Wifi Shield not detected and SD Card initialization failed

Hello there.

I'm facing some issues with my Arduino Wi-Fi shield. Basically, I'm using my Arduino R3 with Arduino Wi-Fi shield and running the script below, getting the message "Wi-Fi shield not present".
Before I buy another Wi-Fi shield, I'm wondering what kind of other troubleshooting should I run. All the libs used in this simple example are updated, and the cables are in a good state and working.
I also ran another script to use only de SD card, which failed at the end on all tries.
Using my Ethernet Shield, the SD card script worked successfully, which leads me to believe that my Wi-Fi shield might be busted or needs some firmware reset or something like it.

If you have experienced this kind of issue, please help me to fix it.

/*

 This example  prints the WiFi shield's MAC address, and
 scans for available WiFi networks using the WiFi shield.
 Every ten seconds, it scans again. It doesn't actually
 connect to any network, so no encryption scheme is specified.

 Circuit:
 * WiFi shield attached

 created 13 July 2010
 by dlf (Metodo2 srl)
 modified 21 Junn 2012
 by Tom Igoe and Jaymes Dec
 */


#include <SPI.h>
#include <WiFi101.h>

void setup() {
  //Initialize serial and wait for port to open:
  Serial.begin(9600);
  while (!Serial) {
    ; // wait for serial port to connect. Needed for native USB port only
  }

  // check for the presence of the shield:
  if (WiFi.status() == WL_NO_SHIELD) {
    Serial.println("WiFi shield not present");
    // don't continue:
    while (true);
  }

  // Print WiFi MAC address:
  printMacAddress();

  // scan for existing networks:
  Serial.println("Scanning available networks...");
  listNetworks();
}

void loop() {
  delay(10000);
  // scan for existing networks:
  Serial.println("Scanning available networks...");
  listNetworks();
}

void printMacAddress() {
  // the MAC address of your WiFi shield
  byte mac[6];

  // print your MAC address:
  WiFi.macAddress(mac);
  Serial.print("MAC: ");
  printMacAddress(mac);
}

void listNetworks() {
  // scan for nearby networks:
  Serial.println("** Scan Networks **");
  int numSsid = WiFi.scanNetworks();
  if (numSsid == -1)
  {
    Serial.println("Couldn't get a wifi connection");
    while (true);
  }

  // print the list of networks seen:
  Serial.print("number of available networks:");
  Serial.println(numSsid);

  // print the network number and name for each network found:
  for (int thisNet = 0; thisNet < numSsid; thisNet++) {
    Serial.print(thisNet);
    Serial.print(") ");
    Serial.print(WiFi.SSID(thisNet));
    Serial.print("\tSignal: ");
    Serial.print(WiFi.RSSI(thisNet));
    Serial.print(" dBm");
    Serial.print("\tEncryption: ");
    printEncryptionType(WiFi.encryptionType(thisNet));
    Serial.flush();
  }
}

void printEncryptionType(int thisType) {
  // read the encryption type and print out the name:
  switch (thisType) {
    case ENC_TYPE_WEP:
      Serial.println("WEP");
      break;
    case ENC_TYPE_TKIP:
      Serial.println("WPA");
      break;
    case ENC_TYPE_CCMP:
      Serial.println("WPA2");
      break;
    case ENC_TYPE_NONE:
      Serial.println("None");
      break;
    case ENC_TYPE_AUTO:
      Serial.println("Auto");
      break;
  }
}

void printMacAddress(byte mac[]) {
  for (int i = 5; i >= 0; i--) {
    if (mac[i] < 16) {
      Serial.print("0");
    }
    Serial.print(mac[i], HEX);
    if (i > 0) {
      Serial.print(":");
    }
  }
  Serial.println();
}


SD Card issue

/*
  SD card basic file example

  This example shows how to create and destroy an SD card file
  The circuit:
   SD card attached to SPI bus as follows:
 ** MOSI - pin 11
 ** MISO - pin 12
 ** CLK - pin 13
 ** CS - pin 4 (for MKRZero SD: SDCARD_SS_PIN)

  created   Nov 2010
  by David A. Mellis
  modified 9 Apr 2012
  by Tom Igoe

  This example code is in the public domain.

*/
#include <SPI.h>
#include <SD.h>

File myFile;

void setup() {
  // Open serial communications and wait for port to open:
  Serial.begin(9600);
  while (!Serial) {
    ; // wait for serial port to connect. Needed for native USB port only
  }


  Serial.print("Initializing SD card...");

  if (!SD.begin(4)) {
    Serial.println("initialization failed!");
    while (1);
  }
  Serial.println("initialization done.");

  if (SD.exists("example.txt")) {
    Serial.println("example.txt exists.");
  } else {
    Serial.println("example.txt doesn't exist.");
  }

  // open a new file and immediately close it:
  Serial.println("Creating example.txt...");
  myFile = SD.open("example.txt", FILE_WRITE);
  myFile.close();

  // Check to see if the file exists:
  if (SD.exists("example.txt")) {
    Serial.println("example.txt exists.");
  } else {
    Serial.println("example.txt doesn't exist.");
  }

  // delete the file:
  Serial.println("Removing example.txt...");
  SD.remove("example.txt");

  if (SD.exists("example.txt")) {
    Serial.println("example.txt exists.");
  } else {
    Serial.println("example.txt doesn't exist.");
  }
}

void loop() {
  // nothing happens after setup finishes.
}

this WiFi shield is for the WiFi library, not for WiFi101.

Hi @Juraj , thanks for your reply.

Despite using the Wi-Fi library and the code below, I am still encountering the same issue.

/*

 This example  prints the Wifi shield's MAC address, and
 scans for available Wifi networks using the Wifi shield.
 Every ten seconds, it scans again. It doesn't actually
 connect to any network, so no encryption scheme is specified.

 Circuit:
 * WiFi shield attached

 created 13 July 2010
 by dlf (Metodo2 srl)
 modified 21 Junn 2012
 by Tom Igoe and Jaymes Dec
 */


#include <SPI.h>
#include <WiFi.h>

void setup() {
  //Initialize serial and wait for port to open:
  Serial.begin(9600);
  while (!Serial) {
    ; // wait for serial port to connect. Needed for native USB port only
  }

  // check for the presence of the shield:
  if (WiFi.status() == WL_NO_SHIELD) {
    Serial.println("WiFi shield not present");
    // don't continue:
    while (true);
  }

  String fv = WiFi.firmwareVersion();
  if (fv != "1.1.0") {
    Serial.println("Please upgrade the firmware");
  }

  // Print WiFi MAC address:
  printMacAddress();
}

void loop() {
  // scan for existing networks:
  Serial.println("Scanning available networks...");
  listNetworks();
  delay(10000);
}

void printMacAddress() {
  // the MAC address of your Wifi shield
  byte mac[6];

  // print your MAC address:
  WiFi.macAddress(mac);
  Serial.print("MAC: ");
  Serial.print(mac[5], HEX);
  Serial.print(":");
  Serial.print(mac[4], HEX);
  Serial.print(":");
  Serial.print(mac[3], HEX);
  Serial.print(":");
  Serial.print(mac[2], HEX);
  Serial.print(":");
  Serial.print(mac[1], HEX);
  Serial.print(":");
  Serial.println(mac[0], HEX);
}

void listNetworks() {
  // scan for nearby networks:
  Serial.println("** Scan Networks **");
  int numSsid = WiFi.scanNetworks();
  if (numSsid == -1) {
    Serial.println("Couldn't get a wifi connection");
    while (true);
  }

  // print the list of networks seen:
  Serial.print("number of available networks:");
  Serial.println(numSsid);

  // print the network number and name for each network found:
  for (int thisNet = 0; thisNet < numSsid; thisNet++) {
    Serial.print(thisNet);
    Serial.print(") ");
    Serial.print(WiFi.SSID(thisNet));
    Serial.print("\tSignal: ");
    Serial.print(WiFi.RSSI(thisNet));
    Serial.print(" dBm");
    Serial.print("\tEncryption: ");
    printEncryptionType(WiFi.encryptionType(thisNet));
  }
}

void printEncryptionType(int thisType) {
  // read the encryption type and print out the name:
  switch (thisType) {
    case ENC_TYPE_WEP:
      Serial.println("WEP");
      break;
    case ENC_TYPE_TKIP:
      Serial.println("WPA");
      break;
    case ENC_TYPE_CCMP:
      Serial.println("WPA2");
      break;
    case ENC_TYPE_NONE:
      Serial.println("None");
      break;
    case ENC_TYPE_AUTO:
      Serial.println("Auto");
      break;
  }
}

if you have SD card inserted, remove it for a test

Following your suggestion, I've tested with the SD card inserted and without the SD card and the result still the same. I've tested the same SD card code with my Ethernet shield instead of the Wi-Fi shield and it worked. With that in mind, I believe that the issue is related to the hardware and not the software. I've also tested with other SD cards, all of them formatted in FAT32, FAT16.
:frowning:

I meant to test the connection to WiFi without the SD card inserted.

@Juraj , following your suggestion, it is still falling.

has the shield a good contact on the ICSP header?
check if the bottom of the shield doesn't touch the shielding of the USB connector of the Uno

Yes, it has a good contact with the ICSP header. As we can see, it is not touching the shielding.


Even though the Wi-Fi shield is a retired version, I'm trying to make it work as I have done it before without any problem.
I have read other forums about this shield, but none mention the same issue I'm facing.
I'm considering forcing a firmware update, but as it will be my first time doing it, I'd like to know if someone following this post has any comments/quick note/advice to share before I move on.

Thank you for reading it, and I look forward to your guidance.

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