BlackBerry® PlayBook™

[tpd_beijing]

Well I've made it through initial issues with bberry userid and bberry o/s download. Now I've moved on to a problem where the playbook is not connecting to the wireless network successfully. Previously the playbook successfully connected to the wifi to download the current version of the o/s, but now it can't successfully connect to that same network. It will identify the network as one it detects to connect to but the connection never succeeds. The wi-fi is working, as I have other computers connected to the network - not sure what to do next.

My Playbook "getting started" experience so far has been very painful...one problem after another.

[knottyrope]

Try power cycling your wifi router. I have had to do that at home on my old router.

[tpd_beijing]

Cycling the router has not solved the problem. I just brought home a new wireless router and set it up with several laptops successfully establishing a wireless connection. The playbook continues to fail. The playbook will detect the network but "times out" when trying to connect to this network. 

I brought a new iPad -2 into the house and it connected successfully via wifi in less than 20 seconds. Easy, no issues. I'm at a total loss to understand what is happening with the Playbook. At this point it is unusable.

[knottyrope]

What type of encryption are you using?

What router are you using?

[Tony86]

Hi tpd_beijing

Have you tried already a different wifi hotspot, maybe a MacDonalds or a Starbucks?  Just to finish the setup at least.

Or maybe instead of searching for available networks you can use the manual setup.

If this was helpful for you please give kudos or mark as a solution!  Thanks!!

[Tony86]

Also there's a wi-fi protected setup option if you're using WPA

[tpd_beijing]

Hi, I'm using a D-Link, DIR-618 router, with WEP Password. I tried a Starbucks with not success either. The strange thing is that the connection did work at one point because during the startup the playbook downloaded an updated version of the OS. However, since that time, I have not been able to get a successful connection. The current OS version is 1.0.3.1868.

[Tony86]

Hmmm... check this KB26096 out.  May be we're missing something here

Troubleshooting Wi-Fi and networking on the BlackBerry PlayBook

• On the status bar, tap the Wi-Fi indicator and verify that the switch is set to On.
• The connection might have timed out. Try connecting again.
• The BlackBerry PlayBook™ might be too far away from the wireless access point or wireless router to connect. Move the BlackBerry PlayBook closer and try connecting again.
• Verify that the BlackBerry PlayBook is in a Wi-Fi coverage area. If connecting to a home network, see if other wireless devices are able to connect. If connecting to an enterprise Wi-Fi network or a hotspot, contact the enterprise network administrator or an employee at the hotspot.
• Verify that the time on the BlackBerry PlayBook is synchronized with the network time. If the times are different, it could prevent the BlackBerry PlayBook from connecting (for example, if connecting to the network requires a certificate be installed on the BlackBerry PlayBook and the certificate has an expiration date).
• If the Wi-Fi network doesn't appear in the list of available networks, the network might be hidden. If the network name is known, try connecting to it manually.
• Verify that the options for the Wi-Fi network are correct. To find out what options to use, for a home network, refer to the information that came with the home wireless router; for an enterprise Wi-Fi network, contact the enterprise network administrator; for a public hotspot, refer to any information provided for the hotspot or contact an employee at the hotspot who might have details about how to connect.
• If the Wi-Fi network was manually switched and does not work, try manually switching to another Wi-Fi network.
• If you are using the Push Button Setup method, verify that the access point uses Wi-Fi Protected Setup™, and that it has been set to send its profile. Verify that another device is not also attempting to connect at the same time, and that not more than one access point within range is in this mode. For more information, see the information that came with the wireless router.
• If using PEAP, EAP-TLS, EAP-FAST, or EAP-TTLS to connect to a Wi-Fi network, verify that the root certificate have been installed for the certificate authority server that created the certificate for the authentication server. The certificate must be transferred to the BlackBerry PlayBook before it can connect to the network. For more information, contact the network administrator.
• If using EAP-TLS to connect to a Wi-Fi network, verify that the authentication certificate has been added to the BlackBerry PlayBook. The certificate must be transferred to the BlackBerry PlayBook before it can connect to the network. For more information, contact the network administrator.

Additional Information

If problems occur when connecting the BlackBerry PlayBook to a Wi-Fi network for the first time, there are some details that can be accessed on the BlackBerry PlayBook which will help BlackBerry Technical Support diagnose the issue. Additionally, typical networking tools to troubleshoot most forms of network connectivity issues are also available. These tools and their locations will be expanded upon below.

Accessing the tools
During the initial setup if there is a problem connecting to a Wi-Fi network, click the Settings icon in the bottom left of the screen to access the diagnostic tools.

Once in this menu, click the drop-down list on the right half of the screen. A list of diagnostic options are available as shown in the image below:

After initial setup these options can be accessed using the following steps:

1. Click the Settings icon in the top right corner of the home screen.
2. Select Wi-Fi from the navigational menu that appears on the left pane.
3. In the bottom left corner of the right pane select the Wi-Fi signal icon with a question mark on it as show in the image below:

Note: A longer list of tools will be displayed in this drop-down list, after the initial set up as shown in the image below.

All of these tools are explained in more detail below.

Wi-Fi Troubleshooting Tools

Wi-Fi Information - This tool includes detailed information about a Wi-Fi connection such as SSID, Channel, etc. If there is a failure related to associating with a Wi-Fi hotspot it will be shown in the Failure Reason section of this tool.

Note: The Failure Reason field is only available if you access this drop down option outside of the initial setup. For issues during the initial setup refer to the Logs tool.

Logs - This tool provides the ability to see any logging related to associating with a Wi-Fi connection. Touching one of the lines will display the entire error message. This information can help a system administrator determine cause of failure when attempting to connect a BlackBerry PlayBook to a corporate network.  It can also help any Wi-Fi service provider determine cause of failure from a home network or a public hotspot.

Network Troubleshooting Tools

Internet Connection - This is not a tool that can be used to perform any action or review, but provides information related to the network connection including the IP address assigned to the BlackBerry PlayBook, subnet, gateway and DNS servers.

Ping - In the intial setup this tool will allow the BlackBerry PlayBook to ping a host or IP address to determine response time. When this tool is accessed from the Settings > Wi-Fi option, additional pre-configured Ping options are displayed such as Ping Type which provides a drop-down list of options namely IP Address or Name (a specific address or IP), Wi-Fi Gateway, (the network gateway), or Self (the BlackBerry PlayBook IP address).

Traceroute - Enter a destination IP address or domain name address to determine the number of router hops a request would take to reach the destination address.

DNS Lookup - In order to use this tool, type in the Primary or Secondary DNS address in the Server field. After doing this, enter any domain name in the 'Host' field and then click Send to confirm that the BlackBerry PlayBook can resolve the domain name to an IP address.

Let me know if this is helpfull please, you can check the original article at blackberry.com/btsc

If this was helpful please give kudos and/or mark as a solution!  Thanks!!

[vanawful]

I too am having a WiFi connection problem.  Worked great, at first.  Then since the OS update my WiFi connections are a hit and miss.  It was working the last couple of days.  Then today it started dropping hotspot connections.  Now it sees the hotspots, but times out when connecting.  Trying restarting, no luck.

Currently in a hotel with hotspot just down the hall.  My laptop shows a very strong connection.  My playbook sees it, however, when it refreshs then it shows it as very low and then gone, and then back again at full strength.  Mean while my laptop shows the same signal strength.  Is there an issue with the driver or the hardware? 

The playbook was nice, at first, but now it is becoming a pain in the butt.

[tpd_beijing]

Yes, your description sounds just like my experience. A brand new iPad-2 is working perfectly in my wifi area, all laptops connect without issue, the brand new playbook is missing in action.  I also wonder if there's an issue introduced with the OS update. Outside of this forum I've sent an email to official Blackberry Support as part of the 90 support provided...waiting to hear back from them.