Wi-Fi reception worsening on AXIM X50V

[Don Tolson]

Anyone else noticed this? It's happened twice for me now, both under WM5 and WM2003 SE...

I have an AXIM X50v which, when first received connects just fine with the Linksys wi-fi router I have in my home. I can connect and browse the internet using PIE just fine for about 2 weeks or so.

After that time, I start getting 'cannot connect' messages from PIE, after waiting a LOOOONNNNNGG time after selecting an entry from my favourites list. The AXIM's WLAN application shows a connection, but with poor signal strength -- but I'm getting 3 bars on the today screen icon.

I know the sites are there, and I know the Linksys is working OK, since I can connect to it anytime with my laptop.

As I say, everything is fine when I first receive the units, out of the box. After about 2 weeks of use is when things start going wrong. I'm at the point now where I don't even bother to try to link to wi-fi with the Dell, since I know what won't happen.

I'm reluctant to try a hard reset to see if that fixes it, since I'm convinced it will just be a short term solution. And this same thing has happened with two different units (one was replaced after it was 'bricked' by WM5).

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks.

[miterb]

Pardon me for asking but do you delete the files in I-Explorer every couple of days? That might be limiting the wireless setup after a couple of weeks.
Brad

[Don Tolson]

Pardon me for asking but do you delete the files in I-Explorer every couple of days? That might be limiting the wireless setup after a couple of weeks.
Brad

No problem asking -- a reasonable idea. But yes, I do clear out History, Cookies, etc. every couple of days.

[Don Tolson]

Well I took the big plunge and did a hard reset last night. Directly after re-setting up after the reset (no other software installed yet, so basically a 'clean' machine), I still have the same problem.

When I try to access a site in PIE, I get 'Locating... ' for what seems at long time, then eventually a "Cannot connect...' message. Hmmmm, looks like it could be a problem with the router.

[Janak Parekh]

There are a number of possibilites. One thing to do is to install vxUtil (www.cam.com) and make sure the Pocket PC can "ping" the router.

If it can't, then you may want to play with the router, including upgrading its firmware or temporarily turning off encryption.

--janak

[ctmagnus]

I find that Linksys is somewhat sneaky about their firmware releases, at least for older models. Three times now, I've checked out their firmware pages for the units I have and I've seen newer firmware whose release date is, I swear, before the date I downloaded and installed the current firmware I have on the devices.

Anyways, like Janak said, try upgrading the router's firmware. The latest one for my BEFSR41 fixed an issue I was living with seemingly forever, where the ISPs DHCP lease ran out but the router wouldn't renew it.

[Don Tolson]

I think I have the solution!
Thanks to a couple of suggestions over at Aximsite, I tried looking at the configuration of my router. The suggestion was that apparently the AXIMs can only deal with 802.11(b) and when I looked at my router, it was set for high speed (g).

So, I dialed it back a notch (it has 3 levels defined) and now, the AXIM connects every time, with better reception throughout the house, and downloads seem to be faster.

BTW, my bad, the router was a D-Link 714p+, not Linksys. And unfortunately, D-Link de-listed it as of Nov. 2005 for firmware upgrades. Oh well.... but it seems to be working just fine now.

[miterb]

On my X50v running 2003se, I sometimes have trouble signing on to my home router when I have been out on the road and using other access points (poor signal quality and fails to sync.) In trying to get things going again I found my way to Start>Settings>Connections>Network Cards (** Make sure you have the wireless turned on first). A tab, 'Wireless' should display. A list of recent access points you have encountered will display. With your stylus, hold down on those AP's you do not use and an option to "Remove Settings" will display - tap it.

I think there must be a lot of garbage left behind by the sites to which you cannot gain access. Before I found this solution I remember actually doing a Hard Reset to get back in business.

Brad

[jnev]

Pardon me for asking but do you delete the files in I-Explorer every couple of days? That might be limiting the wireless setup after a couple of weeks.
Brad

how do i do this?

thanks

[Darius Wey]

how do i do this?

Open Internet Explorer Mobile, select Menu > Tools > Options, then select the Memory tab and tap "Clear History" and "Delete Files". If you select the Security tab, you can also tap "Clear Cookies".

[miterb]

With respect to my earlier post about cleaning up unused access point settings at 'Network Cards', I have found that keeping it clean seems to make a substantial improvement on the time to connect to my home router. When there is a bunch of junk in 'Network Cards', it can take up to 30-45 seconds to connect to my router. After my last cleanup, the time is now consistently less than 10 seconds.
Brad