Help Please! WiFi prob on EE full size.

[jonnickell]

I have a full size EE ( got it on the 2nd shipment just missed out on the 1st) and have updated to Ermine with none of the problems others have experianced. Amazon loaded and worked fine, Angry Birds Rio works OK, etc.

I had not used it in awhile, but today when I booted up ( I always have shut down my EE when not in use....it doesn't take that long to boot and if I forget it when I come back it still has a charge) it would not open the WiFi.

In the settings it searches, finds my router, says it is connecting, says it is getting an IP then disconnects and starts all over again. Now the switch is working ( it goes into airplane mode when off) but the WiFi icon never shows up.

It has always been a little flakey but rebooting has always worked before. I even took the battery out..still no joy!

Has any one else had this kind of a problem? Please! what is the solution?

Thanks in advance for any advice....even if it means going back and reinstalling Ermine ( I hope not though!)

Jon

[Filark]

You might try rebooting your wireless modem/router. Could be it needs a domain name refresher (not really sure what I'm talking about, but there's some disconnect there that sometimes happens in my household and cycling power on either our cable modem or our wireless router does the trick ).

If that doesn't work, someone will have another suggestion.

Good luck!

[Dumas]

What you have described sounds like some kind of DHCP problem with your router. You may or may not have a DNS issue. These are two separate issues.

Filark's suggestion is the first step to try to resolve this issue. If that doesn't work for you, there are any number of reasons why you could be having this problem. We would need to know more about your local network/router settings in order troubleshoot further.

One thing you could do is set a static IP for your EE and then your Edge wouldn't need to obtain an IP address any more.

1. Go to Settings.
2. Go to Network Controls > Ethernet Settings.
3. Select Use static IP.
4. Enter the appropriate settings for your local network.

We can provide additional details for #4 if needed. Additional info on your local environment would be required.

Hope that helps.

[ivanjt]

DNS has nothing to do at this early stage in connecting, the only two things that may cause the problem are, as Filark says, a problem with the router or the EE has scrambled the SSID or WEP/WPA code.

If rebooting the router doesn't work check and re-enter the SSID and WEP/WPA code.

This problem has happened to several people in the past and it has mostly turned out to be the wireless settings that were the problem.

[Dumas]

I don't think the EE would be able to connect to the router if it had "scrambled" credentials.

My suggestion on using a static IP may/may not work. See here:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=136484

There are/were evidently known bugs with Android as it relates to static IP. Don't know if those were fixed with Entourage's Ermine. Suggested work arounds:

IP Manager: http://www.androidzoom.com/android_a...ager_cpcp.html

WiFi Manager: http://www.androidzoom.com/android_a...ager_gltd.html

[jonnickell]

Originally Posted by Filark

You might try rebooting your wireless modem/router. Could be it needs a domain name refresher (not really sure what I'm talking about, but there's some disconnect there that sometimes happens in my household and cycling power on either our cable modem or our wireless router does the trick ).

If that doesn't work, someone will have another suggestion.

Good luck!

Thanks Filark,

That was exactly the problem! I don't know why it worked, because my other computers connected fine and I don't have any kind of security enabled on my router ( I know I'm just asking for Trouble!) and I could not connect to my other wireless router in the far reaches of my (small ) house, but it worked perfectly!!

I can usually find the answer to the problem by reading the Forum....what would we do without the Forums....but this was just stumping me because things seemed to be working it just wouldn't complete the connection for some unknown reason.

Again Thanks!

[ivanjt]

Hi Dumas, this problem has happened in the past with an EE and was resolved and noted in the old egde forums.

By 'scrambled' I mean just that, usually with the WEP/WPS key string. Once that has been re-entered it connects without problems. More a case of 'been there, done that and bought the tee shirt' sort of problem.

[Filark]

Glad you got it fixed, Jonnickell!

Dumas and Ivan, you guys rock!

[Last_of_the_PEs]

The problem with setting a static IP is that I believe the eDGe (like most devices) holds and applies that IP to ALL WiFi connections it encounters, and chances are, you'll encounter some on a different subnet.

I've also encountered routers that would not talk to devices via WiFi if their IP is not in the DHCP table in the router. I think they were all pretty old routers, but they're out there.

The reported solution is really common. It's shocking how many routers overheat or fail in some way when their firmware locks up.

[Dumas]

I'm sure there are others, but the apps IP Manager and WiFi Manager create different IP settings for different WiFi connections.

[Last_of_the_PEs]

@Dumas
So, it's confirmed that a static IP setting will follow one or more WiFi profiles, but still allow others to use DHCP?

I'm sure that different WiFi profiles keep the SSID and passkey intact -- something I'd like to be able to dig out as we can on PCs with WirelessKeyView (nirsoft.net), but the static IP setting seems to be disassociated with WiFi profiles.

[Dumas]

So you are referring to Issue 1215: IP settings for WiFi networks?

Looks like this has been an issue since 2008 and still hasn't been addressed with the release of Gingerbread. IP Manager is listed as a solution (link above).

Evidently, another app, WiFi Static was created to address this issue as well: http://www.appbrain.com/app/wifi-sta...oc.wifi.statIc

My environment doesn't require a solution for these issues so I am unable to confirm or deny. Others that have this requirement say they work. YMMV.

[Last_of_the_PEs]

Yeah, that looks like it. But to be fair, I don't think that capability exists on PCs either. Static or DHCP is about the adapter, not the SSID.

[Dumas]

Actually, I did find this for PCs (Windows) when looking for Android solutions:

IP Organizer is a Free Way to Manage Multiple Static IP Settings

Static or DHCP is about the adapter, not the SSID.

It seems that Android pretty much assumes the adapter is WiFi, and the different network settings are associated with different APs/locations. The apps previously mentioned also allow the user to rename their connection with something more user friendly for those that struggle w/SSIDs.

[ivanjt]

To set up static IP on wireless is not something one should generally attempt. Wireless was intended to use DHCP by its very nature and, for most domestic wireless routers you have to jump through hoops to set a static IP address. In fact there should be no reason to use a static IP over wireless anyway, the SSID is the governing factor.

The only time a static IP is needed is in a wireless bridge - two, or more, wireless AP set up to feed from and to wired networks, and then only if there are several subnets that could interact with each other.

In most cases static IPs are only necessary for servers where there is no DNS server available - for example, our server has a fixed IP as does the two NAS boxes, everything else here gets its IP address from the DHCP server on the server.