No WiFi after system update in RPi (Authentication time out)

[jrvarma]

I recently ran pacman -Syyu on a Raspberry Pi 2 after several months, and it stopped connecting to the WiFi network. I use wpa_supplicant to manage the network, and when I try connecting manually using wpa_cli, I first get a message that it has associated with the network, and then a message that authentication timed out. This device runs archlinux armv7.

I then did a fresh install of archlinux aarch64 on a Raspberry Pi 3, and wpa_supplicant connected to network flawlessly. I then ran pacman -Syyu and rebooted. Again no WiFi connection: authentication timed out.

So the problem seems to affect both armv7 and aarch64, and both RPi 2 and RPi 3, and seems to be related to an update in some package.

I would be happy if I can fix the problem by downgrading one or two packages, but I do not know which to try. I did try downgrading the kernel and the firmware, but that did not help. Also since glibc had an update a few months ago and the installation tarball dates back to 2023, downgrading packages that depend on glibc did not appear practical to me.

My RPi runs a file server and printer server at home, and I am keen to get it working again. Any suggestions or pointers would be highly appreciated

[tightsmules]

Before that, I had to unplug the network cable and restart the network continuously to be able to connect to wifi again as usual.

[jrvarma]

I "solved" the problem by starting with a fresh installation, setting the pacman mirrorlist server tomake_clickable_callback(MAGIC_URL_FULL, ' ', 'http://tardis.tiny-vps.com/aarm/repos/2023/03/01/$arch/$repo', '', ' class="postlink"') (2023/03/01 being the same date as the installation tar ball), and installing the requisite packages from there. This is obviously only a temporary solution until some new package updates fix the problem.

[mormat]

I had the exact same problem. It seems to be related to the combination of some AP models and Raspberry Pi and is caused by a new feature which is supposed to lower CPU usage.

This worked for me as a workaround:

* Create a new config file "/etc/modprobe.d/brcmfmac.conf".
* Add the following line "options brcmfmac feature_disable=0x2000".
* Save and reboot.

[jrvarma]

I am happy to confirm that mormat's workaround solved the problem for me as well.