Iconia A500 WiFi Issue

[shoukri804]

I am new to this Forum and happy to be a member.

I have an Iconia A500 tablet with Android ICS that has been connecting to WiFi and Internet through a Belkin N750 router with no issues at all, it is setup to disconnect when it goes to sleep. For the past couple of months, a weird issue was happening, which caused the tablet to disconnect from WiFi an hour or so after the desktop (connected to the router wirelessly) is turned off or goes to sleep. When the desktop is turned on, the tablet gets connected to WiFi and Internet again. However, the tablet connects to networks elsewhere (other than mine) without problems,.

I tried resetting the router, changing many of its settings even connecting the desktop to the router with a cable, rather than wireless, but all that did not solve the problem. It seems that the tablet gets its signal from the desktop not from the router. All other WiFi equipment I have, such as laptop, printer and others, work fine with the router regardless of the desktop status. Setting the tablet to be connected all the time, the connection remains regardless of the desktop status, but if the connection is disconnected for any reason, it can reconnect only if the desktop is turned on.

Recently, after a six-hour power outage, when the power was restored, and the desktop was turned off, the tablet was able to connect to WiFi without any problem. However, after turning on the desktop, the same problem came back. It seems that the problem is with the desktop and not the router.

Did anyone experience this issue before? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Update 11/21/2013:

By pure chance I was trying to disable some start-up programs to enhance the start-up time and memory usage, I disabled the "Control Center Launcher", which is a software that allows communication between the desktop and a Brother multifunction printer. Since installation of the printer driver and software, I did not need to use it at all. After that, the tablet started to connect to the router with or without the desktop being turned on. It was not possible to predict that since there is no visible connection between the tablet and that software.

I hope this information can help someone with this particular circumstances. Again, I appreciate the help I received from the Spider and Mrhelper.

 

[Spider]

Hi shoukri, congratulations on your Iconia A500 and welcome to the forum. Nice to have you as a member of Android Tablets. Sorry to hear you're having problems with your WiFi and nobody has been able to help yet. I'm moving your thread to the Acer Iconia Tab A500 Forum for you, where more people are likely to join the discussion and try to help you. In the meantime, try resetting your router and see if that helps. Simply turn off/unplug the router for 30 seconds and then turn on/plug it in. That often helps. Good luck!

 

[Mrhelper]

Some PCs can be configured to work as WiFi access points. If your PC is equipped with Intel My WiFi Technology, for example, you may have mistakenly configured a profile that looks like your home network. In that case, the WiFi connection to your tablet could be through your PC. You should be able to disable such a profile in your PC, which would then leave only your router available at close range for connection. Otherwise your tablet may prefer the virtual access point that you may be running on the PC. You can also test this by powering down the PC, "forgetting" the home WiFi connection on the tablet, and leaving the PC off while registering the tablet with your router. You still may have to disable the virtual AP profile on your PC though to prevent interference.

 

[shoukri804]

Thank you very much Mrhelper for your reply and advice. I did not change any network PC setting since the tablet worked fine with the router. I am not sure what to look for on the PC concerning the home network profile, if you can elaborate on that, I would be very thankful. Please read the update that I posted today regarding the tablet WiFi connection status.

 

[Mrhelper]

You proved that the connection is not through a PC wireless virtual AP. Another thing that may be occurring is this: Your router my be configured to "hide" by not broadcasting the SSID at regular intervals. I recall that Iconia tablets cannot find a network without sufficient broadcast traffic. The PC may be stimulating WiFi broadcast traffic to allow connection. Check your router WiFi settings and turn on SSID broadcast.

 

[shoukri804]

Thank you Mrhelper for your kind reply. Your thought is logical and can be the reason for such behavior in some situations, However, I configured the router to broadcast the SSID, for both 2.4 and 5 GHZ bands, for the main reason that my wife's Kindle ebook reader would not connect to WiFi without broadcasting the SSID. The channels are set up for automatic selection by the router and the firewall MAC address filtering is enabled in the router settings. I tried disabling it but did not help. I started to think that this situation may be caused by the tablet itself but cannot figure out where to start looking. Resetting the tablet to the factory default (hard reset) may be my best option at this time that could resolve the situation. Many thanks for your time and thoughts.

 

[Mrhelper]

That may help. Another thing that I would try is resetting the router to defaults. You may want to determine if the problem started after a router firmware update. Think about what may have changed in your network, such as adding a new WiFi device, changing any setting in the router, etc.

 

[Douvie]

That may help. Another thing that I would try is resetting the router to defaults. You may want to determine if the problem started after a router firmware update. Think about what may have changed in your network, such as adding a new WiFi device, changing any setting in the router, etc.

Mrhelper it is my turn to request assistance.

Basically, the situation is thus:

Nothing Android will connect to the router. Yet everything else is fine. The PC (hardwired), and the 2 Belkin USB sticks (N300 & N600 DB). The N600 has just been added. The connections for the USB sticks is not permanent because I/we remove them - Our systems are not permanently connected (except for the Internet PC and the Tablets, smartphone). It was all working fine about 2 days ago.

Now the Tablets (6 of them, Samsung & Acer, and the HTC smartphone) will not connect. They will attempt, "obtaining IP address...", but will not connect reporting "not in range" or "signal poor". I know it is not the tablets. The USB WiFi sticks report "Excellent signal strength".

I've power cycled several times.

I've upgraded the firmware to the latest (the latest being 3 years old firmware, first an penultimate version, and then the latest).

I've double & triple checked the config data.

The SSID is broadcasting because they can see it.Well sometimes the signal is so poor that the network doesn't register on a scan - from phone and tablets only.

I've tried changing the channel.

I've upped the TX power output (from 220 t0 240).

I've tried another aerial.

I've tried default.

I know the modem is OLD, but why all of a sudden? And Why only the Android devices?

The modem is several years old, and it only supports 802.11b & g and the two USB sticks are 802.11n but I know that they're backward (or downwards) compatible.

Any Ideas???? Before I crack a wobbly and get a new one!!!
Douvie.

 

[Mrhelper]

Try setting the AP to 802.11g. Mixed modes can cause compatibility problems, particularly when "b" devices try to connect. Maybe a neighbor fired up an old "b" device and triggered an issue in the router. I finally got tired of compatibility quirks, retired all of my "b" and "g" devices, and configured my networks to exclusively use 802.11n.

Another possibility may be corrupt data in the router configuration. A factory reset of the router may clean that up. Maybe you have already reset, but if you have not, you may have started working on one problem, and then encountered yet another by updating firmware without clearing (resetting) all config data after each firmware flash.

Just curious, what's the make and model of the router?

 

[Douvie]

Try setting the AP to 802.11g. Mixed modes can cause compatibility problems, particularly when "b" devices try to connect. Maybe a neighbor fired up an old "b" device and triggered an issue in the router. I finally got tired of compatibility quirks, retired all of my "b" and "g" devices, and configured my networks to exclusively use 802.11n.

Another possibility may be corrupt data in the router configuration. A factory reset of the router may clean that up. Maybe you have already reset, but if you have not, you may have started working on one problem, and then encountered yet another by updating firmware without clearing (resetting) all config data after each firmware flash.

Just curious, what's the make and model of the router?

It is a BILLION 7404VGPM and it is more than 3 years old (I think closer to 6 though). Only has 802.11b & g, does not have 802.11n. It has been a good reliable modem and all the other features still work perfectly.

I let you know in a day or so. currently the modem is working for all things except ANDROID devices - if I try something and the modem fails completely then I'm really cooked (I'll really be in the dog house then). I will get a new modem tomorrow and set it up so that one is working. Then I can investigate further the problem with the BILLION.

This problem has got me beat - so far. Thanks I'll give those suggestion a shot.

 

[Douvie]

bought new modem and fixed problem.

Still setting up and testing.

 

[Douvie]

Thanks to all those that assisted and mrhelper whose comments gave me some idea on how to diagnose the problem. His comments aided me to pinpoint the problem.

The wireless router section of my ADSL modem was dying a slow death and causing me endless hassle for 2 or 3 days. The first sign was that ALL ANDROID devices could not connect at all. At first all windows PC, laptops and netbooks had no problem. Slowly but surely all netbooks and older laptops had issues connecting, or at least had trouble trying to maintain a stable connection. Eventually they couldn't connect at all. Then newer USB sticks were still able to maintain a connect but power levels were not consistent - and the speed began to be affected.

As mrhelper suggested, I turned OFF the mixed mode 802.11b, just leaving 802.11g active. The power levels continued to drop. Eventually nothing could connect or at least stay connected.

I bought a new modem, and after some issues in setup, the first devices to connect to the internet were the ANDROID DEVICES - even before the hardwired internet PC. I have no problems with my wireless now. I still have some setup issues, which I will sort out in the next few weeks.

Suggestion:

If all android devices refuse to connect & and you've tried a firmware upgrade, a factory default reset, power cycles and etc., don't waste any more time trying to solve it. Just head out to the store and buy a new one. You'll save yourself a few hours/days.

 

[Douvie]

Having looked on www..whirlpool.net.au forum under the BILLION MODEM THREADS there is a note on why the wireless fails. Apparently it has to do with the conductive glue which goes off in the wireless module. It corrodes the contacts and even the wireless module. Several users have cleaned the corrosion away and did necessary repairs and the wireless comes good.
I opened mine to check and yeah it is the problem. I will clean mine 7404 modem, test it and put it away as a spare.

Maybe the moderators can put this up a sticky. The conductive glue is used by all manufacturers - though they will deny there is a problem.