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goosoo6's avatar
goosoo6
Tuning in
14 days ago
Solved

Some devices don't see the WiFi network and so can't connect, others see it and connect fine.

As described in the title.

What isn't the problem:

  • I have not made any changes to configuration in months.
  • SSID is being broadcast, network is not hidden.
  • Both 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies are on.
  • Devices that now can't see the network on the list could see and use it just fine yesterday

The devices that can't connect are a smartphone and a laptop. They just don't see the WiFi network on the list, they see other WiFi networks just fine. They are not old and they worked perfectly fine just yesterday.

We have another laptop and smartphone that DO see the network on their lists, and can connect and work just fine.

Things I tried:

  • restarting the hub
  • resetting the hub to factory settings
  • bringing the devices closer to the hub
  • restarting the devices

Please can someone assist me in troubleshooting this further, thank you

  • Have you tried a 60 second press on RESET & then leave the Hub powered on to revert to the factory settings & passwords ?   If this fails to revive the WI-Fi , requesting a replacement Hub is next.

16 Replies

    • goosoo6's avatar
      goosoo6
      Tuning in

      Hi Carl, thanks for the suggestion

      I disabled the 5GHz band, also restarted the hub, and waited until it boots and everything settles

      It's been 20 minutes, and now nothing can see the hub on its WiFi networks list

      I'm standing 3 feet away from the hub with both the smartphones (one could connect and the one that couldn't see the network) in my hand and they both just can't see the network. The SSID hasn't changed (always been the default)

      • carl_pearce's avatar
        carl_pearce
        Superstar

        Try splitting the two bands into different SSIDs and see if all devices can see at least one of them.

  • legacy1's avatar
    legacy1
    Alessandro Volta

    VM useless WiFi with bad hardware ask for another which they might say no because they tests show your hub is good or use hub in modem mode get your own wifi router with 1Gb ports.  

    • goosoo6's avatar
      goosoo6
      Tuning in

      I'll set up a separate 2.4GHz access point for now and get in touch with VM, see if they can get me a replacement hub.

      Worked mostly fine for years, but maybe the 2.4GHz radio has had enough.

      Thanks for the suggestion and heads up about the possible rejection.

  • Client62's avatar
    Client62
    Alessandro Volta

    Make sure the 5GHz band is on Channel 36 or 44 so the VM Hub starts to broadcast immediately.    Use of DFS channels causes the 5GHz Wi-Fi to delay starting by a few minutes.


    Make sure the VM Hub is using Channel 1 or 6 or 11 on the 2.4GHz band.

    For our VM Hub when the Auto Channel process picked Channel #13 we found some of the 2.4GHz only Wi-Fi kit failed to detect that.

    • goosoo6's avatar
      goosoo6
      Tuning in

      Hi, thanks for the suggestion - they were both said to Auto (and it had selected ch1 for 2.4GHz, ch44 for 5Ghz) so I set them to manual, tried channels 1, 6 and 11 for 2.4Ghz and let it settle, but still got nothing.

  • jpeg1's avatar
    jpeg1
    Alessandro Volta

    That's a good point from @Client62. Some WiFi devices have their 2GHz band set for the US market, where ch.13 is not available. 

    Also ch.13 WiFi can be affected in some areas by much higher power equipment operating in the immediately adjacent frequency band. 

  • Client62's avatar
    Client62
    Alessandro Volta

    Have you tried a 60 second press on RESET & then leave the Hub powered on to revert to the factory settings & passwords ?   If this fails to revive the WI-Fi , requesting a replacement Hub is next.

    • goosoo6's avatar
      goosoo6
      Tuning in

      I did the Admin>Reload and Reboot>Restore to factory defaults twice by now, made no difference.

      However, I just tried the physical reset pinhole on the back of the hub as you recommended, and it seems to have fixed it, the 2.4GHz band is working again.

      I was certain these two things did the same thing, but apparently not. Many thanks, I can get rid of the temporary 2.4GHz access point now

      Problem solved.