Raspberry Pi Zero W can't connect to wifi

Question

I have been trying to setup a raspberry pi 0w to connect to my access point but I can't get it to connect. The first thing I did was to enable USB ethernet and make the ssh file so I can connect to it over SSH, I then used raspi-config to setup WiFi. After this, the RPi didn't have an IP under wlan0 as I expected. I then tried to use a wpa-supplicant file with my wifi password and SSID:

ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1
country=GB
network={
 ssid="SSID"
 psk="pass"
 key_mgmt=WPA-PSK 
}

This didn't work after a reboot and using ifdown wlan0 && ifup wlan0 didn't work either. I then removed the usb ethernet config changes on the SD card but still had no luck. After adding them back in and then changing the indentation to 0 spaces, 4 spaces, 1 space and a tab it still didn't work. I honestly I have no idea what I'm doing wrong.

SSID is correct
Country is correct
Password is correct
Band is correct (2.4GHz)
Line endings are correct

After reading this post: Raspi doesn't connect with wifi anymore. What am I doing wrong?

I followed the steps to manually start wpa_supplicant (sudo wpa_supplicant -c /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf -i wlan0) and all I am getting is a status_code 16 error 4 times then an auth_faliures=1 error. I know for certain the password is correct. I really have no idea what to do next.

To exclude the obvious: Does GB match your country? Does wpa_cli -i wlan0 scan (wait a few seconds then) wpa_cli -i wlan0 scan_results show networks? — FelixJN, Jan 18 '21 at 14:35
GB matches my country and I remember doing a scan with ifup (I think?) which definitely showed all the networks including the one I want to connect to. — Toffee, Jan 18 '21 at 15:10
What's wrong with “I followed this tutorial” kind of questions? — Milliways, Jan 18 '21 at 22:12
This question is lacking any detail. You mention "enable USB ethernet" without detail and used obsolete commands "ifdown wlan0 && ifup wlan0" . There is no evidence - the bare minimum in ip a; ip r. — Milliways, Jun 20 '21 at 07:21
Verify that capitalization in the SSID name matches exactly what was put in for the ssid="" value. — albinotoad, Feb 10 '22 at 17:50

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 18 '21 at 13:46

0

You probably need to add key_mgmt if you're using WPA:

ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1
country=GB
network={
    ssid="SSID"
    psk="pass"
    key_mgmt=WPA-PSK 
}

answered Jan 18 '21 at 13:46

Joep

111
3

1

I forgot to mention that I've already tried that. No luck. – Toffee Jan 18 '21 at 14:12

jesus2099 · Answer 2 · 2021-01-20T13:09:32.143

0

Raspberry Pi cannot connect to some Wi-Fi routers.

It's a fact.

For example, my Raspberry Pi 3B and 3B+ cannot connect to my Linksys WAG200G although:

These Rpi can connect to all other Wi-Fi I have (2 smartphone access points, main ISP router, friend routers), and,
All other Wi-Fi enabled devices I have (2 smartphones, 2 company laptops, Nintendo Switch, Sony PlayStation 3, Pioneer Blu-ray player, iPad 3, all friend smartphones, etc.) can connect to the Linksys WAG200G.

I had to plug RPi to WAG200G with an Ethernet cable.

Try to access some other WIFI (smartphone access point, anything) to see if your problem is only with a specific router, like me.

edited Jan 20 '21 at 13:09

answered Jan 20 '21 at 13:04

jesus2099

16
3

This is very weird. My rpi 3 can connect to the WiFi just fine, and I have tried multiple WiFi routers. – Toffee Jan 21 '21 at 14:05
Do you have a 3B or a 3B+? You can use the pinout command to know. I have researched info and it seems that Zero W and 3B models use the same BCM43438 chip for WiFi, while 3B+ model uses a CYW43455. I am not sure and I don't know the specs of these, but it is what I found online. – jesus2099 Jan 22 '21 at 13:44

Raspberry Pi Zero W can't connect to wifi

2 Answers2