Raspberry Pi 3A+ WiFi issue

[DB6BD]

Hi,

Your hint was good. I have flashed the latest PiStar Image 4.1.0 RC4. I configured my WiFi and updated to the latest 4.1.0 RC6. After that I rebootet the system 10 times. It always connected properly to my WiFi.

It seems as if the WiFi issue has been solved in 4.1.0 RC4. But you need to start from that version to make it work. If you update from any earlier version, it does not work.

I am happy it works fine now.

Dennis

[KE0FHS]

It seems as if the WiFi issue has been solved in 4.1.0 RC4. But you need to start from that version to make it work. If you update from any earlier version, it does not work.
Dennis

Nice find, Dennis! I really appreciate that you experimented with this and shared your findings.

Maybe now Toshen will see this and test 4.1 RC4 too and report what his findings are.

Jason, I'm going to be conservative and wait a couple days before I make a final call on this, as I've had good early success previously, only to be disappointed later. But my initial finding is good. I downloaded 4.1.0-RC4 today, flashed a fresh copy of that image to a microSD card, booted up, did all the configuration from scratch including configuring wireless to use 5 GHz (no restoration of backup), updated, upgraded to RC6, did one final update via SSH to make sure there weren't any pending OS updates (there weren't), then shut down and powered off. Restarting connected to my WiFi straight away. Rinse and repeat. I'll try again tomorrow and will report back again.

It would sure be wonderful if this wireless issue were finally solved! If that were the case, I'd be ready to install 4.1.0-RC4 on all my hotspots finally (I've kept several of them on either 3.4.17 or 4.0.0-RC4). There remains the issue with DMR2YSF, but as I understand it, a solution for that one has been submitted upstream as GitHub pull requests to Jonathan,G4KLX, and Andy, CA6JAU: viewtopic.php?f=24&t=2151&p=10339#p10339.

Jason, thanks for you ongoing work and testing on this networking issue!

[KE0FHS]

Started right up for me this morning, and very quick, too. Life is good!

[KE0FHS]

UPDATE: WiFi connection at 5.0 GHz still working perfectly for me on the two hotspots I've tried so far with fresh Pi-Star 4.1.0-RC4 images, subsequently updated and upgraded to RC6.

One hotspot is based on the RPi 4B with a 3A power supply, and the other is based on 3A+ with a 2.5A power supply. Both hotspots have a ZUMspot hat, a fan, and a Nextion display, so similar power draws beyond the RPi board itself.

Thanks again to Dennis, DB6BD, for figuring out the solution of starting with a fresh Pi-Star 4.1.0-RC4 image rather than upgrading from one of the earlier release candidates. Previously, I was cringing every time I started one of those hotspots knowing that I'd likely have to power them off and back on several times before they'd connect to my WiFi. What a relief that they just start normally now!

I'm now going to start slowly flashing fresh Pi-Star 4.1.0-RC4 images to my other hotspots.

[ea7gwc]

There are definitely many boot problems
Wifi with pi3 a +.
The same works perfectly, but suddenly stops working wifi
at startup. 2.4 or 5ghz independent.
Once it starts well, it works perfectly.
The problem is at startup, with network interfaces.

73

[KE0FHS]

There are definitely many boot problems
Wifi with pi3 a +.

The problem is at startup, with network interfaces.

Did you try flashing a fresh image of Pi-Star 4.1.0-RC4?

[DB6BD]

I have tested this on a Raspberry Pi 0W, 3B, 3A+, 3B+ and 4B. Toshen, I am looking forward to test one of your early 4B+ boards.

Once I thought I have the same problem back, but that was due to a failure of my own, connecting the 3A+ to a computer USB instead of to the original RasPi power supply. Hooking it up to a screen via the HDMI interface revealed faulty boot up including low power warnings. After connecting back to the regular power supply, everything worked fine, again.

Kind regards,
Dennis

[KE0FHS]

I have tested this on a Raspberry Pi 0W, 3B, 3A+, 3B+ and 4B. Toshen, I am looking forward to test one of your early 4B+ boards.

Whoops, I made a mistake. My board is a 4B. Sorry about that. I'll update my previous posts.

[KE0FHS]

OH NO! My RPI 4B-based hotspot failed to connect to my WiFi on first startup this morning. So even if this issue is reduced in severity, apparently it is not fully fixed.

[DB6BD]

I'll put my duplex HAT on my 4B to check and come back if I see the same issue.