Banging my head against WiFi

[jubishop]

I have http://www.amazon.com/Edimax-EW-7811Un-Adapter-Raspberry-Supports/dp/B003MTTJOY and I also have http://www.adafruit.com/products/814 and I'd trade a kidney to get either of the damn things working.

when i run `lsusb` they both seem to use the same driver:

root@beaglebone:~# lsusb

Bus 001 Device 002: ID 7392:7811 Edimax Technology Co., Ltd EW-7811Un 802.11n Wireless Adapter [Realtek RTL8188CUS]

my logical device is wlan0.  my etc/network/interface lines are:

auto wlan0

allow-hotplug wlan0

iface wlan0 inet dhcp

    wpa-ssid [network name here]

    wpa-psk [password here]

when i fire it up via ifup or boot, ifconfig reports:

wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 80:1f:02:ee:68:ef  

          inet addr:10.0.0.33  Bcast:10.0.0.255  Mask:255.255.255.0

          inet6 addr: 2601:8:a580:8d2:821f:2ff:feee:68ef/64 Scope:Global

          inet6 addr: fe80::821f:2ff:feee:68ef/64 Scope:Link

          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1

          RX packets:337 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0

          TX packets:355 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0

          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 

          RX bytes:41326 (40.3 KiB)  TX bytes:42056 (41.0 KiB)

which you'd think would be good!  my router hands out 10.0.0.* addresses and 10.0.0.33 looks good to me.

usually at this point i can get one or two pings in, maybe 3, but that's it.  i also notice after a reboot i usually can't get any pings in to the same url, but i can get a ping or two to a different url. then i'm totally fucked.

so, i know i'm getting online fine, i can wget the google homepage and view it successfully, but shortly thereafter i'm done.

i've tried adding a bund of other lines to my interface file, such as wireless-rate auto, and wireless-channel 1 (or 11...i have two routers one on channel 1, one on channel 11, but neither works any better.

i tried moving my wpa info to a wpa_supplicant.conf file per other directions, but same result.  pretty sure it's the same thing, just different config files.

this is a brand new beagle bone black i just got from adafruit yesterday.  it is running debian 7 wheezy.  

totally stumped.  :(  any help would be immensely appreciated.

[jubishop]

here's the info on one of my routers from iwlist wlan scan:

          Cell 02 - Address: 80:EA:96:EE:C9:F0

                    Channel:11

                    Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)

                    Quality=51/70  Signal level=-59 dBm  

                    Encryption key:on

                    ESSID:"AirportExtreme"

                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s

                              24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s

                    Bit Rates:6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s

                    Mode:Master

                    Extra:tsf=000000026dcee82c

                    Extra: Last beacon: 70ms ago

                    IE: Unknown: 000E416972706F727445787472656D65

                    IE: Unknown: 010882848B962430486C

                    IE: Unknown: 03010B

                    IE: Unknown: 0706555320010B1E

                    IE: Unknown: 200100

                    IE: Unknown: 23021400

                    IE: Unknown: 2A0100

                    IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1

                        Group Cipher : CCMP

                        Pairwise Ciphers (1) : CCMP

                        Authentication Suites (1) : PSK

                    IE: Unknown: 32040C121860

                    IE: Unknown: 2D1AAD1917FFFFFF0000000000000000000000000000000000000000

                    IE: Unknown: 3D160B081100000000000000000000000000000000000000

                    IE: Unknown: 7F080000000000000040

                    IE: Unknown: DD0B0017F20100010100000007

                    IE: Unknown: DD0700039301780320

                    IE: Unknown: DD0E0017F2070001010680EA96EEC9F1

                    IE: Unknown: DD090010180200001C0000

                    IE: Unknown: DD180050F2020101800003A4000027A4000042435E0062322F00

                    IE: Unknown: 46050200010000

[jubishop]

here's the alternative wpa_supplicant.conf setup i've also tried, but works no better.

allow-hotplug ra0
iface ra0 inet manual
  wpa-roam /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
iface default inet dhcp

then in /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf :

ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1
network={
 ssid="IPutMySSIDHere"
 scan_ssid=1
 psk="PasswordHere"
 proto=RSN
 key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
 pairwise=CCMP
 auth_alg=OPEN
}

[jubishop]

if i ping Facebook.com for a long time, here's my ridiculously sad stats:

214 packets transmitted, 44 received, +12 errors, 79% packet loss, time 1055425ms

rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 52.923/11248.510/25100.876/6695.707 ms, pipe 19

hopefully this goes without saying, but normally on my own machine i get much much better results.

[William Hermans]

Just a thought, but changing the foreground and background colors the way you're doing is terribly distracting. As it is I can not even read the text as it screws with my eyes.

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[John Syn]

From: jubishop <jubi...@gmail.com>
Reply-To: "beagl...@googlegroups.com" <beagl...@googlegroups.com>
Date: Thursday, July 3, 2014 at 5:31 PM
To: "beagl...@googlegroups.com" <beagl...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [beagleboard] Banging my head against WiFi

I have http://www.amazon.com/Edimax-EW-7811Un-Adapter-Raspberry-Supports/dp/B003MTTJOY and I also have http://www.adafruit.com/products/814 and I'd trade a kidney to get either of the damn things working.

Add a short USB cable between the WiFi adapter and the BBB and see if that works better for you.

Regards,

John

[Don deJuan]

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My guess is its power related.

[William Hermans]

It could possibly be power related but I do not think so. What John said is a known issue, and makes sense in the context of 73% packet loss.

[Don deJuan]

Well one of the sites the OP links to what he bought, states power is a known issue hence my comment. Its actually in bold. Also power is pretty common in regards to dropped packets as well.

[Don deJuan]

On 07/03/2014 10:16 PM, William Hermans wrote:

If using with a Beagle Bone: Because of the high power required by WiFi, a 5V 2A power adapter is required to power both the Bone and WiFi. Flaky behavior and crashes may result if this is not followed! We have a tutorial for using this module with the Beagle Bone!

If using with a Raspberry Pi: The latest Wheezy distributions support this module out-of-the-box. Also, the Adafruit Occidentalis distribution has support built in. Check out our detailed tutorial for how to set up WiFi networking on the Pi You may find that you need to have a powered hub to use this adapter, so if you're having power flakiness with your Pi, try a hub!

The other is also stated as "requiring high power" from a quick google search as well.

[Justin Bishop]

 I'm using the recommended power cable from adafruit that supplies a consistent 2amps at 5v..

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[Justin Bishop]

I'll try a dongle but that is a real problem for me because I'm trying to make a portable controller with the battery cape so the wifi dongle needs to be minimum.  Are there any usb miniature connectors known to work without a dongle?  I'd be happy to buy and try another...

Again thanks for all the help!

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[Robert Nelson]

On Fri, Jul 4, 2014 at 10:24 AM, Justin Bishop <jubi...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I'll try a dongle but that is a real problem for me because I'm trying to
> make a portable controller with the battery cape so the wifi dongle needs to
> be minimum. Are there any usb miniature connectors known to work without a
> dongle? I'd be happy to buy and try another...

As a quick test, as we've had a lot of changes since the official
debian image came out:

cd /opt/scripts/tools/
git pull
sudo ./update_kernel.sh

(sudo reboot)

Regards,

--
Robert Nelson
http://www.rcn-ee.com/

[William Hermans]

Justine, well it is a known issue discussed a few times on these forums. If you search these group thoroughly, you'll find Robert Nelson talking about which devices work the best on Linux, and I do believe he even mentions some that do not require dongles.

This is why I have a problem with adafruit's stuff. Realtek networking devices have been known to be flaky in Linux for years, yet this is what adafruit sells ? Atheros devices I think is what Robert says works best in Linux on ARM, but feel free to double check yourself.

[jubishop]

Just want to thank everyone here for their help, and offer a followup with my discovered solution in case anybody else will find it useful.

I tried 4 different wifi adapters, including Edimax, the one from Adafruit, and D-Link Wireless N150.  The Edimax and Adafruit ones were identified by the operating system but never worked consistently.  The D-Link Wireless N150 was not even recognized.

Here's the winner:

http://www.amazon.com/KEEBOX-W150NUIEEE-Wireless-N-150-Adapter/dp/B004FM1X1O/

My Debian 7 Wheezy Beaglebone Black from Adafruit RevC recognized this KEEBOX without any drivers or modifications needed.  I just needed a few lines in /etc/network/interfaces which look like this:

auto wlan0

allow-hotplug wlan0

iface wlan0 inet dhcp

    wpa-ssid PUTYOURNETWORKNAMEHERE

    wpa-psk PUTYOURPASSWORDHERE

this is all that's needed for my generic comcast router.  best of luck and happy hacking!

[jubishop]

welp i take it back.  that worked until i restarted, now it doesn't recognize it at all anymore.  funny.  linux may be free.  but if i value my time at all, it's cost me so much more than windows or mac ever will, heh.

[Don deJuan]

On 07/06/2014 04:00 PM, jubishop wrote:

welp i take it back.  that worked until i restarted, now it doesn't recognize it at all anymore.  funny.  linux may be free.  but if i value my time at all, it's cost me so much more than windows or mac ever will, heh.

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Or maybe just PEBKAC ?

[jubishop]

yep linux people have been telling me it's been PEBKAC since i first installed it in 1997.  finally abandoned it when osx came out.  only came back because i want to use these tiny boards but now i recall why i hated it in the first place.

[jubishop]

that's a pretty shitty response, but it's par for the course in the linux community i suppose.  while i haven't used linux on my own machine in over a decade i've worked on it extensively in my jobs as a software engineer, most recently at Facebook.  i don't think, reasonably speaking, the problem is PEBKAC.

where is there any guide of any sort on how to set up wifi on a beagle bone black?  i'll install any distro, new or old, and i'll use any wifi dongle that is reasonably small.  i'll buy it if i don't have it. just anything that starts from scratch and actually consistently works.  not "well try this if this doesn't work. try updating the kernel. try this config file." endless sysadmin shit and all guesses.  there should be a consistent, from scratch, guide to doing this.  if i can eventually find a reproducible approach i'll write it up myself.

[Robert Nelson]

Well, replace "allow-hotplug" with "auto" and it should work on reboot..

[jubishop]

thanks Robert,

the auto line is actually also there on my post, right above the allow-hotplug.  i thought maybe they didn't play well together so i've also tried just one and just the other.

it's currently working again but i'm not sure why this time it started up and for now i think i'll just abuse the fact that linux normally doesn't reboot to avoid this issue for as long as possible.  :)

i've ordered the UWN100 adapter that seems more widely recommended (altho mostly for angstrom from what i read).  i'm hoping maybe that works better.

i may be accidentally identifying correlation where there's only randomness but this last time i got it recognized by booting to the edimax (which it always recognizes upon boot but never actually gets many packets through), and then pulling it out and using the allow-hotplug option to pop the KEEBOX in, and then it got recognized and actually works consistently.  that's a silly solution, but since this is just a device for my own uses, i'll stick with it if it works.

[Robert Nelson]

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
wpa-ssid PUTYOURNETWORKNAMEHERE
wpa-psk PUTYOURPASSWORDHERE

Btw, "wpa-psk" isn't your ssid' password, it's the text generated from:

wpa_passphrase SSID PASSWORD

network={
ssid="SSID"
#psk="PASSWORD"
psk=c2161655c6ba444d8df94cbbf4e9c5c4c61fc37702b9c66ed37aee1545a5a333
}

Not sure which you used, but just encase, you used your wifi's password...

[William Hermans]

Also . . .

For a "mere" 2-3 more $'s you can get a WiFi dongle that'll work out
of the box without custom non-mainline drivers that do not always
work.

Atheros (atk9) based modules on amazon...
tl-wn721n
tl-wn722n

Just search "wifi" in this group, for all the problems with those
'tiny' wifi adapters...

Regards,

As posted by Robert many moons again in this very group Second time I've pasted it.

Justine, I realize you're probably very frustrated, but you really can not blame the community. Well you could, but it wont get you very far. I'll also agree that one response you got was pretty shitty, but in the end, this is your own problem. I've also been using Debian ( Linux ) for a very long time( longer than you actually ). One thing I've picked up over the years is you do *not* randomly buy hardware and expect Debian to "just work". Instead, you research the hardware needed to run Debian on.

[Justin Bishop]

Sorry, but I'm trying to make a handheld device so the miniaturization factor is important.  A dangling dongle would ruin its usefulness.

Sent from my iPhone

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[William Hermans]

So use duct tape and tape it to the side of the case ? Yeah,I am not being serious.

From memory the ones mentioned by Robert many moons *AGO*( heh ) were a bit longer than those tiny ones you've been playing with, But if you get that one working then this conversation is probably moot.

[Robert Nelson]

On Sun, Jul 6, 2014 at 7:23 PM, Justin Bishop <jubi...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Sorry, but I'm trying to make a handheld device so the miniaturization
> factor is important. A dangling dongle would ruin its usefulness.

Some of these small devices also work better with pm disabled:

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
wireless-power off
wpa-ssid PUTYOURNETWORKNAMEHERE
wpa-psk wpa_passphrase_psk_output

[PaulM]

I too am in the same situation.  I have spent countless hours trying to configure WiFi on, not one, but two BBB - a rev B and a rev C.  I have also tried 3 different Linux distros - Ubuntu, Angstrom, and Debian; 3 different WiFi adapters (same chipset, but different manufactureres - all to no avail.

As a reference point, I was able to get WiFi running on 2 Raspberry Pis in less than 10 minutes from boot up.

On Thursday, July 3, 2014 8:31:02 PM UTC-4, jubishop wrote:

I have http://www.amazon.com/Edimax-EW-7811Un-Adapter-Raspberry-Supports/dp/B003MTTJOY and I also have http://www.adafruit.com/products/814 and I'd trade a kidney to get either of the damn things working.

when i run `lsusb` they both seem to use the same driver:

root@beaglebone:~# lsusb

Bus 001 Device 002: ID 7392:7811 Edimax Technology Co., Ltd EW-7811Un 802.11n Wireless Adapter [Realtek RTL8188CUS]

my logical device is wlan0.  my etc/network/interface lines are:

auto wlan0

allow-hotplug wlan0

iface wlan0 inet dhcp

    wpa-ssid [network name here]

[Robert Nelson]

On Tue, Jul 8, 2014 at 9:37 AM, PaulM <pemo...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I too am in the same situation. I have spent countless hours trying to
> configure WiFi on, not one, but two BBB - a rev B and a rev C. I have also
> tried 3 different Linux distros - Ubuntu, Angstrom, and Debian; 3 different
> WiFi adapters (same chipset, but different manufactureres - all to no avail.
>
> As a reference point, I was able to get WiFi running on 2 Raspberry Pis in
> less than 10 minutes from boot up.

I always enjoy useless complaints..

chipset?
It's one of those small fit in usb wifi devices, it'll have issues
with the board's ground plane. So get a small 3 inch usb extension
cable.

kernel version? uname -r

Did you even try the latest kernel?

cd /opt/scripts/tools/
git pull
sudo ./update_kernel.sh

[Jesse Cobra]

Atheros based dongles have always worked for me. Using one right now for a demo...

Realtek based dongles, I have spent way too much time/days frustrated over these...

The tp link and netgear atheros dongles work great! Put the RTL in the trash!

[Jesse Cobra]

Specifically this model
Tp link tl-wn722n
And netgear wna1100 n150

Both work out of the box... PNP...

[Gerald Coley]

http://www.elinux.org/Beagleboard:BeagleBoneBlack#WIFI_Adapters

Gerald

[jubishop]

i'm still having success with the KEEBOX which is the most minimal on the list of known supported wifi adapters.  i'm curious about the physics of the problem that apparently the dongle needs to be away from the plane of the board, or something?  is there any way to shield the board to prevent this? is there a way to wrap something on the board in shrink wrap, perhaps?  

i'm sure there's a ton of differences between the BBB and Raspberry Pi, but is it known what the key distinction is that causes this ground plane interference with the BBB but not the Raspberry Pi?

[Gerald Coley]

The issue makes the susceptibility of some dongles to interference worse. Some dongles work just fine. It is due to the closeness to the HDMI connector. The HDMI connector is grounded.

Gerald

On Tue, Jul 8, 2014 at 10:50 AM, jubishop <jubi...@gmail.com> wrote:

i'm still having success with the KEEBOX which is the most minimal on the list of known supported wifi adapters.  i'm curious about the physics of the problem that apparently the dongle needs to be away from the plane of the board, or something?  is there any way to shield the board to prevent this? is there a way to wrap something on the board in shrink wrap, perhaps?  

i'm sure there's a ton of differences between the BBB and Raspberry Pi, but is it known what the key distinction is that causes this ground plane interference with the BBB but not the Raspberry Pi?

--

[jubishop]

Ahhh interesting!

So I don't need that HDMI connector for anything.  Is it possible for me to disable it, or very carefully pry it off?

[William Hermans]

Gerald,

So if hdmi ( both audio and video ) are disabled via uEnv.txt. Would this make a difference ?

[Gerald Coley]

It should.

Gerald

[William Hermans]

Ok cool. Thanks Gerald.

Just to add to the discussion. I've used Tiny and cheap ( $.50 ea ) bluetooth  dongles in the past, and they seemed to install / operate fine. Problem was they all had the same MAC address, and I could not find a proper work around. So communicating between two of these was not possible.

I would think that bluetooth would be more of a problem since it is similar frequency, just lower power. But I am not exactly a hardware / radio person.

[pemo...@gmail.com]

"useless complaints"?  Was that really called for?  I was trying to show empathy to what seemed to be a frustrated user.

For a first-time poster to these forums, I hope this is not representative of the level of civility one can expect.

[jubishop]

i thought it was funny that you got called out when really i was waaay more whiny than you.  :)

[Robert Nelson]

On Tue, Jul 8, 2014 at 12:42 PM, jubishop <jubi...@gmail.com> wrote:
> i thought it was funny that you got called out when really i was waaay more
> whiny than you. :)

You had detailed information.. So we knew what chipset and what kernel.

He knew his "chipset" and what "os" but didn't care to tell us any of that. ;)

[jubishop]

that seems reasonable.  thanks for all your thoughtful help Robert!

[John Syn]

From: <pemo...@gmail.com>
Reply-To: "beagl...@googlegroups.com" <beagl...@googlegroups.com>
Date: Tuesday, July 8, 2014 at 9:42 AM
To: "beagl...@googlegroups.com" <beagl...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [beagleboard] Re: Banging my head against WiFi

"useless complaints"?  Was that really called for?  I was trying to show empathy to what seemed to be a frustrated user.

For a first-time poster to these forums, I hope this is not representative of the level of civility one can expect.

Oh, don’t take everything so seriously. Robert has more patience than anyone I know and he has a lot of work on his plate so you need to provide details of your equipment, distro, kernel version, board version, what you have tried, the output of your console log, etc. It doesn’t help to say nothing works. The more details you provide, the quicker someone can respond with a solution. 

Regards,

John

On Tuesday, July 8, 2014 11:13:19 AM UTC-4, RobertCNelson wrote:

On Tue, Jul 8, 2014 at 9:37 AM, PaulM <pemo...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I too am in the same situation.  I have spent countless hours trying to
> configure WiFi on, not one, but two BBB - a rev B and a rev C.  I have also
> tried 3 different Linux distros - Ubuntu, Angstrom, and Debian; 3 different
> WiFi adapters (same chipset, but different manufactureres - all to no avail.
>
> As a reference point, I was able to get WiFi running on 2 Raspberry Pis in
> less than 10 minutes from boot up.

I always enjoy useless complaints..

chipset?
It's one of those small fit in usb wifi devices, it'll have issues
with the board's ground plane. So get a small 3 inch usb extension
cable.

kernel version? uname -r

Did you even try the latest kernel?

cd /opt/scripts/tools/
git pull
sudo ./update_kernel.sh

Regards,

--
Robert Nelson
http://www.rcn-ee.com/

--

[William Hermans]

http://www.wikihow.com/Ask-a-Question-Intelligently

[John Syn]

From: William Hermans <yyr...@gmail.com>
Reply-To: "beagl...@googlegroups.com" <beagl...@googlegroups.com>
Date: Tuesday, July 8, 2014 at 11:36 AM

To: "beagl...@googlegroups.com" <beagl...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [beagleboard] Re: Banging my head against WiFi

http://www.wikihow.com/Ask-a-Question-Intelligently

Also try this one:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/linux/answers/LinuxQuestions_org/How_To_Ask_a_Question

Regards,

John

[pemo...@gmail.com]

Thanks for the feedback - all good advice!

[William Hermans]

PaulM ( I guess ? )

You need to realize several things. First in this group the same questions get asked all the time. For which there have already been appropriate responses So searching the groups *first* *should be* what anyone needing answers should do.

Secondly, interjecting with what I could consider a very unhelpful response is not exactly helping the group, or you. A proper response to your post would be something like what Jesse Cobra responded with. "Well, it works for me", and then nothing else.

Your response was a complain in my own eyes, and then perhaps an attempted insult comparing the Beagelbone  with the rPI. So "useless complaint" fits the situation very well I think. This is a group for the Beaglebone black, not the rPI.

Also, the person you gave a hard time to ( Robert ) probably very well would have helped you if you gave more information, but the only thing you responded to was "useless complaint". Not to mention he works very hard in this community, and appreciated my many. Myself included.

So keep these things in mind the next time you need help, and remember no one here gets paid to answer questions on this group.

[jubishop]

so true. for my own part just want to say i'm sorry for my outburst of frustration and super thankful for anybody willing to try and help me.  as an expert in a few things, i know how annoying it can be to help n00bs...but as a n00b in most things, i also know how infinitely helpful it can be.  ;o)

fwiw i will do what i can to give back by putting my project up on http://beagleboard.org/project in such a way that hopefully others can learn from it :)

[pemo...@gmail.com]

Thank you for taking the time to respond.  All excellent points, and I will heed them all in the future.

[jubishop]

this is awesome.  with the HDMI disabled in uEnv.txt all my tiny ethernet adapters now work fast and consistently.  we should make this fact somehow more visible, i feel.