Dongle will no longer connect

It took some time for me to get this far. I updated my dongle to 5.01 when that update came out and I was able to hook up to my home network. Now after up dating to 7.28 I can not connect to my network. The scanner can see my router, and I have double check the password. I get "connection failure".

what am I doing wrong?

Overall the dongles seems to work and connect for most people, so I am going to say you need to change/modify something in your network first.

1. Make sure you are using Infrastructure mode on the scanner..

2. Make sure you know the WiFi password, it is case sensitive.

3. Power the router and scanner off for 30 seconds, then back on and see if this helps.

4. Remove the WiFi protection/password for a test to see if you can connect to the router in an open mode. Then if this works, move back to a password and see what happens.

If this does not work, post the router make, model and firmware version along with what type of WiFi security you are running and having problems with.

SOU said:

It took some time for me to get this far. I updated my dongle to 5.01 when that update came out and I was able to hook up to my home network. Now after up dating to 7.28 I can not connect to my network. The scanner can see my router, and I have double check the password. I get "connection failure".

what am I doing wrong?

Click to expand...

What type of encryption are you using for the dongle to connect to your wireless router or access point?

There are reports that the old WEP standard no longer works on all devices and you must use WPA or WPA2.
I've actually confirmed that myself and found that WEP does work on some routers and WAPs but not all.

I'm not sure if this changed when dongle firmware 7.28 came out as I never tried WEP prior to reports of people having issues connecting when using WEP encryption.

Also, use Infrastructure mode and make sure your DHCP server has spare IP's to hand out. If the IP range is all used, your dongle will not get an IP and the connection will fail.
Uniden should allow a manual entry of the IP in my opinion.

kruser said:

Uniden should allow a manual entry of the IP in my opinion.

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^+1 Totally agree.

kruser said:

Uniden should allow a manual entry of the IP in my opinion.

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I agree too. We should have the option between DHCP or put a static IP.

JamesO said:

^+1 Totally agree.

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Yep, plus that Ethernet dongle for those of us that don't or won't use wireless networking!

I also know many that have DHCP turned off on their networks. For those, the dongle will never work (in infrastructure mode) as nothing is there to hand it an IP address.

I know Uniden is trying to make this all as easy as possible but for those users who do know and understand advanced networking, they should allow us to use manual features.
Maybe they could hide that under a hidden menu or put it in the profile so the user has a choice of normal or advanced networking.

kruser said:

Yep, plus that Ethernet dongle for those of us that don't or won't use wireless networking!

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^+100000000000, we/Uniden really needs to support a wired dongle. Just think how many headaches they could avoid and resolve for folks that are fighting with WiFi connectivity and the fact that many would prefer to run wired. This would also give the end use the ability to even use a router with 3rd party firmware like DD-WRT and configure the router as a Client and have the ability to extend the wireless range and stability with more power, more antennas, external antennas and so forth.

The wired USB dongles are under $5 in quantity, I would probably pay as much as $25 if Uniden offered a wired dongle that has the supporting firmware in the scanner and it worked.

kruser said:

I know Uniden is trying to make this all as easy as possible but for those users who do know and understand advanced networking, they should allow us to use manual features.
Maybe they could hide that under a hidden menu or put it in the profile so the user has a choice of normal or advanced networking.

Click to expand...

Just do like how HP does this with their printers, offer an Advanced Networking Menu with IP Addressing, Subnet Mask and Default Gate along with a simple reset networking to Default if someone paints themselves in the corner.

JamesO said:

Overall the dongles seems to work and connect for most people, so I am going to say you need to change/modify something in your network first.

1. Make sure you are using Infrastructure mode on the scanner..

2. Make sure you know the WiFi password, it is case sensitive.

3. Power the router and scanner off for 30 seconds, then back on and see if this helps.

4. Remove the WiFi protection/password for a test to see if you can connect to the router in an open mode. Then if this works, move back to a password and see what happens.

If this does not work, post the router make, model and firmware version along with what type of WiFi security you are running and having problems with.

Click to expand...

I tried steps 1, 2, and 3. No luck. I am not sure how to try steep 4 but I will work on it.

Thanks for the reply
John

Step 4 will require you to access the routers Web interface.

Usually the default Gateway address on your computer, 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1 are a few very common Default Gateway addresses on many routers.

Then you will need the user name and password for the router.

Google search is helpful, most often the default user name is "admin", default password may also be "admin".

Good luck.

Why anyone would turn off DHCP on a home router is beyond me. I use my router's DHCP reservation function to "reserve" an IP for my scanner so that it gets the same IP every time. This is as good as setting a static IP for most uses.

As far as the connection issue, I never saw an answer on the type of encryption being used? I think the consensus is that WEP just won't work with the dongle.

I just confirmed that I was NOT able to connect to a WEP enabled wireless network on an old router of mine using the latest dongle firmware version (7.28). I switched the security on the same router over to WPA2 and the scanner connected right up.

A couple of other thoughts, noting that networking isn't a strong suit for me:

1. Try a Reset to Factory on your dongle, then re-configure as you did before.
2. Try to do a re-set on your router.

yes it is WEP. it did get in before the last update. I have forgotten how to get in to the router. I will google the model number today.

I reported the same problem on another thread using WEP. Could not get any of my three 536HPs/dongles to connect. Switched my router (Verizon FIOS) to WPA2 encryption as per instructions on their website, and all have connected without any problem and been working for several days with RH/VLC software.
Change your router to WPA2 encryption and I bet you will connect right up.
Steve AA6IO

WEP was broken years ago. it is completely insecure, so I wouldn't use it anyway.

jonwienke said:

WEP was broken years ago. it is completely insecure, so I wouldn't use it anyway.

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This is so true... WEP is useless. My newest router doesn't even have it as an option.

dconti said:

After waiting for over a year to get these features as advertised, it now looks like many of us will have to attain an advanced degree from MIT to get it to work.

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Nah, no degree required. For right now, here is all you need to know:

1. Know how to log in to you wireless router.
2. Make sure you are using WPA2 (Personal) for your wireless authentication.
3. Know your wireless authentication password that will get you on the wireless network.
4. (Optional) Set your scanner's IP as a "reservation" in the router so it always gets the same IP.

If you don't want to do #4, you can always see the scanner's IP by going to 'WiFI Setup" on the scanner. Just know that the IP can change... like when you power cycle the scanner or at random depending on your router. With a reservation, you are telling your router to always give the scanner the same IP.

REMEMBER... These are early days! What you are seeing with VLC and the test app are just a taste of what is possible with the dongle and scanner software. My guess is that once the Siren app gets into the wild (maybe not immediately), there will be some kind of functionality to make connecting your scanner to the app much more friendly.

EDIT: For the heck of it, I tried WPA (not WPA2) and the scanner won't connect to my router with it enabled either. The scanner seems to only connect using WPA2. This isn't an issue for me since I always use WPA2 but, as we are seeing, not everyone is using this standard.

FWIW, I have 4 different wireless networks in my house.

2 are 64 bit WEP and the other 2 are WPA2.

I have no problem connecting to either of my 64 bit WEP networks with the dongle/scanner.

It may be that case sensitive characters are not being used correctly or when the last character for the security password is entered that people are pushing the number "6" to advance to the next character space when they should be pushing the "Enter" button on the scanner once the last security password character has been entered.

So it seems that there is either a character problem with the WEP menu in the scanner, a firmware bug with specific characters or overall pilot error.

I have both a Verizon FIOS router and another device running WEP and my scanner will connect to both of these WEP networks without a problem.

As for the suggestion to "reset" the router, be VERY, VERY careful what you do and why. I NEVER suggest a router "reset" because if anything has been configured differently than default, you end up being painted in to the corner. If you have DSL, your service WILL be down.

If you want to do anything to a router, "power cycle" it, turn it off for at least 30 seconds and turn it back on, but DO NOT push any "reset" button on a router or networking device unless you are fully aware of how to configure the item from the ground up and know what parameters need to be configured into the device.

Unfortunately the words "reset" and "power cycle" are often thought of as just one term, "reset" ,and these terms and actions are CLEARLY very different. "Power cycle" all day long, DO NOT "reset" unless you understand what you are doing and know fully how to configure the device.

JamesO said:

FWIW, I have 4 different wireless networks in my house.

It may be that case sensitive characters are not being used correctly or when the last character for the security password is entered that people are pushing the number "6" to advance to the next character space when they should be pushing the "Enter" button on the scanner once the last security password character has been entered.

So it seems that there is either a character problem with the WEP menu in the scanner, a firmware bug with specific characters or overall pilot error.

Click to expand...

Not in my case... I triple checked my WEP password and I have tried both 64 bit and 128 bit WEP. Unless there is another setting in the wireless settings of the router when using WEP, I can't explain why it works for some and not for most everyone else.

I am still experimenting with this to see if there is a common denominator.

I only use numbers, no letters or characters.

JamesO said:

I only use numbers, no letters or characters.

Click to expand...

I tried all numbers with no luck. I have been changing settings and passwords but haven't been able to connect the scanner via WEP no matter what I do. I am using a DLink DIR-655 for my testing... I think I will try my old Cisco E4200 and see if I get different results.

I can find no explanation as to why WEP isn't working for quite a few of us. There is definitely something weird about these dongles and WEP (and WPA for that matter) but I haven't been able to figure out what that is. I never tried WEP on the older firmware versions so I can't speak to this being something that was introduced with the 7.28 firmware or not.

I will say that if you are using WEP, you should really consider changing your authentication to WPA2 ASAP. I say this not because of this issue, but because your wireless network is at risk while using WEP.