Raspberry Pi Zero W WiFi issue

Support Raspberry Pi
1

Hi,

I received my Pi Zero W 2 days ago. I have spent literally 30+ hours trying to connect it to wifi but have not been successful.
I burned a fresh image of RASPBIAN STRETCH LITE from https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspbian/ using win21diskimager.

I followed these instructions from different guides

  1. https://core-electronics.com.au/tutorials/raspberry-pi-zerow-headless-wifi-setup.html
  2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlCr09B2HZI
  3. and many more

I added the 2 files ssh and wpa_supplicant.conf (with my network details something like the one below)

network={
ssid=“networkname”
psk=“Pa$$w0rd”
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
}

After the boot these files get deleted and get added to /etc directory. I checked the file wpa_supplicant.conf and it contained the same data like the one above.

I left the pi alone for 5 minutes and then tried to check my network and it still wouldn’t show up.
Then I tried to ssh to the pi and even that failed.

I desperately need some help now as I will be using the pi for homebridge.
Network connectivity is very important for that.

Thanks in advance :slight_smile:

2

Hi Swapneel,

Hmm, sorry to hear that you’re having issues setting up your Pi. I’d recommend trying it via the GUI rather than as a headless setup. Connect it up to a monitor via a mini-HDMI connector, and connect to your network as you would any other computer. That’ll help work out if it’s an error on the board, or your process.

3

Hi Sam,
Thanks for your reply, I spend the entire day today trying to fix the issue and looked around for the correct cables, and I finally managed to get the pi online. But now the new problem is that it keeps loosing Wifi connectivity. I tied to connect it to my iPhone’s hotspot (which was next to it) and I got the same results.
I am now suspecting that there is a hardware fault.
What do you think?

4

Hi @Swapneel53105,

Sounds like you’ve done everything you can! Reply to your order confirmation email and link to this forum topic. We’ll get this sorted out.

5

Hi @Graham
I have done as requested.

1 Like