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Firmware Problems

Not2Old2Fly

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I know most people have moved on past the X-Star, but right now it's my only bird, and I have real problems. Bought a new?? battery from an eBay seller (Yes- I should have known better) and tried to get it to work, won't work or charge. DO NOT know if this caused the problem - it was probably me.

I wanted to make sure everything was still OK, so I put in a known good battery and the bird came up and connected. My thought process was that maybe the new battery needed a firmware update. I noticed the .bin file was missing from the sd card so I went to the support site and downloaded the .bin file to the sd card. When I powered up the bird it started updating the firmware - much to my surprise. The controller was up-to-date, it loaded an update to the gimbal and stopped. Now the bird powers up and flashes for a few seconds and then all four lights go out. It won't connect to the controller and there is no video link. Looks like the firmware didn't finish loading and the bird doesn't know what to do.

I use the bird often and I'm in serious need of some guidance. Have no problem providing my phone number to whoever wants to help, I try to be self-sufficient, but I don't know what to do next. I do hope the bird isn't bricked, it's been a decent and reliable drone thus far. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Many thanks, Jim
 
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Have you tried Autel Support. They still support the X-star and can give you a better idea of what might be going on or how to solve your problem.
 
I agree with Agustine. They usually respond pretty quick.
 
Sent Autel a detailed message including name, rank and serial number. Got a response that if I could provide them with the information I had just sent them, they would be happy to start the arrangements for me to send the bird to them. (sigh) Thanks for your responses. Slogging ever onward.
 
Sent Autel a detailed message including name, rank and serial number. Got a response that if I could provide them with the information I had just sent them, they would be happy to start the arrangements for me to send the bird to them. (sigh) Thanks for your responses. Slogging ever onward.
The first tidbit to pass on is during a firmware update if all goes well or even reports a software module failed, the process will erase the .bin file from your SD card. If you want to retry updating the firmware you will need to copy the .bin file to the root level of the SD card each time. That also applies if you have multiple batteries too. The drone and controller won't update on successive battery updates since that is complete. It just jumps straight to the battery update.

The reason why the .bin file is erased after an update attempt is so the drone, controller, and battery don't go through an 'update' again on each power up. Try the update procedure a number of times if necessary. As a precaution you might also swap out the SD card for another one you have successfully used in the drone and do an update in case the card has a fault in its memory.
 
The first tidbit to pass on is during a firmware update if all goes well or even reports a software module failed, the process will erase the .bin file from your SD card. If you want to retry updating the firmware you will need to copy the .bin file to the root level of the SD card each time. That also applies if you have multiple batteries too. The drone and controller won't update on successive battery updates since that is complete. It just jumps straight to the battery update.

The reason why the .bin file is erased after an update attempt is so the drone, controller, and battery don't go through an 'update' again on each power up. Try the update procedure a number of times if necessary. As a precaution you might also swap out the SD card for another one you have successfully used in the drone and do an update in case the card has a fault in its memory.
Actually it does not erase it (at least not in the XSP). It renames the extension to .old I do believe. The file will still be there. You just need to remove the .old at the end and it will be re-usable. ;)
 
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Actually it does not erase it (at least not in the XSP). It renames the extension to .old I do believe. The file will still be there. You just need to remove the .old at the end and it will be re-usable. ;)
Thanks for the additional details. Its always a gamble to offer advice outside my comfort zone, i.e. I don't have the XSP. But it does erase on EVO.

To clarify my own understanding, won't you need to change the XSP .old file name to .bin for the extension to be recognized correctly?
 
No, the ending of the file will be .bin.old.
Copy that, thanks. Never too old to learn!

[EDIT: But I think it would be a good idea to delete that .bin.old file completely from the SD card and use a 'fresh' download. There is the possibility that the firmware file is corrupt from the download off the server.]
 
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The Evo does the same. It adds a .old at the end of the firmware file.
Hmm, that's strange. When I performed the current public version firmware update following the Autel instructions I did not have any residual .old file remaining on my SD card. For each of my batteries that I updated all I had was the DCIM folder at the root level after a completed update of the previous battery. And I had to copy the .bin file to the card each time after a successful update without any trace of a remaining file.

I reviewed the Autel Help Videos and you can see at minute 3:00 when Alejandro starts the repeat process for an additional battery that their SD card also does not show any .old residual file remaining in the root level as he begins copying/pasting the .bin file back to the SD card. Its a clean root directory. ?

Video: Manually Updating Firmware (on EVO)
 
In Windows there is a setting for "Hidden items" and "File name extensions" in explorer. Tick those and you should see it. IF you are using Winblows.
 
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In Windows there is a setting for "Hidden items" and "File name extensions" in explorer. Tick those and you should see it. IF you are using Winblows.
? Well you are talking to one who has used Macs since the 1984 launch of the original all-in-one Mac. But I do believe the Mac OS has a means of viewing 'hidden' files if you know how to call them up. Thanks for the elbow in the ribs! I'll have to investigate that the next time I do a FW update. Unfortunately I reformat every SD card after I have transferred my photos and videos to my hard drive after a flight. So I have nothing to investigate at the moment.
 
Show extensions.

Show hidden files and folders.

I'm not a Mac guy so I don't know if either of these will show you.
 
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I'm not a Mac guy so I don't know if either of these will show you.
The video is just about extension designators for visible files. You can turn them on and off.

The easiest way to show hidden files on a Mac is to open a Finder window, then do Command + Shift + dot/period and you will see all the hidden file names in the directories and folders in a gray ghosted text color. And they are active and clickable to access further information on them.

I would think though if Autel knew there were residual files on the SD card they would have made that known in the video. I know I would have. Of course I'm kinda a meticulous guy! LOL
 
By hiding hidden files and extensions they think they are protecting the end user like any OS manufacturer. Many people would harm their systems (by deleting or modifying things that should be there) if they had access to them.
 
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? Well you are talking to one who has used Macs since the 1984 launch of the original all-in-one Mac. But I do believe the Mac OS has a means of viewing 'hidden' files if you know how to call them up. Thanks for the elbow in the ribs! I'll have to investigate that the next time I do a FW update. Unfortunately I reformat every SD card after I have transferred my photos and videos to my hard drive after a flight. So I have nothing to investigate at the moment.
I think it's time for you to stop biting the apple and go out the window ??
 

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