Mavic Air, Air 2, 2 Pro and Zoom Smart Controller upgrade to version V01.00.0820

[ShadowCat]

Had a suspicion a few would have problems with this

The best way I found to fix a smart controller stuck at 99% for the version V01.00.0820 and this should work for most smart controller upgrades.
I gather quite a few people are trying to upgrade their controllers to take advantage of Mavic Air 2 Support and getting stuck at 99%.
Firstly don’t try and use WIFI to upgrade as it will take ages.

What you will need is as follows:

1. Drone – Mavic Pro/ Air etc. (Though not used for this upgrade)
2. Smart Controller fully charged. (Essential, though the controller will change while connected but at a much slower rate)
3. USB C Drone to Laptop/ PC cable.
4. Internet connection.
5. Patience as this takes a long time to complete.

Enough for what you should have to hand, next:

Turn on the controller and navigate to Apps (Bottom Right)>Settings>System Update, it should let you know what version you are at and whether you require an upgrade.
Check the Storage capacity if there is less that 4Gb of storage then either transfer all your data off the controller or my preference is transferring all data off the controller and Factory Resetting it.
As you don’t have to use the Wi-Fi or DJI GO4 leave these until after the upgrade has been completed.
Remove any SD Cards as well.
If you have Version 1.2.4 (Mac) or 1.2.5 (Win) remove these versions from your Laptop/ PC.
Go to the DJI Software download site, link below

DJI Assistant 2 For Mavic- DJI Download Center- DJI

From the left-hand menu select the appropriate program, download and install the Assistant program.
e.g. for a Mavic 2, Mini, Air 2, 2 Pro or Zoom it will most likely be a DJI assistant for Mavic

Once installed log into the program.

Plug the cable into the controller and PC before powering it up.

You may notice the controller not showing up. I have found that unplugging and plugging the cable back should cure this problem.

You will see the Smart Controller come up, click and click on the upgrade button.

It will go through the following steps

Downloading (to Laptop/ PC)
Transmitting (to Smart Controller)
Updating (Installing Software onto Controller)
(if the upgrade fails at the updating or transmitting phase it could very well mean insufficient storage)

The Controller screen should be blank at these steps. And it might beep at you.
When it reached 98% the screen should power on.

Things you should be aware:

Cable being unplugged and then reattached as for some reason it may not show up.
The Storage – You must have enough storage for this to work.
Remove the SD Card in case it sets this to the default.
Hopefully this should help with most of the problems of upgrades.
Optional you can set the sleep to 30 minutes

Please use this as a guide and use it as appropriate to your requirements

 

[johnbirt]

Some comments:
What do you do if your PC/Mac does not see your SC as is perhaps the most likely scenario of all if SC USB connection settings are not appropriate? Plugging/unplugging cable will then have no success. There are other posts and even a video which deal with and show how to fix this.

Why do you need to do a factory reset as you are updating it anyway? The implications of such a reset explained? Very rarely is this needed. Was perhaps needed with the well documented January update fiasco but not this time around.

For those with say an Inspire 2 and/or a Mavic Air why would you want to remove the older Assistant version which is actually not updated any longer but nevertheless needed. The 2 Assistants can happily co-exist on the same PC/Mac? At least they do on my PC.

Some, indeed many, may not have a PC or Mac so Assistant not available. How do you manage then?

Some may only have a Wifi connection available if their router is sited inconveniently or inaccessible. Using Wifi via Assistant is perfectly OK if undesirable if an alternative network cable connection is not easily available.

Essentially your post @ShadowCat is saying it is better to use Assistant as the SC Wifi connection is flaky which is correct. Unfortunately it doesn't deal with the edge cases where the SC is not seen which many will have or have indeed experienced.

 

[Bill Dunnuck]

DJI made it sooo simple. Thank goodness.

 

[ShadowCat]

DJI made it sooo simple. Thank goodness.

What do you expect from them? ? Took me a while to work out how to upgrade this and while it is not the definitive way on doing this it worked for me. If you guys have found a better way do update this post as it will help others.

 

[KingRat]

Some comments:
What do you do if your PC/Mac does not see your SC as is perhaps the most likely scenario of all if SC USB connection settings are not appropriate? Plugging/unplugging cable will then have no success. There are other posts and even a video which deal with and show how to fix this.

Why do you need to do a factory reset as you are updating it anyway? The implications of such a reset explained? Very rarely is this needed. Was perhaps needed with the well documented January update fiasco but not this time around.

For those with say an Inspire 2 and/or a Mavic Air why would you want to remove the older Assistant version which is actually not updated any longer but nevertheless needed. The 2 Assistants can happily co-exist on the same PC/Mac? At least they do on my PC.

Some, indeed many, may not have a PC or Mac so Assistant not available. How do you manage then?

Some may only have a Wifi connection available if their router is sited inconveniently or inaccessible. Using Wifi via Assistant is perfectly OK if undesirable if an alternative network cable connection is not easily available.

Essentially your post @ShadowCat is saying it is better to use Assistant as the SC Wifi connection is flaky which is correct. Unfortunately it doesn't deal with the edge cases where the SC is not seen which many will have or have indeed experienced.

Excuse my ignorance, but what is an 'SC' please?

I have the controller that needs a phone or tablet for use with my Air, do I need to do this upgrade or is it for later models of drone only? I don't really understand what the original post is trying to say - it is confusing as to just what the upgrade does. My Air is flying perfectly happily, glitch free and accurate, so I am loath to try to fix something that isn't broken!

 

[Howard70]

Excuse my ignorance, but what is an 'SC' please?

Hello King:

I think “SC” = Smart Controller. I fly an MA2 (Mavic Air 2) and am considering the Smart Controller for it’s brigther integral screen and ease of starting a flight (no need to hook up phone, etc.) as well as being able to fly without a phone. If you’re happy with the system you’re using now there may be no need to consider a change. The Smart Controllers are somewhat costly.

Howard

 

[KingRat]

Hello King:

I think “SC” = Smart Controller. I fly an MA2 (Mavic Air 2) and am considering the Smart Controller for it’s brigther integral screen and ease of starting a flight (no need to hook up phone, etc.) as well as being able to fly without a phone. If you’re happy with the system you’re using now there may be no need to consider a change. The Smart Controllers are somewhat costly.

Howard

Ah, thank you. I am not used to all these acronyms!

I use a dedicated tablet in the controller that came with the drone. It is an 8" screen and I have removed all the internet games and crap that came with it, it only has DJI on it now, because I use it purely for flying the drone, nothing else, not even looking at the images, in an attempt to squeeze more flying time out of each battery I don't download the images from the drone to the tablet. I only ever download once back home direct from the card(s) to the computer. The tablet battery then lasts about 10 battery charges (50x batteries worth) and the controller lasts a couple of recharges. 10 batteries and the controller battery is about to kick the bucket. I like to have plenty of fuel in the tank!