USB port and WPA_supplicant set up fails

[Easypizy]

Hi, thank you in advance for any input.
Recently, I've flashed a new SD card with the new "Raspbian Stretch with desktop and recommended software" with the 2019-04-08 release date for my Raspberry pi 3a+. I did the usual, adding the WPA_supplicant file to the boot folder before booting the board. What I have noticed is that the wifi fails to set up in the headless mode, leading to failure of connection to SSH. The work around I had for it was to boot it with a monitor and go through the prompts on the first boot in the GUI and the wifi would set up.

I have also noticed that my USB port failed too (kinda sad since Pi3a+ only has one). I have tested the pads and the 5v and ground seems to be fine so I can only assume that the D- & D+ are the problem so I soldered directly to the PP22 & 23 accordingly but the board still fails to get any data in from my peripherals.

My question would be:
1. are these problems the result of the new raspbian images (if it's a yes, I could try the older images)
2. is my board damaged?
3. are there other work arounds for D- & D+ for the RPI3a+ besides the actual usb & PP22 & 23

Any help would be well appreciated. Thank you!

[fruitoftheloom]

Hi, thank you in advance for any input.
Recently, I've flashed a new SD card with the new "Raspbian Stretch with desktop and recommended software" with the 2019-04-08 release date for my Raspberry pi 3a+. I did the usual, adding the WPA_supplicant file to the boot folder before booting the board. What I have noticed is that the wifi fails to set up in the headless mode, leading to failure of connection to SSH. The work around I had for it was to boot it with a monitor and go through the prompts on the first boot in the GUI and the wifi would set up.

I have also noticed that my USB port failed too (kinda sad since Pi3a+ only has one). I have tested the pads and the 5v and ground seems to be fine so I can only assume that the D- & D+ are the problem so I soldered directly to the PP22 & 23 accordingly but the board still fails to get any data in from my peripherals.

My question would be:
1. are these problems the result of the new raspbian images (if it's a yes, I could try the older images)
2. is my board damaged?
3. are there other work arounds for D- & D+ for the RPI3a+ besides the actual usb & PP22 & 23

Any help would be well appreciated. Thank you!

Did you include your Country Code in wpa_supplicant.conf ??

https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentati ... ess-cli.md

[Easypizy]

Did you include your Country Code in wpa_supplicant.conf ??
https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentati ... ess-cli.md

Yes I did!

[Andyroo]

I did a 3B+ last night with no issues with the latest version (all three) but I did have a keyboard and mouse (no monitor) plugged it. The issue with headless booting and WiFi was supposed to be fixed - unless someone else chimes in I’ll test tonight if I can stay awake (only managed 3 hrs last night).

Do you want to post your wpa_supplicant.conf here?

I wonder:
If you created it with Windows - it may have had both CR and LF in it at the end of each line - that upsets things.
If you created it on a Mac, did it change the quotes to “” as that upsets it

[HawaiianPi]

• What OS does your main PC run?
• What text editor are you using to edit or create the wpa_supplicant.conf file?
• Do you have another Pi with a working WiFi configuration?

The wpa_supplicant.conf file is very picky about formatting and is easily broken. It's unfortunate your USB port has died, because the simplest solution is to configure it from the GUI and copy the working file to new cards.

Do you still have any SD cards with a working WiFi configuration? If so, then copy the working /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf file to your main PC and use that file when creating new cards. If your main PC can't read the Raspbian root partition, boot the card in the Pi and copy the file to the first FAT32 partition on the card, then shutdown (you can copy it to your main PC from there), or you could copy it over your network to your PC (SCP).

[B.Goode]

Maybe 2 unrelated issues here...

First:

USB port and WPA_supplicant set up fails

and

I did the usual, adding the WPA_supplicant file to the boot folder

Pedantically, that is not the correct name for the configuration file: case is significant in Linux filenames.


Second:

I have also noticed that my USB port failed too

The absence of widespread reports of this in these forums makes me suspect this is not an issue with Raspbian. More likely a power supply problem, or a hardware failure.

[Easypizy]

I've just tried swapping the SD card to another PI and it works perfectly. Raspbian's fine, I might've jumped the gun too quickly on that one.

As for the USB issue, I think I must've shorted the data connections with the 5v pin so that might've just killed it. Quite unfortunate since the PI 3a+ only has one such port. I guess the silver lining is that I could still use it for IOT stuff or a piratebox. Do you guys know of any products that can give me usb ports solely from the GPIO connection?

Thank you guys for the insight!

[drgeoff]

I've just tried swapping the SD card to another PI and it works perfectly. Raspbian's fine, I might've jumped the gun too quickly on that one.

As for the USB issue, I think I must've shorted the data connections with the 5v pin so that might've just killed it. Quite unfortunate since the PI 3a+ only has one such port. I guess the silver lining is that I could still use it for IOT stuff or a piratebox. Do you guys know of any products that can give me usb ports solely from the GPIO connection?

Thank you guys for the insight!

1. I doubt that you could get near USB2.0 speeds by running a USB interface through GPIOs.

2. Even if a GPIO -USB thing exists, is it going to be cheaper than a 3A+ ?