Wifi no-IP after installation of PI-1 with info-beamer

Hi, I just installed my first beamer installation on an old PI-1 or PI 1A+.
on ethernet it works fine; I added the wifi file with ssid and psw in it to the config folder and get the message no-ip with a blinking green led.
It has a usb-wifi adapter in it, which i tested on a laptop and works there with no problems.
The setup apparantly detects the no-ip and switches to the wifi_ui mode; but I cannot see the ssid with any other device.
I tried the wifi adapter on all usb ports but no change on that.
What can be the problem?

The only supported WiFi adapter is the EDIMAX EW-7811Un. Other USB WiFi adapters won’t work. I guess you’re using some other model?

Hi I noticed that in the documentation. I do think I have a different one so ordered a new adapter as prescribed.
Takes a few days to retry

Seems tech support beat me to one of two of my replies. The other one is to make sure that your router can see the USB Wifi adapter.

Somewhere on the USB Wifi adapter, and/or the box it came in is a “MAC Address”. If needed, plug the adapter in to another computer and pull it from there (Google can show you how to get the MAC Address of it). While the adapter is plugged in, and the Pi turned on, look through your router for the “DHCP” page. (Google can help with your specific router model.) The DHCP page should show you a list of “reservations” it has handed out and their associated MAC Addresses. Is your USB Wifi MAC Address on this page?

If not, the issue is somewhere with the raspberry pi, and I would refer you to making sure you are using a “supported” adapter.

If so, what is the IP Address it shows next to the MAC Address? Is this IP setup as a ‘static reservation’? It also means that the router is seeing the MAC Address and assigning it one. I which case I would refer you to info-beamer tech support to further explore the issue.

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I bought the required adapter. It is a V2.
But it is not working. On a laptop the WiFi adapter shows a blue led. In the pi the led stays of. Can it be a driver problem ?
Or a Voltage problem?

Uh oh. The V2 version unfortunately uses a different chipset despite using same name. According to this post:

Notice that the Version 2 Edimax EW-7811un 7932:b811 uses a different RealTek device RTL8188EU than the Version 1 Edimax EW-7811un USB Ids 7932:7811 specifies a RTL8192cu chipset device.

This is really unfortunate. It also seems the driver for the V2 model is in a questionable state. I just looked into what would be needed to add support and I get:

r8188eu: module is from the staging directory, the quality is unknown, you have been warned.

I’ve ordered one for testing, but I fear the worse regarding support. It might (for example) not be possible to use the wifi_ui mode or guarantee a stable connection (or operating system in general, given the above warning). Using ethernet is no option for your installation?

Ah :frowning: thats a pity; however can this result in the adapter not showing a led flashing?
i want to avoid cables hanging around the display for ethernet connection so prefer a wifi.

May be I switch to a ‘newer’ raspberry that has build-in wifi; will that work? I have to buy it still but better know it before :slight_smile:

or maybe I buy an Edimax EW-7811un version 1 if I can find one but all sites offer the v2 as far as I can see.

Thx,

Jeroen

Most likely. The driver is probably turning on the hardware and its indicator LED.

Yes. All Pis with built-in WiFi (so Pi3 or later, or Pi0W) work out of the box.

Yeah. That’s really unfortunate. I didn’t realize they are basically no longer available. The info-beamer website will be updated soon to make it clear that only the V1 version works at the moment.

@infobeamer-fw

Any updates on compatibility with other dongles? Edimax EW-7811un version 1 can only be found third party for like $130. I did a bunch of research and the only dongle I could find claiming to have RTL8188cus won’t connect to the backend, despite being able to connect to the internet.

Thank you!
Elijah

edit: I’ve had success with this dongle

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