Re: My question isn't about the fault, its about how to find it.

The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:

Tried to make it talk to a different wifi point. Bricked it. Reinstalled
OS lite and started setting up. (again!)
>
The Pi ZERO 2W apparently uses a different wifi chip - SYMANTEC
SYN43436, not the old BROADCOMM BCM43438

 Broadcom sold their wireless division to Cypress, and subsequently it went
to Synaptics[1].  There may be slightly variations between the different
part numbers but I'd not expect huge differences.  There could be bugs, of
course.
 (Broadcom like putting the same silicon in different parts with different
options, like the BCM2835 in Pi1 is actually the BCM2708 silicon inside)
 

There is scuttlebutt that this doesn't play nice with some older wifi
points, hence using a different one

 There could be firmware differences or something, I suppose.
 [1] Apparently Broadcom sold the business to Synaptics after selling it to
Cypress:
https://www.eetimes.com/broadcom-sells-wireless-iot-biz-this-time-to-synaptics/
 Not sure how you can sell a business after already selling it to somebody
else, but maybe it was a non-exclusive licence for IP or something, or maybe
there was a reversion clause.  Could make it more complicated than just
rebranding the same product line under different owners.
 Theo