SD for Robot help

[RockyPi]

Hello.
Recently a group i'm in purchased Raspberry Pi Camera Robot kit (http://www.dawnrobotics.co.uk/raspberry ... is-bundle/) and for some reason the task of setting it all up has fallen to me. I got everything put together and can power it on. But the problem is I accidentally used the SD card on a different robot and undid some of the setup that was on it on a different raspberry pi.

Now I'm not sure what I need to do to undo that so I figured, since I found the link, I would just write a new SD card and use that. I format it using the SDFormatter and then write the image using Win32DiskImager. When I put it in the pi and power it on the ACT (green light) turns on for a second then turns off, from there it doesn't do anything. So I'm not sure what I should do or if i'm writing the card wrong somehow.

Any help/advice would be much appreciated. Thank you.

[Alan]

Hi there,

Welcome to the forums.

Are you able to plug a monitor into the Pi to see if it's booting correctly? Also, if it's one of the newer Pis with the microsd connector then it's quite easy to knock the Pi so that the card pops out slightly, so it's sometimes worth checking just to make sure it's fully in.

But in general, sounds like your approach is a good one.

Regards

Alan

[RockyPi]

I don't believe it is partially popped out as I've tried taking it out and re-inserting it, and feeling for the pop meaning it's locked in. Fortunately, I managed to revert the other SD card to what it was before I undid it. So I can now see its WiFi output.

But now I can't get the connection to give my android phone an IP address. Which is a totally different problem. Still working on that though. I've been trying to use another forum post on here to help solve that problem (viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1323)

[Alan]

Hi there,

The robot should be operating as an access point called Pi_Mini_Robot with a password of Raspberry. Do you see that WiFi network?

Regards

Alan

[RockyPi]

Yep. I have it saved in my phone as well. If I click on that my phone says "Authenticating..." then after a moment it says one of two things "Obtaining IP address.." or it just states "Saved, secured with WPA2". The signal strength is good and link speed is 24Mbps if that information is needed.

Sometimes the "Obtaining IP address..." message will stay showing for a couple of minutes then it will attempt to authenticate once again. If this happens it will continue on in a loop of authenticating and attempting to obtain an IP address.

Quick question to add here. Should the Pi be connected to another WiFi router as well?

Thank you for your assistance.

[RockyPi]

Since I can no longer edit that last comment I'll put this here. Sorry about that.

I've been testing with the WiFi and for some reason the WiFi (Pi_mini_robot) will start up and then periodically shut off for a couple of minutes. Thought that might be useful information.

[Alan]

Hi there,

What WiFi dongle is it that you're using? If it's not the Edimax EW-7811Un then it's possible (depending upon what type of batteries you're using to power the robot) that the batteries are not able to provide enough current to keep the WiFi dongle stable. This could also explain the network disappearing and reappearing.

Are you able to power the robot from a wall power adapter for a bit just to see if that solves the problem? Also, are you able to perhaps plug an ethernet cable into the Pi and run 'ifconfig wlan0' at the command line to see if the WiFi is running properly?

I should have also probably asked this earlier, but could you also please tell me what type of batteries you're using, and what version of the Pi (model B, B+ or Pi 2) are you using?

Oh, and in answer to your question our SD card is configured so that no extra router is needed. Although you can change the configuration if you like to connect via a router.

Cheers

Alan

[RockyPi]

WiFi dongle is the Edimax EW-7811Un, and for right now I'm powering it by a wall adapter. Unfortunately, where I'm working doesn't allow me to plug in a ethernet cable from a router. I'll post the contents of the /etc/network/interfaces at the end of this so you may see. I may have changed something on it during the previous project without thinking about it.

We bought the Raspberry Pi Camera Robot bundle ( http://www.dawnrobotics.co.uk/raspberry ... is-bundle/) and, I believe, it's a raspberry pi B+ since it has 4 usb ports.

And thank you for the answer to that question. I had read the instructions wrong then. Thought that's what it meant. Solves that problem. Thank you.

/etc/network/interfaces Code:

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
iface etho0 inet DHCP

allow-hotplug wlan0
auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet static
address 192.168.42.1
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.42.1



If there any of the other files you may want to see just let me know and I'll type them up for you to see them.

Thank you for your help once again.

[Alan]

Hi there,

So just so that I can confirm I understand the situation correctly. You're currently running the Pi off a wall adapter using the EW7811-Un. When you try to connect to the Pi_Mini_Robot wifi network generated by the Pi you're unable to obtain an IP address. Is that correct?

There may possibly be a problem with power to the mini driver. Can you either unplug the mini driver whilst we resolve this, or else make sure that it is powered separately with some AA batteries and that its switch is on?

Beyond that, it's going to be really tricky to debug this if you can't connect an ethernet cable, or a monitor to see what's going on. Is a HDMI monitor an option? In the absence of being able to look at the running system, my best guess would be that the SD card may be corrupted and would advise you to try reflashing the image.

Regards

Alan

[RockyPi]

That is correct.

I can certainly unplug it and see if that helps in the problem. I think i may have forgotten that I can plug it into a monitor. I just can't plug a Ethernet cable into it. (Sorry about that.) I can try something that may allow me to do so, but it will require some finesse. But I may be able to do it so I'll give it a try.

I'll update you once I've gotten the chance to do so. Thank you again.