Nook Color - No Internet - Netgear Rangemax

[Mikestl]

Nook Color works great in wifi hot spots like B&N store.

Won't work correctly at home with Netgear Rangemax router.  I've got a laptop at home and a smart phone at home, and they work perfectly with the router, and without any router configuration modifications.  Worked from day one, out of the box.

Can connect to router with Nook Color, excellent signal strength, WPA-PSK (TKIP) security.  Says I'm connected to the Internet, but can't get to any web sites at all.

- Wireless network mode was auto, changed to b and g.  Nada.

- Tied the Nook Color's MAC address to a specific IP.  That helped the Nook stay connected but still can't get to any web sites.

- Tried specifying specific IP addresses for the DNS server instead of defaulting to the ISP's DNS server.  Didn't help.

I'm out of ideas. Can anyone think of anything else?

Many thanks,

Mike

[SCIONTX]

Here's another NOOK / NOOKcolor forum that gets alot of traffic. You may wish to post there as well.

Prior to posting links please read our Book Club User Guidelines.

Thank You.

Your Admin.,

Michael-V

[ozomandias]

I'm also having WiFi problems with a NOOKcolor, but I consider mine to be intermittent connectivity issues.

I've had the same set of problems at home and at a Starbucks with free, unsecured WiFi. The only place with no problems is the Barnes & Noble store.

Note that I have a Netgear router at home. I'm able to connect to my WPA2 PSK (hidden SSID) with no problems. Note that I restrict access by MAC address, but that also works fine.

I'm logged in to the router; it confirms that the device is connected. The NOOKcolor seems to think that it loses the connection frequently. I get errors when browsing the store ("we are having trouble connecting to our store") and when downloading PDFs from the internet ("waiting for data connection" becomes "download interrupted. It cannot be resumed").

My gut tells me something in the NOOKcolor's Android wireless code is buggy. I hope they fix it soon.

[Mikestl]

Thanks a lot.  I posted the same thing over there.

Mike

[noyoriver]

We have tried several hotels and home wifi and so far find the Nook Color to be a major disappointment in its inability to connect.  Or to connect, then loose the connection, then connect, then loose the connection, etc., etc., etc.  The only place we have been able to connect so far is in the B&N store.  We have an older Linksys router and are upgrading this week to a Netgear Rangemax... now I am really worried.  My question to B&N Engineers is why in the HECK did B&N not make the Nook Color 3G???  We also have a 3G Kindle... connects up perfectly EVERYWHERE we go.  When we looked at the Nook Color, we felt that it not having 3G was a major design blunder ...giving that wifi can be so flaky and 3g does not seem to be flaky or hard to connect to at all...I can not imagine what the design team was thinking.  :-(   We bought 3 and are considering returning them all and waiting for the color 3g model.

[robodojo]

I have to say I cannot recommend using the Netgear Rangemax. That's what I had for my wireless router and the Nookcolor wouldn't connect. Today I purchased an Apple Airport Extreme and my Nookcolor was crazy for it. I was connected to the internet in seconds. And the pages load more quickly than they did for me at a cafe I was visiting earlier.

I, too, wish my Nookcolor were 3G--even though 3G can be a bit sluggish sometimes--because I want to be able to know I can get online whenever, wherever. But right now I am just happy to have a connection with my home network.

[donc13]

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Mikestl wrote:

Nook Color works great in wifi hot spots like B&N store.

Won't work correctly at home with Netgear Rangemax router.  I've got a laptop at home and a smart phone at home, and they work perfectly with the router, and without any router configuration modifications.  Worked from day one, out of the box.

Can connect to router with Nook Color, excellent signal strength, WPA-PSK (TKIP) security.  Says I'm connected to the Internet, but can't get to any web sites at all.

- Wireless network mode was auto, changed to b and g.  Nada.

- Tied the Nook Color's MAC address to a specific IP.  That helped the Nook stay connected but still can't get to any web sites.

- Tried specifying specific IP addresses for the DNS server instead of defaulting to the ISP's DNS server.  Didn't help.

I'm out of ideas. Can anyone think of anything else?

Many thanks,

Mike

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The NC doesn't like it when the WiFi Access Point doesn't broadcast its SSID.   

is your WiFi setup to not broadcast SSID, and if so...what happens if you turn that feature off?

(it really doesn't provide much security not broadcasting the SSID...a MAC filter is FAR better).

[BanjoBen]

I'm having similar issues with flakey wifi access on my Nook Color.  My home wifi network has a Netgear WNR2000 wireless router.  The Nook claims to connect, and will often work fine for a little while, but then loses connection to the internet (though it remains connected to the network).  Other devices continue to work, so clearly there is access. 

So far, I've tried updating the router's firmware and disabling some of the security featers but the problem remains. 

[s_eaton]

Has anyone discovered how to "fix" the problem with using Netgear router with Nook Color?  Got a Nook Color for Christmas and cannot connect to WiFi at home.  My daughter's Nook works fine but my Nook Color does not...shows that I'm signed-in but will not connect to internet. Spent an hour on hold with B&N Nook Help Desk; finally got someone to answer but he had nonidea what the problem could be.  Visited local B&N today and they have heard of the problems but do not have an answer.  They loaded 1.0 onto my Nook Color and asked that I try it again once I got home - no luck. Taking back tomorrow for refund and buying Kindle unless someone has found the fix and is willing to share...

[BanjoBen]

I also have a netgear router and hd lots of trouble. The thing that "fixed" the problem for me was switching to wep encryption. Other encryption schemes worked initially but always gave trouble eventually.

[skwarren14]

We had this same problem. RangeMax router, WPA-PSK[TKIP] security, nothing would make the NC connect and stay connected.

What fixed our's was to change the security protocol to WPA2-PSK [AES].

[daniel0son]

So let me first say that Barnes and Noble should fire their computer programmers for the awful coding in this software. My wife has pretty much given up on the NC because it won't work with our Netgear Router. What IT specialist wouldn't do a test run with one of the most popular wireless routers sold in most big box stores and used by a large percentage of the population?

With that said, I also changed my router settings from the WPA-PSK[TKIP] setting to WPA2-PSK [AES] like skwarren14 did. I can now browse the internet and use the NC as intended.

However, I now need to check my other wireless devices to make sure they will work properly with the new router settings. Most consumers wouldn't go to these lengths to make something work.

Barnes and Noble better come up with something better than their "minor" 160MB firmware patch or they will have a ton of returned NC from Christmas consumers...

[teacher220]

Thank you for shring your problems with the Netgear router. I thought I was going crazy! I switched to WPA2-PSK [AES] and it seems the problem is fixed. Hope this helps more people.

[drekim]

SOLUTION!!! For some reason the nook color will connect and acually is pretty fast if you change your router setting to up to 54 mbps. This makes no sence to me because of the (up to) it should work (up to) 300 mbps. I hope they come with an update or something for this.

[drekim]

SOLUTION!!! For some reason the nook color will connect and acually is pretty fast if you change your router setting to up to 54 mbps. This makes no sence to me because of the (up to) it should work (up to) 300 mbps. I hope they come with an update or something for this.

[mbratch]

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drekim wrote:

SOLUTION!!! For some reason the nook color will connect and acually is pretty fast if you change your router setting to up to 54 mbps. This makes no sence to me because of the (up to) it should work (up to) 300 mbps. I hope they come with an update or something for this.

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I reckon we'll wait to see if this works for the OP.

[MollyO]

As the NOOKcolor is a non-computer and non-phone device, you may need to change some settings on your internet managed routers.

1. Make sure your DCHP SSL is ENABLED

2. Make sure your Block Anonymous Requests is DISABLED

3. Make sure your Pass Phrase Security is OPEN and not Shared

This will not effect your internet or router security settings, it just allows for your router to recognize there is an alternate device attempting to connect to it.

I hope this helps!

[anieb]

Just for the record. Am using a Netgear WNR3500L and using 'up to 300' rather than '56' and it works well. If you're using a Nook cover with a heavy clamp on the left bezel in the center, try taking the cover off, as the clamp on mine interfered with stable connections. I no longer have disconnects, with the cover off. It also prevented me from making input in some input boxes. I do use WEP encryption since I have 4 other devices set up and didn't want to change their passwords or anything else. It worked fine. I do recommend running the setup wizard at http://www.routerlogin.net for smoothest quick functioning though, if you use that router.

[calliep]

I was also frustrated because I was unable to connect my B&N NOOKcolor to my wireless router (Netgear RangeMax), though my other wireless devices connect just fine.  I spoke with B&N Support; they were very nice but were unable to help.  Fortunately, I read the postings here and changed my router settings from WPA-PSK[TKIP] to WPA2-PSK [AES].  My Nookcolor now connects to the internet and I can use it to buy and download books.  A huge relief, as I really like this eReader!

[pgeoff]

Read all replies security settings differ from Netgear Rangemax.  Any other solutions.   About to return unit as nothing comes up on the web browser since upgrade to 1.0.1