# RevPi Connect 4 and WiFi struggles **URL:** \ **Category:** Product support\ **Created:** [October 29, 2024, 4:24am UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/revpi-connect-4-and-wifi-struggles/372362 "2024-10-29T04:24:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![the-real-kenna](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/balena/user_avatar/forums.balena.io/the-real-kenna/32/9598_2.png) [@the-real-kenna](https://forums.balena.io/u/the-real-kenna)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2024, 4:24am UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/revpi-connect-4-and-wifi-struggles/372362/1 "2024-10-29T04:24:14Z")
**Opening a discussion that originally started in a private thread so that more folks can contribute and so that the final answer is visible to others.** We received a note from @bluesky that they could not get a signal when testing WiFi on their RevPi Connect 4 using balenaOS (v5.3.3). They mentioned there might be a specific module that Kunbus / RevPi created for the device, but that this was the error message they were seeing: > [9.525753] usbcore: registered new interface driver brcmfmac > [9.526005] brcmfmac mmc1:0001:1: Direct firmware load for brcm/brcmfmac43455-sdio.kunbus,revpi-connect4.bin failed with error -2 > [9.765150] brcmfmac: brcmf\_c\_preinit\_dcmds: Firmware: BCM4345/6 wl0: Nov 1 2021 00:37:25 version 7.45.241 (1a2f2fa CY) FWID 01-703fd60 One of balena’s engineers suggested the following, which didn’t help, but is worth mentioning it’s been tested: > Depending on the wifi hotspot, we had to use `dtparam=ant2` to the `config.txt` . The case was causing some sort of interference, and selecting the external antenna option like this seemed to fix it, even with no external antenna connected. Some internal balena folks setup two other RevPi Connect 4’s and the WiFi is working on both, so @bluesky, the team had a few more questions for you: - is there a visible wifi network to connect to (try running `nmcli dev wifi`)? - can we confirm that the network was correctly configured on the device (is there a connection profile to connect to the local hotspot, no auth errors or typos, etc)? - what is seen in the network manager logs? - what is the actual behaviour seen on the device that indicates there is “no signal” on the WiFi? - is the internal or an external antenna being used (or have both been tested)? Also of note, the message you shared with us @bluesky is visible on our working devices, so it’s not necessarily indicative of failing WiFi on its own, if that helps. I’ll be sharing this link with my balena colleagues so they can reply here as well once you respond. ---
**Author:** ![bluesky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@bluesky](https://forums.balena.io/u/bluesky)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2024, 7:26am UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/revpi-connect-4-and-wifi-struggles/372362/2 "2024-10-29T07:26:31Z")
Thanks for all the information. Great to know that the wifi is working on you device despite the error message. running „nmcli dev wifi“ shows me no network, even if there are several networks to connect nearby. Also one router that is right next to the device. When i configure a network over balena or direct on the command line, it gives back network not found or not visible. On my other devices it is visible, also i tried to add „invisible“ to the command. Could you share me your setup, so i can test if it would work with that one? If it works, i can try to find the differences to my code. In the network manager logs is no error appart from the one i shared. Also all commands show that the wifi is up and running (no energy safe mode or not disconnected). I just don‘t see any networks, that indicates me something is wrong. Over a command from a Kunbus library i activated the external antenna. So i think I tried both. Is there another way to do it? How is it running on your devices? ---
**Author:** ![rcooke-warwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ba9def/32.png) [@rcooke-warwick](https://forums.balena.io/u/rcooke-warwick)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2024, 3:41pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/revpi-connect-4-and-wifi-struggles/372362/3 "2024-10-30T15:41:45Z")
Hello, I’m one of the colleagues Kenna mentioned. Does your device have built in wifi? The store page and [datasheet](https://revolutionpi.com/wp-content/uploads/manuell/datenblatt/Technical_Datasheet_RevPi_Connect-4.pdf) show that some some revisions don’t seem to have it built in. If you run `ifconfig` from the host OS, do you see a `wlan0` interface? On the devices I’ve interacted with, I’ve not had to do anything specific to get the wifi working, other than in some cases adding `dtparam=ant2` to `config.txt` . Maybe there’s a channel issue? If you run `iwlist wlan0 channel` (provided `wlan0` exists) do you see the channel that your wifi AP is using? ---
**Author:** ![bluesky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@bluesky](https://forums.balena.io/u/bluesky)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2024, 10:00am UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/revpi-connect-4-and-wifi-struggles/372362/4 "2024-11-02T10:00:38Z")
Hello Yes, my device has built in wifi. With the command `ifconfig` I see wlan0: wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B) With the command `iwlist wlan0 channel`: wlan0 32 channels in total; available frequencies : Channel 01 : 2.412 GHz Channel 02 : 2.417 GHz Channel 03 : 2.422 GHz Channel 04 : 2.427 GHz Channel 05 : 2.432 GHz Channel 06 : 2.437 GHz Channel 07 : 2.442 GHz Channel 08 : 2.447 GHz Channel 09 : 2.452 GHz Channel 10 : 2.457 GHz Channel 11 : 2.462 GHz Channel 36 : 5.18 GHz Channel 40 : 5.2 GHz Channel 44 : 5.22 GHz Channel 48 : 5.24 GHz Channel 52 : 5.26 GHz Channel 56 : 5.28 GHz Channel 60 : 5.3 GHz Channel 64 : 5.32 GHz Channel 100 : 5.5 GHz Channel 104 : 5.52 GHz Channel 108 : 5.54 GHz Channel 112 : 5.56 GHz Channel 116 : 5.58 GHz Channel 120 : 5.6 GHz Channel 124 : 5.62 GHz Channel 128 : 5.64 GHz Channel 132 : 5.66 GHz Channel 136 : 5.68 GHz Channel 140 : 5.7 GHz Channel 144 : 5.72 GHz Channel 149 : 5.745 GHz I added `dtparam=ant2` to `config.txt` after flashing the balena image to the RevPi connect. `nmcli device wifi list` still shows: IN-USE BSSID SSID MODE CHAN RATE SIGNAL BARS SECURITY What else could I try? ---
**Author:** ![the-real-kenna](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/balena/user_avatar/forums.balena.io/the-real-kenna/32/9598_2.png) [@the-real-kenna](https://forums.balena.io/u/the-real-kenna)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2024, 12:17am UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/revpi-connect-4-and-wifi-struggles/372362/5 "2024-11-06T00:17:48Z")
@bluesky I didn’t want you to think we’d forgotten; I’ve reached out to our team for suggestions on next steps and also reached out to RevPi in case they have some ideas. We’ll get back to you soon. ---
**Author:** ![floion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/45deac/32.png) [@floion](https://forums.balena.io/u/floion)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2024, 6:51am UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/revpi-connect-4-and-wifi-struggles/372362/6 "2024-11-06T06:51:01Z")
Hi, is there any chance you could enable support access to the device and share the uuid so we can have a look remotely to your board? ---
**Author:** ![nicolaiB](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/balena/user_avatar/forums.balena.io/nicolaib/32/10064_2.png) [@nicolaiB](https://forums.balena.io/u/nicolaiB)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2024, 9:20pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/revpi-connect-4-and-wifi-struggles/372362/7 "2024-11-06T21:20:33Z")
Despite the already mentioned use of the external antenna (some 2.4 GHz devices are kinda picky when it comes to the PCB antenna of CM4) you should check if the wifi is masked by rfkill which blocks the radio. It would be also interesting if this issue persists if you flash a official RevPi (or even Raspberry) image? With this we can rule out any hardware issues. ---
**Author:** ![bluesky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@bluesky](https://forums.balena.io/u/bluesky)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2024, 11:40pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/revpi-connect-4-and-wifi-struggles/372362/8 "2024-11-07T23:40:26Z")
Hi, I found out something in my configuration. The wifi is working now: I added `dtparam=ant2` to `config.txt` like it was suggested. I just added the line to my `config.txt` and when I had a look to the file over the balena console, this line was missing. I found out, that after rebooting, the `config.txt` file was overwritten with some old file. Now I installed the image completely new from balena and added the line. This way it is working! Thanks for all the support. ---
**Author:** ![rcooke-warwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ba9def/32.png) [@rcooke-warwick](https://forums.balena.io/u/rcooke-warwick)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2024, 4:14pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/revpi-connect-4-and-wifi-struggles/372362/9 "2024-11-08T16:14:49Z")
Glad to hear its working! I have to say, when you first mentioned it, I was sure the external antenna hack was going to fix it - in fact I’m pretty sure it was Nicolai who helped us figure that out in the first place 🙂 (Thanks again Nicolai!) ---
**Author:** ![the-real-kenna](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/balena/user_avatar/forums.balena.io/the-real-kenna/32/9598_2.png) [@the-real-kenna](https://forums.balena.io/u/the-real-kenna)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2024, 4:22pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/revpi-connect-4-and-wifi-struggles/372362/10 "2024-11-08T16:22:39Z")
@bluesky that’s great to hear, thanks for letting us know! @nicolaiB @floion I wonder if there’s someplace we can document (other than this thread) that would be more discoverable. 🤔 Maybe we can chat about it sometime soon. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![nicolaiB](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/balena/user_avatar/forums.balena.io/nicolaib/32/10064_2.png) [@nicolaiB](https://forums.balena.io/u/nicolaiB)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2024, 9:00pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/revpi-connect-4-and-wifi-struggles/372362/11 "2024-11-08T21:00:17Z")
Even better idea: Let’s have a chat how we can make this configurable from the cloud interface. I’ve seen that there are certain other configuration options, thus I think this should be doable? ---
**Author:** ![the-real-kenna](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/balena/user_avatar/forums.balena.io/the-real-kenna/32/9598_2.png) [@the-real-kenna](https://forums.balena.io/u/the-real-kenna)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2024, 1:23am UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/revpi-connect-4-and-wifi-struggles/372362/12 "2024-11-14T01:23:31Z")
@nicolaiB just a heads-up that in the short term, we’re making the external antenna the default (see [GitHub PR 1189](https://github.com/balena-os/balena-raspberrypi/pull/1189)). But let’s definitely chat more about future configurability. 🙂