Wifi stopped working

birdheh · 02-19-2012, 10:16 AM

I do not use my wifi a lot (mostly to watch video while sitting at the blood bank). I tried to turn it on today for the first time in almost 2 weeks and wifi just shows as error. I rebooted and got the same result. It says turning on and the just shows error. If I go into the advanced wifi menu it says the mac address is unavailable, and i can not click on that spot as it is greyed out. I changed the sleep policy to never, but can not get past the error. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I am running ermine 2.2

obsessed2 · 02-19-2012, 10:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by birdheh

I do not use my wifi a lot (mostly to watch video while sitting at the blood bank). I tried to turn it on today for the first time in almost 2 weeks and wifi just shows as error. I rebooted and got the same result. It says turning on and the just shows error. If I go into the advanced wifi menu it says the mac address is unavailable, and i can not click on that spot as it is greyed out. I changed the sleep policy to never, but can not get past the error. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I am running ermine 2.2

The PE's MAC (Media Access Control) address is a hardware address associated with the PE's W-Fi chipset and cannot be changed. All devices that connect to a network have a predetermined MAC address at the time of manufacture.

There are a couple of reasons I can think of why this address may be unavailable. First, the Wi-Fi chipset has failed. Let's hope this isn't the case. The second and MOST likely reason is that there is a problem with Ermine. There are a couple of things you can try and see if it helps. Each one is progressively more drastic. I'm assuming Airplane Mode is not checked and you dropped and re-added your network .

Turn on your PE and do a paper clip reset up by the USB port and see if that helps.

Only do these after all other options are exhausted and do a Local Back-up first:

A Factory Data Reset: Settings --> Privacy

Downgrade back to Dingo 1.3 or load the pablob RC3 ROM which will do a complete reformat of your PE.

Gunnerp245 · 02-19-2012, 12:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by birdheh

I do not use my wifi a lot (mostly to watch video while sitting at the blood bank). I tried to turn it on today for the first time in almost 2 weeks and wifi just shows as error.

Have you tried it anywhere else? Could be the regular location has changed their router setup. I have had success before by removing the current wifi setting and re-adding it.

Filark · 02-19-2012, 02:41 PM

Similar to Gunner's solution, I force a scan when my wifi doesn't respond right away. Sometimes a reboot works, but you've tried that.

obsessed2 · 02-19-2012, 04:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Filark

Similar to Gunner's solution, I force a scan when my wifi doesn't respond right away. Sometimes a reboot works, but you've tried that.

Usually when this happens you will get a Network Not in Range and not a MAC error. However, it is definitely worth a shot.

birdheh · 02-19-2012, 06:49 PM

Thanks for the advice. I had already tried the paper clip with no change. I turned it off all day, which is usually different as I frequetnly just leave it in hibernate. I turned it on 9 hours later and all by itself all was well. Good thing as the scan was not possible as wifi would not stay on. I would have had to try the more drastic measures, which I was hoping to avoid. Thanks to all and to the PE "gods" that fixed it.

obsessed2 · 02-19-2012, 07:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by birdheh

Thanks for the advice. I had already tried the paper clip with no change. I turned it off all day, which is usually different as I frequetnly just leave it in hibernate. I turned it on 9 hours later and all by itself all was well. Good thing as the scan was not possible as wifi would not stay on. I would have had to try the more drastic measures, which I was hoping to avoid. Thanks to all and to the PE "gods" that fixed it.

Glad to hear everything is OK. Sometimes turning off and restarting an electronic device fixes a lot of problems. Happy that was the case here.

Filark · 02-19-2012, 07:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by obsessed2

Glad to hear everything is OK. Sometimes turning off and restarting an electronic device fixes a lot of problems. Happy that was the case here.

Me too!

teledyn · 02-20-2012, 08:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by birdheh

Thanks for the advice. I had already tried the paper clip with no change. I turned it off all day, which is usually different as I frequetnly just leave it in hibernate. I turned it on 9 hours later and all by itself all was well. Good thing as the scan was not possible as wifi would not stay on. I would have had to try the more drastic measures, which I was hoping to avoid. Thanks to all and to the PE "gods" that fixed it.

This is not an uncommon problem in Linux machines, the kernel's network device module crashes but the OS does not detect it. Switch to airplane mode for a few minutes or turning networking off might also reset the module without a hard reboot, but not always. Sometimes too the hardware itself overheard and shuts down until it can cool; that may be what happened here especially if you were in an environment where wifi had to really boost power to stay connected.

In general I find it prudent to keep a straightened paper clip in my PE's travel bag; the reset button is very often a good friend to know

02-19-2012, 10:16 AM	#1
birdheh Member Posts: 20 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2011 Device: pocket entourage	Wifi stopped working I do not use my wifi a lot (mostly to watch video while sitting at the blood bank). I tried to turn it on today for the first time in almost 2 weeks and wifi just shows as error. I rebooted and got the same result. It says turning on and the just shows error. If I go into the advanced wifi menu it says the mac address is unavailable, and i can not click on that spot as it is greyed out. I changed the sleep policy to never, but can not get past the error. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I am running ermine 2.2 Last edited by birdheh; 02-19-2012 at 10:18 AM.

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02-19-2012, 02:41 PM	#4
Filark Armed with a smile :) Posts: 1,421 Karma: 2463560 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: California, USA Device: enTourage eDGe & Pocket eDGe, Samsung Galaxy Note II	Similar to Gunner's solution, I force a scan when my wifi doesn't respond right away. Sometimes a reboot works, but you've tried that.

02-19-2012, 06:49 PM	#6
birdheh Member Posts: 20 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2011 Device: pocket entourage	Thanks for the advice. I had already tried the paper clip with no change. I turned it off all day, which is usually different as I frequetnly just leave it in hibernate. I turned it on 9 hours later and all by itself all was well. Good thing as the scan was not possible as wifi would not stay on. I would have had to try the more drastic measures, which I was hoping to avoid. Thanks to all and to the PE "gods" that fixed it.

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