cant connect to wifi ssid

[justin00]

Hi

So for a number of months I've been playing around with the linux wifi config on the wifi module.. all worked very well, no issues, made some great improvements... then I figured out how to use a serial cable to connect into the wifi module (incase you make a change and wifi does not come back up again). I had to splice into the 6 wire cable that goes from the camera to wifi module, but instead of fixing that cable I bought the cable kit and just put a new cable in its place.
Everything has been working great since.... reason I am mentioning this is incase someone says 'hey don't you mess around with the wifi module heaps' :]

Anyways so all working 100%... went to USA for 3 weeks and now I've come back used it a few times and all good.

Now all of a sudden when I turn the Phantom and RE back on the wifi SSID is visible on my phone or laptop but I can't connect.. it won't get an IP address... after about 30 seconds the SSID dissapears and won't come back.. rarely I've had this problem since day 1.. but usually a reboot fixs it and the SSID is there and you can connect.

I've cecked all the connections, everything appears to be firmly connected... The only thing I can think of checking is using the serial cable to connect into the wifi to see if there are any errors coming up...
Besides that anyone have any ideas ?? I permanantly have my wifi module set at 17dbm, but I nver left the phanton on for to long without the motors running to provide adequare cooling.

Now when peoples wifi modules burn out, its my understanding the video feed stops working but the app still works, or worst case they can atleast join the wifi network ??
Perhaps my understanding is wrong ? Generally if the wifi module burns out can you still connect to the wifi network ? Question is kind of like 'how long is a piece of string'

Don't really want to spend $250 on a new wifi module to find out the problem is else where, which I suspect it is... I guess My next course of action should be consoling into the wifi module, atleast then I can see if its even booting up....

The motors still start up etc etc.. Annoying.. because its my bday on Friday and I was going to get a new batttery, but now I might need a new wifi module and new battery, which is like $500AUS for both... a P3 costs $2k so hardly worth the repair costs.........

Anyways I find it odd the SSID is seen for 30-60 seconds then dissapears, can't think of why it would be doing that..


aaaah crap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just remembered you can't console in unless you modify a file....ser2net.conf needs to be commented out so ttys0 is not part of ser2net.. crap crap crap

Unless someone has some suggestions I might be screwed... it sucks as well cause I messed around so much I would of assumed it was me who actually did something to kill it.... not the **** thing just randomly developing some isssue.

 

[RoyVa]

Not sure of the problem but wifi extenders onmebay run from $65-95 for the RE700 and the wifi module for the Phantom start at $129.
I would start by trying to re-bind the extender. Do you see the SSID if you turn it on by itself? You say it disappears then one of two thing are happening. Eith it is defective and its stop transmitting or most likely the signal is be overpowered by another wifi signal. Give it a test. Take the extender and get out away from houses and business and in the fiel see if you can connect. That'll give you a starting point to find out what is at fault.

 

[yorlik]

Can't help, but Happy Birthday!

 

[justin00]

lol thanks

Ok so... I did a rebind and the RE seems to be 100% operational... I could SSH into it... One thing I noticed was...
I could not ping 192.168.1.1 (wifi module) or 192.168.1.10 (camera)

I have my good wifi module and then I have somebody elses wifi module which thye told me let them connect 100% of the time but it had burnt out so the picture was black a large portion of the time...

So on my wifi module I took it out of the metal casing and I could see the green LED was not lit up unless I applied a good bit of pressure to it... so figured ok.. maybe thats the issue... so plugged in the other wifi module (the burnt out one) and the green led on it does light up but I get the same results..

so what I did was...

1) held in the reset on the RE.... after that the SSID let me connect and allocated me an IP.. I could then SSH in and COULD NOT ping 192.168.1.1 or .10
2) followed the camera rebind process, took the QR code and it said bind sucessful.. came up with the correct camera MAC address
3) after that the SSID dissapeared and I could not connect back in..

4) replaced the wifi module with the other one I have... and repeated steps 1-3... exact same results... sucessfull rebind, couldn't ping the the wifi module or the camera...

kind of at a loss on what to do.. about to read the manual again..

I'm under the impression there is a only a RC TX binding process and a RE/Camera binding process... right ??? There is no process to bind the RE to the Wifi module ?

The interesting thing was...with the burnt out wifi module (when the green light on it lit up) the module was actually getting hotter as it does when its operational... but I was running a few analyzers and the hidden SSID or the RE's non hidden SSID were not showing up (AFTER) the rebind to camera)

I bought a whole new cable pack so I can replace some cables if I need to, but everything looks in perfect condition... Maybe I will disconnect some of the connections in the camera and plug them in again.... The only thing I can think of is a lose cable... but even then I would of thought (well depending on the cable) I could connect to the wifi module, but maybe the tele data might nto work, or camera might not work etc etc...

I do not think going out and buying another wifi module is going to fix the problem, and I think I have confirmed the RE is working 100%... as I can SSH into it and it will bind to the camera (well via the QR).

BTW The light on the camera is on... and the camera boots up / does it little movement when the Phantom is turned on... and when I move the left stick left/right the camera moves as well ever so slightly, li

 

[justin00]

it really sucks cause i've messed around (modified) the config so many times and never had any issue with the wifi module.. then went away.. came back flew a few times and now shes dead..

oh btw.. the motors start up and I can fly around... just no app/FPV

 

[RoyVa]

Check the tablet or phone you are trying to use. See how much free memory it has and make sure the Bluetooth is turned off. The memory space needed is close to 3 gigs to handle the video. Also reduce the frame rate from 30 GPS to 15 GPS and give that a go. Did you delete the DJI app and re download it and install it fresh?

 

[hunch]

justin,
not in every case will you see that the wifi module is getting warm and all the lights are good and
you will still not get the video on your device.
like i mentioned in my PM reply couple minutes ago, i have 6 wifi units here that get warm,
lights are good on the gimbal yet no video in the app.
then i take that same gimbal to a know working bird and works fine.
if you got them both used from someone, yes, it is possible that both of them didn't work form the get go.
or did you see them working and then both of them just died?
if that's the case if you are getting to the point where you successfully bind and you click "Camera" in the app
is it just black screen or is there a circle rotating in the middle.
if it is just black screen good chance is that it is actually your gimbal cable that is nicked somewhere or you
camera module is faulty.
if it is a rotating circle then most likely the wifi unit.

 

[burlbark]

You Killed it..... Buy a new Phantom 3 or a new wifi module.

 

[hunch]

LOL James...
help a brother out will you... welcome back to the forums btw! good to see a familiar name

 

[yorlik]

hey an idea...

I THINK the phantom TX DIRECT to our phones but our phones TX to the RE unit that boost it and rexmts to phantom. right?

SO....

Why not ASSUME RE is working; send command to turn on camera recording! watch the red lite on camera - see if it turns on and off on command! then u should prove if re is ok and lack of video is simply TX in phantom broken....

make any sense?

 

[juangelb]

lol thanks

Ok so... I did a rebind and the RE seems to be 100% operational... I could SSH into it... One thing I noticed was...
I could not ping 192.168.1.1 (wifi module) or 192.168.1.10 (camera)

I have my good wifi module and then I have somebody elses wifi module which thye told me let them connect 100% of the time but it had burnt out so the picture was black a large portion of the time...

So on my wifi module I took it out of the metal casing and I could see the green LED was not lit up unless I applied a good bit of pressure to it... so figured ok.. maybe thats the issue... so plugged in the other wifi module (the burnt out one) and the green led on it does light up but I get the same results..

so what I did was...

1) held in the reset on the RE.... after that the SSID let me connect and allocated me an IP.. I could then SSH in and COULD NOT ping 192.168.1.1 or .10
2) followed the camera rebind process, took the QR code and it said bind sucessful.. came up with the correct camera MAC address
3) after that the SSID dissapeared and I could not connect back in..

4) replaced the wifi module with the other one I have... and repeated steps 1-3... exact same results... sucessfull rebind, couldn't ping the the wifi module or the camera...

kind of at a loss on what to do.. about to read the manual again..

I'm under the impression there is a only a RC TX binding process and a RE/Camera binding process... right ??? There is no process to bind the RE to the Wifi module ?

The interesting thing was...with the burnt out wifi module (when the green light on it lit up) the module was actually getting hotter as it does when its operational... but I was running a few analyzers and the hidden SSID or the RE's non hidden SSID were not showing up (AFTER) the rebind to camera)

I bought a whole new cable pack so I can replace some cables if I need to, but everything looks in perfect condition... Maybe I will disconnect some of the connections in the camera and plug them in again.... The only thing I can think of is a lose cable... but even then I would of thought (well depending on the cable) I could connect to the wifi module, but maybe the tele data might nto work, or camera might not work etc etc...

I do not think going out and buying another wifi module is going to fix the problem, and I think I have confirmed the RE is working 100%... as I can SSH into it and it will bind to the camera (well via the QR).

BTW The light on the camera is on... and the camera boots up / does it little movement when the Phantom is turned on... and when I move the left stick left/right the camera moves as well ever so slightly, li

Hi Justin00

Even when a lot of info ... not clear for me what are you doing ...
But when i want to ping 192.168.1.1 ...10 and anything else... i do this way :
1- PV2+ and RE both powered on and Galaxy S4 connected to RE SSID
2- I connect my notebook wifi to the same SSID (The RE one)
3- In this way the notebook wifi interface gets an IP address from the same netwok as the Pantom an is part os the his netwok.
4- In this way from my notebook it is possible to ping 192.168.1.1 192.168.1.10 192.168.1.2 and galaxy ip and SSH to 192.168.1.1 and 192.168.1.2

Qustion : Is this proccess are you trying to do without success on pinging and SSHing ?
In other words : from where are you trying to ping SSHing ?

Best regards : Juan

 

[RoyVa]

If you are sshing in with a serial cable you are telling me you are messing around with the software, right. If you are and your not a programmer you can accidently mess up one line of code and all is going to be screwed up and no longer work. So why are you trying to ping and ssh into the extender? What's the end result to improve what the engineered RE extender does or to get more out off it. You are loosing me, but what do I know I am only a systems analyst.... Mine works and it's all factory and runs at default. I look for the SSID connect and fly. Only have had to bind it once. Because I have two birds.
Let us know what you are trying to do and may be someone can help.

 

[justin00]

yeah I am messing around with wifi configs... to change from HT20 to HT40 to give me double wifi bandwidth.. and change kernel parmeters to improve a number of things.. I've been doing this for the last 6 months...
I have never had a problem... I'm also im IT.. a network/security engineer with alot of linux experience, so i know what I'm doing in the linux component..

I figured out how to use a serial cable to get into the wifi module INCASE you ever do stuff up a line of code and the wifi module does not work...
You don't need to do this to get in as you can SSH in.... before I got the serial cable working I had a script where if you screwed up the wifi config it would restore it back to defaults, like a fail safe... so I have a bit of a clue what I'm doing when it comes to linux and what not...

the point of SSH'ing into the RE to ping the camera and wifi module was to see if the RE was connected to the wifi module....
If I could ping the camera and wifi unit it means the wifi unit is online... and if I can ping the camera it means the camera is online....
All of my playing around has resulted in better range and better throughput... I could never run at 640x480 @ 30fps (or whatever the top resolution is I can't remember now).. after my playing around I could..I helped a few people make the same changes and they could also get that resolution also... For some people it just works, others it doesn't.. maybe its a problem with the phones or version of android/software or the version of phantom.. who knows..

Anyways to confirm.... all of my playing around has been successful and I've helped a number of people get better range as well.

All has been fine for a long time.... now all of a sudden I can not connect to the wifi module... no SSID is being advetised...I have tried 2 wifi units... both are displaying the same behavior...i.e no wifi SSID... I can't even connect to the hidden SSID as its not showing up.

As a system analyst I would of thought you would also be eager to play around ?? You know the diff between HT20 and HT40 with wifi right ???
double the bandwidth.... Also modifying the sysctl/kernel parameters gives you better performance, but you surely know all this already right ?

I don't mean to be rude, but your "but what do I know I am only a systems analyst...." seems abit... whats the word.. umm.. up your self ?
again, no offense.. Maybe I've taken your comments the wrong way...

and yes I agree... you don't need to bind.. I had never actually bind'd before, didn't even know how.. mine also worked out of the box.. I only started trying to bind then all this started happening...

so yeah all my playing around has given positive results... its just out of the blue that this issue has occured... the only thing was I went away for 3 weeks... left the phantom at home and now its having issues.... and yes it was left turned off


Juan: yeah what you said I agree with and do the same... If I want to SSH in I do it from my laptop obviously... the only reason I wanted to try ping the camera and wifi unit was to see if If they were online....

Anyways the current situation is:

I have tried 2 wifi units... No hidden SSID is coming out of either of them. They have a green light indicating they are on.. They also heat up, indicating they are on.
When I reset the RE (which I have never done before until this issue) I can connect to the Phantom_xxxxxx SSID... From there I SSH in and tried to pping the camera/wifi unit... neither are reachable..
Anyways so then I tried to bind to the camera... that was sucessful, but after you do that the RE goes back into the mode were you can only connect to the phantom_xxxx ssid if the wifi unit is online.... so the phantom-xxxxx SSID disapears as the wifi unit is not online...

The phantom still flies and picks up more than 6 GPS as indicated by the constant green flashing... is just I can't use the app as the wifi unit is not working... or something is stopping it from working... I could try a 3rd wifi unit, but it seems odd 2 would just randomly die...
The camera also looks like it boots up properly, displays the correct LED and moves when I move the left stick...

 

[justin00]

also you don't need to be a programmer to play around with /etc/config/wireless.. or modify sysctl.. you just need to have an understanding of linux...

Its not like I was recompiling the phantoms internal software lol... that would be a task for a programmer, but a systems analyst like yourself knows that

*edit* sorry read your post again.. the RE or wifi unit was not engineered... they slapped linux on and modified nothing... there is so many sysctl changes they could of made which would of lowered heat, increase range and a multitude of other things... so unless you've logged in yourself to check please don't go round telling everyone its been engineered... they literally installed linux and changed the root passwd and called it a day..

on the camera module they did do a little optimizing... but other people have even recompiled the firmware on the camera to increase resolution.. so lol..... another great bit of engineering DJI did out of the box....

But yeah for 99% of people just taking it out of the box and flying is perfect, but some of us enjoy tinkering around to get better results....

and again... my tinkering did not cause my issue as one wifi unit was modified, the other was stock.. niether work...

 

[justin00]

justin,
not in every case will you see that the wifi module is getting warm and all the lights are good and
you will still not get the video on your device.
like i mentioned in my PM reply couple minutes ago, i have 6 wifi units here that get warm,
lights are good on the gimbal yet no video in the app.
then i take that same gimbal to a know working bird and works fine.
if you got them both used from someone, yes, it is possible that both of them didn't work form the get go.
or did you see them working and then both of them just died?
if that's the case if you are getting to the point where you successfully bind and you click "Camera" in the app
is it just black screen or is there a circle rotating in the middle.
if it is just black screen good chance is that it is actually your gimbal cable that is nicked somewhere or you
camera module is faulty.
if it is a rotating circle then most likely the wifi unit.

Once I bind the RE goes back to the mode where it will only display and SSID is the wifi module is working... no SSID is displayed at this point... so its not a problem with my phone or laptop etc etc

To confirm... 1 wifi module which was mine worked perfectly.... I got another one to play around with from someone else... I never played around (played around as in modified the configs in linux) with it but I did test it worked.. they gave it to me initially as they said it sometimes showed a black screen (but you coudl still connect via wifi) I tried for a few days and it worked 100% for me...I could always see a picture on the screen and never saw a blank screen.

then I put my original wifi unit back on.. and all was still good.. happy days still...

then went to USA and came back and neither wifi units are operating... well maybe its not the wifi unit... but long story short I can not connect to the SSID... no SSID is displayed... not the hidden.. or the phantom-xxxx

I'm just hesitant to pay $250AUD for a 3rd wifi module.... when the previous 2 worked perfectly..
If I buy another it doesn't work I'm in the same position, well I'm down $250 and in the same position.

I do appreciate the help some of you are providing though

 

[justin00]

hey an idea...

I THINK the phantom TX DIRECT to our phones but our phones TX to the RE unit that boost it and rexmts to phantom. right?

SO....

Why not ASSUME RE is working; send command to turn on camera recording! watch the red lite on camera - see if it turns on and off on command! then u should prove if re is ok and lack of video is simply TX in phantom broken....

make any sense?

Not a bad idea... RE is working though.. If I reset it I can see the Phantom_xxxx SSID, connect to it and SSH in (or ping it).
If the RE was NOT working I should be able to connect into the hidden SSID.... which I can not, as its not being displayed..

How do I send the command to the camera ?? The RE does not have connectivity to the camera (can't ping 192.168.1.10) and when I open the app it says not connected... the RE only lets you connect to it when you do a reset., after you bind you can't connect again

 

[justin00]

Apologies for my mini rant/outbust at Roy... I just get a little annoyed when people post something not all that helpful and play the 'what would I know I'm just a [whatever] card. Unless we are post our resumes in our profiles its kind of stupid playing that card. Especially when your under the impression everything DJI has done has been engineered... ok ok I'll stop now... I do apologise Roy.. I'm just pissed off my lil drone hasnt been flown in a while, plus your comments pushed me over the edge :


I have been looking for an excuse to buy a P3... and the P2V+ is not worth much to sell ( assuming mine was working properly).... Perhaps I could make a video of a P3 dropping a P2V+ from 399feet... that might amuse me... should be good for a few hits on youtube :[]

Are you P3 owners buying them direct from DJI or from online stores ?
Australia has the extra 'rip you off tax' so perhaps I'll get one from a USA supplier...
hmm might look into it abit more..

 

[justin00]

LOL issue has been resolved......

I did an IMU reset/advance reconfig..... and it started working... both wifi units...
Anyone have any explanations how that is even possible ?

but shes connecting again... and flying..

only negative is now I have no reason to buy a P3

saved myself wasting $250 on a third wifi unit atleast :]

 

[RichWest]

FWIW, I'm reading your ramblings musings and laughing. Been there, done that. You typed a lot of info in a short period of time and in the end it just started working...hmmm...good job.