Parrot minidrone not taking the software update.

I have a new Rolling Spider mini-drone, and it will not update with the Matlab firmware. I have tried many times and with both Matlab2017A and Matlab2017B. Has anyone else had this issue? what did you do to get it to update>

[Maitreyee Mordekar]

Hi John,

Could you please explain what exactly is the error that you receive?

The step at which you obtain the error, the screenshot of the same and the number of the original parrot drone firmware will certainly help us understand the issue better.

Thanks, Maitreyee

[John Judge]

software version 1.0.80 hardware version HW_5 It will error out half way through the update, then I get this error. I can pull the battery and reset the drone and try it again and get the same error.

[John Judge]

Answer 1

[Ankur Bose]

Hi All,

We have contacted Parrot regarding this issue and they have provided us a workaround to resolve this issue. The fix has already been published in R2017b in the support package version 17.2.3. Please upgrade your support package version to 17.2.3 in R2017b and perform the hardware setup for Parrot Rolling Spider once more.

If you do not wish to upgrade your support package, you can follow the below steps to resolve this issue.

1. Connect the Parrot Rolling Spider drone to PC. Wait for the LEDs to stabilize to RED and GREEN.
2. If you are working in Windows PC, install RNDIS as mentioned in this link. Please note that drone has a timeout period of approx 60 seconds after which it automatically disconnects from PC. Hence please complete the RNDIS installation as fast as possible.
3. Open Windows command prompt. Execute the below command in the command prompt as shown in the snapshot.

telnet 192.168.2.1

If you get an error 'telnet' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file, you need to enable telnet in your Windows PC. Follow the instructions in this MATLAB answer to enable telnet in your PC.

If the command prompt displays the message Connecting to 192.168.2.1...... for a long time and then it fails, it might be that the drone has timed out or the RNDIS installation has not gone through.

Reconnect the drone and repeat Step 3. If you still get same error, you need to install RNDIS on the host computer again as mentioned in Step 2. Complete the RNDIS installation as fast as possible.

On successful execution of the command you should see a command prompt window as shown in the snapshot.

1. On the Delos prompt in the command window, execute the below command

echo "1.99.2" > /version.txt

This would create the missing version.txt in the root folder of the drone, that is required for the firmware update to be successful.

If you get any write permission error while executing this command, try rebooting the drone and repeat the above steps.

After successful execution of the above command, complete the hardware setup screens in MATLAB. They should go through without any issue.

[John Judge]

I upgraded to 17.2.3 and tied the updated process again. This is the error I got.

Answer 2

[John Judge]

I have tried again after a computer restart. I get the same error that things have timed out, but the drone does look to have turned off. Still, one red led and one green led. There is now a test file on the drone which wasn't there before, as well as a Debug folder.

[John Judge]

I fired up the app on a phone to see if the drone would still fly and it did, I also check the software version number and it will come up zeros.

This is what it was before the failed update.

[Ankur Bose]

Hi John,

Your Parrot Rolling Spider has been successfully updated to the custom firmware for Rolling Spider provided by Parrot (This was the part that was previously failing for you). This custom firmware is required to work with the Simulink Support package for Parrot Minidrones. Since this firmware has been provided by Parrot itself, you can do all the things with FreeFlight App that you have been able to do previously with the shipped Parrot firmware. The version number of the custom firmware is 0.0.0. Hence you see that number in the app.

One thing I could not be sure from your answer is that whether you have been able to complete the hardware setup screens successfully or not. After support package upgradation, it is mandatory to complete the setup screens which does various tasks in background such as set IP of drone, set IP of Bluetooth interface of the host etc.

Please complete the hardware setup screens (if not done already). If you get any error , please share the snapshot.

One more thing to note is that the drone has a timeout of approx 60 seconds when connected over USB to PC. After the timeout the drone automatically disconnects from the PC. Hence try to complete the setup as quickly as possible.

[John Judge]

you say the drone has been updated with the correct firmware, but when I try the demo Parrot Getting Started, I get the drone is not connected.

[Ankur Bose]

Hi John,

Did you complete the hardware setup screens for Parrot Rolling Spider? I am not sure whether it went through for you. Please complete the hardware setup setup screens for the drone. The completion of hardware setup screens is necessary for the IP to get set in the network interface of the host. Even if you have connected the drone over Bluetooth, if the IP is not set in the host, the code deployment would fail on the drone. At the end of the hardware setup screens there is a "Test Connection" button. After connecting the drone to Bluetooth, click on "Test Connection" to know whether connection is established. If the "Test Connection" passes, try code deployment from Simulink once more.

[John Judge]

I did not finish the setup due to it erroring out. I have tried two more times today and I keep getting this error during setup. I even updated my Java in case that was the issue.

[John Judge]

I have purchased another Rolling Spider, fearing there was something wrong with the first one. I just tried to update the second drone and it seems to have the outcome. the drone gets updated to the newer software, but errors out before finishing the update.

Why wound the setup need to update software if the software is already up to date? why doesn't it go on and finish the steps?

Answer 3

[John Judge]

So I just updated my Mambo drone. I was able to finish the whole update procedure and successfully test the connection. I then tried to run the Parrot Getting Started simulation and I get a different error but it looks like some of the same errors with the spider drone.

[John Judge]

I have found a fix for this last issue, turn the firewall off.

[Ankur Bose]

Hi John,

The turning off firewall is one option. Another option is adding an exception for the IP address 192.168.3.2 and 192.168.2.2 in the firewall. Please visit this link to know about adding IP exception to firewall.

Also since this issue is resolved, try completing hardware setup for Rolling Spider once more.

[John Judge]

This worked on the spider as well, both drones are no paired.