OhMyGodIThinkTheItouchIsCoolBut...

September 30, 2009 9:23 AM

Question about wi-fi and my new itouch.

I was lucky enough to recieve a free itouch from work. After downloading the software upgrade, I am now going crazy with apps (after reading previous AskMeFis, of course.)

One evening, while using the LastFm app, I lost the internet connection. Since then, my itouch does not seem to be able to "receive" the wi-fi at my house.

Data Points:
1. I have tried telling the itouch to "forget" the house wi-fi, so that I have to log in to it again.

2. The itouch works fine at other locations (school, Barnes and Noble, etc.)

3. The home wi-fi is working fine for our laptops.

4. On the very unlikely chance that LastFm had anything to do with it, I deleted and reloaded that application. That had no effect as well.

When I try to connect, and then use Safari, for example, the screen turns a darker color and keeps trying to connect until the operation times out (or I end it myself.)

Obviously, this is not a life or death situation, but it is annoying, and I would like to solve it myself if I can. Any suggestions?

posted by wittgenstein to computers & internet (11 answers total)

Have you tried resetting it (i.e., turning it off and then on again)? Also, it's an iPod Touch not an 'iTouch,' which may help you when you're searching the internet for help.
posted by jedicus at 9:25 AM on September 30, 2009

Yes, it's been turned on and off many times since Monday. And, I was using itouch as a MetaFilter only abbreviation. I know it's really called an Ipod Touch. (Maybe the question sound confusing now, though...)
posted by wittgenstein at 9:42 AM on September 30, 2009

You've done a reset/restart right?

If so, go to Settings->Wi-Fi. Find your network, click on the blue right arrow. Double check that the DHCP/BootP/Static selection is correct and the proper information is entered in the section underneath that.
posted by jaimev at 9:48 AM on September 30, 2009

Have you also turned on and off the router? Sometimes when one computer alone cannot access the network that's the only way to fix it, even if other computers work ok.
posted by jeather at 10:28 AM on September 30, 2009

I have to turn my cheap NetGear router on and off a lot to keep my iTouch happy.
posted by Rad_Boy at 10:41 AM on September 30, 2009

Echoing jaimev. If you have a valid IP address (probably something like 192.168.x.x) under the DHCP section then that is good and you can ignore what follows.

If you do not have a valid IP address, then, as jaimev suggests, try turning the router off (I would also turn off the cable modem/DSL as well for good measure) to clear any glitches.

It may be that you have multiple computers and your router may have a very small address pool allocated for dynamic assignment. That means that there would be no IP address available for your iPod Touch. So it may be that you need to expand the size of the DHCP pool. You would have to log into your router to find out.

I have a number of Apple devices and have had trouble renewing leases when the router is "cloaked" (not broadcasting its existence). This may be called a "closed network" or your router may have an option to "suppress SSID". You can log into the router and turn off the cloaking. That may allow your iPod Touch to renew its lease. When I was having trouble getting several MacPro laptops to connect, that was what I had to do.
Good luck.
posted by PickeringPete at 10:59 AM on September 30, 2009

You might be able to manually enter your network information. Set a static ip, and basically copy the other information you'll need from one of your laptop settings.
posted by backwards guitar at 11:12 AM on September 30, 2009

It would be helpful to know your router configuration. I have a friend with a shitty dell router and he experiences the same thing.

The "darkening" in safari is usually when the software thinks you're at a hotspot (Starbucks, etc) and will take you to the "click to proceed" or whatever page.

If it's only at your house, I think it's safe to say it's a router problem, not an ipod problem (or rather, an interaction with the ipod and your router, but not a problem with all wifi on the touch).

Since it was free, you might be able to rationalize a new router with dd-wrt capability.
posted by CharlesV42 at 11:32 AM on September 30, 2009

Make sure your home setup has the ipod's MAC address, too, if your security settings demand that. I have had some problems solved by manually inputting it. Find it in Settings>General> About, I think.

Give it a try if all else fails.
posted by ServSci at 12:34 PM on September 30, 2009

Are you using a generic SSID for your router (like "linksys"). Have you ever connected to another wireless net with a generic SSID. Are there any other wireless networks nearby that have an SSID that matches an SSID you've connected to in the past? Its possible that when you are home your iPod is connecting to the wrong network. Even if it connects to the right network at first, it might switch over if there is a signal problem. One ongoing annoyance is that Apple doesn't make it possible to review the list of networks your iPod has associated with and simply clean out the ones that might cause problems before they cause problems.

If this problem continues, I'd make sure the device is backed up, wipe the device and then see if you can get it to work before restoring/syncing the backup.
posted by Good Brain at 2:30 PM on September 30, 2009

None of the above suggestions worked. However, when I turned the router off and on, it came up requesting a password I did not remember ever needing, so I had to call AT&T (it's our wireless provider.) When I discussed my problem with the very nice guy who handled my customer service call, he recommended renaming the wireless network (and creating a new password), which I did. And, now the wireless works again. And, my ipod touch is working again. Yay!

Thanks to everyone who took the time to try to help me.
posted by wittgenstein at 6:13 PM on October 2, 2009