Hostapd and dnsmasq are set up but i dont get any signal on my devices

Question

i have set up hostapd and dnsmasq and ran into some issues. at first the issue was that hostapd didn't recognized the driver. after i deleted that line it did start up. then dnsmasq told me that there was an invalid option in the /etc/dnsmasq.conf which was the "listen-address" option. after deleting that line dnsmasq started up aswell and both services are running. but the problem i have now is that i don't get any signal to my devices. it should normally show the ssid "WiPi-Repeater" but i don't get any signal. i am using:

• Raspberry Pi 3 Model B
• TP-Link Archer T2U wifi dongle
• 2019-04-08-raspbian-stretch-full image.

I hope you guys can help me because i haven't found anything according to my problem yet.

Here is the hostapd.conf:

interface=wlan1

hw_mode=g
channel=6
ieee80211n=1
wmm_enabled=1
ht_capab=[HT40][SHORT-GI-20][DSSS_CCK-40]
macaddr_acl=0
ignore_broadcast_ssid=0

auth_algs=1
wpa=2
wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
rsn_pairwise=CCMP

ssid=WiPi-Repeater
wpa_passphrase=mypassword

and here the dnsmasq.conf:

interface=wlan1
bind-interfaces
server=8.8.8.8
domain-needed
bogus-priv
dhcp-range=192.168.178.50,192.168.178.150,12h

if i use sudo systemctl is-active dnsmasq and sudo systemctl is-active hostapd both are marked as enabled

for the lsusb command i get:

Bus 001 Device 004: ID 148f:761a Ralink Technology, Corp.
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 1a2c:0e24 China Resource Semico Co., Ltd
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 145f:01de Trust
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0424:ec00 Standard Microsystems Corp. SMSC9512/9514 Fast Ethernet Adapter
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0424:9514 Standard Microsystems Corp. SMC9514 Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

and for lsmod:

Module                  Size  Used by
fuse                  110592  3
rfcomm                 49152  4
bnep                   20480  2
hci_uart               36864  1
btbcm                  16384  1 hci_uart
serdev                 20480  1 hci_uart
bluetooth             368640  29 hci_uart,bnep,btbcm,rfcomm
ecdh_generic           28672  1 bluetooth
ipt_MASQUERADE         16384  1
nf_nat_masquerade_ipv4    16384  1 ipt_MASQUERADE
iptable_nat            16384  1
nf_nat_ipv4            16384  1 iptable_nat
nf_nat                 28672  2 nf_nat_masquerade_ipv4,nf_nat_ipv4
nf_conntrack_ipv4      16384  3
nf_defrag_ipv4         16384  1 nf_conntrack_ipv4
xt_conntrack           16384  1
nf_conntrack          126976  6 nf_conntrack_ipv4,ipt_MASQUERADE,nf_nat_masquerade_ipv4,xt_conntrack,nf_nat_ipv4,nf_nat
iptable_filter         16384  1
evdev                  24576  8
joydev                 20480  0
mt7610u               688128  1
brcmfmac              307200  0
brcmutil               16384  1 brcmfmac
snd_bcm2835            32768  1
snd_pcm                98304  1 snd_bcm2835
cfg80211              573440  2 mt7610u,brcmfmac
snd_timer              32768  1 snd_pcm
rfkill                 28672  8 bluetooth,cfg80211
snd                    69632  5 snd_timer,snd_bcm2835,snd_pcm
fixed                  16384  0
uio_pdrv_genirq        16384  0
uio                    20480  1 uio_pdrv_genirq
i2c_dev                16384  0
ip_tables              24576  2 iptable_filter,iptable_nat
x_tables               32768  4 ip_tables,iptable_filter,ipt_MASQUERADE,xt_conntrack
ipv6                  425984  28

If you need any more details i can give them but i guess i gave the most details. The only thing like i said is only that i don't get any SSID shown on my devices.

here are the Supported interface mode for Wiphy phy1 aswell:

Supported interface modes:
                 * IBSS
                 * managed
                 * AP
                 * P2P-client
                 * P2P-GO
                 * P2P-device

Update:
I wanted to repeat the connection from onboard to dongle. but since it won't let me do it and it doesn't show me an AP i can't repeat the wifi connection. what i can't do is that i would go from eth0 to wlan0 because i have no wired connection to repaeat since my rpi is going to be in the staircase. if i would find the driver that is installed for the wifi dongle i have i would try to use that for hostapd but yeah... idk where to find it.

Answer 1

My first guess was that the TP-Link Archer T2U wifi dongle does not support an access point but with your update you show that it does with mode AP. Another possible problem could be the driver for the USB/wifi dongle. You wrote that hostapd didn't recognized the driver. Seems hostapd now starts with its default driver but that does not fit to the dongle.

You are using a Raspberry Pi 3B with an on-board wifi device. That is known to work with default Raspbian and hostpad by many tutorials. Just to verify I suggest to pull out the USB/wifi dongle and setup the access point with the on-board wifi device represented with interface wlan0.

Update:
As far as I understand now from your update, you want to configure a wifi repeater. You can do it only with the on-board wifi device. You do not need two physical interfaces. The RasPi can make a client connection to your remote hotspot and simultaneously create an access point. Just pull out the problematic USB/WiFi dongle. You don't need it. Look at Access point as WiFi repeater, optional with bridge how to setup it.