[RPi5] WiFi Connection Issues

Hammerhead · January 24, 2025 at 9:13 PM

Howdy, folks. New member, first post.

I'm trying to connect LibreELEC on a Pi5 8G via WiFi to my system, but there are some odd things happening.

When using DHCP, the address shows as 10.0.0.0 which makes no sense to me.
I can connect using my 2.4G WiFi band via static IP, but there are a lot of dropouts and lags
Trying my 5G band whether via DHCP or Static IP I get a 'invalid key' error.
Thought I'd give a try at SSH to run a 'sudo apt full-upgrade', but can't get in. Tried changing the SSH password but it didn't take.

Hoping someone can tell me what I'm doing wrong.

Thanks in advance!

**chewitt** · January 25, 2025 at 3:08 AM

Some comments:

Can't explain 10.0.0.0 without knowledge of the correct DHCP scope, or there's a rogue DHCP server in the network
RPi WiFi is never brilliant so you probably need to move the device closer to the router
The invalid-key error is a known but unresolved connection issue - signal strength is a factor (as above)
The usual reason SSH password login fails is people enabling the disable password feature?
Once you get in, there is intentionally no sudo or apt package manager (we are not Debian based)

In general WiFi on RPi boards is a bit rubbish, and while "invalid-key" is a genuine bug that needs to be resolved, it's influenced by signal strength. If running an Ethernet cable is truly impossible you may need to use an external USB WiFi dongle with a proper antenna that provides better range than the onboard card.

Hammerhead · January 25, 2025 at 3:42 PM

Quote from chewitt

Some comments:
Can't explain 10.0.0.0 without knowledge of the correct DHCP scope, or there's a rogue DHCP server in the network
RPi WiFi is never brilliant so you probably need to move the device closer to the router
The invalid-key error is a known but unresolved connection issue - signal strength is a factor (as above)
The usual reason SSH password login fails is people enabling the disable password feature?
Once you get in, there is intentionally no sudo or apt package manager (we are not Debian based)
In general WiFi on RPi boards is a bit rubbish, and while "invalid-key" is a genuine bug that needs to be resolved, it's influenced by signal strength. If running an Ethernet cable is truly impossible you may need to use an external USB WiFi dongle with a proper antenna that provides better range than the onboard card.

I'll have a look at a few of these things.

The IP is odd, I agree. Not sure where it's coming from, I have a standard consumer (Linksys) router set up and it works for everything else.
I'm not sure why signal strength should be a problem since I regularly use my cellphone and laptop in the same location as the Pi is going. Is there something that can be done with the Pi itself (perhaps an external antenna)?
I'll reset the install and start from scratch to see what happens but if I can't update the OS then SSH isn't going to help me in this case.

Thanks for the pointers. I'll give it another shot.

**chewitt** · January 25, 2025 at 5:47 PM

RPi boards have no external antenna connector so the sole option is disabling the onboard and using external USB WiFi. And while your phone works great, the RPi board doesn't, so the "but my other device is okay" argument is invalid. Reinstalling won't achieve anything with an OS like LE which uses embedded packaging to ensure the OS content on each device is identical. You can remake the connection, but that's not the problem.