My tablet does not see my modem

[Mirjana]

Hello ,

I have Android 4.0.3 , on a tablet AV041_A500_1.031.00_WW_GEN1, and have been without major problems until yesterday. When I wake up in the morning first thing to do is to check what's new (last thing to do before falling a spleep is the same) but I was unpleasantly surprised : no connection. I got up, checked a laptop and no connection. In the evening, after coming from work, my hubby told me that the laptop works fine, as well as another comp. But, my tablet still NADA. It does not have our network in the list of available networks, even when I add it manualy, it says not in range. All other devices work fine, but my tablet. What can I do, What is the problem?

 

[Mrhelper]

First try powering down the tablet and then powering it back up to boot it.

If that does not solve the problem, boot your Wifi access point (router) by unplugging the power cord for 10 seconds, and then plugging it back in. If you know how to boot it via the web interface, that will work also. Some access points will occasionally block a device from connecting, while leaving others connect.

If there are other Wifi networks in range that are unsecured, it's also possible that your other computers are using those instead, and that your wifi is down completely. The router reboot may take care of that kind of problem also. If you reboot the router and still cannot connect with the tablet, verify that your other computers truly are using your router for wifi access and not something else.

 

[Androidfonefan]

Hello ,

I have Android 4.0.3 , on a tablet AV041_A500_1.031.00_WW_GEN1, and have been without major problems until yesterday. When I wake up in the morning first thing to do is to check what's new (last thing to do before falling a spleep is the same) but I was unpleasantly surprised : no connection. I got up, checked a laptop and no connection. In the evening, after coming from work, my hubby told me that the laptop works fine, as well as another comp. But, my tablet still NADA. It does not have our network in the list of available networks, even when I add it manualy, it says not in range. All other devices work fine, but my tablet. What can I do, What is the problem?

Factory restore may be needed, but before that check to see if you can see and log in to a friends network. Your tablet gets updates to apps and the unit from time to time and sometimes those updates break things just like on any computer. About the apps. Have you added anything in the last 24 to 48 hours? if so you might try uninstalling the app, rebooting the tablet and trying again.

 

[Mirjana]

Tried also to connect via my neighbor's network, at his place, but it did not connect. The reason given : signal to poor (!) to connect.I will try with somebody else, but it looks like the factory reset is in the order. Could it be something with chanels and the router, I think I saw here few months back in the conversation on connection something with channels (but could not find it again);
BTW, I did not add anything in a week prior to the problem.

If the second effort to connect to another neighbors network does not work, I will have to do factory reset. Does it mean I need to put on a sd card all my data (photos, videos ...?)

 

[Mrhelper]

The Factory data reset will erase all files that you have saved on internal storage, so yes, you will need to save any files that you wish to keep on an external device -- e.g., SD card, USB flash stick, PC, etc.

If you have not used the hardware reset yet, you may want to try that first also. It does not erase data. Use that by gently pushing the button inside the pinhole labeled "reset" by the USB port. A small paperclip works best for this.

Wifi channels are selected by the AP/router. This does not appear to be a channel interference issue because you have at least one other device (a PC) using the same AP.

One more thing you may want to check though is that SSID broadcast is turned on in the router wifi settings. If that was accidentally turned off at some point, that could prevent your tablet from finding the network.

 

[Mirjana]

Huge thanks MrHelper!

the problem was solved but it is still a mistery what happened. Well, after looking into everything, we realised that the name of our network changed, my tablet kept seeing a strong signal from an unknown place - which we thought nothing of, since we live in a big city; when comparing data on different devices (laptop, PC) we saw that they are connected to one unknown name and finally I tried my password on that strong signal and authentication failed, till my partner pushed the button on the router and it did connect. Authentication failed since the router did not refresh the data .
It does not matter, I am glad that my Iconia is safe and sound and working properly! Thanks to everyone who participated in the discussion
The mystery is why the name of the network changed?

 

[Androidfonefan]

Tried also to connect via my neighbor's network, at his place, but it did not connect. The reason given : signal to poor (!) to connect.I will try with somebody else, but it looks like the factory reset is in the order. Could it be something with chanels and the router, I think I saw here few months back in the conversation on connection something with channels (but could not find it again);
BTW, I did not add anything in a week prior to the problem.

If the second effort to connect to another neighbors network does not work, I will have to do factory reset. Does it mean I need to put on a sd card all my data (photos, videos ...?)

What you can do is back all your pictures, documents etc, to your SD card if it will all fit and remove the SD card from the tablet before you do the reset. Once the reset is done just pop the SD card back in and reboot the tablet.
However it never hurts to back up to an external drive in the event that the SD card fails.

Just saw the last post from the OP, glad to hear the problem is taken care of, as for the routeers name change, machines sometimes have a mind of their own, we just have to work our way oround them some times.

 

[Douvie]

Huge thanks MrHelper!

the problem was solved but it is still a mistery what happened. Well, after looking into everything, we realised that the name of our network changed, my tablet kept seeing a strong signal from an unknown place - which we thought nothing of, since we live in a big city; when comparing data on different devices (laptop, PC) we saw that they are connected to one unknown name and finally I tried my password on that strong signal and authentication failed, till my partner pushed the button on the router and it did connect. Authentication failed since the router did not refresh the data .
It does not matter, I am glad that my Iconia is safe and sound and working properly! Thanks to everyone who participated in the discussion
The mystery is why the name of the network changed?

I reckon your modem/router was hacked. Make sure you change the router's admin name and password. Don't use name like "administrator" or any variation of that for name and password - the real hackers know the system passwords by the make of router your system SSID displays. For example, if your router has a SSID like "netcommxxxxx" which is the brand of router your may be using, hackers would know exactly what the default system admin name and password is. But you had "MyspiffHnetwork" as the SSID it would make it more difficult to find out what brand of router you're using. Changing the admin name and password would make it even more so.

 

[juhni]

You can turn off ssid broadcast so only people who know your network name and password can find your wifi.

 

[naresh.j]

They can any one help....problem with ics table after factory reset

 

[detz]

I just ran into problem with connecting 2 new tablets (acer a500) to my wireless network. they both just say obtaining IP address and never change. I'm using a netgear wireless router and have desktop and another a500 both connected to wireless network and can connect/disconnect with no problems. Anyone have any ideas how to fix this to get both new tablets hooked into wireless network?
Also... I have tried forgetting the connection on both new tablets, and even rebooting router.

 

[Douvie]

You can turn off ssid broadcast so only people who know your network name and password can find your wifi.

Not a bad idea but does not really stop someone from hacking your router. With a network sniffer one can check the comms activity and still see the SSID.