Mobile Hot Spot issue

#1

I created a wpa_supplicant.conf file to connect with my Android hot spot, but for some reason the drone is not connecting. In fact, I can still ssh into it from my home network w/o the hot spot.

On another drone, using the same wpa_supplicant.conf file, it connects to the hot spot with no problem. As expected, I can no longer ssh into it from my home network w/o the hot spot. Curiously, if I examine the sd card from this drone on my PC, the wpa_supplicant.conf file I created is no longer visible.

So… what’s up and how to fix??

#2

Hi there @jax200

Is your first drone configured to connect to both the home wifi and your mobile hotspot? Could be that your home wifi is taking precedent. You can inspect that at /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf I believe in the RPI environment.

For your second drone, I believe the wpa_supplicant.conf file is moved from the boot partition. I’ve experienced this as well. When you set it up in the boot partition of the SD card it appears to be a disposable file that is recycled into the main environment. Which is why the wpa_supplicant.conf file could be missing from the boot partition even though you can still connect to the WiFi network you originally configured to connect to. Could be wrong here though this is my current thinking.

#3

@caleberg

Thinking the boot file would ‘take over’, I changed /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf to /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.old but still cannot see it as a connected device on the phone.

But now I have a bigger problem: since I cannot ssh into it, and since (apparently) I cannot access the root folder when I put the sd card in my pc, the RPi doors are locked. Normally I could plug in an HDMI cable but in this build I am using a RPi zero W which is ‘buried’ and the port not accessible…

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So now I have two problems ! My i2c sensors and scripts are all working, so hope I don’t have to start over.

#4

Hi there @jax200

Hmmm that is odd. I wonder if there are some Pi Zero limitations for mobile hotspots not present on the normal Pis?

I came across this article which seemed to run into your exact problem. It seems like a lot of work though since ideally you’d be able to set the internet back to your home wifi by accessing the SD card on your computer.

Are you sure you aren’t able to see the root partition when you plug in your SD card? I am able to do so on my SD card:

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#5

As per this, it seemed to be a problem for me
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but I opened the sd card in another linux machine and changed the settings for the hotspot, and all is good now.

#6

Glad to hear it!!

closed #7

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