Stellarmate vnc black screen problem

Arg!

Thanks for the quick reply. If I understand you correctly, now that I've gone in with ethernet and configured wireless to see my wifi network, the rpi will default to joining that network, and if it can't, will then go into hotspot mode? That is exactly what I'd like!

I'm guessing the black screen was caused by user error. Maybe something got corrupted. I ended up flashing a new microSD card and starting from scratch - won't hurt me learning how to configure things and get the GPS in UART mode over again. VNC is working again, though for some reason the rpi's wifi had been turned *off*.

Thanks again for the quick reply. All the best and clear skies to you.

Thank you again.

I must have buggered something along the way because my Pi4 doesn't see my home network. I can connect to "stellarmate" via my laptop, so I know the hardware is working.

After some reading, I thought maybe MAC filter was enabled on the router but it wasn't.

The rpi is currently attached to my mount outside on the patio about 10' from the router. I added a second WiFi adapter (USB) and it connects fine.

khobar wrote: I have Stellarmate on a Raspberry Pi4 I've been building up, and now something has gone amiss. I was trying to set the Stellarmate up so it would be on my home network and thus see the Internet and get updates, etc. I was in Stellermate app and changed the setting from "Hotspot" to "Infrastructure" but was confounded by the device's refusal to scan for SSID's to join. I tried it inside where it's closer, and same thing. But I made the mistake of closing the VNC session in that mode.

Today, I connected the Stellarmate to the wired network, and checked my router, and there it is - twice. But while I can "connect" to either the wired or wireless IP, I get nothing but a black screen. I tried the other IP and same result.

Is there anything I can do?

Thanks!

I also have the black screen problem, but only when I am in hotspot mode on the Pi4. However, it resolves within 3-4 min. It seems to me that the Pi4 needs extra time to boot up when in hotspot mode.

AstroNerd wrote: No it’s doesn’t, mine works perfectly in both hotspot and on home WiFi, you have issues that are not related to the software I’m afraid... mine connects to home WiFi when it boots, and if home WiFi is not available, it starts the hotspot, and I connect to that...works every time..

I've no doubt of this, and the FAQ confirms that's exactly how it's supposed to work, but for some reason mine can't see my network. I'll keep at it, and when I get a solution I'll post back.

@E Corazan - one thing I came across regarding the black screen is that *if* you have a USB keyboard, plug it into the pi and hit CTRL-D. That *might* help.

Just out of curiosity, do you have an /etc/network/interfaces file that has your SSID and password info in it, or does it just have a reference to loopback?

SM100.

Network "issue" persists. The onboard WiFi seems locked on Hotspot mode. Adding USB WiFi adapter allows me to see my internal network, but the Stellarmate cannot see the internet *until* I issue an "ifconfig wlan0 down". After that, the hotspot is disabled and all network traffic goes via wlan1.

I flashed a new 64GB microSD with the same OS and, *without any updates*, the Stellarmate switched from Hotspot to Infrastructure and I could access it on my home network.

I will continue working on it. Like I said, I probably buggered a config file somewhere along the line. In the meantime, I am pressing on as I have a date with (hopefully) much darker skies in a few days.

My suspicion is that all traffic is routed via wlan0 because that one is enabled first and then wlan1. By then the default route has been set to use the wlan0 interface so deleting the default route and adding one for wlan1 should also solve the issue. It should also be possible to create a script that runs at some point and tries to detect if both wlan0 and wlan1 are up and have a valid ip address. If yes it could delete the default route and create it again for wlan1.

Another solution could be to try and see if the kernel modules for the two wlan devices can be given a priority so the current wlan1 kernel module gets loaded first so it will always get the default route. No idea if that really works because it probably also depends on how quickly your network assigns an ip address via dhcp.

And perhaps this can be configured via wpa-supplicant or so but I really wouldn’t know if that is possible at all.

Just a few thought that I hope may be useful to you.


Clear skies, Wouter