constant wifi drop out (Scroll II 8in)

[mj7649]

Hi guys, Scroll newbie here, hope you guys can help:

(sorry I posted in the wrong board!)

I have purchased a Scroll 2 (8in) from eBuyer in the last few days

I have a serious Wifi issue, the wifi on the scroll will drop out after a few minutes of use.

I will describe the symtoms below:

1. The web page I am loading will timed out

2. The wifi status icon will show the wifi as connected, even it has lost connection

3. I ran a ping command from my computer constantly to the scroll to monitor the wifi connection status, the ping command will timed out when the signal is dropped.

4. I have the same problem in my office, my home, and a friend's house, so I don't think it is the wifi config.


I will described what I have tried to fix the problem below:


1. I tried various different wifi access points / routers (Netgear, D-Link, and a Draytek) and they all have the same problem with the scroll - it will connect for a few minutes and dropped out

2. I tried checking the wifi channels other people are using in my building and avoid using those channels - still dropping out

3. I tried changing my wifi encryption, from WPA to WEP, to no encryption at all, but still dropping out.

4. I tried static IP address on the scroll for my LAN and disabled DHCP - still dropping out

5. I tried changing some of the wifi setups, like wifi speed (from 5.5mbps to 54mbps) and packet size - still drops out

6. I tried standing right next to the wofo router (less then 2m), and it still drops the connection after a few minutes

7. I tried rebooting the scroll, no effect

So as you can see, I am all out of idea, if it is a hardware issue I may have to return the unit, as it is unless with the internet connection that works only for 2 or 3 minutes, but I really hope it is just the firmware and there is a software patch for it.



I have firmware 1.02, and rooted the device using z4root


Thank you for your help

Wayne

[Fonefixer]

Hi wayne...try this:

On the main wifi screen (in settings), press the menu hard button, click "advanced". At the top of the advanced menu theres a setting called "wifi sleep policy" - make sure its set to "never".

[mj7649]

Hi fonefixer, thanks for the reply, but sorry I have already tried that as well, it has been set to "never" sleep for 2 days now, but still doesn't help.

[paul2978]

Iv got the new one from ebuyer and yes the wifi is a bit iffy

After using this from a previous post

Report this postReply with quoteRe: change brightness settings
by Kamikaze-X » February 25th, 2011, 6:54 pm

do a long press on the home screen, choose widgets, and then power widget.

3 levels of brightness, sync on/off, and wifi on/off at the touch of a button.


I now leave the wifi off and only turn it on using this quick fucntion when i need to do something I dont use it for surfying the web just syncing seems to be ok but yes the wifi does seem to have a few niggles.!

[mj7649]

Yes I have the power control widget on the home screen too

when any web pages timed out I will power off the wifi, and then wait a few seconds and power it back on again.

I don't mind the resistive screen, I don't mind the slow processor, I don't mind lack of market (got it back via root anyway) and I don't mind missing graphics in angry birds

But having this happening even few minutes is really driving me mad and kinda defeats the point of using the Scroll

If the wifi works it is not a bad tablet for £160

[insx]

It sounds to me like you should send it back. Maybe call Storage Options first.

[paul2978]

I used the brower last night for a few mins seemed to be all ok.

I know it might be a pain but try a different browser to see if that has any effect.

How complex is ur WPA key? This maybe unrelated I know but I once found that an old wifi usb dongle didnt like an overly complex wifi key. Shortened it to 10 characters no numbers all lower case and it worked fine. It also had the random dropout but said connected - some may think im mad but i worked in tech support and I remember we couldnt connect a vista machine to and old NT box turns out that the vista machine was incorrectly changing the passwords character coding before trying to connect the the NT box took days to work out but u never know until you try.

Always work with the most obvious then wittle it down to obscure things

Good luck

[paul2978]

one test on the downloads could be is install dropbox - u can get a free one.
Ur more than likely need an extra micro SD card any size is good enough.

pop some files in the dropbox from the pc say 200mb film or something.

Get dropbox working on scroll. PM me if you need help.

Then down load the file to android. If you get a constant download and it completes the download which should take a bout 3-5 mins then the wifi is working and it could be something related to the browser causing an error.

Hopefully that might point us in the direction a bit better.

There is also a wifi monitor or something i cant remember where (edit) here it is:

here it is for android Wifi Analyzer 2.4.9 at pocket gear http://www.pocketgear.com/uk,en,gbp/270 ... lyzer.html

try this and see what you get.

Its taken me about 4-8 hours to get the scroll to do what i need it to do so keep on in there .

[insx]

OP has already tried on 3 different networks with different types of security.

[mj7649]

Hi paul,

Thanks for the suggestions, in fact dropbox was one of the first things I tried, when I first got the tablet, I knew it will have problems with the official google market, so I pre-copied a whole bunch of apk's from my HTC phone and uploaded them to drop box, in the hope that once I got dropbox working on the Scroll I can have most of my apps back without using market. I did the following:

1. Side loaded Dropbox as an apk file on micro SD card, also with ES File explorer

2. Install dropbox apk after installing ES file explorer apk

3. sign in to dropbox, start downloading some apk (I tired BBC iplayer)

4. Download will start, but then timed out after a while.

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Another method I tried to investigate the wifi problem was I setup a static IP on the Scroll, leave wifi on, and just using the ping -t command from a desktop on the same LAN to constantly ping the scroll,

however while I got a bunch of ping replies for a while, it will timed out afterward. I noticed the wifi on the scroll stays up for longer if I am not doing any network tasks like web browsing or Email sync on the scroll, but as soon as I start using the browser or use dropbox or sync my emails it will drop almost after 1 minute of use.

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Oh and yes I have tried WPA (fairly short passphase I used), WEP 64bit, WEP 128bit, and no encryption at all. I tried 802.11b/g/n mixed mode, I tried b only, I tried g only. I tried wifi bandwidth setting , from 5.5mbps all the way to the full 54mbps (in the hope that lower speed will have higher stability...??)

since I looked after the access point in the office I played with the settings mentioned above on the office access point (it is a netgear - yes I got calls about wifi not working from my workmates because I messed up all the configs haha) - but that didn't help.

I got home and tried it on my draytek, also played with wifi settings, no help

I went to my gf's place to test it, no help (it was a d-link she uses)

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I have emailed Storage Option already and they said just return it to Ebuyer and get an RMA, which is what I will do today... sorry guys, I really want this device to work, it is at a great price point, but I really can't stand starting and restarting the wifi every few minutes.