Hello,
I too am having difficulties getting the WiFi adapter that was shipped as part of the GoPiGo Starter Kit to work. I am using all stock parts as received from Dexter Industries (Raspberry Pi, software, WiFi adapter, etc…) 3 weeks ago.
If I boot the board from power off, WiFi does not work (most of the time).
If I unplug the adapter and plug it back in, then it works (most of the time).
I have tried a 2nd WiFi adapter, and that one has been working fine all day today, so I’m pretty sure that I’ve got my network configuration set up properly.
Some details:
$ uname -a
Linux gopigo 3.18.7+ #755 PREEMPT Thu Feb 12 17:14:31 GMT 2015 armv6l GNU/Linux
$ lsusb (when the DI adapter is plugged in):
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0424:9514 Standard Microsystems Corp.
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0424:ec00 Standard Microsystems Corp.
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0bda:8179 Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
$ lsusb (with the working adapter):
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0424:9514 Standard Microsystems Corp.
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0424:ec00 Standard Microsystems Corp.
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0bda:8176 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8188CUS 802.11n WLAN Adapter
wlan0 does show up in ifconfig even when it doesn’t work, and it does get an IP address, I just cannot connect wirelessly to the Pi. (I can connect via a direct wired ethernet cable using link local addressing from my Macbook, which is how I am able to poke around and learn these things).
I tried running the system using DC power (instead of batteries) and that didn’t help.
I tried downloading the new firmware image for the adapter as described in
http://www.dexterindustries.com/forum/?topic=wifi-driver/#post-4466
but that didn’t help either.
The LED does come on (as compared to problems that others have reported) but it’s not terribly easy to see.
Any tips or tricks would be appreciated.
–wpd