EDIT: I hate to have to admit this, but I completely forgot that the nanopi m4 v2 needs external antennas for its wifi to operate properly. (I bought just before the coronavirus hit, and it was several weeks before I got back to setting up the board. First board I've had that needs that.)

 

Having terrible troubles getting a working wifi on various Armbian OSes on nanopi-m4v2.

 

Tried:

• Armbian_20.05.1_Nanopim4v2_bionic_legacy_4.4.213_desktop.img
• Armbian_20.02.7_Nanopim4v2_buster_legacy_4.4.213_desktop.img
• (Armbian_20.05.2_Nanopim4v2_focal_current_5.4.43_desktop.img - just won't boot, as of 24h ago)
• Armbian_20.05.2_Nanopim4v2_buster_current_5.4.43_desktop.img

 

I run off a cellphone hotspot. It seems it has to be an inch away to get a reliable first authentication, and any functional data rate after that.

 

The connection can drop if I move the phone to the other side of the desk, definitely if I put the phone a couple of feet out the door.

 

The laptop has no such problems, so its not the phone.

 

I compared the devices with `sudo iwlist wlan0 scan`

 

Laptop:

Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
Quality=23/70  Signal level=-87 dBm 

Nanopi M4: bionic (Linux nanopim4v2 4.4.213-rk339 #7 SMP Sat May 30 13:20:02 CEST 2020...)

Frequency=2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
Quality:1/5 Signal level:-87 dBm Noise level:-92 dBm
IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1

 

I tried the DietPi image for the device, but it couldn't even complete a firstrun login/config because it couldn't detect any wifi hardware. (Reported here).

 

Also, I note that some have had wifi troubles over at the Openmedia forums with this board, although presumably this is the first version.

 

Could a firmware/driver issue cause this? A bad batch of boards? Its not as if the whole internet is awash with complaints.

 

I don't have the technical skills to pursue this myself, (compiling, builds, swapping kernels, etc), but if it helps, I could try things at your instruction.

Edited June 12, 20206 yr by bad_img
honesty, OP's error, solved

armbianmonitor -u