New Likebook Mars only connects to open wifi

[teralock]

Hello everybody,

I have just purchased a new Likebook Mars from the „Likebook official Store“ on Amazon.

I cannot get the Mars to connect to any password protected wifi. After entering the wifi password, it shortly says „saved“ under the network name, but is immediately dropping the connection. It repeatedly tries to reconnect and disconnects right away.

I have
- a different router,
- my neighbours network and even
- a mobile hotspot,
in between I had it forget all known networks.

Finally I could successfully connect to an open, unencrypted wifi and was able to install at least 3 updates. The current version is from end of January 2019.

After the updates I had the mars reset to factory defaults. Still, the Mars refuses to connect to any password protected wifi.

So far, the only seller feedback was a proposed power management setting which I had already set that way and which did not help. I have to wait for further seller feedback until after the weekend, also they are probably still celebrating Chinese New Year.

What am I not seeing here? I want to make sure I set everything up correctly, returning the device would be a last resort.

[mrpops]

It could be something to do with your wifi settings (most likely).

Any time I find that a device doesn't work, its usually because the wifi chip they use doesn't acknowledge or support all the potential channels.

So I would suggest you log into your wifi access point / router and change the channel (you can also download apps to see what channel you are currently broadcasting on) and see if that works (chances are it probably will).

Outside of that, it could also be the channel width you've set on the wifi settings, older devices and certain chips don't support the higher bands / larger spectrums.

[crane3]

The Mars wifi is only at 2.4 ghz; doesn't do 5 ghz. Check how or what the password is for as in WEP or the more fancy WPA & how/what your router is setup to use for logins.

Also the router may be using case sensitive passwords.

[rvcjew]

Are you sure your time and date is correct on the device and what region is your device in? For your hotspot is it your phone and if you make it open will it connect to it? Is your router 2.45 band set to 40hz only, as the mars wifi chip will only use 20hz (mines set to 20/40)?

Malcolm

[teralock]

Thanks for your ideas! My home wifi is a Fritz!Box 7590 router with 2 Fritz 1750e repeaters set up as a mesh. For testing, I have enabled 2,4 ghz only, set to channel 1, disabled the repeaters and all wifi optimizations on the router.

Time on Mars is manually set to local german time.

Mars WILL connect:
- to my iphone 8 mobile hotspot with all lowercase password set
- to my routers wifi with encryption off

Mars will NOT connect:
- to my routers wifi if password protected
- to a Huawei E5885 wifi routers 2,4 wifi w/ password
- to my routers 2,4 ghz guest wifi w/ password

So the only safe connection would be via my phones hotspot (eating my mobile volume).

I am at loss here. My older ebook readers (kindle paperwhite 3rd gen, kobo glo) connect fine with the routers wifi setting on full auto and wifi mesh enabled. The mars is the touchiest ereader ever.

[rvcjew]

Originally Posted by teralock

Thanks for your ideas! My home wifi is a Fritz!Box 7590 router with 2 Fritz 1750e repeaters set up as a mesh. For testing, I have enabled 2,4 ghz only, set to channel 1, disabled the repeaters and all wifi optimizations on the router.

Time on Mars is manually set to local german time.

Mars WILL connect:
- to my iphone 8 mobile hotspot with all lowercase password set
- to my routers wifi with encryption off

Mars will NOT connect:
- to my routers wifi if password protected
- to a Huawei E5885 wifi routers 2,4 wifi w/ password
- to my routers 2,4 ghz guest wifi w/ password

So the only safe connection would be via my phones hotspot (eating my mobile volume).

I am at loss here. My older ebook readers (kindle paperwhite 3rd gen, kobo glo) connect fine with the routers wifi setting on full auto and wifi mesh enabled. The mars is the touchiest ereader ever.

Can you post a pic of your 2.4g band settings on the router while blacking out your mac, ssid, pass? The device should work with a code but I wonder if with a code your router is adding some frame management ect it can't use.
Malcolm

[teralock]

Just got feedback from a german distributor (ereader store), who has connected the likebook mars to Fritz!Box Routers several times, and had no problems at all. The fritzbox router is a very common router here in Germany. He suggested that my mars might have hardware problem.

So I decided to return the reader today. I will wait a few weeks and give it another try, hopefully with working wifi, then.

Thank you all for your help, I appreciate it!

[rvcjew]

Originally Posted by teralock

Just got feedback from a german distributor (ereader store), who has connected the likebook mars to Fritz!Box Routers several times, and had no problems at all. The fritzbox router is a very common router here in Germany. He suggested that my mars might have hardware problem.

So I decided to return the reader today. I will wait a few weeks and give it another try, hopefully with working wifi, then.

Thank you all for your help, I appreciate it!

Hope it works out for you, I really like mine.
Malcolm