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Raspberry Pi WirelessLessNess

quelquod
Pro
Posts: 668
Thanks: 163
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎31-07-2007

Raspberry Pi WirelessLessNess

I want to solve a problem with my Raspberry Pis losing wireless connectivity. They've always done it but it's bugging me now as every so often the clients for my music server, and the one that supplies my amateur radio hotspot drop out.

I have all of the Pis set to do a reboot on cron during the night to stop them hanging occasionally. This works fine but doesn't prevent the wireless from dropping out. Rebooting the router fixes it for a few days but after that it happens again. Rebooting the Pi doesn't reconnect to the router after it's dropped the wifi. So it seems more as though the router is somehow refusing the Pi's request for a connection. Fixed IPs or not makes no difference, time to fail is around 3 days.typically.

I'm still using the PN-supplied TG582n as it has generally been fine for me although it doesn't get much of a write-up. Anyone know what the problem might me and whether shelling out on a more capable router might fix it? I don't fancy just trying one on the off-chance (Scots y'know Wink )

 

 

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8 REPLIES 8
RPMozley
Pro
Posts: 1,339
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Registered: ‎04-11-2011

Re: Raspberry Pi WirelessLessNess

Hmm... Anything appear in the router log during the time of loss?
That's RPM to you!!
LukeAger
Grafter
Posts: 121
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Registered: ‎15-02-2012

Re: Raspberry Pi WirelessLessNess

What build are you using on the Pi's? I used to use a Pi for OpenVPN (tried wired and wireless) and using the Noobs build I found the same would happen to me. The network would respond sometime, but other times I could not connect to the VPN despite everything being connected and powered up, eventually it would reconnect but it seemed like the Pi's network would just go to sleep using the Noobs image and I couldn't stop it. I eventually moved onto different hardware for the vpn service. My Pi is currently gathering dust. 

Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Raspberry Pi WirelessLessNess

@quelquod, Instead of using cron to reboot why don’t you change the job to ping the router (gateway) every X hours, to put some traffic through the interface, or change the WiFi power management so it doesn’t go to sleep.

quelquod
Pro
Posts: 668
Thanks: 163
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎31-07-2007

Re: Raspberry Pi WirelessLessNess


@Anonymous wrote:

@quelquod, Instead of using cron to reboot why don’t you change the job to ping the router (gateway) every X hours, to put some traffic through the interface, or change the WiFi power management so it doesn’t go to sleep.


Yep - tried everything like that. It's a puzzle. Tried leaving the music client running continuously but the wifi connection still goes down (although if I connect via Ethernet I can see that the client is still running). If I connect to the pi (wired) the wireless is disconnected and reconnecting doesn't work. If I check the router the Pi reports as disconnected. If I reboot the Pi nada. If I reboot the router it all wakes up. I get the same on the latest Jessie build. I feel that the problem is at the router end, but why only on the Pis?

Democracy - 3 wolves and a lamb voting about what to have for lunch!
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Raspberry Pi WirelessLessNess

@quelquod - Would the fact that you’re connecting via the physical NIC have anything to do with it? Because as soon as you connect using it you’ll lose the WiFi which may not, if at all, recover until the physical connection is removed.

Is there anything on your network that uses the LAN based IPs of these devices that could be causing the above?

Also are you running propriety firmware drivers for your WiFi dongle? If not then it might be worth seeing if these are available.

VileReynard
Hero
Posts: 12,616
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Registered: ‎01-09-2007

Re: Raspberry Pi WirelessLessNess

How about using a crontab to do a small wget from an external web site (such as bbc.co.uk) and write the date, time, etc to a logfile on the Raspberry at minute intervals to see if a pattern emerges?

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quelquod
Pro
Posts: 668
Thanks: 163
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Registered: ‎31-07-2007

Re: Raspberry Pi WirelessLessNess


@Anonymous wrote:

@quelquod - Would the fact that you’re connecting via the physical NIC have anything to do with it? Because as soon as you connect using it you’ll lose the WiFi which may not, if at all, recover until the physical connection is removed.

Is there anything on your network that uses the LAN based IPs of these devices that could be causing the above?

Also are you running propriety firmware drivers for your WiFi dongle? If not then it might be worth seeing if these are available.


I'm not so sure that connecting via Ethernet would/should disconnect the wifi - there's no (well, shouldn't be any) reason why the processor can't maintain more than 1 network connection on different addresses and I notice that I can ping both addresses concurrently.

My radio hotspot is at the end of the garden and I've never hooked it up via Ethernet anyway, but it still disconnects regularly. It's odd that rebooting the router with no action at the processor end fixes things.

I cant think of any reason there should be an IP clash, no fixed IPs (apart from the router/modem) and the router handles the dhcp.

Democracy - 3 wolves and a lamb voting about what to have for lunch!
quelquod
Pro
Posts: 668
Thanks: 163
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎31-07-2007

Re: Raspberry Pi WirelessLessNess


@VileReynard wrote:

How about using a crontab to do a small wget from an external web site (such as bbc.co.uk) and write the date, time, etc to a logfile on the Raspberry at minute intervals to see if a pattern emerges?


Yes, that'd probably be worthwhile, I'll just set it to ping the router and log it to see if anything springs to mind.

Actually, as a sledgehammer approach I've currently set one of the Pis to reboot the router and then itself at 3am. Oddly (?) that seems to work OK but I'd rather solve the puzzle than just hide it.

Democracy - 3 wolves and a lamb voting about what to have for lunch!