• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Help Gingerbread Wifi Dropping Occasionally

L

lexluthor

Android Expert
I originally posted about this here:
http://androidforums.com/droid-x-all-things-root/320963-gingerbread-ota-leak-dropping-wifi.html

But, since it's final now, figured I'd get this started again.

I've seen a few people posting here and there about wifi issues under Gingerbread, but not sure if I've really seen anyone with the same problem.

Frankly, I'm quite surprised that many others aren't experiencing wifi dropouts. When I did the GB update, I SBF'd to 340, installed GB and did a data wipe, so I've got a pretty clean start.

Anyhow, what happens is that wifi looks like it's connected, but I can't pass data. I think most (all?) of the times this happens, the wifi icon turns white. Seems like I can force it to happen pretty quickly if I download a large file or stream video.

Of course this is a huge problem because it pretty much makes watching netflix/vevo/etc impossible. Also, I use Google Voice for my SMS, so if my wifi is down without me knowing it, I'm not getting texts.

Seems like the only way to get it back is to toggle wifi off/on quickly.

Problem happens on 2 different routers at 2 different locations.

I finally got around to doing some tests the other day.

Seems like if I back my wireless security on my router back to WPA/TKIP (from WPA2/AES previously), I don't see these drops.

That's enough security that I can live with this as a solution. Still hasn't been long enough though to convince me that the problem has been resolved. If I get any further drops, I'll post back here right away.

Anyone else seeing this exact issue? I don't think things like not being able to get connected to wifi or wifi turning off (wifi icon going away) are related, so if those occur for you, might want to try a different thread.
 
I guess no one else has this issue, but I wanted to report back that it looks like the change I made had fully corrected my issued.

I guess my phone doesn't like WPA2/AES configured routers under gb.

Surprised this isn't more widespread.

I can live with the slightly reduced wireless security.
 
i was seeing similar things w/pre-release GB...AES connections would often not handshake properly and never connect. toggling the wifi state on the phone would force a reconnection attempt, and it often took several attempts to connect. once connected, i did not experience drops however. back to TKIP, and it worked like a charm.

now, with .596 running (via .sbf/.zip load, not OTA), all appears well.

nice to have functional RADIUS authentication (which froyo did not).
 
I had this problem, and it was the major problem (among others) that caused me to abandon GB and try Apex 2.0 ROM. So far Apex has not had the same issue, but I've only had it for a couple of hours.

I found the solution of changing the router settings to be unacceptable, since A) I shouldn't have to compromise my router security to make my stupid phone work (when it already worked beforehand). and B) I don't even have access to the router at various locations (work, friend's house, etc.).
 
dibs ODDJOB said:
I found the solution of changing the router settings to be unacceptable, since A) I shouldn't have to compromise my router security to make my stupid phone work (when it already worked beforehand). and B) I don't even have access to the router at various locations (work, friend's house, etc.).
Click to expand...
You do make some good points too. I control my home and work routers, so I'm ok there. With a good password, WPA/TKIP isn't really any less secure that WPA2/AES. Might be a little harder on battery though (on all devices using the network) since TKIP is software driven, not built into the hardware.

And yes, if I go somewhere I don't control the wireless, that could be a problem, but the issue itself isn't terrible. I can still use wifi, just occasionally it drops, so if I do find myself on an AES secured network, I can deal with it.

I really have no interest in trying a new ROM, but let me know if Apex does solver it for you. Is Apex a 2.3.3/Gingerbread based ROM?

With so few people seemingly having this problem, it's doubtful I'll see a fix for it in the life of the phone.

Fortunately, it looks like the solution that I came up with works for me and I don't have a problem with it.
 
FWIW, I did a quick poll of the 5 X users here at work (and one guy's wife's phone), and out of the 6 total phones, only 1 has this issue

apparently, his wife's phone had the wifi issue on Froyo, and hers is fine, whereas his was fine on Froyo but drops on GB

all of the above phones were pure stock (except mine), so no .sbf even
 
I believe it is the fault of WPA2 as that is where I've seen it.

A update on my testing, apex ROM has not eliminated the issue, but it has at least reduced its frequency. I will probably try bumping my home router to regular WPA and test that.
 
dibs ODDJOB said:
I believe it is the fault of WPA2 as that is where I've seen it.

A update on my testing, apex ROM has not eliminated the issue, but it has at least reduced its frequency. I will probably try bumping my home router to regular WPA and test that.
Click to expand...
Actually, at least for me, it's not the WPA2->WPA that fixed it. It was going from AES to TKIP. Techincally, WPA2 is supposed to use AES, so I think, with most routers, you'll have to go down to WPA2/TKIP.

I really am surprised it's not more common. I have the issue on 2 routers, so it's not just a compatibility problem with 1 router.

Perhaps either people aren't noticing, don't use wifi primarily or have the router set up with TKIP already.
 
I was having wifi issues with the connection dropping and in the settings screen for the connection it would say that the connection was disabled. If I turned wifi off and then back on it would connect. I am using WPA2/AES. I changed the wireless channel from channel 1 to 6. That seemed to help. In the advanced wireless settings the peer to peer channel is set as channel 1 by default. I'm not sure if that had anything to do with it. I've also set my wifi to never sleep. After making both of these changes my wifi has been 100% reliable with GB.
 
Just reporting back that this is yet another bug that moto did not fix in .602. I think it's been improved with the new radio, but I've had drops on both my routers so far. Oh well, back to WPA/tkip.
 
FWIW, I'm having this exact same problem after updating to 602 OTA. Ironically, I didn't experience the problem with either Froyo or the initial GB update. I've never run anything but stock.

Taking my router from "WPA-PSK [TKIP] + WPA2-PSK [AES]" to straight "WPA-PSK [TKIP]" seems to have fixed the problem, but - as pointed out by others - it's extremely frustrating to have to alter my router's settings just to get my phone working.

I haven't tested the validity of this next claim (since I don't have an N-router), but the following thread suggests that the problem for some may be caused by incompatibilities between implementations of the N protocol rather than the TKIP-vs-AES conflict.

h t t p : / / w w w .droidforums.net/forum/droid-x-tech-issues/152133-wpa-revives-droid-x-wifi-killed-gingerbread.html

(Sorry about the jacked-up link formatting. I hate sites that restrict URL posting, but understand why they have to do it.)

I have neither the equipment or the knowledge to test that theory, but thought I'd pass it on just in case.

Thanks for posting the original workaround, lexluthor. This was driving me absolutely crazy.
 
I had the same problem with AES on my netgear router. I ended up calling Verizon and after some back and forth, they are sending me an X2. Maybe you can do the same..?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom