# New phone wont connect to extender



## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

Hi, 

I have an Android smartphone (Note 4) and it appears to have trouble connecting to my Netgear WN3000RP WiFi extender as well as my secondary router extender. 

Something to note is that the phone outright refuses to connect to the Netgear, while it will connect to the secondary repeater, but drops the connection within seconds and needs to reconnect. 

All other Android phones in the house work just fine with the extenders and my phone has no trouble when accessing the main router. 

Thoughts?


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## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

Still looking for thoughts on this. :flowers:


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## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

I still need assistance on this if possible.


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## sobeit (Nov 11, 2007)

are you holding it right  sorry could not resist. did you try doing a power cycle on the router and extender? Try different channels? It is seen in Genie.


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## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

:lil: Not an iPhone, so no need to worry with that.

Yes, I have done multiple power cycles.

Genie doesn't list devices, I tried WPS and it finds it, but won't connect.


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## jakub.p (May 27, 2015)

Masterchiefxx17 said:


> Hi,
> 
> I have an Android smartphone (Note 4) and it appears to have trouble connecting to my Netgear WN3000RP WiFi extender as well as my secondary router extender.
> 
> ...


Hello,

One thing that comes up to my mind is frequency of your wireless network or band? If I would be you, I would make sure that wireless access point you are trying to connect to operates at 2.4 GHz in 'G' mode as modern devices are compatible backwards if you know what I mean. On your phone, I would also make sure to forget every single wireless network, turn on and off airplane mode to restart networking.

If all of your wireless access points have the same SSID, change one of them to let's say 'firstname.test' to make sure you are connecting to the right WAP.

I would also configure your wireless network to WPA2 personal with easy password for testing like 'password123' to make sure you don't have any spelling mistakes. 

Hmm... I believe you said other devices can connect without any problems, but it is worth to double check that other devices can connect to specific WAP without any problems again. If they won't be able to, I would narrow my troubleshooting to WAP. 

Also make sure that your phone is set to obtain DHCP for your WAP.

Those are my first thoughts, let us know how you get on!

@edit

Can you connect to any other wireless network on your new phone?


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## sobeit (Nov 11, 2007)

Masterchiefxx17 said:


> :lil: Not an iPhone, so no need to worry with that.
> 
> Yes, I have done multiple power cycles.
> 
> Genie doesn't list devices, I tried WPS and it finds it, but won't connect.


genie does give a list of your attached devices. when you open it, the left column there should be attached devices.

anyway a couple of things to try. 

1. remove the phone battery then reinsert it and see if it will work

or 

2. try wiping the cache partition. It will not mess with any personal settings and files. 

a. Ensure the device is powered off.
Note If the device doesn't respond to input, remove then re-insert the battery.
b. Press and hold the Volume Up button (located on the left edge near the top) and the Home button (located at the bottom in the middle).
c. While continuing to hold the Home and Volume Up buttons, press and hold the Power button (located on the right edge) until 'RECOVERY BOOTING' appears in the upper left then release all buttons.
d. Select wipe cache partition.
Note Utilize the Volume Up/Down buttons to highlight and the Power button to select.
e. Select reboot system now.
Note Option is highlighted, utilize the Power button to select.

Wipe Cache Partition Samsung Galaxy Note 4 | Verizon Wireless


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## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

jakub.p said:


> Hello,
> 
> One thing that comes up to my mind is frequency of your wireless network or band? If I would be you, I would make sure that wireless access point you are trying to connect to operates at 2.4 GHz in 'G' mode as modern devices are compatible backwards if you know what I mean. On your phone, I would also make sure to forget every single wireless network, turn on and off airplane mode to restart networking.
> 
> ...


There are three SSIDs in my home. My Router (Linksys), the living room bridge (Linksys-Extender) and the Kitchen extender (Linksys_EXT).

The three SSIDs all speak on Channel 1-3 and run in 2.5GHz modes. Mainly because I'm not sure how to setup a 5G signal correctly. :hide:

The phone can connect to Linksys just fine, it doesn't get along with the other two.



sobeit said:


> genie does give a list of your attached devices. when you open it, the left column there should be attached devices.
> 
> anyway a couple of things to try.
> 
> ...


That's only a list of connected devices. If the phone never connects, it will never appear there. Although there are some random connections that don't have a name on them.

I've already wiped the cache partition.


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## sobeit (Nov 11, 2007)

Masterchiefxx17 said:


> There are three SSIDs in my home. My Router (Linksys), the living room bridge (Linksys-Extender) and the Kitchen extender (Linksys_EXT).
> 
> The three SSIDs all speak on Channel 1-3 and run in 2.5GHz modes. Mainly because I'm not sure how to setup a 5G signal correctly. :hide:
> 
> ...


when you click on attached devices, it shows ip address, device name and mac address of the device. for your phone it will show android with a bunch of characters after it under device name and it shows your phones mac address. so you can tell whether or not your phone is connecting.

did you try different channels?

have you seen the following thread? If not there are some possible solutions there. 

Note 4 WiFi not backwards compatible with old tech? | Android Forum at DroidForums.net


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## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

It doesn't list my Note's MAC address, I checked.

I made sure that Smart Network is disabled and I cannot disable WIFI Direct, but I did clear the data. Still nothing.


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## jakub.p (May 27, 2015)

Masterchiefxx17 said:


> There are three SSIDs in my home. My Router (Linksys), the living room bridge (Linksys-Extender) and the Kitchen extender (Linksys_EXT).
> 
> The three SSIDs all speak on Channel 1-3 and run in 2.5GHz modes. Mainly because I'm not sure how to setup a 5G signal correctly. :hide:
> 
> ...


Hello,

If your phone can connect to your linksys router, it means that there is no problem with your phone.

At this point, you need to compare the wireless settings between the linksys router and WAPs which you can't connect to. Make sure that all of them operate on the same frequency and use the same band. 

If all of them are the same, I would make a config backup of one of the WAPs which you cannot connect to and then make a factory default reset to see if you can connect to it with factory default settings. If you can, there was a problem with your settings and you just need to reconfigure your SSID & password if its a simple extender. 

If this would not resolve it, I would restore the backup and perhaps try to connect to a different wireless network like your neighbor (ask them for permission and details).

Can your phone see those wireless networks at all? Or do you just not see them?

@edit

Change channels!!!!!!!!!! WAPs can't operate on the same channel... you should at least have 3-4 channels difference so:

1 WAP - channel 1
2 WAP channel 5
3 WAP - channel 10/11


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## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

The WAPs all run on the same channels and they don't have the option to have their channel altered. They must mimic the main router.

The phone can see the WAPs just fine, it just hangs on "Obtaining IP Address...".

I could perhaps do a factory reset of the WAP, but every other device connects without an issue. :ermm:


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## jakub.p (May 27, 2015)

Can you set your phone to static IP within your subnet? This will verify whether or not you have wireless connectivity. 

Like I said before, confirm the settings with the wireless access point which you can connect to just fine. 

If they are the same, I can't help you further until you confirm that factory default has not fixed the problem.


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## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

Android phones have the option for a static IP address?

The WAP has very little settings, I can alter how it connects to the router, see statistics and that's about it. :ermm: I'm speaking of the Netgear unit by the way.


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## jakub.p (May 27, 2015)

Masterchiefxx17 said:


> Android phones have the option for a static IP address?
> 
> The WAP has very little settings, I can alter how it connects to the router, see statistics and that's about it. :ermm: I'm speaking of the Netgear unit by the way.


Yes they can, research it.

Is the unit still under the warranty? If so, contact Netgear Support about it. If not, get another unit from Amazon and see if it works. If it does keep it, if not return it.


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## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

So here's something interesting.

Before this, I was always stuck at the "Obtaining IP Address...".

I followed your recommendation and setup a Static IP address and the phone connected to the WAP. However, even though it is connected and the signal is strong, it doesn't have access to the internet. It appears to be a limited connection.


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