Multiple Issues - Help Please

[K1JWJ]

New to DMR, but want to learn. Really struggling to get connected.

I have a mmdmv/raspberry pi 0 W hotspot. I used this hotspot a couple years ago with an older image and all worked well. Was away from the hobby for about 20 months following a house fire. So, I now have a completely different WIFI, computer, etc. The hotspot and radio were unharmed as they were in my truck.

I have flashed a newer pi-star mage (4-1-20) to the SD and have dropped the wpa_suplicant.conf into the rood directory.

When I plug hotspot USB power cord into my WIN 10 laptop:

1) I get no com port showing in Device manager (have tried all of the USB’s on the laptop).

2) I am only getting a yellow LED showing on the hotspot

3) Thus, unable to log into pi-star/ to complete config, enter BM Master password, etc. and get on the radio.

The only other computer I have is an older MacBook and my AnyTone 868 software does not work on a Mac.

What to do? Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated

[AF6VN]

When I plug hotspot USB power cord into my WIN 10 laptop:

A true USB "power cord" tends not to have data leads. Also, is the laptop USB port rated for the needed power? Standard USB-2 /HUBS/ (the multiple ports on a laptop could all be part of the same hub chip) are limited to /one/ connection drawing 0.5A @ 5V (2.5W) or /four/ connections drawing 0.1A @ 5V (0.5W). It is quite possible that an R-Pi with a radio hat requires more like 3-4W (the power supply sold for an R-Pi 4 is 3A @ 5V -- 15W).

1) I get no com port showing in Device manager (have tried all of the USB’s on the laptop).

I have no experience with the R-Pi 0; however, my 3B, 3B+, and 4B units DO NOT create COM ports -- on these, the USB connection is power-only, no data).

2) I am only getting a yellow LED showing on the hotspot

3) Thus, unable to log into pi-star/ to complete config, enter BM Master password, etc. and get on the radio.

If, as you say, you placed a viable "supplicant" file on the card before booting, the R-Pi should have connected to your WiFi router. You connect to the Pi-Star dashboard using whatever hostname/IP# that your WiFi router assigned to it during DHCP startup.

The only other computer I have is an older MacBook and my AnyTone 868 software does not work on a Mac.

And what does being unable to use the HT programming software have to do with configuring a hotspot? The HT programming is completely independent of the hotspot.