Wii Connection Troubles

[General Zod]

Already went over this in venting but I thought I'd repost here. I was working on getting it set up for an hour last night, but apparently my Wii does not want to connect to my wireless router. I know the router's working as it connected to my laptop just fine.

The router itself is a Netgear Rangemax, 108mbps. So far I've tried it with both WEP and no security, and I set the type of connection to B & G, and disabled all other security features. No service is blocked. Yet for some strange reason, my Wii will detect the network, but whenever it runs through the connection test it will go for awhile, it gives me an error message or hangs and does nothing. There were some options for enabling WPA security, but it gave me two or three different options for that feature, and I wasn't sure which I should select or even if the Wii was compatible with WPA.

I also tried turning on Wii Connect 24, but it said to enable my internet connection first. I'm at a loss for what's causing these problems, so if anyone has info for anything I might have overlooked, it'd be appreciated.

[Bounty]

I had the same problem with my DS. Apparently connections are hit-and-miss when your router uses the 192.168.1.X range for IPs - is that the case with you?

[General Zod]

I had the same problem with my DS. Apparently connections are hit-and-miss when your router uses the 192.168.1.X range for IPs - is that the case with you?

It is. I figured it'd be hit and miss but I was hoping there was a simple solution or fix I could use for it. I'd really rather not have to get a new router.

[Bounty]

I had the same problem with my DS. Apparently connections are hit-and-miss when your router uses the 192.168.1.X range for IPs - is that the case with you?

It is. I figured it'd be hit and miss but I was hoping there was a simple solution or fix I could use for it. I'd really rather not have to get a new router.

You can try to get it to reassign the IPs.

[General Zod]

You can try to get it to reassign the IPs.

I think I tried doing that once. Though if it's still in the same 192.168 range, I'm not sure if that would do the trick if I have to keep doing it til I find one that works.

[Xisiqomelir]

Go to your router settings and change the broadcast channel away from the default to 1 or some other channel.

[General Zod]

Go to your router settings and change the broadcast channel away from the default to 1 or some other channel.

I saw the channel list. It's on 6 right now but I wasn't sure which to change it to given there's so many to pick from. I'll give that a shot when I get home though.

[Stark]

Why would the IP have any effect? I have used a Wii with 192.168.1.x flawlessly with wireless. The Wii manual says it's compatible with WPA, and there's no way in fuck I'd use it wirelessly if it wasn't.

If you've never connected yet, you Wii might have the original firmware which was pretty flaky IIRC.

[General Zod]

Why would the IP have any effect? I have used a Wii with 192.168.1.x flawlessly with wireless. The Wii manual says it's compatible with WPA, and there's no way in fuck I'd use it wirelessly if it wasn't.

If you've never connected yet, you Wii might have the original firmware which was pretty flaky IIRC.

I'm assuming the firmware can be transferred via usb stick with minimal trouble? Upgrading something's firmware always worries the fuck out of me given how many things can go wrong.

[Stark]

This seems hideously unlikely.

I was able to connect my off-the-shelf Wii to a WPA-encrypted network with no SSID broadcast and a huge key on the first go. The update download was retardedly slow, and the shopping channel is STILL retardedly slow, but it worked. While Nintendo has a list of routers that apparently have 'problems' (here) I wouldn't take it too seriously. Nurse it through the first connection (not by reducing security, but by sitting the little bitch next to your router, changing channels, etc) and get the update, then see what happens. The Wii just handles connection failures really fucking badly: when it decides to go into an infinite loop of connection testing and you've got to restart it, that DOESN'T mean the connection isn't working.

[TheFeniX]

My Linksys WRT54G had this same problem. After digging online, I was told one thing that worked well was to update to update the firmware AND reset the router back to defaults and reconfigure. It was a bitch to redo all my port forwarding settings, but my Wii has worked fine ever since.

I saw the channel list. It's on 6 right now but I wasn't sure which to change it to given there's so many to pick from. I'll give that a shot when I get home though.

It doesn't matter which one you pick as any Wireless capable device will connect on any channel. They're just numeric values for a GHz channel (2.411, 2.412, or something like that). It's mainly to help remove interference from other wireless devices.

[General Zod]

This seems hideously unlikely.

I was able to connect my off-the-shelf Wii to a WPA-encrypted network with no SSID broadcast and a huge key on the first go. The update download was retardedly slow, and the shopping channel is STILL retardedly slow, but it worked. While Nintendo has a list of routers that apparently have 'problems' (here) I wouldn't take it too seriously. Nurse it through the first connection (not by reducing security, but by sitting the little bitch next to your router, changing channels, etc) and get the update, then see what happens. The Wii just handles connection failures really fucking badly: when it decides to go into an infinite loop of connection testing and you've got to restart it, that DOESN'T mean the connection isn't working.

I got the infinite loop at least once, which pisses me off. Because I know it picks up my router, the fucker just fails during the connection test.

[Xisiqomelir]

It doesn't matter which one you pick as any Wireless capable device will connect on any channel. They're just numeric values for a GHz channel (2.411, 2.412, or something like that). It's mainly to help remove interference from other wireless devices.

That's usually what the problem is.

[Stark]

That's odd - most people I know use WRT54s or derivatives, and none have had problems. If a factory reset works, clearly some configuration option was causing a problem.

And don't underestimate channel-changing. All kinds of wireless problems can be resolved by moving to a slightly different band. Of *course* any wireless device CAN connect on any channel - the channels exist for the very reason of AVOIDING environmental effects and interferance!

[General Zod]

That's odd - most people I know use WRT54s or derivatives, and none have had problems. If a factory reset works, clearly some configuration option was causing a problem.

And don't underestimate channel-changing. All kinds of wireless problems can be resolved by moving to a slightly different band. Of *course* any wireless device CAN connect on any channel - the channels exist for the very reason of AVOIDING environmental effects and interferance!

Hopefully that clears it up then, I'll definitely give that a shot when I get home. (I generally don't deal with wireless much, got the router specifically so I could connect my Wii).

[TheFeniX]

That's odd - most people I know use WRT54s or derivatives, and none have had problems. If a factory reset works, clearly some configuration option was causing a problem.

I went through my config with a fine-tooth comb, removing custom settings one by one. I checked every wireless setting and even went down to 2Mb/s with no security and my Wii just would not connect (and it was 2 feet from my Router). Finally, I got online and that was basically the response I got: reset to factory defaults. It's something about the way the Wii connects. I have no idea WHY it worked, but it did.

And don't underestimate channel-changing. All kinds of wireless problems can be resolved by moving to a slightly different band. Of *course* any wireless device CAN connect on any channel - the channels exist for the very reason of AVOIDING environmental effects and interferance!

I wasn't downplaying the usefulness of channel switching. In fact, I've had to use it before it my old apartment complex. The walls were thin and I could immediately know that when my neighbor picked up his wireless phone, I would lose my connection.

I just wanted to explain that it's not really a "Channel 1 or 6." They're just easy to read labels for the different frequencies of the 2.4Ghz spectrum and that the client devices would connect to any channel he selected without him needed to specify them.

[Vendetta]

I find channel fiddling an immensely useful process when wireless devices won't connect (especially when some will connect while others won't).

The other thing you can try is to drop back to the 802.11g standard, rather than your manufacturer's not quite standard pre-n method.

[General Zod]

I find channel fiddling an immensely useful process when wireless devices won't connect (especially when some will connect while others won't).

The other thing you can try is to drop back to the 802.11g standard, rather than your manufacturer's not quite standard pre-n method.

Already tried dropping the standard idea, but I'm giving the channel switching method a shot later.

[Dalton]

Here's a thought, maybe the router is set to only provide one or two addresses through DHCP, so the Wii can't acquire an IP...?

[General Zod]

Just got home. Changing the channel apparently did the trick, and I'm doing the update now. Hopefully nothing fries in the meantime. *crosses fingers*

Edit: Victoly! All systems are green. A mod can lock this now if they want.

[Xisiqomelir]

Just got home. Changing the channel apparently did the trick, and I'm doing the update now. Hopefully nothing fries in the meantime. *crosses fingers*

Edit: Victoly! All systems are green. A mod can lock this now if they want.

Good show.