Nokia 770 left unused, now unusable?

[karijackson]

I started to use my 770 today, and found it had apparently turned itself off. Well of course, thought I, I haven't used the poor thing in weeks, its battery got depleted. So I plugged it in. That's always worked fine before.

When searching for a WiFi, if it found my network it was unable to connect to it. Most of the time, it refused to even find any WiFi networks in the area. I figured, perhaps it needs to get its battery further charged before it can do a resource-intensive function like find a WiFi network (even though it's plugged directly into the electricity). So I waited until the battery was fully charged.

Then things went from bad to worse!!!!!!

Even after it was fully charged, it STILL couldn't attach to the network, and most of the attempts STILL couldn't find any networks to even try to attach to. Nothing has changed in this apartment, since the last time I had used the Nokia with no problems. This should not be happening.

Then I noticed, the date/time on the main application screen said some date in 1969, at 10:38 pm. Okay, that's sure not right. I wonder if it's been that way all day and I just hadn't noticed until now???

After I fixed the date/time, I told the device again to locate a WiFi. AND THE DEVICE REBOOTED ITSELF instead of attempting.

After it finished rebooting, I told it again, to locate a WiFi. And this time, not only did it find all the neighborhood networks (which it had done four or five times today), but this time it was able to connect to mine! I was finally online for the first time today! Hooray!

I opened a web browser window, it successfully retrieved my home page, and then I typed the URL I had been waiting all day to visit via the Nokia. It said "Connecting..." and then it hung.

The device now does NOTHING. Pressing a button on the screen made the "button press" noise, but nothing happened. Plugging the power back in, did not produce the "charging" icon. Pressing the zoom buttons did not zoom. EVEN PRESSING THE POWER BUTTON DOES NOTHING. I cannot reboot the thing because it's completely ignoring the power button.

Putting its COVER on still makes it go to sleep, I can tell because as I take the cover off, I can see the screen waking up again.

After a couple of minutes went by and the screen went to sleep due to its timeout, now it won't wake up again at all. Tapping the screen makes the "button press" noise, so clearly some portion of the software is still functioning, but the screen does not wake up.

I looked in the MANUAL, and the word "reset" does not appear, nor the word "troubleshooting".

Obviously the next thing I should try is REMOVE THE BATTERY, but I DON'T KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF I DO THAT.

How much data am I going to lose?

Yes I have a backup, but as I've already learned on this gadget, the backup does not back up everything, you lose all of your downloaded applications, and some of the carefully configured settings, browser home page, etc.

Is removing the battery the right thing to do?

Anybody know what caused this behavior in the first place?

I just got the device in January, so it's not like the battery is really old or anything.

Thank you!

[fpp]

Taking the battery out does not lose you any data, it just actually turns the unit "really off", which it is never quite otherwise. It is known to correct many problems, so you should probably try that first.

[karijackson]

Thank you so much for the fast answer.

Okay, removing and reinserting the battery was good.

But I still have the same problem as before it hung. Every time I tell it to go WiFi, it can't find any networks. There are like a dozen that it should be able to detect from this spot, but it does not. (Several times, today, it did; but as I said, on those few occasions it responded only with a message like network connection failed, retry?) Since the battery re-insertion, it hasn't even done that.

I might have been wrong when I said nothing in this apartment has changed since I last used the Nokia. I did get a WiFi adapter for my TiVo, and you'd THINK that after I made sure that was working, I would have also made sure the Nokia still worked. I probably did do that. And yet I can't actually REMEMBER doing it so the possibility exists that I didn't. So MAYBE there's a new WiFi device in the room now, since the last time I used the Nokia. But it shouldn't make a difference anyway, should it? Even if it did somehow make a difference in its ability to connect to my network, it certainly would not prevent the Nokia from being able to see all the other networks it normally sees (neighbors in the apartment building) from here, right?

So, how can sitting idle for a few weeks cause the Nokia to lose its ability to detect networks?

[luketoh]

Try to deactivate your Tivo's wireless or stuff that is new, then check if your N770 can detect.

Also, try changing your router's channel to something that is not so popular (something below Channel 10). Perhaps too many people are using the same channel in your area.

[karijackson]

Thank you, luketoh.

All I had to do was take the Nokia out for a walk. Once away from my apartment building, it could see other networks again. Then I returned to my apartment building, all the way at the other end of the hall from my apartment. There, it could see several of the usual networks that it can normally detect from inside my apartment. And upon walking back toward my apartment, when I got close enough, it could detect my own network again. And upon selecting that one in the Select Connection dialog, it was able to attach to it again, and I've been playing with it for a while, disconnecting and reconnecting, etc., and I cannot get it to do ANY of the weird things it was doing yesterday.

I was very careful NOT to change ANY settings, either in the Nokia or my WiFi router, so we can't blame the change in behavior on anything like that.

So, apparently the answer is, take Nokia out for a walk once in a while.

[Karel Jansens]

Thank you, luketoh.

All I had to do was take the Nokia out for a walk. Once away from my apartment building, it could see other networks again. Then I returned to my apartment building, all the way at the other end of the hall from my apartment. There, it could see several of the usual networks that it can normally detect from inside my apartment. And upon walking back toward my apartment, when I got close enough, it could detect my own network again. And upon selecting that one in the Select Connection dialog, it was able to attach to it again, and I've been playing with it for a while, disconnecting and reconnecting, etc., and I cannot get it to do ANY of the weird things it was doing yesterday.

I was very careful NOT to change ANY settings, either in the Nokia or my WiFi router, so we can't blame the change in behavior on anything like that.

So, apparently the answer is, take Nokia out for a walk once in a while.

It's just a big puppy, really. :D

[karijackson]

Just after I wrote the message saying everything was fine, the problem came back. Unable to see ANY WiFi networks inside the apartment. All I have to do (and I've done it OVER AND OVER AGAIN, and it works exactly the same every time) is go out in the hall, and suddenly all the neighbors' networks and my own are visible again. I can attach to my own network with no problem. When I come back into the apartment, I can continue using that connection, no problem at all! But once I disconnect, I may or may not (mostly NOT) be able to reconnect again inside the apartment. Before I wrote the above message, I reconnected about four or five times which was what made me think the problem had gone away after "the walk". But the vast majority of times, once I disconnect, I can't see WiFi networks in the Select Connection dialog again, until I go out in the hall again.

So it had to be the new TiVo WiFi adapter's fault, right? It must be somehow interfering with the Nokia's signal. So I unplugged the TiVo WiFi adapter, turned my WiFi router off, turned the Nokia off, turned the latter two back on but left the TiVo adapter unplugged. And nothing really changed. It's NOT the TiVo adapter's fault then.

So far, "out in the hall" has NEVER failed, not once. But inside the apartment fails ALMOST, but not quite EVERY time. Usually the list of available WiFi networks is completely blank. Once in a while, the list of networks is as normal but I just can't connect to mine. Only very rarely, can I connect. Out in the hall, though, it works every time.

How is it possible? A month ago, I had never had a symptom like this. But now, I can only connect to my network when I go FARTHER AWAY from it. That's just goofy!

[karijackson]

Oh, and luketoh, yes, I did try several different channels according to your suggestion, but the symptoms did not change, so I put it back to 6 as it was originally.

[Texrat]

Sometimes too many available networks can overload the 770. I've experienced this myself. Best thing you can do is make sure the connection you want is the most powerful. I added an external antenna to my Linksys router and that helped overpower my neighbors.

Also, keep your list of saved wifi connections to 5 or less if you can.