My Zero Wifi is not working

#1

Having installed radxa-zero-debian-buster-xfce4-arm64-20220501-0346-mbr.img, I tried initializing the wifi:

  • Switch to super user mode
    $ sudo su

  • Open the WIFI
    $ nmcli r wifi on

  • Scan WIFI
    $ nmcli dev wifi
    (produces no results)

  • Connect to WIFI network
    $ nmcli dev wifi connect “wifi_name” password “wifi_password”
    (produces the error:
    “Error: No Wi-Fi device found.”

The command line
nmcli dev
shows this:
DEVICE TYPE STATE CONNECTION
lo loopback unmanaged –

And no other devices.

My last Raxda Zero worked for wifi using this identical process.

That one, by the way, stopped talking to the HDMI interface about a week in. This makes two lemons in a row. I am not a happy customer so far.

EDIT — installing Armbian instead of Debian fixed the problem. Armbian can see wlan0 where Debian, paradoxically, could not (though the same distro worked fine on the last unit).

#2

Please check if you have AW-CM256SM wireless module on your board. This change is due to part shortage of AP6256. If this is the case for you our latest image have added the support for this module. We expect 3rd part distros to follow suit soon.

#3
#4

A very helpful response! Thank you!

#5

Is the preloaded Android compatible with the AW-CM256SM at 5ghz?

#6

This actually worked. I’m good to go!

#7

Totally forgot about this. I have already let our Android engineer know about this on Monday. Thanks for reminding!

#8

I hope it will not be difficult to patch

#9

Just get one of the latest distros recently uploaded, and you’ll be just fine. I’ve tested Armbian, Debian and Ubuntu, and they’ve fixed the issue with all three of them.

1 Like
#10

I want to be android

#11

I haven’t successfully installed that, unfortunately, so I’m unable to advise.

#12

Hi there,

I’m glad that you are improving the software. I love the hardware, but it lacks good software support…

Today I flashed the three packages just released a week ago (release 20220602-0249), but with no luck, so you need to improve the software still more if you want to have a nice user base:

-Image for radxa-zero-debian-buster-xfce4-arm64-20220602-0403-mbr.img.xz: No Wifi service in the panel, after verifying with “mncli dev wifi” that all SSIDs were scanned correctly, I tried to connect manually using "nmcli dev wifi connect… " but I’ve got this error:

Error: Connection activation failed: (5) IP configuration could not be reserved (no available address, timeout, etc.).

I tried to run “mncli monitor” but there is no output and I had to cancel the process.

About the other two images that I tested:
- Armbian_22.08.0-trunk_Radxa-zero_bullseye_current_5.10.119_minimal.img.xz: **No desktop.**  Useless.
- Armbian_22.08.0-trunk_Radxa-zero_focal_current_5.10.119_xfce_desktop.img.xz : **Worked but can't start GPARTED after installing it.  Useless.**
#13

Hi, I had this same problem, and needed Android
I solved by modifying the slimbox x96s android image with updated wifi drivers for the CM256SM chip. It took me about a month to figure this out. Let me know if you want the image, I will upload somewhere for you.

2 Likes
#14

Nice! I decided to go the linux route (for now). But maybe somebody else could use your image.

#15

After spending 3 weeks with a headache figuring out what doesn’t work, I realized that I am one of the ““lucky”” owner of Radxa Zero v1.5 with the AW-CM256SM wireless module.
Wi-Fi with Android simply does not work. When this hooks up (rarely) to the WiFi network, it disconnects after a few minutes of use.
As you can imagine, Youtube, Spotify, streaming services–all useless.
Can you please provide an Android image that works with this wifi module?

1 Like
Working on app in android
#16

I have created an internal issue for this. I’m not working on Android so once we confirmed the issue I’ll get the Android engineer to work on this.

#17

Thank you very much @RadxaYuntian

I have seen that you/your engineers have provided updated versions of Debian and Ubuntu for the WiFi AW-CM256SM module on github.com. So I am a bit surprised that there is no updated version of Android.

Honestly we hope for a response fairly quickly.
From the supplier AllNet China are currently coming to Europe only Radxa rev. 1.5 with the problematic wifi module.
Until revision 1.4 there were no problems with the Android image you provided.
Now we get many complaints from customers.
So far we have managed to curb customer complaints by providing USB to LAN adapters AT OUR OWN EXPENSE, so that customers can still somehow surf the Internet in Android.
This situation is obviously not sustainable forever.

#18

Checked with the Android engineer and he told me CM256 is supported, which was what I remembered. I’ll still let the tester to check it tomorrow to make sure.

#19

@RadxaYuntian
Unless I misunderstood something, your reply to user “triggerfinger0163” dated 8 Jun 2022 suggests that your engineers were informed on that date of some kind of problems.
The Debian and Ubuntu images you indicated compatible with the AW wifi module appear to be from August 2022.
The downloadable android image appears to be dated 11 March 2022. Could it be that you just forgot to update some links?
I am of course willing to provide any kind of log you may need for the issue.

#20

@tceylon
I am the “lucky” owner of Radxa Zero v1.5 with the AW-CM256SM wireless module.
The Wi-Fi with Android simply does not work.
When this hooks up (rarely) to the WiFi network, it disconnects after a few minutes of use.
As you can imagine, Youtube, Spotify, streaming services: all useless.
Can you please tell me where to find the image with the patch, or how to apply it to the image “slimbox x96s”
Thank you very much for your help!
J