WPA3 PSK on Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W (cyw43-driver)
Port, board and/or hardware
RPI_PICO2_W
MicroPython version
MicroPython v1.27.0 on 2025-12-09; Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W with RP2350
Reproduction
Prerequisites:
- configure only WPA3-PSK on router/AP, disable other methods
- modify ssid and password according to yours
import network
sta = network.WLAN(network.WLAN.IF_STA)
sta.active(True)
sta.scan()
# [ (b'WirelessNest2', b'\xd4\x01\xc3/Q\r', 5, -64, 5, 3 ]
sta.connect("WirelessNest2", "YOUR_PASSWORD_HERE") # EDIT THIS
print(sta.isconnected())
# False
print(sta.status())
# 1
Expected behaviour
Connects to wifi
Observed behaviour
Returns instantly, does not connect
Additional Information
- Documentation of scan() result (security, hidden) is incomplete and board/wifi module specific. Raspberry Pico 2 W returns
..., 5, 3)whereas ESP32 returns..., 6, False)- this is already in multiple open issues - My router is Mikrotik C52iG-5HaxD2HaxD
- WiFi driver is 3rd party repo
- WPA3 should be supported since 1.25.0, but does not work in 1.26.1 and 1.27.0 (only PSK tested)
Code of Conduct
Yes, I agree
Raspberry Pi Pico2 W - Wifi fails to start if CPU is overclocked
Port, board and/or hardware
RPI_PICO_2_W
MicroPython version
MicroPython v1.25.0-preview.307.g4364d9411 on 2025-02-23; Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W with RP2350
Reproduction
Save the following code onto the Pico 2 W and run it with either CPU_FREQ = 300_000_000 or CPU_FREQ = 150_000_000 uncommented.
When using the overclocked frequency, the following error is printed and the access point is not available to connect to: [CYW43] Failed to start CYW43
When using the default frequency the access point can be connected to and no errors are printed
import machine
import network
"""
When overclocked we get
[CYW43] Failed to start CYW43
When using default CPU frequency
the wifi starts fine
"""
CPU_FREQ = 300_000_000 # overclocked
#CPU_FREQ = 150_000_000 # default
machine.freq(CPU_FREQ)
wifi = network.WLAN(network.WLAN.IF_AP)
wifi.config(
ssid="pico2w_ap",
channel=10,
security=network.WLAN.SEC_OPEN,
)
wifi.active(True)
Expected behaviour
WiFi should work if the CPU is overclocked
Observed behaviour
When the CPU is overclocked, the wireless card firmware does not appear to initialize correctly:
[CYW43] Failed to start CYW43
Additional Information
My testing setup has 2 I2C devices connected: an OLED display GP0 & GP1 and a battery-backed realtime clock on GP2 & GP3. The code above does not initialize these devices, so I don't think their presence should have any impact; it looks like simply changing the CPU frequency is enough.
Doing a little trial-and-error changing the frequencies in the script above it looks like 270MHz is the upper limit of what the wifi can handle. Is this a known limitation of the firmware?
Code of Conduct
Yes, I agree