Kobo Clara Hd Wont Connect To WiFi

[wiwitb]

I just received a new Kobo Clara and it wont connect to WiFi. All other devices are connecting to the same WiFi so I am pretty sure its the Kobo. I called customer service but they wanted me to connect to the computer but I dont have an Operating System that is compatible to run Kobo desktop. I think they said it needs to update the software to be able to connect to WiFi.

Seems like it should come updated to be able to connect to Wifi. Even older devices dont have a problem with this usually but I dont know much about it. I should have access to Windows sometime soon if I really have to.

Thank-you

[johndoe3444]

If your wifi is 5ghz it won't connect to it, just 2.4ghz. You can try setting up a hotspot with your phone to register it and download the update. But if you can't connect to it now I don't think you'll be able to after an update.

[wiwitb]

I have both 2.4 and 5.0 on my router. It recognizes the 2.4ghz account but it wont connect. It tries to connect and then says "Unable to join "network". Please try again."

[davidfor]

A new Clara HD should connect to WiFi. Some of the older devices won't connect after a factory reset as the device connects to a Kobo server upon connection and the original firmware does not support the security protocols now being used. The Clara HD does.

But, the question is what "doesn't connect" means. During the setup, the device will do the following:

• Display the list of available WiFi networks.
• When you choose your network, prompt for the password.
• Connect to the WiFi and get an IP address.
• Once connected to the WiFi, connect to the Kobo server.

Does it do the first two? Does you router show if an IP address has been allocated? Or show the device in the list of connected devices? Can you reach the Kobo server from one of your other devices on the network?

You can try manually installing the updated firmware. I doubt this will solve the WiFi issue, but, there may be a fix for the WiFi included. It would let you use Sideloaded Mode. You can see the list of available firmware versions on https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Kobo_Firmware_Releases. Just take the latest one.

[wiwitb]

It does the first two. Then it tries to connect and says connecting to network with moving circle thing like its loading and then the error that says unable to connect pops up. Its supposed to be a brand new device.

"Does you router show if an IP address has been allocated?" - How do I check this?

"Or show the device in the list of connected devices?" - Do you mean on the Clara itself?

"Can you reach the Kobo server from one of your other devices on the network?" - I will try on my computer now.

[wiwitb]

Actually I dont know how to reach the kobo server from another device. I thought you meant going to the kobo website on my computer.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by wiwitb

It does the first two. Then it tries to connect and says connecting to network with moving circle thing like its loading and then the error that says unable to connect pops up. Its supposed to be a brand new device.

"Does you router show if an IP address has been allocated?" - How do I check this?

"Or show the device in the list of connected devices?" - Do you mean on the Clara itself?

Both of those will be on the router. You will need to login to the admin console and look. Exactly how depends on the router. But, there should be a connected device list and there should be a section for DHCP showing the allocated IP addresses.

"Can you reach the Kobo server from one of your other devices on the network?" - I will try on my computer now.

Once connected to the WiFi, the device tries to fetch http://www.kobo.com/buildinfo.xml. If you can reach that from another device on the network, it should be OK.

[wiwitb]

Hey thanks for the help so far.

I was able to connect on my computer to the xml link you posted. Should I still check the other two things?

Do you think having access to Windows would fix this pretty easy or would it not really make a difference? I can probably find someone to let me use their windows computer just to set it up it just might take a little while.

Either that or set up windows as a Virtual Box. I kind of dont want to do that though because my computer is an older machine and dont want to slow it down by loading more stuff onto it if I dont have to.

[wiwitb]

Another thing I noticed is when I first go to click the network I am trying to connect to on the Clara it has good reception like 3 to 5 bars but after I try to connect and it fails I go back to the list of networks screen and it shows up at the way bottom with 0 bars.

[davidfor]

Being able to access that page is good as it means nothing is blocking it. Some countries block it. Or you IP address could be on a black-list somewhere.

I think you need to check the status of the device on the router. That tells more about what is happening. From here, I can't tell if the device is not connecting to WiFi or something is happening further down the track.

Manually installing newer firmware might help. There have been some changes in how not being able to fetch the above page works. The change means that the WiFi can be kept up when the page cannot be retrieved. That is for the case where someone wants to use the WiFi locally or within a firewall blocking access. But, I'm not sure what happens if that occurs during the setup.

[jbike]

Sorry for the late reply.
After much frustration, I finally found the solution to my inability to connect consistently to my wifi was to change my router setting from 802.11 g/n to 802.11 b/g/n through my internet provider homepage. (it was under advanced settings.
This worked great but I also found this solution on line with additional steps so I'm posting it in case you find the additional step necessary:

1- Go to your internet dashboard provider or router dashboard and you will need your username and password).
2- Select ''wireless mode '' and change it to ''802.11 b/g/n mixed'' (before I had it set to 802.11 g/n mixed).
3- Select ''Auth mode'' and change it to ''WPA2-PSK'' (before I had it set to WPA-PSK)
Don't mix lowercase and capital on your network name.

[jryan14ify]

Originally Posted by jbike

Sorry for the late reply.
After much frustration, I finally found the solution to my inability to connect consistently to my wifi was to change my router setting from 802.11 g/n to 802.11 b/g/n through my internet provider homepage. (it was under advanced settings.
This worked great but I also found this solution on line with additional steps so I'm posting it in case you find the additional step necessary:

1- Go to your internet dashboard provider or router dashboard and you will need your username and password).
2- Select ''wireless mode '' and change it to ''802.11 b/g/n mixed'' (before I had it set to 802.11 g/n mixed).
3- Select ''Auth mode'' and change it to ''WPA2-PSK'' (before I had it set to WPA-PSK)
Don't mix lowercase and capital on your network name.

Wow, thank you so much for posting this. Changing my wifi router to "802.11 b/g/n mixed" actually fixed the problems I was having (unable to connect to wifi and extremely slow connection).
My internet is Xfinity, so I needed to
* Go to the router home page http://10.0.0.1/
* Default username and password is "admin" "password"
* Navigate to Connection > Wi-Fi > Edit 2.4 GHz
* Change Mode 802.11 g/n to 802.11 b/g/n

My router was normally 802.11 ac and has both 5.0 GHz and 2.4GHz bands, for what that's worth

[Quoth]

Change the password and write it down (even under box) otherwise a malicious script can change DNS and then you face Man in the Middle attacks.


Never ever leave a password on anything on a network at the default.

Use mix of UPPER, lower, numbers and things like ! ^ ( etc at least 10 characters.