WiFi connectivity issues with FreedomBox 20.8

Problem Description
Recently my FreedomBox machine, which acts as a home WiFi network router, automatically upgraded via Debian buster-backports from version 20.7 to 20.8 and it rebooted. Ever since the upgrade, I cannot reliably use the WiFi network.

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Have your FreedomBox configured to act as an access point and provide WiFi connectivity to other wireless devices at home.
  2. Upgrade from version 20.7 to 20.8.
  3. Connect via a device (e.g., a laptop) to your WiFi network provided by the FreedomBox machine.
  4. Try to ping from your laptop anything on the Internet, e.g., ping -c4 debian.org.
  5. Observe the ping packets not getting through.

Expected Results
I expected for the ping to come through.

Actual results
The packets are lost.

Screenshot
(none)

Information

  • FreedomBox version: 20.8
  • Hardware: PC Engines APU 3C4
  • How did you install FreedomBox?: by running apt install freedombox in Debian Buster.
  • I brought this issue up in the version 20.8 announcement thread, but I guess it should be discussed in its own thread.

I had similar issues the last day, and had to do a new installation. Can you tell me if your System->networks page lists the wifi as ‘activated’ ?

Mine went ‘deactivated’ there and could not keep a steady connection to my laptop. After a fresh image burn and installing the non-free firmware + adjusting the privacy mac settings it’s working again. Im gonna work better with backups, hopefully that will save some effort. Do you have backups to roll back?

Sorry thats all I can do for now =)

My experience is that the activate/deactivate buttons and corresponding connection status icons do not reflect the actual situation and the action taken. This is the case with this situation for sure.

I am not sure how configuration backups work across different FreedomBox versions, i.e., if one can easily roll back. I should play with that possibility when I get a chance.

I’m glad you got it working!

Hmm sad news. One day in and it collapsed again. Could be the network time sync or a driver for the non-free card. Im also running pi-hole als DHCP and DNS on seperate hardware. Could be a conflict there, but weirdly I cannot even ssh from the freedombox wifi. Weirdly, (sudo) lsusb is not working. Ive ordered an AWUS1900 to hopefully upgrade to 5Ghz while I’m at it :slight_smile: fingers crossed for the drivers… I hear Kali users like it so blessed be it.

Cockpit is also unaccesible over network for me so cant fiddle in these settings either. I’m just rambling a bit becouse I have got no clue. Im new to freedombox =) I’ll post an update with the new wifi usb.

edit: doh, its usb3 and my board is usb2 - fingers crossed…!
edit2: if all fails maybe an espressobin SBC is a better option as an SBC for freedombox. Only thing I am worried about is the lan “switch” when using freedombox as a router… Ive read there were some safety issues with http://www.banana-pi.org/r1.html for example. What hardware are you using?