Issue with AP + STA on Orange Pi Zero 2W and Zero 3

YevhenK · May 24

Hi there,

I'm trying to set up AP + STA on wlan0 using Orange Pi Zero 2W and Orange Pi Zero 3 with the Armbian image. I managed to do this on a Raspberry Pi Zero W. I encountered a problem: when creating a virtual access point, the process hangs and cannot be killed. Any attempt to view the logs after starting the process also leads to a hang, and only a reboot helps. This problem does not occur on the Raspberry Pi. I use the command:

sudo iw phy phy0 interface add ap0 type __ap.

For testing, I added an external USB Wi-Fi module to the Orange Pi Zero 3 and managed to create a virtual access point on it without any problems or hangs, so this problem only occurs on wlan0. The issue occurs on both Orange Pi Zero 2W and Orange Pi Zero 3, and they behave the same. Also, attempting to delete wlan0 via 'sudo iw dev wlan0 del' causes the device to hang. Has anyone encountered this situation? Is there a solution to this problem, and is it possible to make AP and STA on one interface on OPi Zero 2W/3 ?

Here is the output of 'iw list':

Wiphy phy1 //wlan0 Orange Pi
[...]
       Supported interface modes:
                * IBSS
                * managed
                * AP
                * P2P-client
                * P2P-GO
                * P2P-device
       software interface modes (can always be added):
       valid interface combinations:
                * #{ managed, AP } <= 1, #{ P2P-client, P2P-GO } <= 1, #{ P2P-device } <= 1,
                  total <= 3, #channels <= 2
[...]
Wiphy phy0 //USB Wi-Fi adapter
[...]
         Supported interface modes:
                * managed
                * AP
                * AP/VLAN
                * monitor
                 software interface modes (can always be added):
                * AP/VLAN
                * monitor
  software interface modes (can always be added):
                * AP/VLAN
                * monitor
       interface combinations are not supported
[...]

Here is the output of 'iw list' on the Raspberry Pi:

Wiphy phy0
[...]
       Supported interface modes:
                * IBSS
                * managed
                * AP
                * P2P-client
                * P2P-GO
                * P2P-device
       software interface modes (can always be added):
       valid interface combinations:
                * #{ managed } <= 1, #{ P2P-device } <= 1, #{ P2P-client, P2P-GO } <= 1,
                  total <= 3, #channels <= 2
                * #{ managed } <= 1, #{ AP } <= 1, #{ P2P-client } <= 1, #{ P2P-device } <= 1,
                  total <= 4, #channels <= 1
[...]

As far as I understand, based on the "valid interface combinations", wlan0 on the Orange Pi cannot support both managed and AP simultaneously. Could this be the reason? For the Wi-Fi adapter, "interface combinations are not supported".

Thanks in advance!

jimg · July 10

On 5/24/2024 at 7:39 AM, YevhenK said:

valid interface combinations:
                * #{ managed, AP } <= 1, #{ P2P-client, P2P-GO } <= 1, #{ P2P-device } <= 1,
                  total <= 3, #channels <= 2

`{ managed, AP}` indicates these are mutually exclusive. You cannot simultaneously have managed (aka STA) mode and AP mode operating at the same time. `total <= 3` means you can have at most (managed OR AP) AND (P2P-client or P2P-GO) AND (P2P-device).

Edited July 10 by jimg