This is a serious bug as it locks me out of my Pifi. When I connect to a public wifi network that I know has a captive portal Pifi still shows success when connecting before the active portal is activated. Now, the captive portal doesn’t show in browser or it shows and I get blank page or no sign in option. The Pifi loses it’s connection and any attempt to connect again it can’t get an IP address because it’s tricked into thinking it has a valid network connection when in reality it does not since I have not authenticated with the portal.
Henceforth, I’m locked out of my PIfi. I can’t connect to the Pifi app to change the network connection because I can no longer connect to the Pifi network.
The previous version of the firmware handled this more elegantly. It connected, but showed no internet which is what I expect. This way I could always get to the Pifi app to make changes. I.E. change the network to get internet, et, Shut it down, etc
So if one connects to a public wifi and the active portal either doesn’t show or shows blank page or for whaterver reason one is unable to authenticate with the active portal, one is unable to connect to Pifi again over Wifi. Only way to get back into Pifi, it to turn off power which is not a good idea as it can corrupt the SD card. Then find an ethernet connection, connect the Pifi and now one can connect to Pifi network again. Not practical as an ethernet connection is never available at a public wifi faciility.
One should always be able to connect to the Pifi network regardless of whether the network connection has a valid AP.
I would agree but firewall settings have not changed on the new firmware and I know you’ve been playing with unofficial tailscale support so I’m not 100% convinced that it’s not related to that rather than being the default behaviour of the stock firmware
I will test though as of course that is not expected/desirable behaviour
P.S I know that you deleted some threads, but let’s bear in mind forum etiquette - creating multiple threads in quick succession is not necessary
First, I love my Pifi and thanks so much for creating this amazing project and for your continual support. It’s much appreciated.
A few things worth noting:
Yes previously I played with the tailscale scripts on my Pi4. For this test I flashed your newly released 1.5.2 beta on a Pi5. I did not run tailscale sccripts on it. It’s clean, just your stock firware as is.
Regarding my multiple deleted threads. After I created the first one, I was later able to connect so was unsure it was an issue so deleted it. Same with the second one. I wasn’t sure if it was just being finicky and didn’t want to waste your time. My intentions were good, but I see now it was not a good idea and moving forward I’ll be more mindful of this. Please accept my apology.
Also note I took the Pifi 5 with 1.5.2 beta out for a spin to a brewery last night. The wifi did not require a captive portal and it worked flawlessly. However, I’ve been testing at various locations around town and the captive portal has been challenging. This is how I discovered the issue of my post where I got locked out of the Pifi when the captive portal fails.
Here’s a step by step to help reproduce the issue:
This morning I flashed 1.5.2 beta on a new SD card. When initially setting up Pifi, and I connect to PiFi network it says connected, no internet. Perfect. I then connect to my home Wifi network. Works great. I can go back and forth between my home Wifi and Pifi. Then to test I change the network AP to xfinity hotspot. Pifi connects, but the captive portal fails. I get a message on my phone that I need to sign in. This is expected and good. When I tap on it, I just get a blank page. Now, I try to connect to Pifi and rather than saying Connected, no internet, it tries to Obtain an IP address and continually fails. At this point I’m locked out of Pifi app because I cannot connect to the Pifi network. No tailscale scripts run. Just stock firmware. Hope this helps.
So I did a fresh image on my Pi4, no tailscale. Clean image downloaded from your website. Presently, the Pi4 experience is far superior to the Pi5.
I can always connect to PiFi regardless of valid AP or not. It shows nice friendly messages to alert me to the status. See attached.
It also handles the xfinity captive portal perfectly. The Pi5 just shows a blank page. I will continue to use the Pi4 until the Pi5 experience improves.
