Errors connecting to ratos.local, no hotspot for new RatOS image
A few days ago my browser would no longer connect to ratos.local which I had been using steadily since I built the V-core 9 months ago. The printer has been on my company's wifi, while my computer has been hardwired, and there have been no problems.
When I configured everything to begin with, I don't think I changed any of the SSH information, but I was unsuccessful at trying to get into the Pi. I must say that working with an OS other than windows is foreign to me, networking is not my strong suit, and I've never owned a Pi until I built this printer. I also don't have access to my company's router/network, so I don't even know the IP of my Pi. I'm currently waiting for a reply from our IT guy so I can get into the network.
My next problem started when I thought the easiest/fastest solution was to clear my Pi's SD card, and flash a fresh image of RatOS to enable the Pi's hotspot and go through the configuration again. Upon doing so, the hotspot never appears. I've tried looking for it with multiple devices, nothing. Waited over an hour. Tried restarting the Pi with the same results, no hotspot. at this point I have tried 3 different SD cards, the most up to date version of Balena Etcher, and the latest as well as the previous versions of RatOS. I even tried entering the wifi information manually in wpa_supplicant to connect to the same network it was previously on, as well as running a LAN straight to the Pi with no results.
I've never had to attach a screen or peripherals to the Pi, but trying this also did nothing.
I'm at my wits end, it was my understanding that a new flash of RatOS would clear everything and allow me to start over. What have I done wrong? Is my Pi fried? Did a networking error become something greater? Any help would be appreciated beyond belief.
Solution:Jump to solution
Update: It works, I'm a little dumb. Apparently the one variable I never checked was the power supply. I had to move my pi closer to the router last night for ethernet on my home network, and realized I needed a longer USB power cable than the one that came with my Pi kit, the one I've been using for 9 months. Grabbed my phone charger from the wall, plugged it in, and the Pi booted to RatOS and put out the hotspot like it should, as well as showing up on my network immediately. The supplied powe...
21 Replies
what is the name of the file that you used for the new flashing of the SD card?
possible causes:
* you downloaded the wrong image (answering my question above will help me determine if this is the problem) - this would cause the wifi to not work
* your business network changed and they are preventing you from connecting
* your pi is broken or power supply to it is broken
When you put in a newly flashed SD card and you power the pi, do the lights come on? Does the green light flicker rapidly?
"2023-06-09-RatOS-2.0.2-raspberry-rpi32.img" downloaded from github. Your reply made me realize I've been flashing the .xz archive file and not the image file that's compressed in the archive this whole time. I feel very stupid for not realizing that, so I'm currently trying again with the extracted file only.
it should be able to handle decompressing it before flashing to SD
Pi shows solid orange and rapid blinking green lights
my company recently installed a network bridge to strengthen the connection between our 2 buildings, as we only have 1 shared network, but that installation happened weeks ago, and i managed to print a couple things since then without loosing connection
https://os.ratrig.com/docs/installation doesn't mention needing to extract the image from the .xz archive so i thought nothing of it, but you're saying that shouldn't matter anyway?
yes, support for xy files has been added https://github.com/balena-io/etcher/issues/325
looks like since 2016ish
then that wasn't my issue after all, as trying it just now still doesn't put out the hotspot
it won't put out the hotspot if either the board is broken or it has connected to a network. Is it plugged into ethernet ?
Not currently. I've tried both wired and wireless
If the image of RatOS is fresh, shouldn't the Pi forget the previous network details?
I wasn't expecting a hotspot when there was a LAN connection, but without the LAN it should put out the hotspot on a fresh image. You think my Pi is bad? Like I said, I've never used a Pi before, but learning and reading here I tried hooking it up by hdmi to a spare monitor and connected a new mouse to the usb port, neither are really working. the monitor knows there's a connection, as the screen flashes when hdmi is plugged in/out, but there is no image
Should I try flashing a different OS on my Pi to see if the monitor and mouse work? I am using the right image for RatOS, correct?
yeah that image looks correct from the filename
I've tried 3 different SD cards, a 32gb onn, the 64gb geeekpi that came with the pi (the one that was previously in use), and a brand new 64gb sandisk imagemate pro that I bought last night. I don't have a spare Pi to test. Nothing in my computer, my Pi, nor my printer had changed leading up to the connection issues, and now the reinstallation troubles. To my knowledge we never had a power loss or anything like that
well, this is made more difficult due to being on a company network where you can't easily find the IP address. The next easiest step is to hook it up to ethernet, get the IP address and see if that works instead of ratos.local, and if not try and SSH into the pi using that address
this isn't a great sign
I haven't had a pi just die on me before without me doing something stupid to it. But from what you're saying it sounds dead. If you can't manage to get an image out to a monitor, you're kind of out of options. I guess you could unmount the pi and bring it home, or anywhere you can connect it via ethernet and check a router for the connection.
I took the Pi home from work last night and still wasn't able to connect to my personal wifi at home, nor did a hotspot appear for RatOS. I didn't have enough time/wasn't able to try a direct LAN connection last night on my personal network cause the router is out of the way. I also tried an image of Raspberry Pi OS and am still not getting any image on screen when trying RatOS or PiOS, 2 different hdmi cables, multiple different displays. I think the Pi boots fine cause the power light stays constant and the green light flashes steady but not in a pattern that I can tell. I've tried editing different combinations of display settings for RatOS as well as PiOS in the configuration file with no luck. Tried different methods of flashing my SD cards. At this point, I'm guessing my Pi needs to be replaced, and i'm beating a dead horse until it's switched out
Solution
Update: It works, I'm a little dumb. Apparently the one variable I never checked was the power supply. I had to move my pi closer to the router last night for ethernet on my home network, and realized I needed a longer USB power cable than the one that came with my Pi kit, the one I've been using for 9 months. Grabbed my phone charger from the wall, plugged it in, and the Pi booted to RatOS and put out the hotspot like it should, as well as showing up on my network immediately. The supplied power cable from the kit somehow stopped putting out enough power to fully boot properly, but created a false boot status, as the power light remained solid red and the status light flashed inconsistently for read/write so I didn't think that was the problem.
I did mention that in my list of possibilities https://discord.com/channels/582187371529764864/1199775450860368016/1199790516896796854
I'm having the same issue as Tyler. I was running a very old version of RatOS (Early 2022) and I could not update over network so I decided to reflash. I kept my original SD card and the pi will boot no problem with that one inserted. When trying to boot the 2023-06-09-RatOS-2.0.2-armbian-CB1.img.xz image on a different SD card, I get the 4 flashing green lights in a row. I'm using a raspberry pi 4b 4gb. Nothing plugged into it except power and SD card, I have tried multiple SD cards all Samsung EVO / Ultra. I cannot figure out what's going on but it's driving me nuts
You're using the wrong image...
CB1 image is for a CB1, not a raspberry pi
Also, please start your own post as the rules state
Sorry I figured it was a related issue. I was unfamiliar with what a CB1 was until just now. I'm not seeing a 64 bit version of this release though?
Yes, there is no 64 but version, use the 32 bit version
Thanks!