NOOBS on Pi 3 - WiFi is discoverable and connects in Raspbian, but not in LibreELEC

  • Hi All,

    I had a good look on this forum and couldn't find a problem like this. I apologize if it is somewhere though, and happy to be directed.

    Here's the problem: My WiFi network does not appear in LibreELEC. I run a 2.4 and 5 GHz router, and neither appear. HOWEVER if I open Raspbian, my 2.4GHz WiFi appears, and I can connect to it just fine. It automatically connects and everything. So, I restart after connecting Raspbian to to my WiFi, and it still isn't avaliable in LibreELEC. I don't understand why it isn't appearing in LibreELEC, but is just fine in Raspbian. Any ideas or advice you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

    I am running NOOBS V3.2.1 on a Pi3.

    Thanks!

  • Long shot here but might be worth a try;

    Have You enabled "wait for network" (set it to 20-30 sec) in LibreELEC add-on?

    Thanks for the idea, but no luck, still no WiFi networks show up.

    I have tried toggling the "wireless network" on and off, and tried with the wired network active and inactive, but I still don't get anything showing up in "Connections". I even tried tried creating a HotSpot with my phone, but still can't get anything to show up in the "Connections" tab.

  • Code
    echo "options cfg80211 ieee80211_regdom=AU” > /storage/.config/modprobe.d/cfg80211.conf

    ^ I'm 99% sure this will fix things assuming you're using the onboard pi wireless. If the regulatory domain is not set, it defaults to 00 which is a global safe default that will be missing a variety of channels and other radio properties depending on where in the world you are.

  • Code
    echo "options cfg80211 ieee80211_regdom=AU” > /storage/.config/modprobe.d/cfg80211.conf

    ^ I'm 99% sure this will fix things assuming you're using the onboard pi wireless. If the regulatory domain is not set, it defaults to 00 which is a global safe default that will be missing a variety of channels and other radio properties depending on where in the world you are.

    Thanks chewitt. I'm still pretty new to all this, so I need a little more instruction please. Can I enter this in the terminal in Raspbian, or should I open OpenElec and use PUTTY? To use PUTTY I'll need to use an Ethernet cable....

    Also, do I just paste the code directly into the Terminal.

    Sorry for the questions, I'm not much of a coder...

    Thanks!

  • Thanks Chewitt,

    I can now see some WiFi networks, but still can't get my 2.4 GHz network to show up. I'm starting to think it's got to do with the settings with my router. It's just odd that it shows up in Raspbian but not LibreELEC.

    Thank you for your help anyway.

  • Check the country setting in the router matches what you've set in the conf file. In 'eastern' markets router products sometimes default to Japan which has extra channels that won't appear anywhere else.

    Hi chewitt, Thanks for the advice. I had a look in the router settings, but couldn't find anything regarding country. I found something that said "channels" which was set to "Auto" and running at 13, but that was all.

    I'm afraid this might be beyond my basic skills. I was hopeful that it was an easy fix as Raspbian connects fine, but I might need to try the ethernet things which run through the house's power cables instead.

    Thank you for all your help nonetheless.

  • Set the router to channel 10 or 11 and see if it shows up in the list of networks on the Pi. If it does, the problem is the radio properties and you just need to find the right country code for it to work (look at dmesg under Raspian and it should be logged).

    You sir are a bloody legend!

    I changed my router to channel 9, and my Wi-Fi network now shows up immediately! It doesn't seem to be effecting anything else, so this seems all good.

    I can't thank you enough for all of your help. I would never have worked that out on my own.

    Thank you again!

  • Changing regdomain only works if you don't have an active wifi connection (so after reboot). Also, if you connect to a wifi network that has a regdomain announced on the router/AP (some do, some don't) and the driver supports this (most do, some don't) this will override the LE regdomain setting.

  • Changing regdomain only works if you don't have an active wifi connection (so after reboot). Also, if you connect to a wifi network that has a regdomain announced on the router/AP (some do, some don't) and the driver supports this (most do, some don't) this will override the LE regdomain setting.

    hm this always worked for me with libreelec 9.2.6. Now to get 5ghz I have to first boot, LE will put me on 2.4 ghz, disconnect from wifi, choose swedish as my regdomain and then connect to wifi manually. in that order 5ghz works. after next reboot I have to do it all manually again.

    My ssid is both 2.4 and 5ghz in the same one (unifi)