wifi connect with pi zero-w

[bobbyc]

I purchased a pi zero-w from your store for use with my pi hat "JUMBO" for DMR ham radio.

After etching the pi-star image to a freshly formatted 16 gb scandisk, then adding the properly configured "wpa_supplicant.conf" in the root directory, NOTHING !!!
Tried the computers HOT SPOT & Phone Hot spot "wpa_supplicant.conf", DOA, the pi-zero-w is nowhere to be discovered and will not
even give me the pi-star log in screen, just a DEAD PAGE message.

Pi-star browser access: http://pi-star/admin (off the pi-star web site)

I am running a PC Win-10 OS / freshly updated with a complete OS re-install a few weeks ago.

I can only deduct the pi-zero-W wifi is 100% dead and not sending/receiving any signals to communicate with my systems.

The green light on the pi-zero is flickering when loading the pi-star OS, then after a few minutes, light is solid on, exactly what the
instructions tell me should be happening.

I Let the system settle for 5 minutes after loading, STILL NO WIFI ACCESS on any of my three browsers???

I am doing everything strictly step by step by the book and following every instruction TO THE LETTER, ZIP, NADA, NO WIFI CONNECTION???

My router is working fine (likksys) internet router connect working 100% perfect, computer will even hook up to my cell phone hot spot super fast, not any problem.

So I have deducted the NEW pi-zero-w is the single, one and only possible issue, as I have a dead wifi connection problem and cannot resolve the problem?

As stated, my router is in 100% perfect working order with 2 computers, sharing the internet & a wifi printer, all working together perfectly daily.

Pi-zero-w was only 12" OR LESS from my routers dual antennas, so distance to WIFI signal positively NOT the problem.

So how do I WAKE UP a dead "pi-zero-w wifi connection" is the big mystery question???

*** My very first pi-zero-w WIFI machine set up (experience) attempt ( actually about 30 attempts and counting), positively not impressed with a simple WIFI connect, resulting in multiple failures:-)

HELP please .......

[adafruit_support_mike]

Log into the RasPi using a keyboard and monitor, enter the command:

Code: Select all

ifconfig -a

and post the results between CODE tags please.

[bobbyc]

ok, then what do I do from there ???
I am positively not a techy type, just want this set up to work as advertised so I can use it as my DMR ham radio node.
Once the wifi is connected, the set up screen is a piece of cake to complete the DMR set up configuration in the PI-STAR GUI program.

Thank you in advance:-)

[judson]

I sympathize with your difficulty -- I struggled with getting a Pi Zero W working with a PiTFT screen myself. I have it working now, so there is hope!

I started with a clean install of Raspbian jessie, then followed the instructions for "Userspace Tools" here:
https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-pit ... pace-tools

I'm convinced that the problem is that the easy-install kernel was developed before the Zero W was available, and it doesn't configure the wifi interface.

Alarm clock with weather

IMG_2089.jpg (14.42 KiB) Viewed 391 times

PiTFT plus with Raspberry Pi Zero W

IMG_2091.jpg (13.39 KiB) Viewed 391 times

[bobbyc]

ifconfig -a

pi-star@pi-star(ro):~$ ifconfig -a
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr b8:27:eb:0b:30:ee
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:65536 Metric:1
RX packets:4852 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:4852 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1
RX bytes:359592 (351.1 KiB) TX bytes:359592 (351.1 KiB)

wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr b8:27:eb:5e:65:bb
inet addr:192.168.1.108 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:10367 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:16344 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:2200663 (2.0 MiB) TX bytes:4163454 (3.9 MiB)

[adafruit_support_mike]

ok, then what do I do from there ???

Roughly on a par with "I just bought a Ham radio and it doesn't work. What do I do now?"

There are a lot of moving pieces, so we have to find out what's wrong before we can find a solution. You can spend a few years learning TCP/IP network administration, or you can let me worry about that and walk through the diagnostic tree I've already learned.

This part of the output:

Code: Select all

wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr b8:27:eb:5e:65:bb                     
          inet addr:192.168.1.108  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0  
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1                
          RX packets:10367 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0            
          TX packets:16344 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0          
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000                                      
          RX bytes:2200663 (2.0 MiB)  TX bytes:4163454 (3.9 MiB)

says the RasPi has a working WiFi connection, is operating at IP address 192.169.1.108, and that it's transmitted a couple of megabytes of information back and forth across the network without any errors.

That rules out most hardware and connection problems.

With regard to this observation:

I Let the system settle for 5 minutes after loading, STILL NO WIFI ACCESS on any of my three browsers???

what browsers were you using, were they all running on the RasPi or were you running them on some other computer, and what URLs were you using to test the connection?

[bobbyc]

Got it running, worked great for 2 week, but the board just shorted out today, smells like very burnt up electronics, CPU gets REALLY SUPER hot in under 5 seconds???

[adafruit_support_mike]

That does sound like a hardware failure. The board is probably dead.