Troubleshooting • Issue with pi zero2w

I was working with a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W and a Raspberry Pi Camera 3, and the project had been running perfectly until yesterday.

Yesterday’s situation
Yesterday, I powered on the Pi and logged in successfully using SSH from CMD.
Since the Pi is headless, I also used WinSCP as a file manager, and both SSH and WinSCP connections were working fine.

I did not make any configuration changes or run anything significant. However, instead of shutting down the Pi properly using a command like sudo shutdown, I directly powered it off.

Today’s problem

When I tried to connect again:

• []SSH did not respond
  []WinSCP did not connect
• The Pi did not connect to my Wi-Fi access point at all

The LED behavior looked normal:

• []Random green LED flashes during boot
  []Then a solid green LED
• single flashes afterward but still random.

I tried power-cycling the Pi multiple times, but the behavior did not change.

First SD card reflash
I decided to reflash the SD card using Raspberry Pi Imager v2.0.3. and Pi OS Lite (32 Bit) same as old.

During flashing, I configured:

• []Custom hostname
  []Wi-Fi credentials
  []SSH enabled
  []Username and password

After inserting the SD card and powering on the Pi:

• []Boot LED behavior was normal (random flashes, then solid green)
  []After waiting several minutes, ping hostname.local gave no response

Network verification and second reflash
To troubleshoot further, I unplugged the Pi and noted all existing devices connected to my access point along with their MAC addresses.

I then reflashed the SD card again using:

• []The same OS
  []A different hostname
• Different SSH username and password

After powering on the Pi and waiting 15–20 minutes:

• []The hostname still did not respond
  []I noticed a new device connected to the access point
  []I verified its MAC address and recent connection time
  []I noted the assigned IP address

SSH behavior after finding the IP

• []Ping to the IP address was successful
  []Ping to hostname.local did not work
  []SSH using hostname did not work
  []SSH using IP (ssh pi@<ip_address>) did connect

When connecting via IP:

• []I was prompted to accept the host key (yes/no)
  []I was then prompted for a password

However, the password I set in Raspberry Pi Imager did not work, which was unexpected.

Current state

• []The Pi boots normally
  []It connects to the Wi-Fi access point
  []It receives an IP address
  []Hostname (.local) does not resolve
  []SSH only works via IP
  []SSH authentication fails with the configured password

Nothing is connected to the Pi except:

• []Power cable
  []SD card

What I want to understand

• []Why the Pi connects to Wi-Fi but hostname resolution (.local) does not work. it worked before few days when everything was right
  []Why SSH authentication does not accept the password set via Raspberry Pi Imager
  []Whether the improper power-off could have caused an inconsistent system state
  []Why this behavior persists even after reflashing the SD card.
  []And how to resolve this

Statistics: Posted by wrot — Thu Jan 15, 2026 5:40 pm — Replies 0 — Views 24

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