New Pi3B+ Wireless issues

[Heliosphan]

Hi all,
Got my new Pi 3B+ today, it's up and running on Ethernet + SSH but I'm having issues with the on-board WiFi.
From what I understand, prior to 'filling out' the wpa_supplicant.conf file, I can run an iwlist wlan0 scan command to get the network names nearby.
Well when I do, I see this -

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wlan0     Interface doesn't support scanning : Network is down

I've never seen this before - I have two Pi Zero W's and two Pi 3B's and I've not seen this.
I'm running the 13/3/18 Raspbian Stretch Lite image freshly downloaded, but just to be sure I did an apt-get update and ...dist-upgrade as well.

ifup wlan0 reports this -

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ifup: unknown interface wlan0

but the interface is certainly there - ip addr -

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1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
    inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 ::1/128 scope host
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether b8:27:eb:47:9d:22 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.168.1.22/24 brd 192.168.1.255 scope global eth0
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 fe80::b9a9:3679:d8f3:54d6/64 scope link
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
3: wlan0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/ether b8:27:eb:12:c8:77 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

Any help will be appreciated - it's brand new et al and could be a distro issue, but I sincerely hope my WiFi isn't DoA.
Thanks

[Tine]

I think you need to set the WIFI COUNTRY under localisation settings in raspi-config.

Nevertheless, i'm also having problems with the wifi on the 3B+; tried setting locale, tried different OS-es (raspbian full, lite, OSMC), when i do "sudo iwlist wlan0 scan", it returns: "wlan0 No scan results". The router is on the same desk phisically, so range should not be a problem.

Getting wifi to work on my zeroW works as expected, so no problem on the network side. I suspect there might be some hardware problem with my board, or some driver/kernel issue with the 3b+ models? Any ideas?

[pcmanbob]

I remember seeing some were on here that the wifi is disabled by default until you set the county for the wifi.

you can do this in the wpa_supplicant.conf file and I think via raspi-config.

if I find the thread I will add a link.

edit....

viewtopic.php?f=66&t=207882&p=1285278#p1285278

[SurferTim]

ifup doesn't work with Stretch. To enable/disable network interface in Stretch

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ip link set wlan0 up
or
ip link set wlan0 down

To turn off/on onboard wifi

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sudo rfkill block 0
sudo rfkill unblock 0

[Heliosphan]

Thanks all,
Yeah the WiFi Country code setting in raspi-config fixed it - I'm guessing having to set the WiFi country code was some regulatory thing that the Pi Foundation had to adhere to? Frankly it's a bit of a pain.

At the same time as I was reading the forum, I logged back into my Pi on Ethernet, and lo and behold, if I'd have paid closer attention first time round, Raspbian actually tells you to set the WiFi country when you log in via an MOTD message! D'oh!

I realised it's not enough to just set the country locale, that'd have been waaay too simple, you have to specifically choose WiFi country - they should combine the two.

@Tine, I'm not sure what your problem was, all I can say is that it should've began letting you scan via iwlist wlan0 scan as soon as you set the WiFi country, and rebooted, as that's what worked for me. I guess there may be a problem with your board, or it's not receiving enough power via the microusb socket (that's what I thought it might be for me). I guess being *too close* to your WiFi router may also be a thing? Just thinking out loud.

Thanks again!

[davidcoton]

I realised it's not enough to just set the country locale, that'd have been waaay too simple, you have to specifically choose WiFi country - they should combine the two.

But if you take your Pi to another country, you may want to keep your home locale while changing the WiFi country. As always, an apparently simple problem has no simple solution.

[Tine]

I guess there may be a problem with your board, or it's not receiving enough power via the microusb socket (that's what I thought it might be for me). I guess being *too close* to your WiFi router may also be a thing? Just thinking out loud.

The voltmeter attached to +5v GPIO pin reads 5.05V under idle and same under load, tested with 2 different PSU's, so i believe power shortage should not be the cause of this issue.

I have tried fresh downloading raspbian image, flashing it to different SD card, same result.

So, i've tried:
-setting wifi country (tried GB, US, DE, SI )
-changing PSU
-fresh install raspbian (nor full nor lite do work, neither is any network shown in OSMC setup screen)
-checking voltage, 5.05V at gpio
-apt-get update & upgrade
-rpi-update
-disabling bluetooth and unplugging ETH cable

...still no results from AP scan.

ifconfig says:
wlan0: flags=4099<UP,BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
ether b8:27:eb:c8:3c:64 txqueuelen 1000 (Ethernet)
RX packets 0 bytes 0 (0.0 B)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 0 bytes 0 (0.0 B)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0

iwconfig says:
wlan0 IEEE 802.11 ESSID:off/any
Mode:Managed Access Point: Not-Associated Tx-Power=31 dBm
Retry short limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Power Management:on

LAN connection works flawlessly, also does HDMI output, bluetooth pairs with my android phone flawlessly.

USB mouse works ok, but connecting flash drive returns error:
Error mounting /dev/sda1 at /media/pi/disk: Command-line `mount -t "zfs_member" -o "uhelper=udisks2,nodev,nosuid" "/dev/sda1" "/media/pi/disk"' exited with non-zero exit status 32: mount: unknown filesystem type 'zfs_member'

could this be somehow connected?

How could one test the board for hardware failure?

[gilesc]

I guess there may be a problem with your board, or it's not receiving enough power via the microusb socket (that's what I thought it might be for me). I guess being *too close* to your WiFi router may also be a thing? Just thinking out loud.

The voltmeter attached to +5v GPIO pin reads 5.05V under idle and same under load, tested with 2 different PSU's, so i believe power shortage should not be the cause of this issue.

I have tried fresh downloading raspbian image, flashing it to different SD card, same result.

So, i've tried:
-setting wifi country (tried GB, US, DE, SI )
-changing PSU
-fresh install raspbian (nor full nor lite do work, neither is any network shown in OSMC setup screen)
-checking voltage, 5.05V at gpio
-apt-get update & upgrade
-rpi-update
-disabling bluetooth and unplugging ETH cable

...still no results from AP scan.

ifconfig says:
wlan0: flags=4099<UP,BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
ether b8:27:eb:c8:3c:64 txqueuelen 1000 (Ethernet)
RX packets 0 bytes 0 (0.0 B)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 0 bytes 0 (0.0 B)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0

iwconfig says:
wlan0 IEEE 802.11 ESSID:off/any
Mode:Managed Access Point: Not-Associated Tx-Power=31 dBm
Retry short limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Power Management:on

LAN connection works flawlessly, also does HDMI output, bluetooth pairs with my android phone flawlessly.

USB mouse works ok, but connecting flash drive returns error:
Error mounting /dev/sda1 at /media/pi/disk: Command-line `mount -t "zfs_member" -o "uhelper=udisks2,nodev,nosuid" "/dev/sda1" "/media/pi/disk"' exited with non-zero exit status 32: mount: unknown filesystem type 'zfs_member'

could this be somehow connected?

How could one test the board for hardware failure?

You're not alone, my Pi3B+ has not had stable wireless yet. I have tried with the official 2.5A power supply as well as a 12A power supply, same issue... Sometimes the scan fails, sometimes networks appear, sometimes I can associate with a network, sometimes I get an ip address, but lots of packet loss and high latency. Hoping it is just firmware related and a software update will fix it. I'm using 2.4Ghz band, don't have a 5Ghz AP available to test.

[Tine]

Update - i got ahold of a 5ghz capable wifi access point, and oddly enough - the rPi3b+ lists it! Allthough reception is poor, but atleast it lists it. Also, usb mounting drives have started to work. Have done literally nothing to resolve this problem, and it has resolved itself

Nevertheless, the 2.4ghz wifi issue persist. Any idea why?

[gilesc]

Update - i got ahold of a 5ghz capable wifi access point, and oddly enough - the rPi3b+ lists it! Allthough reception is poor, but atleast it lists it. Also, usb mounting drives have started to work. Have done literally nothing to resolve this problem, and it has resolved itself

Nevertheless, the 2.4ghz wifi issue persist. Any idea why?

Seems that the 2.4Ghz Wifi radio power levels on the Pi3B+, at least, is significantly lower than the equivalent Pi3B. If I take off the back of the case for my Pi and point it line of sight to my Wifi Access Point the problem is significantly less. Is there a way to disable the 5Ghz band on the Pi3B+ board? I do eventually want to run 5Ghz APs at home, but the price point is still too high for me.

[Tine]

I gave up and sent the problematic rpi back , will report when i get a new one in exchange if the problem persist.

[droecoleman]

i do not know if this will help. but try visiting raspi-config before updating everything. and assign something on the wireless. Then update. or hostpad.conf.

regards,

[Tine]

Got a new rPi3B+ today, works as expected. Guess it was faulty board after all. Got it RMA-ed no problem.

Thank you all!

Regards,
Tine