Reboot loop when in wifi mode

I’m having an issue with my pixelblaze. It seems to be in a reboot loop. I put it into setup mode again and put it into AP mode, and then it started working just fine. Once I put it back into wifi client mode and it begins the reboot cycle again. It was working fine the list time I had it powered up a few days ago.

Hi @nickbeaulieu,
Sounds like maybe an incompatibility, or maybe something else going on. It’s weird that it worked before and doesn’t now, not even after setup again.
Do you have access to another WiFi network for testing? I’d be curious if it crashes on a different network, and if it crashes when set back to your network. I’ve seen flash corruption that can cause issues with wifi settings, and usually resetting things fixes it.

Btw do you know which version you are running?

It’s running 2.23

I turned it on this morning and restarted my wireless router and it started working again, but then a few minutes later it started rebooting on me again.

I wonder if its a hardware issue. Can you measure the power supply? If too much voltage is supplied, the big voltage regulator will start hitting its thermal limit and cause resets. Is anything hot/warm?

I don’t have a multimeter, however I’m using a battery pack to power it and the pixelblaze isn’t hot

Hi @nickbeaulieu,
Some battery backs go into a power save mode and cut power, then detect some draw and power on again. These usually need some extra current draw from LEDs to stay on. Can you test with a different power supply, like a computer and see if it’s stable?

I connected it to my computer, but that didn’t make any difference with the rebooting.

Hi @nickbeaulieu,
Shoot me an email. We can see if a replacement works better. wizard@electromage.com
Please include your original order number and address.
Sorry for the trouble its giving you!

I seem to have resolved it. I had initially restarted my wireless router, which didn’t help but I realized I hadn’t tried a hard reset. I’ve done that now and have had the pixelblaze running for about 30 minutes without a reboot, so it looks as though that was the issue.

Scratch that, it isn’t resolved. I have 5 different pixelblazes and they all have the same issue where sometimes they’ll work fine on my wifi, but then if I disconnect the power then the next time I power them up they go into this reboot cycle. Often the reboot cycle is so fast that I can’t even reset the pixelblaze.

I’ve tried resetting my wifi router like I did before numerous times but that doesn’t work often. It’s not easy programming the things from my phone. :stuck_out_tongue:

Hi @nickbeaulieu,
I think we can rule out a Pixelblaze hardware issue with 5 all acting the same. This definitely sounds like an incompatibility with your WiFi AP/router.

Can you post info (make/model) of your WiFi router? It might help other folks come here that have the same issue.

I don’t have a timeline to fix (I’d need to reproduce it here, and even then this is a serious investment to drill in to which may not lead to resolution).

As a work around, perhaps setting up another network with a different router let you get back to fun LED stuff. You could make one dedicated to your PBs and bridge it to your existing network via ethernet so you don’t have to switch anything else.

I’ve used these in the past, and they are cheap ($22 as I write this) and work well enough and have a lot of flexibility with how they are configured:

https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Wireless-Portable-Travel-Router/dp/B07WSVTQ9K/

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It’s an Arris TG3482G provided by Shaw Cable. I have another wireless router I can use to try to see if that’s the issue.

I’m curious if this was ever resolved? I’m having trouble too.

no, I had to make my pixelblazes be their own wifi AP. Kind of annoying, but it’s all good.