CSI Firmware Update

for GoPro HERO4 Black and Silver cameras

This firmware update for the HERO4 Black and Silver cameras is required if you have purchased the CamDo Solutions Time Lapse Intervalometer, Motion Detector, Programmable Scheduler, Wired Remote, or Bullet Cable to provide scripting capability to the camera. A Lite version of the firmware comes free with the purchase of any CamDo product. If you would like to upgrade to the Pro version, please contact us.

Feature List

Feature Lite Pro Cloud
Script Length 6 Lines Max Unlimited Unlimited
Set Auto-Off Timer
Turn Off Camera
Mode Selection (Video/Photo)
Mode Selection (Burst/Night Photo)
Video low-light (On/Off)
Protune (Video/Photo)
Set Exposure Level (Video/Photo)
Set Resolution
Shutter
Sleep
WiFi On/Off
WiFi Monitor*
Cloud Service Upload
Cost Free Coming Soon Coming Soon

 

*Refers to the bug which turns WiFi off when a USB cable is disconnected from the camera. The WiFi Monitor function will keep WiFi on.

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Overview

There are 5 main steps to update the firmware. Detailed instructions are included below.

  • Step 1 - Upload your version.txt file
  • Step 2 - Update camera firmware
  • Step 3 - Copy the csiController file to the SD card.
  • Step 4 - Install a CSI script to the SD card
  • Step 5 - Set Camera to Auto Off.

Step 1 - Upload your version.txt file

Uploading your version.txt file will create a firmware update file which is specific to your camera.

Please follow the steps below very carefully. It is important to do everything exactly as described without skipping or changing anything. An SD card reader is required. The camera should not be connected to the computer during these steps. The battery should be fully charged before beginning.

  1. Save all the photos on your SD card to another device.
  2. Turn on your camera and format the SD card using the Delete All function from the menu.
  3. Select the photo mode and take a single photo.

Your SD card should now be clean and ready to install updated firmware.

  1. Remove the SD card from your camera.
  2. Insert the SD card in your computer’s SD card reader.

Click on Choose File and browse to your SD card.

Then open the MISC folder and open the version.txt file.





Now click on Upload version.txt



FAQ and Troubleshooting

Q: I have more than one camera. Can I use the same firmware on all of them?

No. The firmware and script interpreter is customized for each camera and will not run on a different camera. It will be necessary to generate the update files for each camera. The camera serial number (which you can find inside the battery compartment) will appear in the file name.

Be careful to upload one version.txt file for each camera.

Q: The autoexec.csi script doesn't do anything

The Lite version of the HERO4 firmware does not allow WiFi to be active. If WiFi is turned on, the script will not run on startup.

Look at the csi log file on the SD card. Error messages are shown there. For example, Error: csiInstall did not match camera ID would indicate that the csiInstall file on the SD card is not the one created for that camera.

If you are installing the csi firmware on multiple cameras, make sure that you upload a version.txt file for each camera separately. Each csiController is specific to the GoPro camera.

When installing or editing the "autoexec.csi" script, a lot of programs automatically convert the file into a standard text document. If the file name is changed in any way, such as "autoexec.csi.txt", the camera will not run the file on startup.

We have found that a common compatibility problem is due to the type of SD card being used. You are strongly advised to use an SD card from the recommended list on GoPro's website, https://gopro.com/support/articles/software-update-release. Use of cards not on the list, especially SanDisk Ultra cards, will greatly increase your chance of trouble with your setup. Some SD cards have the same product name as the cards on the list but only have a U1 rating. Make sure the SD card has a class 10 and U3 rating since underperforming SD cards can prevent proper functioning of your GoPro camera's features.

The reason the script has problems on slower SD cards appears to be in the timing of the boot sequence when the camera starts up. In some cases, the card is not ready to communicate with the camera at the time the camera looks for the script. As a result, the camera might crash or the script is not seen and the camera continues its boot sequence as if no script was present.