Solved: Loss of wifi and throttling despite correct power supply.

[jamespratt]

Hi,

My pilotaware was working fine yesterday and now is behaving strangely. ie not working.

It is a Pi2B that I have upgarded to rosetta standard (original gps and wifi dongles etc) . It is powered by a brand new anker 20100 with the correct juicbitzs cable (I posted the other day about the 20100 shutting itself off after a few mins, so it's charging my ipad at the same time to keep it switched on).

The problem is the wifi either drops out after a few minutes, or it can't connect in the first place. When the wifi drops out, the wifi dongle has a steady (rather than flickering) led.

Looking at the home page it says throttled 0x50000 or 0x 50005 - but as I said above I am using a freshly charged anker 20100 with 4 blue leds on it, plus either the juizbits cable or the supplied anker cable (to stop itself turning off). I checked several days ago and it said throttled = 0x0, same set up.

Is loss of power the problem, and can it be on the rosetta board (only a few months old) rather than the battery/cable?


As an update, all the lights are on, the wifi dongle flickers but the wifi network no longer appears on the list of available networks on my ipad/ or phone

[Ian Melville]

James,
Have you read this thread?
http://forum.pilotaware.com/index.php/topic,1608.0.html

[exfirepro]

Hi,

My pilotaware was working fine yesterday and now is behaving strangely. ie not working.

It is a Pi2B that I have upgarded to rosetta standard (original gps and wifi dongles etc) . It is powered by a brand new anker 20100 with the correct juicbitzs cable (I posted the other day about the 20100 shutting itself off after a few mins, so it's charging my ipad at the same time to keep it switched on).

The problem is the wifi either drops out after a few minutes, or it can't connect in the first place. When the wifi drops out, the wifi dongle has a steady (rather than flickering) led.

Looking at the home page it says throttled 0x50000 or 0x 50005 - but as I said above I am using a freshly charged anker 20100 with 4 blue leds on it, plus either the juizbits cable or the supplied anker cable (to stop itself turning off). I checked several days ago and it said throttled = 0x0, same set up.

Is loss of power the problem, and can it be on the rosetta board (only a few months old) rather than the battery/cable?


As an update, all the lights are on, the wifi dongle flickers but the wifi network no longer appears on the list of available networks on my ipad/ or phone

James,

Low voltage causing throttling can be caused by many things, but the faultfinding checklist normally runs......

Power Supply, Cable, Cable Connection to Motherboard (faulty microUSB plug or socket), Motherboard Fault, Ancillary Dongles Fault

A faulty Rosetta Bridge is ‘possible’ but unlikely. You say your WiFi isn’t appearing now - despite both screenshots showing that you were able to connect when they were taken, so I would suspect the problem could be the WiFi dongle or Motherboard.

You have obviously read the thread Ian has linked to as you have posted in it, so it might be time to upgrade to a Raspberry Pi3B (which has on-board WiFi) or upgrade to the newer Pi3B+ - though for the B+ you will have to wait until the new software is released. Support ( support@pilotaware.com ) will be happy to transfer your existing licence to the new unit once you send them a note of your old and new MAC addresses.

Regards

Peter

[jamespratt]

Hi, thanks for the replies.

I'm getting somewhat dispirited because I have been a user right from the start, upgrading from the original to the rosetta. I have gone through a number of Pi's, bridges, cables, SDR dongles and power supplies. Part of it has been the natural evolution of the kit, but reliability/robustness of components (PAW bridges excepted) hasn't been great either. I've seen how good it can be, but I'm on the verge of giving up with it to be honest.

You say your WiFi isn’t appearing now - despite both screenshots showing that you were able to connect when they were taken, so I would suspect the problem could be the WiFi dongle or Motherboard.

My screenshots were of when the wifi was working (for a time), and now it's not appearing on the available list at all (although the little led on the wifi dongle is flickering as usual) so I can't connect.

If I have the correct power supply, plus the correct cables, how likely is it to be the Pi micro USB connector? (I've seen the thread on this subject). A faulty wifi dongle doesnt't explain the throttling?

so it might be time to upgrade to a Raspberry Pi3B (which has on-board WiFi) or upgrade to the newer Pi3B+ - though for the B+ you will have to wait until the new software is released

Pi3B and Pi3b+ are about the same price I think (another £30). When is the update coming out?

[Paul_Sengupta]

Could the charge state of the iPad be the cause of the throttling? The amount of current drawn by the iPad can vary.

Do you have any sort of phone charger or anything you can use? I find most mains power supplies work fine, including a Poundland one.

[A_Vinning33]

Hi James,

PM me with an address and I will send you a spare Wifi dongle.

One point to note, is that the WiFi dongle doesn’t flicker. I think you are looking at the GPS dongle as that is the only dongle with an LED.

Cheers,

Ash

[Mig29fuk]

I'm not advertising on behalf of Richard but the Charge4 Series of USB Supply Units work extremely well.
As an earliy adopter of PAW I had troubles with power consistency using cigarette lighter adapters. Noise and inconsistent 5V supply!
I fitted a Charge2 and PAW is rock solid now.
A Hangar resident chose the Charge4 and can affirm the same consistent reliability. Its worth that little bit extra over and nightmare effeciencies of the the cigarette light type.
IMHO.
Regard
Gerry

[AlanG]

Ash

Just for clarity many of the early wifi dongles do have a ring round the plastic cover that shows a red flashing light.
I still have a couple of them in use.  I note that the later ones do not have this feature.
It caused me a bit of confusion to start with when I expected to see it flashing and thought it wasn't working.

That was how I knew it was ready to log into after a reboot or software update. 

Regards
Alan

[Giver]

I'm not advertising on behalf of Richard but the Charge4 Series of USB Supply Units work extremely well.
As an earliy adopter of PAW I had troubles with power consistency using cigarette lighter adapters. Noise and inconsistent 5V supply!
I fitted a Charge2 and PAW is rock solid now.
A Hangar resident chose the Charge4 and can affirm the same consistent reliability. Its worth that little bit extra over and nightmare effeciencies of the the cigarette light type.
IMHO.
Regard
Gerry
Likewise I had some power problems mainly interference on the radio so fitted the charge4 USB power
Supply, it’s been rock solid now for the last year,
It’s not the cheapest option but definitely the best way around getting smooth interference free power
To a Pilotaware,

[JCurtis]

I'm not advertising on behalf of Richard...
Regard
Gerry

Definitely not advertising on behalf of Richard    I can guarantee that...

[jamespratt]

thanks again for all the replies.

I think the main problem is the throttling? - not had throttling in a long time since using the correct cable, and even then it didn't cause this problem. The throttling is present using the same cable and battery that worked great last weekend, also when using a mains supply, and still there borrowing someone else's battery and cable.

Does this mean the problem is on the Pi (maybe the micro usb plug)?

Is throttling enough to stuff up the wifi totally? At first it dropped off a few minutes after I connected, giving me enough time to download the status pages. Now the wifi doesn't even apear on the list on my ipad - yes it is an older dongle and it has a small purple LED that flickers when it's going - it's not the GPS, that's a green led on the gps dongle!

PM sent regarding trying a different wifi dongle - thanks

[JCurtis]

thanks again for all the replies.

I think the main problem is the throttling? - not had throttling in a long time since using the correct cable, and even then it didn't cause this problem. The throttling is present using the same cable and battery that worked great last weekend, also when using a mains supply, and still there borrowing someone else's battery and cable.

Does this mean the problem is on the Pi (maybe the micro usb plug)?

Is throttling enough to stuff up the wifi totally? At first it dropped off a few minutes after I connected, giving me enough time to download the status pages. Now the wifi doesn't even apear on the list on my ipad - yes it is an older dongle and it has a small purple LED that flickers when it's going - it's not the GPS, that's a green led on the gps dongle!

PM sent regarding trying a different wifi dongle - thanks

An iffy dongle could pull the voltage down if it draws too much current, so you see throttle messages as a symptom rather than a cause.

[PhilPassmore]

Having experienced a similar problem with my new unit, to the extent that my PAW/SD connection kept falling over, I would heartilly recommend the new software update that seems much more stable.

[Admin]

Having experienced a similar problem with my new unit, to the extent that my PAW/SD connection kept falling over, I would heartilly recommend the new software update that seems much more stable.

Hi Phil
Are you referring to version 20190621 for the 'new software'
When you say 'much more stable', this implies still not fully stable - have you seen an issue you can report, or do you mean you have not yet gathered enough data/experience ?

I have been running android and ios tablets connected for days without issue, so I really want to know any situation which differs from this.

Thx
Lee

[jamespratt]

Well, the combination of a new wifi dongle (thank you A_Vinning33) and the software update seems to have sorted out the problem (dropping off of wifi and throttling despite proper power supply).

Pilotaware seems to be up and running with no sign of throttling and maybe just one instance of dropping the wifi after an hour of continuous use.

As a bonus, I am using a new anker powercore 20100 and I reported that it turned itself off after a few minutes, presumably sensing insufficient load. It would only work with the supplied anker lead (or if an ipad was being charged at the same time). Now it seems to work fine with any of my previously used leads.