Circuit Sword Major Wifi Issues

sygyzy
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Circuit Sword Major Wifi Issues

Post by sygyzy » Sat Mar 31, 2018 12:05 pm

Hi, I just finished my CSO and for the most part, everything seems to be working but I cannot actually use it because onboard wifi is extremely finicky and inconsistent. I put three layers of Kapton tape on the whole wifi module, cut down the four solder points of the USB port, and put a piece of tape on each pair of said solder points

In the last two days, I have only been able to get wifi to connect once. Most of the time I get an X over the wifi icon. I am not sure what that even means. I have also tried using an Edimax (EW-7611ULB) USB wifi dongle, but the Circuit Sword build doesn't detect it. Ironically, if this requires driver/kernel updates to support the dongle, I am stuck since I have no wifi access.

I can't fully test the build (ie sound) because I can't load any roms on it. I also tried not tightening that corner case screw as much as to not put pressure on the wifi chip but it hasn't made a difference. The only time wifi worked, it lasted about 5 minutes then went to the X icon.

Tester mode shows OK for every component and no issues with the display.

Any help would be appreciated.

Here's the snippet from dmesg (Updated April 3): https://pastebin.com/Hzrwq48Y

Here's the full contents of the messages logfile - https://pastebin.com/qx3iRmb6 (old)
New logfile April 3 - https://pastebin.com/LGfRqAqb

Additional info: Things seem to work fine if I run the system with the halves separated. Like Kite has said before, there seems to be problems with the USB port putting pressure on the wifi module. I don't know what to do about this because I've already trimmed down the solder points on the back of the USB port. I also put multiple layers of Kapton. I've taken this thing apart so many times now. Currently, the latest behavior is instead of having an X over the Wifi icon, it's an exclamation mark, as if it is active but cannot connect. (I have wpa_supplicant.conf stored on /boot). When I try to go to wifi settings it shows only two wifi hotspots: empty and Hidden ESSID. I have over a dozen around me. So it seems like putting the two halves together causes it to either misbehave or completely disable the wifi chip altogether. Could this be a shielding issue, having it so close to the USB port? Should I keep layering on the kapton tape?

Edit: I spoke too soon. I tried it again with the two halves separated and this time I got the exclamation mark again. :(

Other things I have tried: Updating wifi locale, country locale, and keyboard localization. I also bought a new Edimax wifi adatper that is Raspberry Pi compatible out of the box. I also added country to my wpa_supplicant file. None of this worked.
Last edited by sygyzy on Tue Apr 03, 2018 10:41 am, edited 2 times in total.

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kite
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Re: Circuit Sword Major Wifi Issues

Post by kite » Tue Apr 03, 2018 3:13 am

I have replied via your email, nothing suspicious in logs, seems like a hardware issue.

Only thing to recommend is to literally place it on top of router (in case it is a signal issue).

Plug the USB adapter in via a USB hub so you can also use a keyboard. You will need to make sure 'wifi is enabled' via the button combo, because when 'disabled' it does an rfkill which would also stop the USB ones.
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Re: Circuit Sword Major Wifi Issues

Post by sygyzy » Tue Apr 03, 2018 11:13 am

Hi, thanks for the reply. I realized the logs were outdated (before I started using a USB hub and before I got the new USB wifi adapter). I've updated both the dmsg and messages logs. In this scenario, I disabled the onboard wifi by editing config.txt and am using a USB hub with keyboard dongle and USB wifi dongle.

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Re: Circuit Sword Major Wifi Issues

Post by cobramike » Fri Apr 13, 2018 2:50 am

Kite dont get me wrong. But after reader here on the forums. More people are having Wifi Problems. Whats going on. My wifi was working befor after Update not anny more. Also i reverted back to the original firmware. and its stil not working.. Can you please debug this.
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Re: Circuit Sword Major Wifi Issues

Post by kite » Mon Apr 16, 2018 8:28 am

Hi all, the wifi is using the RTL8723BS, which isn't supported by the offical pi firmware as of 3-4 months ago, i need to re-look in to this with Jesse/stretch. The wifi driver has been compiled by me from the staging area. Random drop outs and issues of that nature are a product of these kind of things.. I'm going to try and improve on these things, as a lot of tablets, HDMI sticks, etc all use this same wifi chipset so it CAN be reliable!

USB wifi will work, as long as you have the wifi button combo enabled (because disabling does an rfkill which would also disable usb wifi). The icon *might* update to reflect this, but try anyway even if it doesn't.

For wifi issues, look in /var/log/messages for hints and google anything that looks bad. you can do "dmesg > msg.txt" to be able to read dmesg in an easier way..
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Re: Circuit Sword Major Wifi Issues

Post by cobramike » Tue Apr 17, 2018 6:33 am

Thanks i'll wait for the new fix. Thanks for fixing this. Ad the moment i am ussing the usb wifi.
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Re: Circuit Sword Major Wifi Issues

Post by kite » Sun Jun 03, 2018 1:38 pm

Hey, I've uploaded a new release :) can you please try flashing that to an SD and trying again?
https://github.com/kiteretro/Circuit-Sw ... tag/v1.2.0
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Re: Circuit Sword Major Wifi Issues

Post by goodBEan » Mon Jun 04, 2018 12:48 pm

Guessing this is the how to for current installs.


https://github.com/kiteretro/Circuit-Sw ... stallation

plugin usb ethernet adapter
Enable WIFI and SSH (use USB wifi if onboard not detected)
go to terminal
git clone https://github.com/kiteretro/Circuit-Sword
cd Circuit-Sword
chmod +x update.sh install.sh
sudo ./install.sh YES
reboot

sygyzy
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Re: Circuit Sword Major Wifi Issues

Post by sygyzy » Tue Jun 05, 2018 12:29 am

kite wrote:
Sun Jun 03, 2018 1:38 pm
Hey, I've uploaded a new release :) can you please try flashing that to an SD and trying again?
https://github.com/kiteretro/Circuit-Sw ... tag/v1.2.0
Ooh yes. I know you have instructions for updating an existing install. Is there any reason to opt for the clean install? Are you confident that the changes in the new version would come over if we follow the update instructions?

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Re: Circuit Sword Major Wifi Issues

Post by kite » Tue Jun 05, 2018 2:04 am

This update will update to raspberry pi stretch, which is non up-gradable to. If that makes sense.. it's a big change to the pi base OS! I'll make it clearer on the release notes :)
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