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Help Nexus 5 on Wifi with Linksys WRT54G

maxwelbd

Newbie
Received my new Nexus 5 two days ago. Love it, everything was great except it wasn't working with my WiFi (router Linksys WRT54G).

I searched and searched and tried a dozen different solutions, including rooting and not syncing with my old Google backed up data and wifi profiles. The phone worked, the router worked, they just didn't work together. I have several other devices using the router without issue.

So, after spending a lot of time, I decided to reset the router to factory settings and see what happens. I was then able to connect (with no wireless security set). So, it appeared the problem was something with my WPA wireless security settings.

For years I had the WPA algorithm set to "AES", so I changed it to "TKIP" and waaaalaaaaa it worked! All my other devices are working too, so I guess I'm sticking with TKIP. I don't know much about this, it was trial and error. I spent all that time trying to figure it out, and it was a dumb setting on the router. I leave this here hoping it might help out someone else who encounters the same kind of issue.

So for the record, my Nexus 5 with KitKat 4.4.2 didn't work with Linksys router WRT54G with WPA set to AES. I had to change it to TKIP. This is an old, but very popular router, and my guess is that AES is just an out-dated algorithm.
I don't think I've ever updated the Firmware on the router, so that might have been my last resort, but since it's working now I'm leaving it alone.
 
Well, strike part of that. My Visio TV will no longer connect. I might be upgrading the Firmware after all. Or maybe it's just time for a new router.
 
Well, strike part of that. My Visio TV will no longer connect. I might be upgrading the Firmware after all. Or maybe it's just time for a new router.

If it's only wifi that you are having problems with, have you tried switching the wifi channel? That worked for us.
 
Yes, I've tried several channels. The TV won't even work when I switch it back to the old settings. I may have jacked something up. I'm not as concerned about the TV as I can hard wire it. The phones and tablets are working and that is my main concern. Tomorrow I will probably try a Firmware update.
 
FWIW, i'm still rocking that router. However, I'm running dd-wrt. It works fine on AES. Also, we have a baby monitor that causes a lot of 2.4 interference. We run on channel 1 to minimize the interference. On any other channel the signal drops completely.
 
Happy to report that a Firmware update did the trick and all devices are working again. The update includes a WPA2 option that will use either TKIP or AES.

Apparently my Nexus 5/KitKat 4.4.2 likes TKIP, and my Visio TV likes AES. So everyone is happy and connected now. :D
 
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