Iconia One 10 (B3-A10) Wi-Fi issue

Phillipe

Got my wife an Iconia B3-A10 for Christmas which she loves except for an annoying Wi-Fi issue.  The tablet has done this since setting up from new and the couple of firmware updates that have been released have not improved things.  Once or twice an hour she gets a “connection offline” message although sometimes it can be ok for longer periods.  None of our other devices have this problem and have tried different Wi-Fi routers and also 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands so it must be the tablet.  When the message appears the tablet shows full signal strength and in Wi-Fi settings status is “connected”.  Sometimes, if we wait long enough, the connection is restored.  If we switch Wi-Fi Off and On again connection is usually restored although occasionally it takes several attempts.  I have tried various settings but it makes no difference.  Is this a common problem? Any ideas?

IronFly

1) do you reboot the B3 once in a while?

2) have you tried a factory reset between updates? (sometimes a factory reset after some major update can handle this kind of issues)

before doing the factory reset, please backup all your personal data then:

settings/backup&reset - factory data reset

dennissson

Same problem here. Wifi fails. It shows connection but theres no traffic, the issue is more common with 5ghz but 2,4 have issues too. Today i have finaly managet to install the update (it always showed a error message that there was a problem with connection <-karma<- ,so it would not update) I now run 1.007.00_WW_GEN1 (is this really the latest? wheres marshmallow??)

 

Time will tell if this solves it..

 

BR Dennis

Phillipe

I'd be interested to hear whether your problem persists.  I've tried the factory reset as suggested by Ironfly. Early days yet but we have had one connection lost message after about 4 hours.

IronFly

you mentioned "various settings", this includes disable power saving on wifi? (if this option is available on your device, normally it's under wifi - advanced options)

 

Phillipe

There is no Wi-Fi power saving saving option on this device. There is "Keep WiFi on during sleep" "Network notification" and "Scanning always available".  I have tried all combinations of these just in case but it made no difference.  After one day from factory reset it has failed once on 5G wi-fi but so far has not failed in 2G so keeping fingers crossed.  Thanks.  

IronFly

you welcome.

Phillipe

No. Can safely say that the factory reset hasn't helped. 

IronFly

give Acer support service a call, by the way i suspect some software issue that can be fixed with a system update (Acer needs to release it), but it's worth a try to have it checked by service, maybe it's a faulty wifi chip or antenna.

Phillipe

OK Thanks

Phillipe

Thought I would post an update on this WiFi issue.

 

The tablet was collected by the courier for repair by IT Group in Dublin.  Apparently they couldn't get the WiFi to work at all and changed the motherboard in the tablet. It was returned 2 weeks later. However, it still had WiFi problems although not quite the same symptoms as we had originally - including weak WiFi signal,  sticking on "obtaining IP address" and" connected" status but not passing data.

 

So the tablet was collected for repair by IT Group again.  An engineer called to say that they couldn't find any problem with the tablet on soak test and suggested that I check my router settings - which I had already tried in many combinations. I pointed out that none of our other many devices had an issue.  The tablet was returned to us after a week and guess what - it failed immediately.   I did a Google search, on WiFI issues with Acer tablets in general, and discovered a blog where someone said that many Acer tablets had a problem with DHCP (where the IP address is assigned automatically by the router) and the solution was to use a static IP address in advanced settings.  I gave this a try and it worked!  Why Acer haven't resolved this issue before now is anyone’s guess.  It would seem like simple firmware update could resolve this issue.  The problem we are left with is the weak WiFi reception.  Go more than about 10 feet from the router and the signal strength indicator goes down to nothing although WiFi continues to work to about 15 feet.

 

We can just about live with the range limitation and static IP address with our current usage.  Luckily the tablet isn't used outside our home as otherwise we would not be able to arrange a static IP address.

 

In summary I wouldn't recommend anyone buy an Acer tablet until the WiFi issues are resolved.  I certainly won't be buying another Acer product.  It reaches the point where you just want to put the tablet in the bin!  Yes, we could report the fault again and maybe I will when I can muster the strength…

 

billsey

Short ranges usually mean they didn't get the wireless antennas all the way seated on the card. If they are not tight (and it's a b*tch to get them fully seated, they are so small) or if one comes off you get either weak signal or no signal without practically being directly on the router.