Bugzilla – Bug 2330
Initial connection to wireless network can be unreliable
Last modified: 2008-12-18 11:38:58 UTC
Routers tested: HomePortal 1800HG 3.7.1 firmware, Safecom SWBRU-54108, 19408av firmware. SqueezeBox 2 set to static IP address. Encryption protocol appears irrelevant (all types tested) It can be very difficult to connect to the wireless network on occasikons, although, once connected, the connection is stable and reliable. The SB2 times out with 'Problem: Cannot connect to wireless network' even though signal strength can be 95%+. Wireless strength can often be seen to jump to 0%, then back to the original value. The problem seems to occur more frequently when many networks and SSIDs can be seen, especially if they are of low signal strength and appear to drop out altogether fairly regularly. Connection seems more likely to occur if the user is able to scroll through the SSID list and not see any changes during subsequent passes. Bug 311 may have some relevance here. Discussion of issue is here: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php? t=17135&page=1&pp=10 Firmware 14 had same issue.
and discussed in this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?p=58693#post58693
When atempting to connect, 'Connecting to wireless network' is displayed. After 30 seconds or so, this times out to a blank screen. However, 5 or so seconds after this, the message reappears. Pressing 'Power' when the player is attempting to connect when affected in this way, often causes the SB2 to 'lock up', requiring a hardware power-cycle.
We need to get one of these routers here to test. Alas, that won't happen before 6.2.1
I think the reporter (Gareth Long) was overly conservative in assigning the priority to this bug. For me this, if unresolved, is an "I want a refund because this product is unfit for purpose" level of bug, i.e. surely a P1 critical/blocker bug. My SB2 is completely non-operational at the moment. I am using an Actiontec router
I am fairly certain this is not related to a particular router, after having tried the same SB2 with a 2WIRE, SafeCom and DCom router during connect. I have now experienced an uptime of a month with the 2Wire router described in this report, and also survied a 26-28 firmware upgrade, until I disconnected my router after this. Now I cannot reconnect. I am sure that once I do connect, I will experience another long uptime. The entire problem is related to the initial connection period. There is a problem with the SB handling the initial connection to the wirelss network!!!
To me it seems as if it could be router related but it seems to apply to a number of routers not just a single model. I wonder if the SB2 is taking a shortcut with the connection protocol somewhere and gets away with it for many/most routers but for some others (like my Actiontec and all the ones that Gareth mentions) it's connection protocol is rejected. It is clearly possible to enter into a successful connection dialogue with my Actiontec access point because my Dell laptop, Dell Axim and Sony Clie do it all the time. My laptop disconnects whenever I close the lid which puts it into standby so I successfully re-aquire my Actiontec connection when I open the lid on my laptop at least 10 times a day and it takes less than 10 seconds to do this so for me I don't think a longer SB2 timeout would help, I think that the SB2 must be implementing a connection protocol that is in some way different to the one my laptop (and all my other wireless peripherals) implement and to me it seems very clear who is implementing the better connection protocol (and no, that is NOT the SB2).
Definitely getting problems with my netgear DG834G (firmware 1.4.1). Sometimes connects on g mode only, and stays conencted if I chage the mode to g/b (mixed) but this only *sometimes* works.
Firmware 29 seems to have cured the problem for me. I will need to continually retest over the next few days to be sure, as I feel the issue may be related to the activity of other networks around me. But, I have gone from 'sometimes not being able to reconnect for days' to 10 instant connects in a row.
I have not been able to get my SB2 to fail since upgrading to Firmware 29, after many tens of connects. I believe that the situation related to my issue is resolved after much testing, therefore I am going to state that this particular issue is resolved.