Causes
- Media database corruption after deleting files on a computer — the exact case reported on r/djiosmo: the Osmo Action 6 froze on its loading screen less than a month after purchase, immediately after the owner deleted videos manually on a Mac. With no SD card in the camera and a fresh battery, the boot sequence still hung — the camera's internal content index had been left in a state the boot-time indexer could not read.
- Interrupted write during a firmware update or format — if the camera loses power, the USB cable is yanked mid-transfer, or the battery dies while the firmware is being written, the boot loader can be left pointing at a partial image and the camera stalls on the splash/loading screen every time it powers on.
- A bad microSD card inserted at boot — the camera scans the card during startup. A card with a corrupted partition, a failing controller, or files from another camera can hang that scan, which is why DJI support's first question is always "does it boot without the card?". It also happens with a card that was removed mid-write.
- A battery that cannot hold voltage under boot load — the 1950 mAh cold-resistant cell can fail or age unevenly; if the voltage sags the moment the imaging processor spins up, the camera looks frozen on the loading screen instead of completing boot. A known-good second battery is the fastest way to confirm this cause.
- Firmware state corruption that survives power cycles — when the loading screen persists across battery pulls, card removal, and alternate batteries (as in the r/djiosmo thread), the unit's firmware or boot partition itself is corrupt and needs an official reflash or service — this is a warranty repair, not something a user-level reset reaches.
How to Fix
- Do a full power-drain cycle — remove the battery and any microSD card, press and hold the power button for 10–15 seconds to drain residual charge, wait a full minute, reinsert the battery (no card yet), and power on. The camera should boot into internal storage. If it does, the hang was the card or a stale power state, not the camera.
- Boot without the SD card and re-test the card later — keep the card out and confirm the camera reaches the home screen. Then power down, insert the card, and reboot. If it hangs again, the card is the problem: back up what you can on a computer, format the card inside the camera (Settings → Storage → Format SD Card) or with the official SD Association formatter, and re-test. Never delete or move files directly on the card from a computer while it is being used by the camera.
- Try a second, fully charged battery — swap in a known-good Osmo Action 6 battery and boot. If the camera starts fine with the other cell but not the original one, the original battery's voltage is collapsing under boot load; recharge it fully, then re-test, and replace it if the behavior repeats.
- Reach the camera over USB-C with DJI Mimo — connect the frozen camera to your phone or computer with a USB-C cable and open DJI Mimo. The app can detect the camera in recovery and trigger a factory reset (Profile → Device → Factory Reset) or a firmware restore even when the touchscreen is unresponsive. If Mimo does not find it, hold the Quick Switch button for 10–15 seconds to force a hard reboot, then reconnect and try again.
- Reset the media database that the Mac-deletion case corrupted — if the hang started after deleting videos on a computer, connect via USB, and before any other step run a factory reset from Mimo so the camera rebuilds its content index from scratch. Avoid deleting files in the camera's DCIM folders from a computer from now on — use Mimo's own delete function or offload, then delete in-camera.
- Escalate to DJI for a reflash or warranty service — if the loading screen still will not clear after a drain cycle, no-card boot, second battery, and a Mimo reset, the firmware/boot partition needs a tool only DJI has. Open a support case (or use DJI Care) and describe the boot hang exactly: what you did before it froze, and that it persists without a card and with a different battery. Owners with this symptom have had their units reflashed or replaced under warranty.