Broken WiFi

[Guest BLu3HaZe]

Hey guys, stumbled into an issue wouldn't solve and would need some advice. Will describe in detail as I'm not sure what broke my WiFi.

When the new release of CM9 came out a few days back, I made a nandroid backup of the CM7 I was using and removed the SD card which was linked to it. Installed CM9 with another SD after standard clear all procedure. After playing around for a few hours, cleared everything again, put my old SD and restored the nandroid, everything worked fine then just like before. Then next day too I connected to WiFi and was on a Skype call for around 2 hours on the phone. It had heated up considerably and the temp widget showed 55°C so I decided to let it cool as it was connected to the charger also for like 1 hour of the call. Then suddenly the WiFi connection dropped after I cut the call, had gone to Scanning when I checked in Settings. Then I tried restarting and erasing the network and reentering the password etc., but it always gets stuck at "Obtaining IP address..." part and stays there until it disconnects and tries again for like two times. When I checked in the browser while obtaining the IP address, it won't connect to any website, yet will load the router configuration page until it automatically disconnects to retry. I was thinking maybe the heat damaged the WiFi module earlier but the config page loading made me unsure of that and I checked BT also, no issue there either. Checked on the web why DHCP has suddenly stopped working, and there was a suggestion to use static IP. I configured it that way and the phone connects to WiFi and internet works too! But when I checked in other apps except the Browser and stock Email app, they don't seem to work with a Static IP address.

Any ideas how I could fix this issue guys? Could heat have done something to the wireless chip? Or corrupted something in the ROM? Or CM9 settings mixed up with my old CM7, even though I cleared everything? Router was confirmed to be working with other devices, so no issue with that. The phone too connects and works with static IP. So I'm truly baffled here :(

Edited July 2, 2012 by BLu3HaZe

[Guest fr0do]

Sounds like a problem with your router. It's what dishes out ip's. Turn it off for half a minute, disconnecting power completely, then try again.

[Guest BLu3HaZe]

Router works perfectly well with my laptop and two other mobiles, so not an issue with that as I see, and yes I did turn it off and back on a few times, put all different types of encryption, open network, different channels, everything I could do. Unfortunately I don't have another AP device to check if the phone wouldn't connect to any AP, or just this.

[Guest fr0do]

If you're not getting an IP then it's not possible to reach your router config page, unless you're seeing a cached copy.

Hmm.. I see you said its connected yet thinks it isn't.

I assume your other apps have picked up their config. Have you tried clearing their data?

Have you looked for commands to reset your android dhcp client from a terminal?

I think it might be a compatibility issue with your router. Maybe another device has claimed the address and your phone is still trying to grab it. Can you reserve addresses per device on your router?

Edited July 3, 2012 by fr0do

[Guest BLu3HaZe]

Yes, exactly as you said, it should be getting the IP as the config page isn't a cached copy, and it periodically refreshes itself anyway (PROLiNK H5004N) but not external internet connectivity and not actually establishing a connection.

Other apps don't pick up network connectivity under static IP if its a user app as I found out just now, system apps and other apps I've converted to system work properly with no issues in accessing internet. Clearing data, I did on a few user apps after backing up, no difference :(

No I hadn't looked at that, didn't know I could reset the client, thanks for the suggestion fr0do, will check that and report back, hope it works out!

Well I used it all this time and had no issues as such, cuz the router assigns the next available IP if one is taken right? I'm not sure if I can assign them individually, never seen such a setting but will check. Though you got a point there as my desktop which is permanently connected through LAN has got it's IP changed from 192.168.1.3 to 192.168.1.4. I usually get x.x.x.2 on the OSFII so now I've set static IP to that and half the apps work properly. But most used apps don't, as ones with libs give FCs if I make them system apps.

[Guest BLu3HaZe]

Aha, just found out when searching for DHCP reset on Android, gonna try with a power off/on after removing all files in the folder as I don't have a dhcp_list file in /data/misc/dhcp. Seems a common problem :(

http://forum.xda-developers.com/archive/index.php/t-839367.html

[Guest BLu3HaZe]

Update - While trying to fix this issue, an auto update broke busybox, and trying to fix busybox, root broke. Got the last two issues sorted in reverse order with help from Daz, and suddenly all apps were ok using static IP! Then I disabled static, and let it use DHCP, and suddenly that works too :D Strange but awesome, I didn't even have to fix permissions or do anything with WiFi related files or even my router.

Thanks a lot fr0do! :) Learnt many new things, and you were right about the IP address being expired/taken by another.

And seems the router CAN actually assign separate IPs for different devices individually.

[Guest fr0do]

Glad you got it sorted =)