.0700 and V01.00.0800. V01.00.0800 has 'current' in red lettering and they both have 'official' in red lettering. V01.00.0800 is the one I installed. Assistant 2 must know this as the only option it gives is 'refresh'. But I still get the message on my controller saying the firmware needs updating. I'm out of ideas.

 

[Felix le Chat]

I'd be very grateful for some advice here.

A few days ago I bought a Mini 4 Pro and did the setup routine but the drone wouldn't start up and I got the message 'firmware out of date'. So I tried to update it via the controller but I got 'not connecting to server'. Had a chat with DJI and was advised to update the firmware with the DJI Assistant 2. I chose the firmware labelled 'current' and installed it. Drone would still not activate and I was still getting 'firmware out of date'. So tried updating the controller. It said it had the current firmware but I refreshed it anyway. Still no luck.

What can be going wrong here?

Is this your first drone? (reading between the lines.... perhaps not). Looking in the FLY app 'about' screen: is the drone registered to your specific DJI account e-mail address?

The 'firmware out of date' message usually reads 'new firmware available'... this is the first time I've read 'out of date' being applied. Even the fly safe database only reads 'flysafe update available... upgrade? Followed by a yes and ignore button.

To be fair: I haven't updated controller, drone or flysafe firmware since the last one that actually introduced features I could use constructively.

All this "fixed known issues and bugs" nonsense has little or nothing to do with improving the performance of the product... it usually means the introduction of new anti-rollback versions and other backdoors being closed.

I'll be another one watching this thread with interest

 

[Cafguy]

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[AntoineD]

I'll go through what I did. When I first tried to turn on the props to check everything was OK, I got a message in a red panel on the upper left of the Camera View screen saying that the firmware was out of date. I went to 'about' then 'check for updates' but I then got a message saying I wasn't connected to the server. The controller showed I was connected to the wi-fi. I contacted DJI in a live chat and was advised to try updating the firmware with the DJI Assistant 2. I installed it on my laptop and when I connected the drone it said the 'current' firmware was V01.00.0800 so I installed that on the drone. It must have worked because under 'about' it said this was the version installed. But I still got that 'out of date' message in Camera View and the drone still wouldn't start.

So I connected the RC2 controller to Assistant 2 and installed the latest firmware. Still no luck. This evening I had a long chat with DJI but got nowhere (the person at the other end didn't seem to know that much, mind you). He did tell me which firmware version the controller should have, though, and it was the previous one to the one that's installed, which seems a bit strange.

He also mentioned updating the fly-safe database, but I'm not sure how to do that.

By that time, the drone's battery was flat (the drone was on all the time he was walking me through various steps) so I'll have to charge it up again before I can try anything else.

 

[AntoineD]

"Is this your first drone? (reading between the lines.... perhaps not). Looking in the FLY app 'about' screen: is the drone registered to your specific DJI account e-mail address?"
I actually had a Mini 4 Pro a few weeks ago. It flew perfectly. The reason I returned it was because I couldn't download maps - I kept getting that message saying I wasn't connected to the server.

As to the registration, I created an email address just for the drone, before I even unpacked it. I didn't want to register it using the email address I used when buying it online because I wanted some anonymity because it seems the Internet is spying on you all the time these days.

 

[Felix le Chat]

"Is this your first drone? (reading between the lines.... perhaps not). Looking in the FLY app 'about' screen: is the drone registered to your specific DJI account e-mail address?"
I actually had a Mini 4 Pro a few weeks ago. It flew perfectly. The reason I returned it was because I couldn't download maps - I kept getting that message saying I wasn't connected to the server.

As to the registration, I created an email address just for the drone, before I even unpacked it. I didn't want to register it using the email address I used when buying it online because I wanted some anonymity because it seems the Internet is spying on you all the time these days.

The inability to "connect to server" is a bit of an ongoing thing with DJI - it happens quite regularly and the only thing to do is try over and over again. It doesn't mean the drone is faulty.

Downloading offline maps used to be a simple affair: but DJI botched all that up with one of their firmware/FLY app "upgrades", so nothing unusual with having difficulty with offline maps... it happens with all their drones, so it doesn't mean you have a faulty unit.

Here's a question for you.... have you been mucking about with the FLY app privacy and security settings menu? if so: this can cause quite a few connection problems. Best thing to do is reset all sliders to the default.

Regardless of what you do, the drone will always transmit flight data using the control transmission frequency which includes your coarse GPS position, telemetry and your DJI UUID (Unique User IDentification... which links the drone ID directly to your registration e-mail and IP address). The FLY app also uses your mobile phones GPS hardware (or the hardware built into the DJI RC) to register the position of the controller relative to the drone.

Using any DJI drone means there is no such thing as complete anonymity, only varying degrees of privacy.

 

[MavicAir2Marc]

Sometimes a VPN or firewall will not allow it to connect to the server. If you have either of those, you might need to turn it off to update through the controller. Using Assistant should be a viable option however.

 

[Cafguy]

Sometimes a VPN or firewall will not allow it to connect to the server. If you have either of those, you might need to turn it off to update through the controller. Using Assistant should be a viable option however.

YES make sure you are not on a VPN !