I just received my first Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W from you. My configuration is headless (no monitor, keyboard or mouse), just the Pi, an official 2.5-amp power supply, a Sandisk 16 GB microSD card written with the latest Raspberry Pi OS Lite image using the latest Raspberry Pi Imager, and a functioning Wi-Fi network. The Pi seems to boot normally (based on the LED activity), but does not appear on the LAN, even though I’ve configured it using the same options (albeit a unique host name) as all my other Raspberry Pi’s, which do appear on the LAN. I’ve tried both the 32-bit and 64-bit Lite images, no difference. The Pi is located only a couple of yards from the Wi-Fi access point, so signal strength should not be an issue. I suspect this is nothing but a software problem, but without a way to SSH into the device to examine the configuration, I’m at an impasse. This is not my first experience with Raspberry Pi. The process usually works with no fuss. Two days ago I set up a Pi Zero W (not 2) using the same procedure, and it’s working fine. Have you had any Zero 2 W DOA’s lately? If so, can you send me a replacement to try?
You might try connecting a display to the pi and looking for error messages that might tell you what the problem might be. Could be as simple as a fat fingered WPA key.
The credentials are correct, and other Pis prepped with the same Lite image and credentials are connecting to the same access point with no fuss. Since I haven’t received a response from SF Support, I purchased a second Pi Zero 2 W from Micro Center. It has a 4.x version number versus the 1.x on the one from SF, however it too fails to connect. I temporarily switched to an image with desktop support and attached the necessary hardware. The credentials I supplied during the imaging session do not show up in the GUI. I tried adding them, but there’s still no connection. The web shows no shortage of people having similar problems, but no working solutions. It seems these Pi Zero 2 W’s, or the images being supplied to work with them, may be faulty. The older Pi Zero W’s are working flawlessly. SF I’m still interested in hearing from you about an exchange or refund.
I recommend setting them up by carefully following Adafruit’s excellent tutorial for headless setup, which worked perfectly for me, for both the Zero W and Zero W 2. Pay close attention to the details of the tutorial, as it is easy to overlook a critical step.
I also strongly recommend enabling and using the console serial port for debugging. Then there is no need for SSH at this point.
I again used the latest RPi Imager to reflash the microSD card with the standard recommended 32-bit GUI Desktop image. I connected a monitor/keyboard/mouse and booted it up. No Wi-Fi connection, but the SSID of my Wi-Fi network (and several others nearby) is listed in the Wi-Fi dropdown menu, so the radio / antenna are clearly not dead. iwconfig reports an ESSID of off/any.
Shutdown / powered off / unplugged the RPi Zero 2 W. Put a RPi Zero W in its place, using the same microSD card, same image, same attached devices. Powered it on, boots and desktop comes up, immediate Wi-Fi connection. Was able to sudo apt update / upgrade with no problems. iwconfig reports the correct ESSID. SSH works fine.
Shutdown / power off / unplugged the RPi Zero W. Put the RPi Zero 2 W back in. Powered it up, boots, desktop. No Wi-Fi connection.
Two different RPi Zero 2 W’s, both with the same problem. Two different RPi Zero W’s, both work fine.