Arduino Uno + WiFi shield hangs on WiFi.status()

Question

I have some very simple test code:

#include "WiFi.h"

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(9600);
  Serial.println("go");
  WiFi.status();
  Serial.println("done");
}

void loop() { }

I'm using an Arduino Uno v3, and connected to a WiFi sheild, rev3. Nothing else is connected to it. I send it and see the following in the serial monitor:

go

And that's it, never gets to "done".

Things I have already tried:

Updating the shield firmware
Trying with a second arduino (I only have one WiFi shield to test with, though)
Checking the jump thing - it's not connected
Connecting digital pins 3 and 7
Writing HIGH to pin 4 on startup (supposedly disables the SD card stuff)

Notably, all the lights on the shield are off. The link light blinked a bit when I was upgrading the firmware, though. I have been able to get the ethernet shield working.

Thoughts?

Sean G Sean G · Accepted Answer · 2015-09-26T21:09:59

This is a bit old, but I ran into this exact same problem. I had performed what seemed like a proper updating of the Arduino Wifi Shield firmware. After doing so all my Arduino sketches would immediately hang on any call to the WiFi library.

My issue was an incorrect firmware update process using my Mac. When using ArduinoWifiShield_upgrade_mac.sh to update, the script would update the HD WiFi Module Firmware, then print:

Done. Remove the J3 jumper and press the RESET button on the shield then type [ENTER] to upgrade the firmware of the shield..

But that's not the correct process. Following this process the shield is no longer in DFU mode and the next update will fail. That was my first try. My second try was simply not removing the jumper at all. That seemed to succeed, but resulted in the scenario mentioned by the poster. Here's the process that resolved it for me:

After successfully updating the HD WiFi Module Firmware you will get the above message. Remove the J3 jumper as it says and press reset. BUT DO NOT HIT ENTER.
I waited until the LEDs switched from "Link" to "Data". I then placed the J3 jumper back on and pressed reset on the shield again.
Then I hit enter to continue the WiFi Shield firmware update.

The above process successfully fixed my issue, which I could not find any other posts regarding. I hope it's useful to someone else.

Arduino Uno + WiFi shield hangs on WiFi.status()

2 Answers