Zero 2w wireless stoppedworking

Support
1

A Recently purchased pi zero 2 W wireless stopped working.

The on board wifi is no longer seen.

it was ok when it first arrived, blue tooth still ok, it recognise a usb wireless adaptor, the sd card works in another zero WH.

Has anyone had the same problem?

2

Humour me for a moment, please. Have you moved it?

The Wi-Fi on the Zero2 has a notoriously diminished Wi-Fi reception. Placed at just the wrong location of my desk and mine drops off the network.

When you say the Wi-Fi is no longer seen, can you elaborate please? What is the output of ‘ipconfig’ in a terminal window?

Hope your having a happy new year!

Edit: Poor grimmer. :o(

3

Hi
Thanks for replying
ifconfig gives me the following output:

lo: flags=73<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING> mtu 65536
inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 255.0.0.0
inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128 scopeid 0x10
loop txqueuelen 1000 (Local Loopback)
RX packets 5 bytes 284 (284.0 B)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 5 bytes 284 (284.0 B)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0

It was working fine for a few days’

4

Okay, thanks. So we can see there that you have your local loop. The 127.0.0.1 part.
Please try the following commands in a terminal.

Stop your WiFi service with:
sudo ifdown wlan0
(may need to enter your password)

Restart it again with:
sudo ifup wlan0
(may need to enter your password)

This should restart your Wi-Fi. Try using the ifconfig command again to confirm your network adapters.
The output should have the first part and then something that looks like this:

wlan0: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
       inet 192.168.0.xx  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 192.168.0.xxx
       inet6 xxxx::xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>
       ether xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
       RX packets 96  bytes 10607 (10.3 KiB)
       RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
       TX packets 121  bytes 19995 (19.5 KiB)
       TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

Ignore the “xx” parts, that’s just for security at my end. As mentioned previously, relocate your Zero2W close to your WiFi access point and restart it. Or use the commands above. It may automagically reappear. If not let the forum know the output of ifconfig again. Either me or another can help you solve this. :o)

5

Hi

Any command regarding wlan0 returns a unknown interface wlan0.

the zero is about 12 inches away from my WIFI access point, this is on my working area for all my projects.

thanks

6

Okay, thanks. We need to check though methodically. We can cross those off the list.
A few things to check that may be causing the issue:
Is there a valid wpa_supplicant.conf, with the correct details for your network?
Do you have another micro SD card that we could use with a fresh flash PiOS installed, to check if the WiFi component has failed?

7

Good morning

wpa_supplicant.conf is correct.

used a fresh sd card for the Pios, still the same problem.

used an external wireless adapter and it is working, removed the wireless adaptor and it fails to detect the on board wireless.

I really think the WIFI component on board has failed.

Thanks

8

Okay, thanks. Now we’ve gone through those steps. I’d concur that the Wi-Fi module may have failed. :o( Are you able to contact the vendor. Guessing it’s from Pimoroni, as you’re posting here.

If you were not aware the support/returns FAQ is here. Shoot them and email on sales@pimoroni.com. Probably your best next step.

They are very good. I’m not sure on the availability of the Zero2W currently. There may not be another one available if an exchange is deemed appropriate.

1 Like
9

Hi

Thanks for your help.

I m in contact with Pimoroni to try and solve the problem,i.e a replacement.

I m grateful to you to try to help.

have a good new year

Valerio

1 Like