[BPi-R3-Mini] Wifi doesn't work

Banana Pi Router design BPI-R3/R3 Mini(MT7986)
1

I have noticed the following issue with wifi after restart of the BPI R3 Mini router yesterday:

[ 12.359178] mt798x-wmac 18000000.wifi: attaching wed device 0 version 2
[ 12.402807] platform 15010000.wed: MTK WED WO Firmware Version: DEV_000000, Build Time: 20221012175005
[ 12.412132] platform 15010000.wed: MTK WED WO Chip ID 00 Region 3
[ 12.960507] mt798x-wmac 18000000.wifi: HW/SW Version: 0x8a108a10, Build Time: 20221012174648a
[ 12.960507]
[ 13.069754] mt798x-wmac 18000000.wifi: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20221012174725
[ 13.140252] mt798x-wmac 18000000.wifi: WA Firmware Version: DEV_000000, Build Time: 20221012174937
[ 15.070539] /dev/ubiblock0_1: Can’t open blockdev
[ 33.750216] mt798x-wmac 18000000.wifi: Message 00000002 (seq 9) timeout
[ 33.756828] mt798x-wmac 18000000.wifi: Failed to start WA firmware
[ 33.783119] mt798x-wmac: probe of 18000000.wifi failed with error -110

I’m using the most current version of ImmortalWRT (23.05.1) and wifi interfaces do not work and there is no light coming from from 2G and 5G LEDs.

Can you please help to solve the issue?

The similar wifi issues appeared on stock firmware as well so it is not OS issue I believe. I have tried to flash firmware multiple times, but there is no change.

Firmware seems to be present in the correct path:

# ls /lib/firmware/mediatek/
mt7986_rom_patch.bin mt7986_wm_mt7975.bin
mt7986_rom_patch_mt7975.bin mt7986_wo_0.bin
mt7986_wa.bin mt7986_wo_1.bin
mt7986_wm.bin

2

Do you use a usb2uart connector? Which vendor? Only ftdi and cp2104 are known to work with R3(mini)

3

I’m not using any of these as I can use USB-C cable to access terminal through serial port from my Macbook Pro laptop. I have another device like this (working as dumb AP in my living room) and it is working fine on the same connection. There is no issue on that device whatsoever.

4

See:

https://forum.banana-pi.org/t/bpi-r3-failed-to-start-wa-firmware/17025

So you are using any of these?

5

No I don’t use them - just direct connection to device through USB-C, but even if I disconnect terminal and run device from power supply I have the same issue.

6

Check the pins on the debug uart connection. Perhapse something is touching? Bend pins?

7

I checked and the pins are straight. I don’t know what is going on here…

8

On my other properly working BPI-R3 Mini I have the following entries:

[ 12.741333] mt798x-wmac 18000000.wifi: attaching wed device 0 version 2
[ 12.787264] platform 15010000.wed: MTK WED WO Firmware Version: DEV_000000, Build Time: 20221012175005
[ 12.796587] platform 15010000.wed: MTK WED WO Chip ID 00 Region 3
[ 13.361009] mt798x-wmac 18000000.wifi: HW/SW Version: 0x8a108a10, Build Time: 20221012174648a
[ 13.361009]
[ 13.468655] mt798x-wmac 18000000.wifi: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20221012174725
[ 13.538161] mt798x-wmac 18000000.wifi: WA Firmware Version: DEV_000000, Build Time: 20221012174937
[ 13.643710] mt798x-wmac 18000000.wifi: registering led ‘mt76-phy0’
[ 13.651135] mt798x-wmac 18000000.wifi: registering led ‘mt76-phy1’
[ 15.502498] /dev/ubiblock0_1: Can’t open blockdev

9

Have you ever connected a uart adapter?

10

I have never ever connected separate UART adapter to this device. I have always used embedded USB-C connector for terminal connection.

11

What is ubiblock0_1 exactly? Your rootfs? Maybe there are errors on the fs causing firmware is damaged.

But error is on your working device too…

12

The embedded usb-c also uses a ch340e adapter on the uart0 pins.

Try powering up the R3-mini without anything on the R3 mini usb-c connector. Once powered up, connect it.

13

I only connected power supply from usb-c and then logged into device via SSH. The same issue appears with no serial port connected.

14

This is not an issue as I have the same error on other (fully working) device.

15

Anyone has any clue of what to do next or it looks a hardware issue and I need to contact Sinovoip customer support?

16

Has this problem been solved? The power adapter is 12V & 2A. I ran into the same problem without connecting any uart .