Cannot create an access point with Hass.io on Odroid N2/N2+/C4 and Raspberry Pi 3

peldothu · November 16, 2022, 2:39pm

My goal is to use an USB wifi adapter as an access point on HA server to extend the range of my wifi network. The wifi router is far away the HA server gets the network on ethernet.

I have a fresh install of HA (haos_odroid-n2-9.3.img.xz) on an Odroid N2 (Linux core-ssh 5.15.74).
I also installed Hass.io, ESPhome and the ssh terminal add-ons.
I tried the same installation on an N2+ but the USB didn’t work at all on that (lsusb cannot lists more device after plugging in any usb device) so I moved to the N2 which is better a bit because lsusb lists my plugged usb wifi adapters (without name).
I tried four different wifi adapter but none of them worked. In the terminal I checked ifconfig but no wlan0 showed.

Plugging a Comfast (0bda:b812) wifi adapter in dmesg shows this:

usb 1-1.1: new high-speed USB device number 3 using xhci-hcd
88x2bu: loading out-of-tree module taints kernel.
usbcore: registered new interface driver rtl88x2bu

Plugging a Tenda (148f:7601) wifi adapter I get this from dmesg:

usb 1-1.2: new high-speed USB device number 7 using xhci-hcd
usb 1-1.2: reset high-speed USB device number 7 using xhci-hcd
mt7601u 1-1.2:1.0: ASIC revision: 76010001 MAC revision: 76010500
mt7601u 1-1.2:1.0: Firmware Version: 0.1.00 Build: 7640 Build time: 201302052146____
mt7601u 1-1.2:1.0: Vendor request req:07 off:09a8 failed:-110
mt7601u 1-1.2:1.0: Vendor request req:02 off:09a8 failed:-110
mt7601u 1-1.2:1.0: Vendor request req:07 off:0734 failed:-110
mt7601u 1-1.2:1.0: Vendor request req:42 off:0230 failed:-110
mt7601u 1-1.2:1.0: Vendor request req:07 off:0080 failed:-110
mt7601u 1-1.2:1.0: Vendor request req:02 off:0080 failed:-110
mt7601u 1-1.2:1.0: Vendor request req:02 off:0080 failed:-110
mt7601u: probe of 1-1.2:1.0 failed with error -110
usbcore: registered new interface driver mt7601u

The other two adapter (0bda:818b and 0846:9053) just get one line about plugging in.

usb 1-1.2: new high-speed USB device number 9 using xhci-hcd

I tried to shutdown/reboot after plugged in the wifi adapters, no luck either.

What should I do to get wlan0?

peldothu · November 17, 2022, 10:07pm

Today I tried the HA 9.3 64 bit on a raspberry pi 3 and figured out a few thing.
So I have to start the raspi with the wifi adapter plugged and then I can find wlan1 in System/Network.
Only the Comfast (rtl88x2bu) adapter works the others don’t do much.
(All four works under Windows and under the different Raspberry OS versions.)
Go back to N2 starting it with the same wifi adapter but no GUI even if I wait half on hour.
Connected a display and keyboard and the cli is working.
If I remove the USB wifi, the GUI starts immediately.
The same happens on the C4.
Back to the Pi 3.
Removed the USB wifi trying to work with the built in wifi on wlan0.
Tried to configure the Hass.io addon, start it, and success! The AP is working.
For a minute more or less then the HA stops working.
From the cli I can stop the add-on and the HA works again.

So the problems I discovered:

On the Odroid N2+ the USB doesn’t work, no dmesg, nothing happens when I plug anything.
On the Odroid N2/C4 the HA webserver doesn’t start if a wifi adapter is plugged in.
The hass.io add-on doesn’t work reliably and when dies (and it dies quickly) then the whole HA dies with it. Shutdown and restart doesn’t help, I have to stop the add-on from the cli.

Any idea how can I solve these problems?