Changed router - now Nextion won't connect via wifi

Help setting up WiFi
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n3jf
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Dec 30, 2020 4:03 pm

Changed router - now Nextion won't connect via wifi

Post by n3jf »

I was forced into upgrading my wifi router! Now, my ZUMspot Nextion won't connect to the wifi of the new router. I set up the new router identically to its predecessor... same SSID, same password, same wifi band, but the Nextion doesn't connect and I can't connect to it to change any of the settings!

The Nextion has been on for hours, and I have yet to see it on the network. It's also not broadcasting its SSID.

The Nextion Display is saying it at 192.168.1.111, but sending the web browser there just times out. Same for https://pi-star and all variants thereof.

How do I get to my Pi-star so I can reconfigure it?

Oh, I also created a wpa_supplicant.conf file using the builder and still nothing.
WG4USA
Posts: 22
Joined: Thu Nov 05, 2020 7:40 pm

Re: Changed router - now Nextion won't connect via wifi

Post by WG4USA »

does the Nextion see the router at all?

try a simple password if it does
n3jf
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Dec 30, 2020 4:03 pm

Re: Changed router - now Nextion won't connect via wifi

Post by n3jf »

I do not see the pi-star at all. It's not broadcasting its SSID. The router doesn't see it and although it says on the screen it's at 192.168.1.111, I can't connect to it there.

It's like the Nextion:s WiFi broke when I changed the router!
AF6VN
Posts: 821
Joined: Fri Jul 20, 2018 1:15 am

Re: Changed router - now Nextion won't connect via wifi

Post by AF6VN »

So far as I know, "Nextion" is just the display board. It doesn't have a WiFi module.

The underlying R-Pi has the WiFi module, and it should only be broadcasting an SSID IF IT IS NOT CONFIGURED FOR YOUR ROUTER! When not configured it goes into local access point mode to permit one a direct connection to make the needed configuration.

Side note: have you tried just http://pi-star or http://192.168.1.111 -- to my knowledge, the dashboard is NOT accessed as https:// (I just tried, and the browser just times out eventually. Change back to http:// and dashboard opened within 2-3 seconds)

--
AF6VN
Dennis L Bieber
n3jf
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Dec 30, 2020 4:03 pm

Re: Changed router - now Nextion won't connect via wifi

Post by n3jf »

Thanks for your reply.

You are correct, Nextion is the display... It's a ZUMspot Nextion. I've configured many Raspberry Pi devices (2, 3 and 4) for ham radio use, but this is my first ZUMspot with its pi-star interface.

As I said in my original post, I tried all combinations of "pi-star" (http, https, pi-star, pi-star/login, 192.168.1.111 etc).
The pi-star was not visible on my network AT ALL. The router did not show it in its list of connected devices. The network sniffer app "Fing" on my Android phone did not see the device listed by IP or MAC address, or by SSID - yet the ZUMspot was proudly displaying its IP address on the screen (192.168.1.1).

I left the new router on overnight.

This morning, when I turned on the ZUMspot to try to troubleshoot some more, it connected to the router and is passing DMR and DSTAR traffic...

HOWEVER...

There is no connected device with the IP address shown on the ZUMspot's screen (192.168.111).
The router has dynamically assigned it the IP address 192.168.1.223.
There was never a time when the ZUMspot broadcast an SSID that was visible on my phone's wifi (2.4GHz), my computer's wifi (2.4GHz), or on the router itself.

Since I started this whole process, some 19 hours ago, it has become clear that the router is defective. The 2.4GHz wifi will do one of the following:
1. Not allow connections at all.
2. Allow connections, but not give Internet access to those connected devices.
3. Allow connections and give internet access.

The router is getting replaced!

The issues I don't understand are:
1. Why is the pi-star displaying an incorrect IP address on the screen?
2. Why did the pi-star (apparently) ignore the wp_supplicant.conf data (the file was clearly read and then deleted from the SD card)?
3. Why did the pi-star not broadcast its SSID so that I could connect to it directly and reconfigure the network settings?

Thanks in advance, I'm looking forward finding this stuff out!
n3jf
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Dec 30, 2020 4:03 pm

Re: Changed router - now Nextion won't connect via wifi

Post by n3jf »

KE7FNS wrote: Sat Mar 06, 2021 6:58 pm I don't think it is the incorrect IP address. I think maybe you just can't access it for one reason or another. If it wouldn't of been able to connect to a router it would of never displayed any IP address on the Nextion. The fact that the Nextion is displaying an IP address means that it is sucessfully connected to something (maybe not even the router you think it is).
No, it really is displaying the wrong IP address! It's connected via WPA to *my* router, using the SSID of my router and the password I gave it. The router shows it's at 192.168.1.223. It would not be able to connect to a random neighborhood router and yet show up on MY router with an IP that MY router assigned! When I connect to the pi-star interface (using 192.168.1.222 in the browser's URL box), the pi-star interface shows it's connected to my router, with the IP 192.168.1.223.

The ZUMspot Nextion shows it's connected at 192.168.1.111.
I would simply plug in a HDMI cable to a monitor and USB keyboard, boot the RPi and access the console directly and see if it is connected to a network.
I don't need to do that. I can see that it's connected. It's on my router. It's passing DMR and DSTAR traffic. I can access the pi-star dashboard. The dashboard shows it's connected.

I would also just plug it into ethernet. I'm amazed at how many posts per week on the forum where users report they are having such difficulty with setting up a wifi connection.
There is no Ethernet port on the ZUMspot.

n3jf wrote: Sat Mar 06, 2021 6:25 pm 2. Why did the pi-star (apparently) ignore the wp_supplicant.conf data (the file was clearly read and then deleted from the SD card)?
It didn't, if it sees a wpa_supplicant.conf file on the boot volume it overwrites the old settings with the new file. That is a process that is handled by the Raspberry Pi OS, not something Andy has created.
Right, I agree. That's why I said "apparently". It apparently ignored it, because it didn't connect to the router, and it didn't start beaconing its SSID after it couldn't connect to the router. As you correctly said, it *should* have beaconed the SSID after it couldn't connect to the one and only router to which it could possibly have connected. But it didn't.
n3jf wrote: Sat Mar 06, 2021 6:25 pm 3. Why did the pi-star not broadcast its SSID so that I could connect to it directly and reconfigure the network settings?
Because it is already successfully connected to a current wifi signal. There is only one wifi and it can only do one connection at a time.
But that's the point. It did NOT connect to a wifi signal. There are no open wifi access points for it to connect to. None. The only way it could connect would be for it to provide a WPA pre-shared key, which it would not have... with one exception, the pre-shared key for MY router. It did NOT connect to my router (see above). It did not beacon its SSID. I know what you're say... I should have done all the things you say, and I agree, it should have. But it didn't.
If you want the wifi access point to be available, you either have to make a wpa_supplicant with false information so you know for sure it cannot connect, or power off your router so it cannot connect.
It was not connected! I'm not sure how much more clear I can be. The router did not show it in its list of connected devices. A network sniffer could not find it. There was no way to connect to the pi-star interface. But it still showed an incorrect IP address on the screen.
Then 120 seconds after it is fully booted (RPi Zero W's take much longer to boot so you might have to wait 2 to 5 minutes) scan for networks and you should see it.
Again, I agree, it *should* see it. But it never beaconed its SSID.
So since you don't see the wifi access point and the fact that the Nextion is displaying an IP address at all tells me that it IS correctly connected to something and the problem you have is actually connecting to the RPi.
Since there are no open access points, it would require a WPA PSK to connect to any of the available routers. It does not have any PSKs, only the one I gave it to my router, which requires it. It was not connected to my router.
It could be as something as simple as your browser forcing https instead of http like AF6VN mentioned.
Again, that could be. But since I have a bookmark for the pi-star interface, which has worked successfully since day one, something would have to have changed on the pi to suddenly make it incompatible with the bookmark. Also, there's no evidence at all to suggest that the browser (actually, 2 browsers - Chrome and Firefox - and an iPad running Opera, and an Android phone running who knows what browser) had suddenly decided to force an https connection! The fact that the very same bookmark is now working again with zero changes (and it's working in the other browsers on this computer, the iPad and the Android phone) suggests that nothing at all changed.
Try pinging that address from another machine on your network. Do you get a response? If so there is something at that IP address.
Try using an SSH client like PuTTY to see if you can connect to the hotspot.
Putty does not connect to 192.168.1.111 (the IP on the ZUMspot's screen). It *does* connect to 192.168.1.223. Again, the IP address shown on the ZUMspot screen is incorrect.

Does it connect over SSH, if so the webserver is faulty, and needs a reimage.
Yes, it connects over SSH... if I use the 192.168.1.223 IP address, but not if I use the IP address shown on the screen.
Look in your router at the attached devices. Does it report something connected, and do the IP addresses match? You should be able to get the MAC address of the RPi and look it up by device in your routers DHCP table.
I think I have answered this many, many times before, including in the post to which you were replying. ;-)

I truly do appreciate your help, but I think I'm back to my original questions:

1. Why is the pi-star displaying an incorrect IP address on the screen?
2. Why did the pi-star (apparently) ignore the wp_supplicant.conf data (the file was clearly read and then deleted from the SD card)?
3. Why did the pi-star not broadcast its SSID so that I could connect to it directly and reconfigure the network settings?
n3jf
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Dec 30, 2020 4:03 pm

Re: Changed router - now Nextion won't connect via wifi

Post by n3jf »

KE7FNS wrote: Sat Mar 06, 2021 9:47 pm The Nextion gets its information by what the OS reports.

I would be curious to see what the MMDVMHost log reports for your IP address.
I don't know how to get those logs.
n3jf wrote: Sat Mar 06, 2021 8:35 pm I don't need to do that. I can see that it's connected. It's on my router. It's passing DMR and DSTAR traffic. I can access the pi-star dashboard. The dashboard shows it's connected.
If you took a few minutes to do what I suggested, you would see exactly what the OS reports, and could compare that with what the MMDVMHost log reports. They should be exactly the same. That would at least narrow down where the problem is at. OS, MMDVMHost, Nextion programming etc.
Well, I can SSH into it, but I don't know what to do once I'm there. Like I said, this is my first pi-star system.
n3jf wrote: Sat Mar 06, 2021 8:35 pm There is no Ethernet port on the ZUMspot.
If you have no ethernet port then you must have a RPi Zero W and you can still use a microUSB to ethernet adapter plugged into the inner microUSB port on a RPi Zero W.
...if I had one...

n3jf wrote: Sat Mar 06, 2021 8:35 pm Right, I agree. That's why I said "apparently". It apparently ignored it, because it didn't connect to the router, and it didn't start beaconing its SSID after it couldn't connect to the router. As you correctly said, it *should* have beaconed the SSID after it couldn't connect to the one and only router to which it could possibly have connected. But it didn't.

That is also impossible, it doesn't just randomly decide to ignore it if it wants, computers don't work that way. If there is a file named "wpa_supplicant.conf" on the boot volume it always moves those settings to the proper OS location, and deletes the file on the boot volume. It completely overwrites your old settings on the OS.
Yes. Unless, maybe, there's an obscure bug in the code..
You also keep contradicting yourself, at the first part of your last post you state it WAS connected to your router because you could see it in its settings. If it was connected, it CAN'T beacon a wifi access point.
Nope, I'm really not contradicting myself at all. I've given a lot of information in my posts, so it's quite possible that you've missed some salient points. All of this I've said before:

It wasn't connected at all, in any way, but the ZUMspot display showed it was connected as 192.168.1.111.
It wasn't connected in any way and the router showed it was not connected in any way (no matching IP or MAC addresses).
It was not connected in any way and my wifi sniffer was unable to find it beaconing its SSID, ever.
It was not connected in any way and neither my computer or any other 2.4GHz wifi-enabled device could see it beaconing, ever.
I was unable to use a browser to connect to the IP address displayed on the ZUMspot, or SSH to that IP address.

My new router is defective. I've said that. It's going back. A new one will arrive later today. This current router does one of three things:
1) I allows 2.4GHz connections WITH internet (very infrequently).
2) It allows 2.4GHz connections WITHOUT internet (very frequently).
3) It refuses 2.4GHz connections completely (very frequently).

After leaving the router on overnight and firing up the ZUMspot this morning to do more troubleshooting, the ZUMspot successfully connected to the router. I now see an IP address on the router for the ZUMspot (192.168.1.223) and it has the matching MAC address of the ZUMspot. Consequently, I am now able to open a web browser and connect directly to the ZUMspot using the IP address on the router (192.168.1.223), but NOT at the address shown on the ZUMspot's screen (192.168.1.111). The existing browser shortcut also works - it didn't yesterday. Every method of connecting to the dashboard that failed yesterday, works today. The ZUMspot's display still shows the wrong IP address.

All of the above I have already said.

n3jf wrote: Sat Mar 06, 2021 8:35 pm But that's the point. It did NOT connect to a wifi signal. There are no open wifi access points for it to connect to. None. The only way it could connect would be for it to provide a WPA pre-shared key, which it would not have... with one exception, the pre-shared key for MY router. It did NOT connect to my router (see above). It did not beacon its SSID. I know what you're say... I should have done all the things you say, and I agree, it should have. But it didn't.

It was not connected! I'm not sure how much more clear I can be. The router did not show it in its list of connected devices. A network sniffer could not find it. There was no way to connect to the pi-star interface. But it still showed an incorrect IP address on the screen.

Again, I agree, it *should* see it. But it never beaconed its SSID.

Since there are no open access points, it would require a WPA PSK to connect to any of the available routers. It does not have any PSKs, only the one I gave it to my router, which requires it. It was not connected to my router.
Again, you say it wasn't connected, but yet you said you see it in your router...... Both of those cannot be true at the same time, it is a mutually exclusive condition if one is true the other MUST be FALSE.
I AGREE, that would be impossible! If that was what I said. But it isn't. You seem to have missed a lot of the information in my posts, which is why I have continually had to repeat it in subsequent replies.

n3jf wrote: Sat Mar 06, 2021 8:35 pm Again, that could be. But since I have a bookmark for the pi-star interface, which has worked successfully since day one, something would have to have changed on the pi to suddenly make it incompatible with the bookmark. Also, there's no evidence at all to suggest that the browser (actually, 2 browsers - Chrome and Firefox - and an iPad running Opera, and an Android phone running who knows what browser) had suddenly decided to force an https connection! The fact that the very same bookmark is now working again with zero changes (and it's working in the other browsers on this computer, the iPad and the Android phone) suggests that nothing at all changed.
What changed was your router. You stated you installed a completely different router. That different router might not have of been able to correctly convert a URL/hostname to an IP address on your local network. That is a pretty common issue where people try pistar or pistar.local and it doesn't connect, but it does connect when they enter the correct IP address.
...And then magically, the router started being able to do exactly that? Suddenly able to correctly convert a URL/hostname to an IP address on my local network where it couldn't the night before (same day, actually, I only got 4 hours sleep)? Remember, the router was left on overnight and then the ZUMspot was started again from fresh in the morning. Nothing changed on the router or the Pi or the web browser(s) on multiple platforms. It's clearly not a browser issue. The pi is still at version 4.1.4/20210224, just as it was yesterday. And you're forgetting that yesterday I *did* enter the correct IP address shown on the ZUMspot in the URL of the web browser and it wouldn't connect (because it hadn't made a connection to the router... which brings us back to the very start of this thread).


Again, what does the OS report? What does MMDVMHost report?
No idea!
I answered each of your questions as best as I could, if that isn't good enough for you then I don't know what to tell you. You are the first person I've ever heard of that has reported a Nextion displaying an incorrect IP address.
It's not a question of your answers not being good enough for me, but you haven't really followed the facts that I've outlined. Your answers have all been great, but in many cases you've made assumptions about things that I've explicitly said are not the case. As for being the only person to report a Nextion displaying an incorrect IP address... lucky me! FML! It's sitting here beside me, still showing 192.168.1.111, when the router shows it on 192.168.1.223! I'm sure that if I were to reboot the ZUMspot it would display the correct IP address... assuming it could connect to the router again, which I highly doubt.
I"m sure I could assign that exact IP address in my test setup, and my Nextion would display the correct information.
Yep, again, I agree. But *something* happened to make it confused, because it *is* confused.
Maybe you should reimage the SD card, and reprogram the Nextion with a different screen and see if it also reports an invalid IP Address. Maybe whoever created your screen has a bug where it can't handle IP addresses that high. That is a pretty high IP address, most routers start assigning at 2, or 100.
Could be that too. Apparently not this router. For some reason it chose 223. I'm not gonna do anything with the image at this time. The new router should be here later today. The 2.4GHz wifi on this one is definitely screwy, as I've said many times before. It's quite possible that is why the ZUMspot is displaying the wrong IP. But even if it is the router's fault, the ZUMspot should not be giving a false IP address.

Thanks again for your input.
n3jf
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Dec 30, 2020 4:03 pm

Re: Changed router - now Nextion won't connect via wifi

Post by n3jf »

KE7FNS wrote: Sat Mar 06, 2021 10:53 pm So if the OS reports the same address as your router,
It does. Both the router and the ZUMspot OS (hostname -I) report 192.168.1.223.
and MMDVMHost reports the same address as your router, it must be crappy Nextion programming. I know there are a number of people trying to get all fancy and doing all kinds of manipulation of data on the screen programming itself, so maybe they never properly tested an IP address that high.
Yeah, again, I don't know.
I did notice something weird though, on boot instead of it saying initializing like in previous versions of his screens it displayed "eth0:192.168.1.123", even when no ethernet was connected and that appears to be hardcoded into his programming now. I might send him a a quick message and see if he'll put it back to initializing.
I don't know what mine said on boot this morning, but on the DMR screen, it shows "wlan0: 192.168.1.111". On the DSTAR screen it shows the same thing, just in a different place.
n3jf
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Dec 30, 2020 4:03 pm

Re: Changed router - now Nextion won't connect via wifi

Post by n3jf »

KE7FNS wrote: Sun Mar 07, 2021 12:02 am
n3jf wrote: Sat Mar 06, 2021 11:10 pm I don't know how to get those logs.

Well, I can SSH into it, but I don't know what to do once I'm there. Like I said, this is my first pi-star system.
You can view it by using the dashboard by clicking live logs, or you can view it directly from the console.

They are in /var/log/pi-star/
Cool. Thank You.
the IP address is displayed both on the dashboard and if you typed the following at the ssh console

Code: Select all

ifconfig
Yes, as you can tell by my constant referring to the ZUMspot's IP address, I know multiple ways of confirming the IP address as long as I can either access the ZUMspot directly (SSH, Dashboard) or if it's connected to the router, or by WiFi sniffing. All of which I have done when each was possible. Clearly, if I could not connect directly to the ZUMspot there was no way for me to get the ZUMspot's IP address using the dashboard or command line.
n3jf wrote: Sat Mar 06, 2021 11:10 pm ...if I had one...
It is still possible though, you made it seem like it could never be hooked up to ethernet at all because it had no port.
Sorry I gave you that impression.
n3jf wrote: Sat Mar 06, 2021 11:10 pm Yes. Unless, maybe, there's an obscure bug in the code..
Uh, no. That just isn't possible. Maybe you had a typo when you entered your information into the wpa_supplicant.conf file and thats why it wouldn't connect. I really don't know, but the ability to place a wpa_supplicant.conf file on the SD card has been around for many years there isn't some obscure bug that only triggers for you.
Hahaha. It's not possible that there's a bug in code! There is always the possibility of obscure bugs in code. That's why black hat hackers are so effective. There was no typo in the wpa_supplicant.conf file, unless the builder created it... But that would have to be another impossible bug, LOL. I still have the file in my downloads folder. I checked it multiple times, since the SSID and password are both in plain text.
n3jf wrote: Sat Mar 06, 2021 11:10 pm It wasn't connected at all, in any way, but the ZUMspot display showed it was connected as 192.168.1.111.
Then contact Zumspot for support as it isn't a "Pi-star" issue.
Yes, it could be a ZUMspot issue. But it has not been ruled out that it's not a pi-star issue, or even a combination of the two.
n3jf wrote: Sat Mar 06, 2021 8:35 pm ...And then magically, the router started being able to do exactly that? Suddenly able to correctly convert a URL/hostname to an IP address on my local network where it couldn't the night before (same day, actually, I only got 4 hours sleep)? Remember, the router was left on overnight and then the ZUMspot was started again from fresh in the morning. Nothing changed on the router or the Pi or the web browser(s) on multiple platforms. It's clearly not a browser issue. The pi is still at version 4.1.4/20210224, just as it was yesterday. And you're forgetting that yesterday I *did* enter the correct IP address shown on the ZUMspot in the URL of the web browser and it wouldn't connect (because it hadn't made a connection to the router... which brings us back to the very start of this thread).
Yes. Routers have an internal lookup table. Sometimes they screw up. When you powered the hotspot off and then waited till the next morning, the list was refreshed. Magic, I don't think so.
Again, no argument that the router might have screwed up. I keep saying that it's clearly defective and that I'm waiting for the replacement. That doesn't change the fact that the ZUMspot is confused. It also doesn't rule out the possibility that there's a bug that caused this confusion and as much as you insist the pi-star code is perfect and free from any obscure bugs (which would make the constant updates pointless), that hasn't been proven either.
n3jf wrote: Sat Mar 06, 2021 11:10 pm No idea!
Then you haven't provided enough information for anyone to identify where the issue is at.
That may well be true!
n3jf wrote: Sat Mar 06, 2021 11:10 pm Yep, again, I agree. But *something* happened to make it confused, because it *is* confused.

It's quite possible that is why the ZUMspot is displaying the wrong IP.
If the Nextion is displaying the wrong IP when nothing is connected then its a case of bad programming by whoever created that .tft. It is as simple as that. Contact Zumspot or load a different .tft created by someone else. I suggest PD0DIB's model 10 as you have seen from my post they work correctly.

You can't say PD0DIB's model 10 would have handled this situation any differently because all you did was give your hotspot a new IP address! That is obviously not what happened in this case. You absolutely did not come anywhere close to replicating the conditions that caused this situation. You arbitrarily decided, with no evidence whatsoever, that the problem was caused by an IP address of 223 being "too high" and then proved to yourself that PD0DIB's code could handle it! You have no evidence that the ZUMspot .tft cannot handle such "high" IP addresses or that a "high" IP number was even the cause of the problem.

Look, I'm really not interested in a pissing contest. I came here for help and I gave as much information as I could as and when it became available, and repeated that information when parts of it were obviously missed by some of those who replied. I think it's pretty obvious that the defective router was the primary cause of this problem, and hopefully the replacement router will avoid these problems from occurring again in the future, but the ZUMspot screwed up too.
n3jf
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Dec 30, 2020 4:03 pm

Re: Changed router - now Nextion won't connect via wifi

Post by n3jf »

KE7FNS wrote: Sun Mar 07, 2021 1:14 am
n3jf wrote: Sat Mar 06, 2021 11:24 pm I don't know what mine said on boot this morning, but on the DMR screen, it shows "wlan0: 192.168.1.111". On the DSTAR screen it shows the same thing, just in a different place.
Most of the screens I've seen have the IP address displayed on the idle page, and each mode it is currently in.
Yes, mine too. In every screen where the IP address is shown, but it's the wrong one.
Another question I have but I'm unsure if you'll be able to answer it or not is did you install the Nextion Driver (correctly) by ON7LDS?
The ZUMspot Nextion is a pre-built kit. No drivers or other software need be installed or configured... Just the dashboard. I keep mine updated, however.
Do you see ALL of those 4 fields being populated? CPU TEMP, CPU cycles, disk free, and CPU load?

Who's screen are you using? The info on HRO for the Zumspot 3.5 nextion is very old, and I don't see where they provide you with exactly what they installed from Zumspot themselves.

If you don't know who programmed the screen, sometimes there is an about/information page, or just take a photo of the idle screen and I should be able to tell you who created it and maybe download their files and see if the problem is with its programming it.
The files on the HRO page are what you'll find on the SD card when you buy it. They also included the original screens which are ON7LDS L3. The idle screen displays date, time, Tx & Rx frequencies and the hotspot callsign/DMR number. Everything else you mention is in the dashboard.

I think it's important to remember that we've gone down the "It's a problem with the screen" rabbit hole when we have no evidence that's the case.
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