Troubleshooting Wi-Fi
April 16, 2014
If you have followed the instructions for connecting to Wi-Fi but are experiencing problems, please follow the instructions below for a solution. If none of these solutions help, please contact us directly for assistance.
You might want to try and connect using another wireless device (such as a laptop or smartphone) to the problem access point. If this doesn’t work then the problem is with the access point not your LearnPad, but this troubleshooting page can still help.
Understanding “Network Info”
The Information Page contains a section called Network Info that gives a summary of the device’s connection status. If all the questions have green ticks, the device is completely connected to the Internet. If any of the questions have red crosses, press the Advanced Info button to get more detailed information.
If any of the questions have a red cross, there is a problem that may need attention. The following table contains some common explanations and solutions for each problem. Try and address problems at the top of the list first as they are more fundamental than ones below them.
Problem | Meaning | Solution |
Am I connected to a network? | There is no active Wi-Fi connection | See: “Troubleshoot the access point connection” |
Do I have an IP address? | No IP address has been allocated to the device. It may be connected to
the access point, but for some reason DHCP is not working. | Check if the MAC address needs to be registered with your
system adminstrator before devices can connect.The access point may be
rejecting the device because of a signal quality policy. Try going closer to
the access point to improve signal quality, if that works, relax the quality
policy in the access point’s configuration page. |
Can I reach the gateway? | The access point may be specifcally configured to not respond to ping
requests, in which case this test in inaccurate.The DHCP server may be
incorrectly configured and is giving out the wrong IP address for the
gateway. See the Wi-Fi Information page for details of the gateway
IP address. | |
Can I reach DNS1? | The primary DNS server is not responding to ping requests. | The DNS server may be specifcally configured to not respond to ping
requests, in which case this test in inaccurate.The DHCP server may be
incorrectly configured and is giving out the wrong IP address for the primary
DNS server. |
Can I reach 8.8.8.8? | This IP address is one of Google’s public servers and is very stable.
It means that IP routing is not working independent of any DNS-related
problems you may be experiencing. | You may require proxy authentication to connect through your access
point. Contact your network admistrator for proxy login details and follow
the proxy setup guide. |
Do I know http://www.google.com/? | The DNS server was unable to resolve the name www.google.com. | Try resetting your LearnPad and your access point in
case the DNS lookup table is stale. |
Can I reach http://www.google.com/? | The device was unable to reach this website. | Your Internet firewall may be blocking this address. Check you can
reach it through a browser on a different computer, then, if that works,
using the tablet’s built-in browser (from the Teacher category). |
Can I reach https://www.google.com/? | The device was unable to reach this secure website. This will not affect
most applications, but could cause some secure websites to fail. | Your Internet firewall may be blocking HTTPS ports.
Contact your local IT administrator. |
Can I reach Google services on port 5228? | The device was unable to reach Google mobile services at
mtalk.google.com on port 5228. This is likely to prevent real-time
communication between your device and the LearnPad server. | Your Internet firewall may be blocking outbound connections on port
5228. Contact your local IT administrator. |
Do I know http://device.learnpad.co/? | The DNS server was unable to resolve the name device.learnpad.co. | Try restarting your LearnPad and your access point in case
the DNS lookup table is stale. |
Can I reach http://device.learnpad.co/? | The device was unable to reach the file ok.html.
It is important because this is the control server for LearnPad. | Your Internet firewall may be blocking this address. Check you can
reach it through a browser on a different computer, then, if that works,
using the tablet’s built-in browser (from the Teacher category). |
Can I reach https://device.learnpad.co/? | The device was unable to ping this secure address. This will not
affect most applications (including LearnPad), but could cause some secure
websites to fail. | Your Internet firewall may be blocking HTTPS ports. |
Do I know http://data.learnpad.co/? | The DNS server was unable to resolve the name data.learnpad.co. | Try resetting your LearnPad and your access point in
case the DNS lookup table is stale. |
Can I reach http://data.learnpad.co/? | The device was unable to reach the file ok.html.
It is important because this is the control server for LearnPad. | Your Internet firewall may be blocking this address. Check you can
reach it through a browser on a different computer, then, if that works,
using the tablet’s built-in browser (from the Teacher category). |
Can I reach the timeserver? | The device was unable to get the current time from the server
time.learnpad.co. This will prevent LearnPad from synchronising the clock. | Your Internet firewall may be blocking this address or the NTP port
(123). It is safe to allow all outbound traffic on port 123 |
Troubleshooting the Access Point Connection |
The Information Page contains a Wi-Fi Information button that launches a report about the currently active access point and any other access points the device is monitoring (in the Wi-Fi Scan section).
Some common problems can be diagnosed using this page:
- State is Disabled. Make sure Wi-Fi is enabled in the device settings and that Airplane mode is Off.
- My access point is not in the Wi-Fi Scan list. Check that your access point SSID isn’t hidden. Check that your access point is set to a valid channel (1 – 13).
- Can’t connect to my access point. Check the Wi-Fi scan lists the access point and that the signal strength is above -80dBm. Check the access point is using channel 1, 5, 9, or 13, as these are recommended for 802.11g. Check that there are no strong signals on potentially overlapping channels and change your access point channel if there are. Check the device Wi-Fi settings. If your access point is listed with the subtitle “Avoided poor Internet connection”, then your access point has been temporarily blacklisted because of repeated failed attempts to connect. Disable and enable Wi-Fi to try again using this troubleshooting guide.Consider how many other devices are connected. Some wireless routers are very limited on the number of devices that can be connected at any given time, especially if they are far away or if there are many other networks nearby. Try disconnecting all other devices temporarily.
- Supplicant State is COMPLETED, but no IP address is allocated. The access point is refusing to connect fully, possibly because of poor signal quality, possibly because of MAC address filtering. Move closer to the access point or contact your network adminstrator to register your MAC address.
- Supplicant State is INACTIVE. The Wi-Fi radio has gone to sleep because it cannot find a valid access point. It will wake periodically to check again or you can disable and enable the Wi-Fi radio to force it to wake up.
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