Help Kobo figure out the WiFi connection problems

[taming]

If you are having problems connecting to WiFi, or keeping your WiFi connection active, please use this thread to detail your experience. Kobo staff is asking for some information that may be hard for some users to figure out. Don't worry about it. Just provide as much information as you can.

1. What Kobo device(s) are you using (for Touch, please include version)?
2. What Firmware(s)?
3. What router(s)--brand, model number, firmware level?
4. How is the router configured e.g WPA2 etc?
5. Did establishing a DHCP (static reserved) address help?
6. Please provide the DHCP lease time (in minutes or seconds)
7. Please mention any modifications you might have made to your device, for example, patches, alternate reader software, changes to the device.config file.

This information will be passed on to the developers. This is a message board, and things happen, but it would be really terrific if we could keep this thread on topic.

[rhz]

I'm having the same problem as everyone else: my Glo WiFi only connects once per reboot.

Details (as per Taming's numbering):

1. Kobo Glo
2. firmware 3.2.0 (but problem showed up w 3.1.1)
3. Sagemcom F@ST 2864 router, firmware FAST2864_v6843A
4. WPA2-PSK (AES)
5. haven't tried establishing a static/reserved DHCP address
6. Always On
7. device is unmodified

Thanks to Taming for this data-gathering initiative!

[moffattm]

I hate to butt in but when you say "Did establishing a DHCP address help?" do you mean "Did setting up a static / reserved IP address for your Kobo device help?"

DHCP is the system that hands out IP addresses automatically, where your router might give your Kobo a different address each time it connects. But setting up a static / reserved address tells your router to always give the same address. Different routers call this by different names, some call it "static address / IP" and others call it a "reserved address". I'm sure there are lots of other names for it too.

[taming]

I will change the post to reflect that.

[PeterT]

Taming; could you also add firmware level of router.

[nathanr]

I'm having the same issue described above.

1. Kobo Touch N905
2. Seen in both 3.0.1 and 3.2.0
3. Actiontec MI424WR Rev. I, firmware 40.20.4.2
4. WPA2
5. Switching to a static IP address had no impact
6. 1500 Minutes
7. Added fonts

[taming]

I've added requests for additional information. You may want to edit earlier responses.

[ploum]

1. Kobo Glo
2. 3.0, 3.1, 3.2. It may have been already happening with 2.10 but can't guarantee it.
3. Pirelli DRG A226 ADSL and SagemCom F3464 VDSL
4. WPA2. But I've tested without encryption too.
5. I've tried. It doesn't change anything.
6. I've tried with different lease time without any observable effect.
7. Nothing except a lot of sideloaded epubs.


I should mention that connecting to "working" router is like rebooting :*it allows to connect once to the problematic router.

[DNSB]

I was looking at a neighbour's wireless issue with her Kobo Glo. It connects to my router without issue. With her router, it does the connect once and then needs the network to be forgotten before it will reconnect without a power cycle.

I don't know the name of the router (she and husband brought it with them from Taiwan and all the labelling etc. is in Chinese), I think she said the name was Arctek. Firmware revision was 1.09. Supports b/g.

Router is configured to use WPA2 Personal mixed. Changing to WPA2 Personal AES made no difference.

Setting an address reservation did not help.

The lease time is 7 days.

One thing I noticed with packet capturing is that the Glo was being offered two addresses, one was 192.168.252.114, the other was the broadcast address for the subnet of 192.168.252.255.

This happens with firmware 3.1.1 and 3.2.0.

Stock factory firmware for testing purposes.

My Aura HD is also not a happy camper with this router.

Regards,
David

[jackastor]

Sometimes something people seem to not think about is the 2.4 ghz and 5.8 ghz cordless phones, and that can be a problem. Now it may not be the case here but both types of phones can cause signal interference with wifi routers and devices. Some other possible problems can be competeing routers that are (routers in your neighbours homes) using the default router name and the same channel as your router is using. Also just being on the same channel as your neighbor can cause problems as well.

Some things you can try, Move your cordless phone base well away from your router, this will help eliminate any interference it might cause the router and vise versa. Using wifi scan software you can find out what routers are around you competing for your channel space. (if they are invisible you wont see them btw) And you can then choose a name and channel that is not being competed for by a dozen routers.

regards

Jack

[ableeker]

1. Aura HD.
2. 3.0.0, 3.1, 3.1.1, currently 3.2.0.
3. Fritz!box 7360, Fritz!OS 6.04.
4. Named, automatic channel selection, WPA+WPA2.
5. Static IP-addresses help.
6. 10 days.
7. None.

[J_K]

1. Touch N905B
2. 3.0.1, also tried 3.2.0 but still the same
3. BT Home Hub 5
4. WPA2
5. No, I tried this using firmware 3.0.1 but still the same problem of not connecting until a reboot if Wi-Fi on the Touch is turned off and on
6. 1 day
7. None

I can also confirm that my Mini (using the last official Mini firmware) works fine with the above router.

[ableeker]

This is a great idea. I do hope Kobo sees this and is able the fix the problem.

By the way, the wife's Glo also is unable to reconnect to the Fritz!box router above since firmware 3.0.

[taming]

Originally Posted by ableeker

This is a great idea. I do hope Kobo sees this and is able the fix the problem.

By the way, the wife's Glo also is unable to reconnect to the Fritz!box router above since firmware 3.0.

I asked staff at Kobo via the beta group if they wanted this thread set up. I know they are reading it.

[dclauzel]

There is also:

• bug report #14 (Wifi initialisation fails on captive-portal hotspots)
• bug report #27 (No IPv6 support)
• bug report #29 (Most of the time fails to connect to wifi)