wifi upgrade Pie 4

  • So I've got my Pie up and running but I've got terrible buffering issues. I've got a windows Kodi 15.x on a 3x3 AC pci wireless card and it does great with no buffering, but I obviously can't do that here. What are some wifi usb adaptors that work well? Also I'm very new to the platform so please bear with me.

    thanks!

    • Official Post

    If you want to stay away from any driver trouble, get an ethernet-to-wifi adapter. And as you know, antennas are always good for connection.

    PS: That thing will do. Benefit: It has an own power supply, which is good for your RPi.

  • Try to check if you modem got 5ghz signal. If it does connect your pi with that ssid.

    Check if your wifi channel is on auto or not in your modem.

    yeah my router/Wifi/Switch combo has a 5ghz band, but whenever I connect to it the Pie grides to a halt. Like it really chugs. Wifi channels are hand picked from I lived in an apartment with 30 other networks in range.

    • Official Post

    LE 9.2.3 will have GUI options for setting wireless regulatory domain which appears to be more important on RPi WiFi hardware than other devices for setting the correct radio properties and getting good (or better) performance. Until the release you can force the same with this:

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

    replace "US" with other country codes if required.

  • LE 9.2.3 will have GUI options for setting wireless regulatory domain which appears to be more important on RPi WiFi hardware than other devices for setting the correct radio properties and getting good (or better) performance. Until the release you can force the same with this:

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

    replace "US" with other country codes if required.

    I'm running LE 9.2.1. is there such an interface for this version or do I need to create the config and push it over?

    • Official Post

    I'm running LE 9.2.1. is there such an interface for this version or do I need to create the config and push it over?

    You already learned how to use the nano editor, right? If the file doesn't exists, then you have to create it. It's the same procedure like on your advancedsettings.xml problem:

    Code
    nano /storage/.config/modprobe.d/cfg80211.conf

    Then add this line, but replace US by your country ID (IEEE standard):

    Code
    options cfg80211 ieee80211_regdom=US
  • You already learned how to use the nano editor, right? If the file doesn't exists, then you have to create it. It's the same procedure like on your advancedsettings.xml problem:

    Code
    nano /storage/.config/modprobe.d/cfg80211.conf

    Then add this line, but replace US by your country ID (IEEE standard):

    Code
    options cfg80211 ieee80211_regdom=US

    For that problem I was able to copy the file over via a network share and I was trying to use PuTTY but got stuck. I tried looking up some stuff on how to use Nano, but wasn't able to get far.

    Am I supposed to be able to use it from a windows machine, like I did with PuTTY? I don't see a .exe in the files that I extracted and I wasn't able to find anything on how to us it on windows. If there is an article on here on how to use Nano that would be great!

    For kicks and grins I created the file and copied it over like I did with advancesettings but I'm not sure I dropped in the right country code as IEEE doesn't have a code for the USA but does for my region (Eastern US), which is a 2. Now I don't see the 5GHz SSID at all.

    • Official Post

    For kicks and grins I created the file and copied it over like I did with advancesettings but I'm not sure I dropped in the right country code as IEEE doesn't have a code for the USA but does for my region (Eastern US), which is a 2. Now I don't see the 5GHz SSID at all.

    Country ID's are for countries, not for regions inside countries. That means LE's default country US already fits for you, and there is no need to create that file.

    So you're using the right WiFi configuration, but it looks like the WiFi signal isn't strong enough. You have to buy a WiFi adapter with an antenna for your WiFi surrounding, like the one I mentioned above. That will improve signal strength.

  • 5GHz is a game changer. Other users have trouble with RPi's internal 5GHz WiFi, too. This should work on RPi's.

    ok, I got the adaptor in the mail today and plugged it in. Is it plug and play? Right now I got nothing coming up under WAN1 under the connections menu.

    • Official Post

    My research says that your new WiFi adapter needs an RTL8812AU Linux driver, and milhouse currently includes that driver into LE.

    Chances are, the driver hasn't been included into LE's major release, yet, but maybe it's already available as test build. Activate test builds (a.k.a. milhouse builds) this way:

    1. go to Settings -> LibreELEC -> Updates
    2. click Show Custom Channels
    3. click - Custom Channel 1
    4. insert http://milhouse.libreelec.tv/builds/master/RPi4 and click OK
    5. click Update Channel
    6. click Milhouse-9.80
    7. click Available Versions
    8. click the first entry at the list of test builds (not the highest number)
    9. confirm the update

    Hopefully this update will make your driver available, and the WiFi adapter should work without any further configuration.

    Good luck!

  • My research says that your new WiFi adapter needs an RTL8812AU Linux driver, and milhouse currently includes that driver into LE.

    Chances are, the driver hasn't been included into LE's major release, yet, but maybe it's already available as test build. Activate test builds (a.k.a. milhouse builds) this way:

    1. go to Settings -> LibreELEC -> Updates
    2. click Show Custom Channels
    3. click - Custom Channel 1
    4. insert http://milhouse.libreelec.tv/builds/master/RPi4 and click OK
    5. click Update Channel
    6. click Milhouse-9.80
    7. click Available Versions
    8. click the first entry at the list of test builds (not the highest number)
    9. confirm the update

    Hopefully this update will make your driver available, and the WiFi adapter should work without any further configuration.

    Good luck!

    unfortunately I don't see the option, "show Custom Channels". My updates have these options, auto update, submit stats, show update notifications and the under that I have Raspberry Pi Flashing with two updates "bootloader EEPOM" and "VIA USB3 Firmware". I'm on 9.2.1. the install is only a few days old. but it wouldn't be a great loss if I had to wipe and refresh.