Bad WiFi?

[jmatth]

Ok, so after waiting for a few years on my first batch pre-order and eventually paying for the upgraded shipping, I finally got my Pandora in the mail last week. Everything was fine until I went to use the wifi yesterday and it wouldn't turn on. No available networks, no indicator light, ifconfig doesn't seem to be able to find it (unless it's supposed to be named something other than wlan0. All I could get it to show was the loopback address). I tried a trick someone mentioned in an older post of leaving the battery out for an hour with no results, which was kind of expected since that was for an older version of the firmware anyway. So before I RMA it, does anyone have any other suggestions? I'm fairly certain it's a hardware issue and therefore an RMA, but I figured I'd ask here before beginning that whole process.

 

[mcobit]

Did you reflash already?

 

[EvilDragon]

Is it a new 512MB unit?


These are all tested to have working WiFi (and I've not seen one fail so far afterwards).

 

[WizardStan]

Stupid question: are you sure you actually turned it on? There's an icon in the lower right-ish corner that opens a menu that turns wifi on (and USB, if that ever comes up).


Don't take as an insult, just trying to cover all the obvious things before getting into the harder stuff.

 

[jmatth]

Stupid question: are you sure you actually turned it on? There's an icon in the lower right-ish corner that opens a menu that turns wifi on (and USB, if that ever comes up).


Don't take as an insult, just trying to cover all the obvious things before getting into the harder stuff.

None taken. Yes, I tried turning it on by using the menu with Enable WiFi, Enable Bluetooth, etc. Up until yesterday that had been working fine, but now it just gives the "Enabling wifi" popup and nothing happens.

Is it a new 512MB unit?


These are all tested to have working WiFi (and I've not seen one fail so far afterwards).

Not sure, I'll double check the sticker on the back when I get off of work.

dmesg?


did you enable wifi? (try from command line to see output)

I tried enabling it through the menu. What command should I use to try it from the command line?

Did you reflash already?

No, it looked like it was already running the latest firmware (1.5 super zaxxon), and I didn't want to wear the NAND if it wouldn't make a difference. If you think this would be a good thing to try then I'll do it as soon as I get the chance.

 

[mcobit]

Yes, I'd recommend flashing the firmware. It won't hurt the nand too much.


Maybe there is something messed up.

 

[jmatth]

Yes, I'd recommend flashing the firmware. It won't hurt the nand too much.


Maybe there is something messed up.

Ok, flashing it with the firmware downloaded from here: http://openpandora.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=199&Itemid=40&lang=en


I'll report back if anything changes.


Also, I checked the sticker and while I don't see anything to indicate either 256 or 512 MB. It does say rebirth edition if that helps at all.

 

[jmatth]

Flashing it worked, thanks a lot guys .

 

[mcobit]

Nice, if you have a Rebirth Edition, it is 512Mb RAM.

 

[porg]

Is it a new 512MB unit?


These are all tested to have working WiFi (and I've not seen one fail so far afterwards).

Dear ED!

I got a Rebirth 512MB unit, and nevertheless had the issues as well!

So your test must be very superficial and/or only work good in your particular optimized WiFi setup (no neighbors, no encryption, optimal conditions)

A reliable test would be:


wget http://local-wired-web-server/1000MB-file-or-more -O /dev/null
to sort out a slow web server and/or SD card,

and to perform this test for 15 minutes,

and repeat it on 3 different times of a day.

The WiFi issues seemed so unpredictable to me!

Mostly it did not work, but very occasionally it worked!

I did intensive testing, and I concluded:

WiFi mysteries resolved once and for all — Power saving is clearly the culprit!

 

[EvilDragon]

The tests run in a minimal setup and download a 2MB file within a given time frame.


This makes sure the Wifi initializes and is working properly.


It's simply not possible to test each unit for 15 minutes unless you want to increase the per-unit production cost by at least 15 EUR.

 

[porg]

I am sorry but as you must know from numerous complaints, your WiFi chip is so unreliable that only a long test tells something reliable.

The majority of complaints are "Starts downloading at least decently, but then stalls after a short time".

Hopefully this longer test can be achieved economically by a fully automated script (human workforce only for turning on machine, and later reading out result).

 

[EvilDragon]

Yes, we all know the module has issues with some routers and access points.


But there's not much we can do without throwing the old chips away, doing a hardware redesign with more prototype testing and throwing money we don't have at that.


A different testing doesn't change the module.

 

[huniper]

Is it a new 512MB unit?


These are all tested to have working WiFi (and I've not seen one fail so far afterwards).

What type of router are you using ED? I'm thinking about getting another router and want to make sure that it works well with the Pandora.

Thanks!

 

[EvilDragon]

FritzBox.

Though I also tried some NetGear and Asus one as well, worked fine.

I know old Netgears had compatibility issues though... maybe new routers work fine?

 

[fusion_power]

Yes, we all know the module has issues with some routers and access points.


But there's not much we can do without throwing the old chips away, doing a hardware redesign with more prototype testing and throwing money we don't have at that.


A different testing doesn't change the module.

It's so or so to late to change anything there. Just keep this in mind for "Pandora 2". I hope there will be a better WiFi chip available than in the old Pandoras, I have stable WiFi mostly (also a FritzBox) but the speed is very slow, compared to my PC WiFi, that uses the same router by the way and only a cheap little WiFi stick.

 

[Asmo]

Not sure if this info helps anyone, but my original CC Pandora's wifi works flawlessly with an old Motorola (aka 'netopia') router I have. Connects every time and downloads are no problem - even very big ones, left running overnight.

 

[cube48]

Hmmm ... I just had the same issue with 1GHz Panda. 2 days ago it refused to turn WiFi on. Everytime I tried to run the default WiFi script via panel button or menu it only left the pnd_run process instance running and eating a lot of CPU. Interestingly the high CPU usage was not indicated by Conky but it was visible in classical top or LXTask. I knew something was messed up so I'm flashing now. During that I've found out that Zaxxon firmware .zip file is not easily foundable/reachable neither from main OP page nor from boards menu as it used to be. Could this be improved please?

 

[Asmo]

I've found out that Zaxxon firmware .zip file is not easily foundable/reachable neither from main OP page nor from boards menu as it used to be. Could this be improved please?

It is a bit odd that the release thread ( Here ) with the important links and info is in the 'Software news' area rather than in the new 'Pandora OS' area where it should probably be pinned to the top while it remains current.

EDIT: 24 hours later and the magic forum elves have been busy, the current firmware release thread is now headlining the Pandora OS section