My Christmas RPi is rockin, my Wi-Pi..not so much. What am I doing wrong....

auto wlan0

iface wlan0 inet dhcp

wpa-ssid Le-Mars

wpa-psk #############   (this was the actual password)

You need to use inverted commas like so:

auto wlan0

iface wlan0 inet dhcp

wpa-ssid "Le-Mars"

wpa-psk "#############"

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the reply Fergus.

I put double quotation marks around the ssid and the passkey as you suggested and saved and then rebooted. Unfortunatly there was no difference in the outcome. The RPi still didn't have access to the network. I checked the interfaces file to make sure that I had indeed saved the file correctly and it was as I had edited it. Then I had a thought, I'll go into Xwindows and see if I can access the WiPi via the application on the desktop. Sure enough I was able to do a scan of the local access points and I found mine. Then I selected it and typed in my passkey and 'bingo', network access and the little blue light on the WiPi was mine. The browsers worked and everything. Then I exited out of Xwindows and the network access persisted as demonstrated by pinging the router from the command line. So then I rebooted and sure enough, the WiPi initialized immediatly and I was linked to my access point. So I checked the interfaces file and it was exactly as I had left it before going into Xwindows. In fact just as a test I purposely broke the SSid and Psk entries in the Wlan0 section and rebooted. It made no difference. The RPi connected to my access point without a problem. Then I deleted the whole Wlan0 entry as shown in the install PDF. Obviously the RPi/Wheezy is not looking in the interfaces file for it's login information.

So now I have two questions for the engineers at Element 14;

1, what did the Xwindows WiFi application modify (because it wasn't the interfaces file) to enable the WiPi to work on the latest version of the RPi/Wheezy.

2, Did anybody at Element14 actually tested the instructions PDF on the E14 website regarding the WiPi and the installation to the RPi because quite obviously they don't work, and don't get me started on the instructions that come in the E14 WiPi branded box.Those caused me to have to reflash my SD card because they wrecked the OS (not happy. Wasted an afternoon on this foolishness).

I suspect that the instructions to install the WiPi on the current RPi are actually really simple.

1, Use the latest version of Wheezy (if you don't you're on your own)

2, Plug in the WiPi to the Raspberry Pi

3, power up the RPi, log in and type 'startx'

4, Doubleclick on 'WiFi Config'

5, click on the Scan button

6, Enter your passkey for your respective network security (probably WPA)

7, click on the Close button.

8, click on the Connect button.

9, close the application.

Thats it. You should see a blue light on the WiPi and you should be connected to your network.

Trust me Element14, I really appreciate that the the WiPi is a staggeringly cheap product and offers excellent value for money. But the RPi is being sold to legions of noobs (even more nooby than me) and they are going to be frustrated as hell with this simple stuff. They will give up and stick the RPi in the drawer and you won't sell them tons more stuff for their little electric pal who's fun to be with.

I'm glad you got it working.  Networking is often tricky and there are so many layers and protocols that sometimes it's hard to tell why something worked.  I'm speaking as someone who has implemented networking hardware and software -- but not wireless.

At some point I may get a WiPi for my RasPi/Lapdock.  Quick question: is your WiPi plugged into a RasPi USB port or a Lapdock USB port?

Thanks!

It's plugged directly into the RPi top USB slot, and it works perfectly. I read on another board that you don't want to plug the WiFi dongle into a hub and that it only works reliably if it's directly connected to the RPi. I have to say I am gobsmacked at how cool the Atrix lapdock works with the RPi. How it works out the correct screen res I do not know. It will be a bit of a giggle to take over the Lapdock/RPi and sit in Starbucks on battery power just like all the big kids do....

Paul Bryant wrote:

 

... How it works out the correct screen res I do not know...

HDMI has an I2C link (signals SCL and SDA).  The HDMI generator asks the monitor what resolutions it supports and the monitor returns a list.  I think Lapdock only returns 1366 x 768.

The only thing I had to do manually was to set "disable_overscan=1" in config.txt to use all the pixels.  If you have wide black bands around the used part of the screen you may want to try this.

Ahh, so that's how. Nope, no big black bands. It figured it out all on it's own. Maybe it's because it's got a UK keyboard.....

Hello Paul

I too have invested in a WiPi and thought I'd got things working perfectly the other night.

I've also implemented some VNC Software on my Pi and Windows7 Laptop, with the intention of being able to connect wirelessly once the Pi has booted up.

Located the Pi elsewhere in the House this evening, plugged it in and it's not connecting to my Hub at all !!!!

I don't have a Monitor readily available at that location so can't check what might be going wrong but wondered if you might have worked out if removing the entries in the Interfaces File really does enable it to connect properly at Bootup, once the initial setup in the Wireless Config has been done properly ?

Regards

Andy

Hi Andy,

all I can do is tell you what works for my RasPi running Raspbian 2012-12-16 Wheezy. WiFI Config writes to a file called wpa_supplicant.conf and once my Wifi parameters were written to this file my RasPi accessed my router from that moment on including subsequent reboots. The interfaces file appeared to have no effect on the WiPi and so I deleted the entries that the WiPi install instructions specified. Apparently this version Rasbian has the drivers for this dongle preloaded.

Here is my copy of wpa_supplicant.conf as written/created by WiFi Config (BTW, I've overwritten the PSK with '*' (Yep, Debian keeps WiFi passkeys in plaintext. Very secure)).

ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev

update_config=1

network={

     ssid="Le-Mars"

     psk="************"

     proto=WPA

     key_mgmt=WPA-PSK

     pairwise=TKIP

     group=TKIP WEP104 WEP40

     auth_alg=OPEN

}

network={

     ssid="Le-Mars"

     psk="************"

     proto=WPA

     key_mgmt=WPA-PSK

     pairwise=TKIP

     auth_alg=OPEN

}

All I know is that once this file was written, all my WiFi networking issues went away. Now bear in mind, I'm a noob and this file apparently can really screw up your install if it's syntax is even a teeny bit wrong. I strongly suggest you let WiFi config do the heavy lifting as far as writing this file is concerned unless your a hardcore Linux wrangler.

BTW on the subject of portable monitors I got a Motorola Atrix lapdock, cables from Amazon and made up the mutant cable as shown by Adafruit (apparently this is unecissary on the latest RasPi). It works like a dream with the benefit that the RasPi is battery portable, although the Lego RasPi case stands out a bit at Starbucks .

regards,

Paul.

Thanks very much for the feedback Paul.

I think I caused myself a problem as it happens, as I noticed the WiPi Blue light wasn't on after a reboot and couldn't see the Pi via my Wireless Hub management console either.

I'd plugged in a separate Wireless Dongle that I intend to use for a Wireless Sensor Network I intend to introduce and hadn't realised the Pi O/S would recognise it immediately at boot-up and introduce some Config changes to accommodate that additional Peripheral.

Once I removed that and rebooted again the WiPi was recognised correctly by the Pi and the Pi appeared in my Wireless Hub management console.

As I've also deployed UltraVNC to both the Pi and my Windows7 Laptop, I suspect something about VNC on the Pi has also been corrupted/reconfigured as I still cannot connect to the Pi from the Laptop.

I will have to bring everything back downstairs tomorrow evening, connect the Pi to my LCD TV via the HDMI Port and check everything again to restore things I think.

It's all good fun though and infact this aspect of trial and error will contribute positively to a Project I have planned for one of my Degree Modules - I'm currently getting ahead with things before my Module starts in late January and will be able to document my experiences retrospectively.

Paul, et al:

   I struggled with this one for days and I thought I was home free after seeing Paul's 9 steps to WiPi WiFi bliss. Unfortunately the darn thing would try to connect a few times and then fail. I finally resorted to manual configuration by bypassing the WiFi Config app entirely:

http://www.raspberrypi-tutorials.co.uk/set-raspberry-pi-wireless-network/  (starting mid-page at: $ sudo nano /etc/wpa.config)

I had some issues typing in my WPA key, as I have some @ symbols included. Whenever I tried to type the @ symbol I got quotes ", but I soon figured out that trying to type the quotes " would give me @.

That did the trick for me, but I was still intrigued (disappointed/ticked off) that the WiFi config app didn't work like it should. I came back to this thread and saw Paul's post about the wpa_supplicant.conf file, so I went back in to take a look at mine. I noticed that my psk= line had " where the @ should be. I was able to change it using my newly found key mapping workaround. I then put 2 and 2 together and realized that the WiFi config app hides the key when you type it in, so all you see is :*************. I realized that the WiFi config wasn't able to connect to my wireless network because it was recording the wrong password.

I then found a post that shows you that the default mapping is for UK and they (my esteemed colleagues from across the pond) have the @ and " mappings reversed. Here's the link to remap your keyboard to US:

http://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/1042/why-is-my-symbol-not-working  (don't forget to reboot to make the change stick!)

I went back and reburned a fresh Wheezy image, changed the default keyboard to "us," rebooted, and then followed Paul's 9 steps. Worked like a charm.

Thanks,

BillyD