Wifi not working - auto switch to hostapd too quickly?

[utadev (lichang che)]

It is necessary to provide following information to get help:

1. Firmware image and ReachView version.
   Latest Reach Image v2.3 and reach view 2.9.1

2. Detailed problem description. How does observed behavior differ from the expected one?
   wifi client mode not working reliably - expect reach to join my own wifi network(s) but reach hot spot (hostapd) sometimes (quite often) kicks in

3. Your step by step actions.
   a) added 2 wifi networks via reach view - one home router and one mobile phone hot spot, connect to any of them via reach view works well
   b) reboot reach (power cycle), sometimes boot up with wifi network running - joined home wifi or mobile phone hot spot depending on availability; but sometimes wifi not joined and reach enters hot spot mode - see it advertising reach:4d:bb etc
   c)connect to reach wifi (reach:4d:bb) and reconnect wifi (home router or mobile hot spot) using reach view, wifi works as expected

4. Picture of the setup and connection scheme.
   Powered via RPI 3 USB.
   Simple enough? No additional picture.

5. If using any additional hardware please provide exact make and model.
   No additional hardware - all hardware recommended by emlid (antenna etc).

Additional debug session: (when it failed to join wifi):

root@reach[~]# sudo wpa_cli status
Failed to connect to non-global ctrl_ifname: (null) error: No such file or directory
root@reach[~]# sudo systemctl stop hostapd
root@reach[~]# sudo systemctl restart wpa_supplicant
root@reach[~]#
root@reach[~]# sudo wpa_cli status
Selected interface 'wlan0’
wpa_state=SCANNING
p2p_device_address=92:b6:86:10:4d:bb
address=90:b6:86:10:4d:bb
root@reach[~]# sudo wpa_cli status
Selected interface 'wlan0’
wpa_state=SCANNING
p2p_device_address=92:b6:86:10:4d:bb
address=90:b6:86:10:4d:bb

Now wifi works!

For some reason the file /etc/network/interfaces is not present! But I’m sure it was there.

Looks like wpa_supplicant has failed to get wifi working in the first place, then hostapd kicked in.

As I’m running reach on a rover and need reach to work autonomously, I hope to find a reliable way to get wifi working (connect to mobile host spot). Can you please investigate and help?

Thanks
Lichang

[utadev (lichang che)]

Reflashed another unit but end up with the same issue - wifi works OK (connected to home router) when plug in on the win 10 PC usb port. But failed reliably when plug in RPI 3 USB port - always switch to hot spot mode.

Any ideas?

[egor.fedorov]

Hello,

Can you take a look at this post here? Might this be the exact same problem?

Problem with ReachRS and WiFi authentication

Well, I think the answer lies within Reach’s wpa_supplicant log (journalctl -u wpa_supplicant --no-pager). Overall, my guess is that for some reason the hostapd starts advertising the SSID and all, but rejects Reach’s incoming connection and wpa_supplicant does not attempt another one. I might be wrong, though. If I am right, the best thing to do is to optimise hostapd startup time.