PINE64
Wifi Troubles - Printable Version

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+--- Thread: Wifi Troubles (/showthread.php?tid=13611)

Pages: 1 2

Wifi Troubles - IDEFK - 04-11-2021

I am new to Linux and computers in general. I have a Pinebook Pro ARM Manjaro with a plasma system j believe but I can't connect to the wifi. My killswitch Is good and I can see my wifi I can connect to it I type in password but then it tells me it's deactivated and can't find the device. I've asked Reddit and other places but there's nothing. Also it says waln0 no secrets were provided. Sorry if I don't know much I was handed this computer down and need it for courses.

RE: Wifi Troubles - calinb - 05-06-2021

(04-11-2021, 07:40 AM)IDEFK Wrote: I am new to Linux and computers in general. I have a Pinebook Pro ARM Manjaro with a plasma system j believe but I can't connect to the wifi. My killswitch Is good and I can see my wifi I can connect to it I type in password but then it tells me it's deactivated and can't find the device. I've asked Reddit and other places but there's nothing. Also it says waln0 no secrets were provided. Sorry if I don't know much I was handed this computer down and need it for courses.
Hopefully it's not this Pinephone bug. See my post down this thread a bit:

https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=12685&highlight=wifi

I just got my Pinebook Pro today and I've only connected to open wifi hotspots so far. I'll let you know when I attempt to connect to the secured channel on my home router. I've owned countless computers since even before they were called "PCs" (they were called "microcomputers" back in the day} and I'm very impressed with my new Pinebook so far. I've had netbooks, Chromebooks and MacBooks too (all ran Linuux or dual boot).

RE: Wifi Troubles - calinb - 05-06-2021

It's very disappointingl but my new Pinebook Pro has the same wifi bug as my Pinehone. I can only connect to my home wifi as an open ("guest") network. Neither device  can connect using WPA 2-[PSK].

I've run numerous Pinephone Linux distros on my Pinephone and none of them worked with my Netgear WNDR3700V4 on either 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz with the Pine Bluetooth off as a precaution. I don't have high hopes for something other than the factory Manjaro OS either.

RE: Wifi Troubles - KC9UDX - 05-06-2021

Don't blame the hardware; this must be a software issue. If you can connect without a password but not with, it must be software, or bad access point configuration.

I'll keep my opinions about Manjaro to myself, but I'll say that one of the really nice things about the PBP is that it's pretty operating system "agnostic". You can try out any of a large number of other ready-to-go operating systems on micro SD in minutes.

RE: Wifi Troubles - calinb - 05-06-2021

(05-06-2021, 08:08 PM)KC9UDX Wrote: Don't blame the hardware; this must be a software issue.  If you can connect without a password but not with, it must be software, or bad access point configuration.

I'll keep my opinions about Manjaro to myself, but I'll say that one of the really nice things about the PBP is that it's pretty operating system "agnostic".  You can try out any of a large number of other ready-to-go operating systems on micro SD in minutes.

I've had literally dozens of devices connected to this router over the years and my two Pine devices are the only ones that don't work properly. I'm not the only user having trouble using WPA2 either.

I don't exactly blame the hardware but networking chips are notorious for being some of the worst for not disclosing adequate design docs to open source developers. Some of the disclosures may be critical or maybe even just helpful for handling encryption/decryption properly. Similarly, the Pine team is presently reverse engineering the micro-code for the cellular modem in the Pinephone in order to replace the closed source blob with open source code.

So my suspicion is the problem is caused by a lack of disclosure about the wifi NIC/radio hardware which results in firmware/software bugs. In the past, there were 5GHz chipsets that would only run 2.4GHz mode under Linux for exactly this reason. This might still be the case with some chips.

RE: Wifi Troubles - KC9UDX - 05-07-2021

If you can't connect on the same band that you can connect to as "guest" then it's a operating system-or-after problem on the PBP, or bad configuration at the access point. It won't be hard to narrow down. It cannot be the hardware or firmware.

RE: Wifi Troubles - calinb - 05-07-2021

(05-07-2021, 01:34 AM)KC9UDX Wrote: If you can't connect on the same band that you can connect to as "guest" then it's a operating system-or-after problem on the PBP, or bad configuration at the access point. It won't be hard to narrow down. It cannot be the hardware or firmware.
Sorry I meant to say kernel module or driver (aarch) rather than firmware. In any case, several people are reporting what I think is the same problem dating my from first post late last year and no one has found a solution yet. Unlike some overblown security issues, this one really is a bad one (the necessity to run a wifi network in the clear)!

RE: Wifi Troubles - line72 - 05-07-2021

What version of the ap6256-firmware do you have installed?


Code:
pacman -Q ap6256-firmware



I found that upgrading to ap6256-firmware-2020.02-1 broke wifi for me, and I had to downgrade back to 2020.01-1 and lock it!

RE: Wifi Troubles - calinb - 05-07-2021

(05-07-2021, 06:02 AM)line72 Wrote: What version of the ap6256-firmware do you have installed?


Code:
pacman -Q ap6256-firmware


ap6256-firmware 2020.02-5

I found that upgrading to ap6256-firmware-2020.02-1 broke wifi for me, and I had to downgrade back to 2020.01-1 and lock it!

I have ap6256-firmware 2020.02-5

Did it break connections to networks in the clear too?

Thanks!

RE: Wifi Troubles - calinb - 05-07-2021

This Manjaro user got WPA2 authentication only after he installed DD-WRT firmware on his wifi router. He admits that DD-WRT drops connections with his router though.

https://forum.manjaro.org/t/pinephone-cant-connect-to-wifi/35556

I've long known about DD-WRT and have even considered trying it in the past, but I really don't have time to resort to bringing it up on my Netgear WNDR3700v4 and putting the functionality of my home network in jeopardy right now, though, IIRC, my router is supported.

https://dd-wrt.com/site/