wifi hot spot does not appear

[loch.ness.mustang]

New install with 2.1-3 on a Pi Zero 2W. Nice splash screen but hotspot nowhere to be found. What can I try?

[Scott Sheppard]

Hi 

I struggle with this too. 

Did you burn a new SD card with raspberry pi imager? 

Did you (and yes this happen) insert the new fresh SD card into teh PI?

Here’s where I shoot myself 

Did you power cycle the PI? If you did not then it will not read the new image. Ask me how I know 

Have a short break to let things boot? 

Look for the Digpi SSID on you PC/Mac/Device??

Forgive me but I have done this to myself a few times. 

Scott Sheppard

1702 Frazier Park Drive 

Decatur, GA 30033

732 861 3383 

sshe...@bellsouth.net

KJ4ZZB Call Sign

On Jul 16, 2026, at 20:04, loch.ness.mustang <loch.nes...@gmail.com> wrote:

New install with 2.1-3 on a Pi Zero 2W. Nice splash screen but hotspot nowhere to be found. What can I try?

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[Craig]

100% sure it's a Zero2W and not a Zero?

is there a big silver chip to the right of the big black chip?

and yah, try other wifi devices to see if it pops up?

-craig
KM6LYW

[loch.ness.mustang]

Zero2W says the circuit board.
Burned my first image with the Pi imager, but when that didnt work I re-burned with balenaEtcher to see if it would make a difference.
I mentioned the DigiPi splash screen so My guess is that the Pi is reading the card.
Power cycled several times, after considerable waits, and reboots, after considerable waits.
And yes, I really did look for an SSID on several devices.

[Craig]

ok, you have the screen so it ultimately boots to the screen

DigiPi
Hotspot
10.0.0.5 ?

and yet, you dont' see the wifi hotspot "DigiPi" on your phone, pc or other
wifi device?

I'd expect this on a Zero, 2B, 3B.

Pi sitting on metal?  mylar bag?   I've seen this do it too.

Pi imager likes to modify the image, to its detriment.  Balena is the best bet.

Ultimately you could hookup a keyboard and hdmi monitor,

pi/raspberry

iwconfig wlan0
ifconfig wlan0
sudo systemctl status autohotspot

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[loch.ness.mustang]

I held off connecting peripherals hoping for an "a-ha moment" where someone would notice anything I missed right off the bat, but will do.

Since I dont speak Linux (win 11 user) I might need a more detailed step-by-step on the process you recommend.

[loch.ness.mustang]

Via HDMI:

[FAILED] Failed to start autohotspot.service - Automatically generates an internet Hotspot when a valid ssid is not in range.

[Craig]

can you run "systemctl status autohotspot" after login:  "pi" and
password:  "raspberry"?

thanks!
-craig
KM6LYW

[Scott Sheppard]

What does this mean? 

pi@digipi:~ $ systemctl status autohotspot

● autohotspot.service - Automatically generates an internet Hotspot when a valid ssid is not in range

     Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/autohotspot.service; enabled; preset: enabled)

     Active: active (exited) since Fri 2026-07-17 21:10:50 BST; 2h 19min ago

 Invocation: 950e4faee5384973b2fdec1c61f2d10c

    Process: 884 ExecStartPre=sleep 30 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)

    Process: 981 ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/digihotspot.sh (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)

   Main PID: 981 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)

        CPU: 43ms

Jul 17 21:10:20 digipi systemd[1]: Starting autohotspot.service - Automatically generates an internet Hotspot when a valid ssid is not in range...

Jul 17 21:10:50 digipi digihotspot.sh[981]: Auto-hotspot checking network status.

Jul 17 21:10:50 digipi systemd[1]: Finished autohotspot.service - Automatically generates an internet Hotspot when a valid ssid is not in range.

I assume this implies that if Digipi is NOT on a SSID (like your home) then this is when we can find the Digipi SSID being broadcast? 

Scott Sheppard

1702 Frazier Park Drive 

Decatur, GA 30033

732 861 3383 

sshe...@bellsouth.net

KJ4ZZB Call Sign

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