IMU Initialization failure. Driving me insane.

Samuel Quinn · Nov 11, 2016

Hi. Recieved brand new P3A four days ago. Updated all firmware. First flight was great. Next day took AC to open countryside. AC will not not fly. States IMU Initialization failure and barometer error.
I have tried downgrading then upgrading firmware again to no avail. Also recalibrated Rc as advised by Dji support. Still no joy. Strangely RC also advises weak GPS which is strange as.it has around 16 satellites connected. I have also ran IMU calibration on numerous occasions. Still same errorsnand bird will not fly.
I am really annoyed. Been looking forward to some therapeutic flying during my holiday from work only to be stressed out with an expensive piece grounded machinery.
Anyone amu ideas? I am clutching at straws.

Sent from my D5803 using PhantomPilots mobile app

Rich C. · Nov 11, 2016

I feel your pain.

Before a flight, instead of "warming up" I get "IMU initiazation error". Then the bird starts doing IMU calibration, then I get the warming up message, then I can fly. When I land the bird I'll sometimes get a "vision system error". I turn the bird off, and the the next time around everything will be fine. I also have problems connecting my tablet to the controller. When the bird was new, I got a "vision system error" that wouldn't go away. I calibrated the vision system using the assistant app. That mostly fixed the problem. Now I fly without using the vision system.

My buddy has similar issues with his P4.

When the bird gets in the air it behaves flawlessly. Still, it doesn't inspire confidence. What I do when pre-launch gets ugly (cannot fly) is to power down the bird, the controller and then the tablet. Next time around things usually work OK.

At least the bird lets me fly. I hop you get things sorted out soon.

Cheers,
Rich

Samuel Quinn · Nov 11, 2016

Hi Rich. Thanks for taking time to share ypur experience. I am waiting.on the supplier contacting me back to see if I can have it replaced as It is less than one week old. Can you please advise more about this assistant app you speak of? Willing to try it. Thanks.

Rich C. · Nov 16, 2016

Samuel Quinn said:
Hi Rich. Thanks for taking time to share ypur experience. I am waiting.on the supplier contacting me back to see if I can have it replaced as It is less than one week old. Can you please advise more about this assistant app you speak of? Willing to try it. Thanks.

This may be an example of closing the barn door after...

I try never to buy anything that is recently released. No doubt that DJI does as much as possible to assure that the system is stable and bug-free as possible, but they can't anticipate everything that can go wrong, so they use customers as beta-testers/ This is not a bad or unusual thing, it's a situational reality. My win10 machine gets updates constantly.

I had the hots for the Canon 7D mark II, but I waited to get one. Never buy version 1.0 of anything.

There are bugs with the P4. I would update firmware where it is needed, but first I need to see the revision history, which DJI does not provide. With firmware (and life in general) taking one action can result in unintended consequences somewhere else. I see this happen over and over again with our products. Unintended consequences.

It's already frightening to send $1000 up 400 feet in the air and two miles away. Working with unstable firmware does little to ease my pain.

I sincerely hope that you get things sorted out real soon.

Cheers

Samuel Quinn · Nov 16, 2016

Thanks. No one seems to be able to provide assistance on this issue so I have arranged for the product to be returned tomorrow to supplier. Hopefully they will inspect and agree a replacement is required.
I agree about newest products and beta testing. This was one of the reasons why I went with a 3advanced. Unfortunately I still had out of the box issues.
I will await the technicians report and post on here in the hope it may help others.

Stevecaig1743 · Sep 3, 2017

I have the dreaded imu faild.i i recalibrate 100% app says imu normal. Have latiest firmware. 13 satilites.try to start motors and i get imu failed and breomiter failure please restart aircraft. Over and over. I have tryed the sufgestions from you tube posters and still same thing. I replaced the imu and it does the same thing still. I wonder if i just throw this dang thing what kind of distance i could get then?.
Has any one found a solution yet?