Help WiFi Connectivity Problems

[PittCaleb]

I've had my droid since Day 1 and have loved nearly everything about it. Due to business, travel and the holidays, I'm just now getting around to trying some of the stuff out.

I saw on the TV.com app, that I can watch (i.e. fall asleep listening to) Letterman, but only while connected via WiFi. I had only ever tried WiFi a couple times - never did it work, and never did I have time, so I pushed it off till I "needed" to get WiFi working. I mean, the 3G is fast enough, available in my home, why do I need WiFi?

So my WiFi router runs great, the laptop I am typing on is connected, my Wii is connected and friends regularly connect without problems. It's running WPA (2?) and has a password associated with it.

When I connect via the Droid, it says connected and gives me an IP address (192.168.1.24) so it's getting "something." Logging on to the router, I see 1.24 assigned as well, so there is connectivity. However, when I have WiFi enabled, I can not do a thing - no web sites, no apps that rely on net access, heck, I can't even go to 192.168.1.1 in the web browser.

Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

PittCaleb

 

[allanlaw]

Are you broadcasting your SSID - if not, that has been an issue for some (most?) folks. Mine only connects to a WPA2 network if SSID is broadcasting. Also, if turning on SSID broadcast doesn't help, do a quick reset of the router - many times that will do the trick.

 

[PittCaleb]

Yes to ssid being broadcast. May reboot router but last time I messed with the network it took a day to get working again.

 

[PittCaleb]

I am at my library right now and the droid connects bujt still can't do anything while connected. Nezt step in trouble shooting? If I return, are apps, settings and data retained?

Caleb

 

[allanlaw]

I am at my library right now and the droid connects bujt still can't do anything while connected. Nezt step in trouble shooting? If I return, are apps, settings and data retained?

Caleb

Sounds like your browser will not work with any wireless network although the Droid displays the wifi connected icon on the top of the home screen - correct? Also assume that you have not downloaded any app that would seize the wifi connection and not let the browser grab it (like a third party browser?). Then something is wrong with the phone. Can't answer your question about what happens with a return.

 

[PittCaleb]

Nothing should be installed that should be causing this behavior.

So I went to the local VZW store, good people in general. The question dumbfounded the tech. He admitted he had no clue what he was doing and couldn't even figure out where the WiFi settings were located. I got a tech number from him and went home.

Called VZW Tech, they gave me Motorola's number. Called them. After 45 minutes, she decided I needed to do a factory reset in order to continue debugging the problem. Note, the phone acquires the router at home and at the library, just won't "do" anything once connected to this router.

She told me I would "lose everything" when I reset the device. I'm smart enough to know that the SD card data is still there, but I will have to re-configure the device. This is actually why I have delayed dealing with this for the past 2 months - I don't want to re-build, re-install and re-configure all my apps and the phone itself.

I told her that if the next step were a factor reset, that I wanted a new, not refurbished, phone, and I would re-build once on a new device that worked properly. She agreed this was a legitimate concern rather than re-building the phone over and over in debug mode. Note that I do know my data stored in the cloud will be safe, but will need to be re-configured to be accessed on this phone. It took me a couple of weeks to get it working and configured the way I want, not looking forward to doing this again ya know.

So my next question for you all is - is there any round-about way to backup my data on the phone such that once I factory reset or get a new one, I can reset the device from my backup and not have to re-do everything all over again? Obviously I can take an inventory of all my installed apps, but I honestly don't want to have to download them all again, re-build my home screens, configure all the apps, etc. I'll do it once if it will get me a fully functional phone, but i don't want to do it for nothing.

thanks in advance for any advice.
PittCaleb