Just to check, is the Bela cape plugged in the right way around?
The U-shaped slot on the cape should be on the side of the 5V barrel connector, while the Bela audio connectors should sit on top of the SD card.
This is pretty obvious on the Beaglebone Black, where the ethernet connector prevents you from inserting the cape the wrong way around, but I see how it could be not straightforward on the BBBW.
This is what it should look like (just a bit less blurred in real life):

alt text

@LiamDonovan may have some more ideas as to what is happening during boot/non-boot.

Yep, everything correct.

Is there any way of loading the Bela driver after the boot?

if it's the PWR led flashing, then probably boot is not happening at all. It may be that the board is shutting down for whatever reason. Perhaps a defective Bela cape which is drawing too much current? Or perhaps your power supply is not providing enough? Or a defective cable? Are you powering this off your MacBook like the other day?
Do you still have your BeagleBone Green Wireless? Perhaps see if that boots with the cape attached (boot from the eMMC, it does not really matters what operating system it loads, as long as it loads one)?

Also, did you try booting with the cape attached but without the SD card?

We left a Bela at Goldsmiths after the Anvil Hack if you want to try if that cape works. Not sure who has it but it should be around, Kevin will know. Otherwise, you could come over to QM and I can look into that.

    giuliomoro Perhaps a defective Bela cape which is drawing too much current? Or perhaps your power supply is not providing enough? Or a defective cable? Are you powering this off your MacBook like the other day?

    I have to admit that I've never experienced my Bela running... I have been dealing only with Wireless BBs as you know, and I'm afraid I can't get a BBB to try it out.

    I'm powering it from my MBP usb port and I've tried out 3 different cables for that. My BBGW is Porto so I can't use it.

    giuliomoro Perhaps see if that boots with the cape attached (boot from the eMMC, it does not really matters what operating system it loads, as long as it loads one)?

    Also, did you try booting with the cape attached but without the SD card?

    That doesn't work either.

    Tomorrow I'm flying back to Porto in the afternoon, but if you're available in morning at QMUL that would be great, I can come by.

    Let me know,

    Thanks!

        Virtual follow-up after in-person meeting: Francisco's BBBW seems to have some troubles with the PMIC (e.g.: "PWR" would flash tens of times before managing to boot when powered from the barrel connector), so I suggested he gets a replacement.

        9 months later

        hi,

        i would really need wifi for my project, what is the most recommended way to get wifi on bela ? usb dongle or bbbw ?

        I think the USB dongle solution would turn out to be cheaper. Also I am not really going to recommend the BBBW because I have heard from a couple of people that they were sometimes having problems booting it with the Bela cape attached, as if the power IC could not provide enough inrush current. It seems to be a problem with the bbbw, but I have not had a chance to test it myself. In the discussion above it turned out it was a defective bbbw that eventually got replaced by the manufacturer.

        I would say: if you don't need the USB port for other uses, go for a USB wifi dongle that is supported by Linux 4.4.

        If you get a BeagleBone Black wifi, check that it works fine with the Bela cape as soon as you receive it, so that you can ask for a replacement if it does not work as expected.

        7 days later

        Hi....in my case the BBBW acts as an Access Point which I can connect to, and navigate to some IP for the default BeagleBone start page. But with the image you posted the the wlan0 does not seem to be active. I assume that you have set it up as a client.

        turnkey pcb assembly

        yes, that's correct. There is no access point functionality enabled by default.
        Someone gave me some instructions on how to do that, here are the details (but I have not tested them myself):

        For this first part you need internet access on the board *:
        NOTE: this is not needed for images >= v0.3.3

        apt-get upgrade
apt-get update
apt-get install hostapd
# - press Y when prompted. This will install the service which will turn Bela into a WiFi access point.
nano /etc/default/hostapd # open text editor

        Then the actual configuration (for all images).

        Find the line that starts with DAEMON_CONF in /etc/default/hostapd, uncomment it and change it so it looks like this:

        DAEMON_CONF="/etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf"

        Now we've told hostapd to look for a configuration file, so we need to create it:

        nano /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf

        Put the following into this file:

        interface=wlan0
hw_mode=g
channel=1
wmm_enabled=1
ssid=MyBelaAccessPoint
auth_algs=1
wpa=2
wpa_passphrase=wifipassword
wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
rsn_pairwise=CCMP
ieee80211d=1
country_code=DK
ieee80211n=1

        Remember to change the ssid= and wpa_passphrase= lines.

        nano /etc/network/interfaces

        Now we need to change the network configuration so that Bela advertises its network instead of trying to connect to one (the internet connection that was initially set up). To do that, replace the wlan0 configuration with the following:

        allow-hotplug wlan0
iface wlan0 inet static
    hostapd /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf
    address 192.168.30.1
    netmask 255.255.255.0

        Now, restart Bela by typing shutdown -r now. Once Bela reboots, you should be able to see a network called MyBelaAccessPoint. You would need static IP configuration (usually IP addresses from 192.168.30.2 to 192.168.30.254) and a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 on each connecting client. Ideally, a DHCP server using dnsmasq would be needed so that you don't worry about IP configuration, but I haven't tried that yet.

        Once you have connected and set up the client device's IP configuration, you are able to access Bela IDE in the browser at 192.168.30.1, as well as connect to it via SSH.

        * if you don't have internet access on the board, you can download the package on your computer from [here](
        http://httpredir.debian.org/debian/pool/main/w/wpa/hostapd_2.4-1+deb9u1_armhf.deb), scp it over and install it with dpkg -i hostapd_2.4-1+deb9u1_armhf.deb)

        11 days later

        In case anyone else is trying to do this: I got the Bela+BeagleboneBlack with Edimax Wifi USB dongle working as an access point using the instructions above. Also got DHCP working using the existing isc-dhcp-server (the one that serves up 192.168.7.1 over USB via RNDIS).

        I've been using node.js web apps (listening on ports other than 80) on the Bela as GUIs for projects. This makes it easier to configure a Bela buried inside an installation or instrument. Having DHCP is handy since it is easier for other people to logon with their smart phone for example (without so much faffing about).

        To get DHCP working I needed to edit two other files:
        (1) /etc/default/isc-dhcp-server changed line from
        INTERFACESv4="usb0"
        to
        INTERFACESv4="usb0 wlan0"

        (2) /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf added in extra lines
        subnet 192.168.30.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
        range 192.168.30.2 192.168.30.254;
        }
        and commented out these lines
        #option domain-name "example.org";
        #option domain-name-servers ns1.example.org, ns2.example.org;

        The Bela is not connected to the internet (i.e. i'm not trying to use it as an internet access point) so these DNS entries were freaking my mac laptop out and stuffing up the connection. Now when I connect over my macbook airport to the Bela Access Point the wifi icon looks like it is trying to connect (since it can't find internet) but is actually connected (can ssh onto bela over it)

        a month later

        I've finally solved my BeagleBone Black Wireless problems, have it working with Bela and acting as a WiFi access point.

        I was having the same problems as @franciscobernardo with the Power light just feebly flashing. It would boot fine from SD card (holding down the boot button - but that's a problem because you have to take the Bela cape off to get to that button).

        The issue turned out to be related to the bela_flash_emmc.sh script. I had changed uEnv.txt on the SD card boot partition, commenting out dtb=am335x-bone-bela.dtb, and uncommenting dtb=am335x-bone-bela-black-wireless.dtb. BUT, the bela_flash_emmc script reads from a file called uEnv-emmc.txt in the same folder as the script, which I HADN'T updated, which has the old dtb=am335x-bone-bela.dtb. So it couldn't boot from emmc boot partition because it was using the wrong dtb file.

        a year later

        Is this a fair summary:
        - BBW can be used, but you give up the analog i/o
        - Adding a wifi dongle to a BB will work and you save the analog i/o for other uses

        • BBGW (BeagleBone Green Wireless) can be used, but you give up the analog inputs
        • BBBW (BeagleBone Black Wireless) seems to have problems booting depending on cable / power supply / weather / wind
        • Adding a Linux-compatible wifi dongle to a BBB/BBG is a better option and cheaper