[primarypete]

Hi, first post and getting desperate. Would really appreciate help!

We have a large number of Playbooks in our Primary School and since our wireless network upgrade last week we have been having massive problems connecting and staying connected to our Netgear Prosafe wireless network (with controller).

The problem is random access points are displaying the network with 'open' security when it has 'wpa' (1 access point one day, then fine the next only for a different access point to have the same issue then be fine the next).

I try and connect automatically and it won't. I try and connect manually and it won't. We have a proxy server but that doesn't seem to be part of the problem.

Any suggestions?!

[Branta]

There is an implied suggestion your PB fleet worked happily with the previous WiFi hardware. Looking at "what has been changed" you seem to be pointing the finger of guilt rather firmly in the direction of the new wireless hardware. Maybe like many such devices they ship with v1.0 firmware, and once again Netgear expects the unfortunate user to upgrade on installation.

[deswayze]

Start by doing a 3 button reset on each Playbook. Push the power, +, and - buttons simultaneously and hold until the screen goes black. I usually hold a minimum of ten seconds. Push the power button to reboot. See if that makes a difference.

If it doesn't, delete the network from your saved list, 3 button reset, and try configuring your network again.

If that doesn't work, replace your network . Seriously, I have concluded that Netgear equipment and Playbooks do not get along. My office uses Netgear WNAP310 access points and I have no end of trouble using my Playbook. Yet, our Blackberry phones and our Dell laptops connect fine. It was better with OS 2.0.1.358 but didn't work with .668 and now 2.1. I also had a Netgear home router for awhile and had no end of trouble. Even my cable company told me they would not support Netgear routers because they didn't play nice with their headend. You will find others on this forum and elsewhere who have also had trouble with Netgear equipment and their Playbooks. On the Netgear forums I have read of people having problems with other tablets as well. My Playbook works great with Cisco, Buffalo, TP Link, and Amped wireless equipment as well as two laptops running Connectify, but not Netgear.

I can't say with any certainty or authority that Netgear equipment is the sole cause of the problem. Rather, there appear to be some Playbook-Netgear incompatibilities. I believe (hope) that RIM is still working on the wifi drivers. I just hope they have them perfected by the time BB10 is released. You might also want to make sure that the latest firmware is loaded on your Netgear APs. They don't necessarily ship with the latest firmware and should be upgraded.

Good luck and hopefully if my suggestions don't work, someone else will have the answer. Please report back if you solve the problem and how you did it.

[primarypete]

Thanks for the replies. Will check firmware today assume it was updated at install. Will try the hard reset and you've made me think I should check the versions the playbooks that are not connecting are running. All are 2. Something. Unfortunately changing the network isn't really a possible option now, we just need to get things working as well as possible with this hardware. Will update if anything works or doesn't!

[robtanz]

one simple thing that seemed to work for me was changing the band setting on the wifi profile on the playbook from Dual to 2.4.

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