How can my router break wifi on the Eris?

I know that some of you will say that this belongs in a router or wifi forum, but I want to know if anyone has seen the same problem I'm seeing. I have an Eris. I also have a home network with a Linksys RVS4000 wired router and a Trendnet wireless access point. When I first got the Eris, I had no problem connecting via Wifi (I have no 3G coverage at my home). Later, I needed to upgrade my router which is now a Syswan SW-24 VPN. The result of the upgrade is that I cannot use the Wifi on the Eris to connect anymore (stuck with 1x at home).

Has anyone seen this problem? Syswan has no idea what the problem might be. Are there any log files somewhere on the phone that might shed some light on the problem? The browsers just hang and the market app hangs for a long time and then says "network error". I need more detail if I'm going to debug this.

Thanks,

Marc

Accepted answers

mlefevre

So... I figured this out. I found a ping app on the market. I had never looked assuming that this sort of thing would be a commnad line tool from a shell of some sort.

In any case, I found that I could ping Google's IP address but not www.google.com. So, it must be a DNS problem. I looked in the new (syswan) router's DHCP configuration and there is a field where you can provide a DNS IP address to DHCP clients. The default was 0.0.0.0 which the router is supposed to cause the router to fill in its own IP address.

I used the System Monitor App to check the phone's DHCP-supplied IP address and DNS values. The DNS1 and 2 fields were both 0.0.0.0!!! So, I changed the router to explicitly set the DHCP DNS value to the router's IP address and toggled the phone's WIFI enable (to force it to get another DHCP lease). Now, the DNS1 value in the System Monitor apps' network section had the router's IP and everything is working now.

The puzzler is why the laptops, which are also using DHCP, had no trouble with getting a usable DNS server IP address.

Thanks to everyone for your efforts to help.

Marc

All comments

MrHost

Honestly, you don't give enough real information to try and help. What is your phone seeing when you enable wi-fi, does your wireless router have security, if so which one? Does your phone ask for a passcode or password or passphrase? DOes your phone see other wi-fi points in your neighborhood? Di d you upgrade to a non-official ROM/Image (Perhaps 2.1 leaked) or are you on 1.5 still? What apps have you installed since the change of routers? Have you reset your phone to reinstall it and try it with basic setup? Just a few questions for ya.

jayjay1122

mlefevre wrote:
I know that some of you will say that this belongs in a router or wifi forum, but I want to know if anyone has seen the same problem I'm seeing. I have an Eris. I also have a home network with a Linksys RVS4000 wired router and a Trendnet wireless access point. When I first got the Eris, I had no problem connecting via Wifi (I have no 3G coverage at my home). Later, I needed to upgrade my router which is now a Syswan SW-24 VPN. The result of the upgrade is that I cannot use the Wifi on the Eris to connect anymore (stuck with 1x at home).

Has anyone seen this problem? Syswan has no idea what the problem might be. Are there any log files somewhere on the phone that might shed some light on the problem? The browsers just hang and the market app hangs for a long time and then says "network error". I need more detail if I'm going to debug this.

Thanks,
Marc

First, is the Trendnet AP still in the network? I would assume so since the Syswan box is not a WiFi AP. If that is the case, your WiFi access should not have changed at all, the "change" in your network is the relationship between the AP and the new Syswan router.

My suggestion would be to verify your WiFi connectivity to the AP as you are not actually connecting to the Syswan unit. Any laptops connecting through WiFi to the internet? I have a hard time seeing how if the AP has not changed how anything should be different.

To reiterate what MrHost mentioned, try to elaborate a little on the issue!

unknown

Probably an issue with the Syswan security.

mlefevre

Yep, the story I gave was missing a lot of important details. Here they are.

1) With the new router, the phone connects to the wifi just fine (as it did before). It just cannot seem to get packets through the new router.

2) The phone sees other WAPs in the neighborhood.

3) The phone is still on the factory 1.5 firmware.

4) Laptops in the house continue to work well with the new Syswan router.

5) I'm using WPA2 Personal on the Trendnet WAP and that has not changed with the router upgrade.

6) The Trendnet WAP is still connected the same way and in the same place as before the upgrade.

7) I have not performed a factory reset on the phone. I have lots of apps installed and don't want to have to reinstall except as a last resort.

8) I have not installed any apps that would account for the problem (see #9)

9) If I reinstall the Linksys RVS4000 router (remove the Syswan), the phone works great again on the WIFI.

My first guess was the settings on the new Syswan router but they were unable to help me find any to play with.

Thanks for all your help.

Marc

unknown

Can you turn off all security on everything and see if it will connect? Then, start turning security back on.

mlefevre

That's easier said than done for me. Most of the "security" in the router is for inbound packets (I presume). I don't know whether the problem is on inbound or outbound traffic from the phone. There are hundreds of "knobs" to turn and I'm not sure where to start.

What I'd like to be able to do is look at something like a syslog file or a network log file (in the phone) to see if it's a DNS problem or something like that. I was hoping someone could tell me that there was a way to do that. For instance, can I do a ping from my phone? How about an nslookup?

Thanks,

Marc