Wireless issue "Disabled - help please

[jecilop]

I just recently got this tablet from someone else. (This person had not problems and is trustworthy in reporting all that was done and care taken with it, even offering on advice on things you can do with it.)

My first step was to connect to Wifi. This happened without problems.

When returning home from work where I also connected, my wireless connection(s) have started to say "Disabled" after trying to obtain the IP where they did work fine before. The first time this happened I had to do a factory reset to solve it (hardware reset didn't do it).

Today, it is happening again. I woke it from "standby" to start using again at home and received this message. In fact, any attempted WiFi connections comes up saying "disabled" after attempting to connect and obtain an IP. Again, these are saved connections that previously worked. I know it's not the routers because another new laptop is doing fine as is my phone.

Please help if you can. I've tried:
1) power off/up 2x in a row to no avail
2) removing and adding back the connection with the appropriate passwords
3) a factory reset but I really don't want to do that again because I'm afraid flashing it back will bring back the same problem.
3) I haven't put any new apps on it since it last worked earlier today so I can't figure that as an issue. The first time it happened a week ago was when I'd just gotten it. It has worked for almost a week without problem. I did nothing special but travel home.

SPECS:
A500 Wifi
Rooted (was unrooted when it first happened); rooted now using IconiaRoot v1.3
(previously rooted and unrooted with Gingerbreak which would no longer root)
ROM: Honeycomb 3.1 with Virtuous Picasso v.1.1.0
Kernel: 2.6.36.4-UNITY-V5-ge7dee2a-dirty

Thanks in advance.

 

[scarryman04]

try changing the encryption in your router, my phone did the same thing to me using tkip encryption switched it to aes and works perfect now

 

[pduffer]

I had similar problem twice, resolved by using the pin hole reset.

 

[jecilop]

The different routers have different encryptions so that is not an issue. Also, I shouldn't have to have control over the router for this to work.

I tried the pinhole reset before, but it didn't work.

I tried it again 10 times last night. Oddly, after the 3rd time it worked briefly then suddenly switched to Disabled. After the next 7 tries, I gave up. Someone on XDA told me there is a file that can be deleted if rooted to fix this, but they haven't yet told me what it is. Looking forward to finding out. I can't use my Iconia I just got!

 

[Moscow Desire]

I would switch kernels and roms. Clearly there is an issue with what you are running. Considering the 500 is a brainless root, I would try some of the HC 3.2 roms and kernels.

For example Taboonay 2.0 with thors 3.2 kernel. They run the 3.2HC with root.

You could take the official 3.2 update, and see if that shakes it up, but keep in mind, there is currently no root for official 3.2, and there is no rollback once updated.

 

[jecilop]

Never could figure out what file to delete, so I've just changed the ROM from V.Picasso w/HC3.1 to Taboonay 2.1 with HC 3.2

We'll see if it repeats.

 

[jecilop]

Unforrtunately, it does repeat.

The only "solution" I've found is actually a little random. I have to remove the wireless connection, turn off wi-fi, and then do a hard reset using the little pinhole button. However, this doesn't always work. It takes like 5 or of these before it works.

Also, I lost root somehow (very strange) since the last ROM update to Taboonay 2.2 with not resolution as to how to get it back.

I've still now found the file you can supposedly delete or manipulate to stop this Disabled issue.
A factory data reset does it, but that is unwanted for obvious reasons.
Since I've lost root and cannot get it back, I also can't do a simply system image restore either.

 

[scarryman04]

how do you figure you lost root? because thats kind of impossible running a custom ROM seeing how their pre-rooted...im lost here.

download terminal emulator from the market...type su then hit enter. if the $ changes to a # sign you still have root.

 

[Moscow Desire]

With Taboonay, you lose root because you are probably running SetCpu. Uninstall SetCpu, and reboot. I had to use CpuMaster. Don't ask why, but a lot of people lost root doing what you did. And it seems it was SetCpu causing the issue. This usually happend when flashing a recovery of Taboonay. Taboonay always was a little flakey when doing a restore of a previous image. It's a good rom, but just has it's quirks.

With your router and wifi, try changing channels on the router.

 

[jecilop]

how do you figure you lost root? because thats kind of impossible running a custom ROM seeing how their pre-rooted...im lost here.

Nope, not impossible. It did happen. I updated to Tab 2.2, set all apps and settings, insured all items working, and then backed up an image. When the wireless stopped again and wouldn't reset, I figured the easy fix was to flash my backup. Wireless worked after that. I didn't check anything further. It wasn't until I wanted to use an app requiring root (App quarantine) that I realized something was fishy only to figure out I didn't have root. I no longer had access to backup through Acer Recovery and no root apps worked. Trying Titanium backup suddenly didn't work properly There was a lot of strangeness with the SuperUser. I tried to update it and couldn't. It said no root. Root Checker said no root. Running CWM recovery didn't fix anything. Trying to reflash the backup showed my that it could not access the android.secure.img portion so I got the picture.
Also, I guess because Taboonay 2.2 is based off 3.2 and not 3.1, it would not root when I tried running IconiaRoot v.1.3 which had worked before.
My fix was to take a chance and flash the Tab 2.1 ROM instead. That worked. Everything worked properly after this. I have had the Wireless "disabled" issue repeat; the fix seems to be forgetting the connections, turning off wireless, and running the hardware reset as many times as it takes before it works again. Yes, it can be 5 or 6 times. It's very frustrating. NOTE: Yes, Tab 2.1 is an HC 3.2 build. I haven't been brave or haven't needed to try to run to unroot to see if it would work because ..why?

With Taboonay, you lose root because you are probably running SetCpu. Uninstall SetCpu, and reboot. I had to use CpuMaster. Don't ask why, but a lot of people lost root doing what you did. And it seems it was SetCpu causing the issue. This usually happend when flashing a recovery of Taboonay. Taboonay always was a little flakey when doing a restore of a previous image. It's a good rom, but just has it's quirks. With your router and wifi, try changing channels on the router.

This was the most helpful answer I've received so far. I saw one mention of SetCpu with explanation and had no idea what it was (I'm not a root expert though I'm trying to learn more). HOWEVER, I don't have it and have never installed it. I would think it would show as an app also if it was included in the Tab ROM. I started to check but then realized I only know to look in the system folder. It would show up under apps even if there so there was no need. So I don't see that this could be affecting me. I haven't done anything myself to adjust the CPU. I assume that's built into the ROM to help with power saving. I have noticed a difference in battery power since going back to TAB 2.1 vs. 2.2, however.

As previously mentioned, I have control on some routers but not others. It happens regardless of the router I'm on. It has been 3 routers, and I know for a fact that they are on different channels.

I saw something on XDA about a file that has problems in logging the number of connections (like once you made a certain number of connections it goes crazy and can't make anymore). This is possibly a stretch of what was pointed out. It was a specific problem (known) on the A500. Oddly, you'd think it would be easy to get the actual info. I only sort of understood it. It was mentioned without anyone EVER directing people to or naming the file so we could check it out. Even my searches turned up nothing more and I really tried. Something was said about deleting it when this happened then deleting again at the next occurrence. I surely would love that fix, but cannot get the info on the file.

Thanks for your help. If I'm misunderstanding something about SetCPU, please educate me.

I've considered changing ROMS, but everything has its drawback. I was looking at the latest Thor ROM, but it loses functionality of the orientation switch which I love despite how easy it's supposed to be to do it via software. I find I use it a lot! There was one other bug I read that mattered to me, but I can't remember as I've done a LOT of research on this and have been sick and just can't access that memory

 

[scarryman04]

The two bugs in the latest Thor ROM is the orientation lock and the automatic brightness.

Losing root is a new concept to me...I've never heard of this happening to anyone but I guess it can happen.

If this problem is persistent on any ROM you use I would say it has to be hardware related.

 

[jecilop]

The two bugs in the latest Thor ROM is the orientation lock and the automatic brightness.
Losing root is a new concept to me...I've never heard of this happening to anyone but I guess it can happen.
If this problem is persistent on any ROM you use I would say it has to be hardware related.

It seems I read of something other than those two. Brightness doesn't bother me as I managen it all the time.
Actually, there were others experiencing the same thing with root suddenly gone. I researched ... You can find it in XDA under the Iconia section if interested.

I also just discovered tonight that going back to Tab 2.1 fixed my market issue with free book downloads..

 

[scarryman04]

It seems I read of something other than those two.

Nope those are the only two, the only two that are stated on the Thor website which is TegraOwners – Nvidia Tegra2 & MultiCore Tablets, Phones – ROM, Apps, News and the only two bugs I've noticed since I installed about 3 weeks ago...otherwise flawless!!!

 

[waylandk]

you should be over this by now with all the updates. If not go to Acres web site and down load a patch file that will have be put on a micro SD card and rebooted. They have instructions. I did this months ago and have been good to go ever since. I have had my device since first week they launched.

 

[Moscow Desire]

Well, first Taboonay. The issue they had, if I remember, was when restoring a recovery image of their Taboonay file. The result was a loss of root access which shouldn't happen. Seems SetCpu, which is the most popular cpu app, wa causing the issue. Uninstalling, and reinstalling it fixed the root problem.

As with the Wifi issue, it almost sounds like you're trying to connect to an AdHoc network. This would explain why you saw some advice on changing out that 1 file.(wish I could remember what it was). But that was an AdHoc connection. As with a max number of connections to a regular wifi, I've never heard of it.

As with a good rom, I use Harkon (I have an a501) it will run fine on a 500, but, you will have to edit the build.prop file before flashing to indicate Wifi only. Small edit). But for you, I would try Honeyliscious. It's a stock (pre rooted) HC3.2 for specifically for the a500. The problem is, the author is on holiday, so he removed the link for download till he gets back. Strange, but a good stable rom.

The Thor rom is sweet. And his support is outstanding. But, you have to use a software switch for screen orientation (it was ported from an Asus Transformer rom).

 

[Moscow Desire]

It seems I read of something other than those two. Brightness doesn't bother me as I managen it all the time.
Actually, there were others experiencing the same thing with root suddenly gone. I researched ... You can find it in XDA under the Iconia section if interested.

I also just discovered tonight that going back to Tab 2.1 fixed my market issue with free book downloads..

Yeah, the loss of root happened when Acer pushed the 3.2 update. It installed a new bootloader to the tab, thus killing root. Fortunately, it only took 1 day to figure out how to roll back to a 3.0 version, install root and acer recovery, then reflash a pre-rooted 3.2 rom.

Also, the 2 latest updates may have done the same thing again. However, there are 2 pre-rooted updates already available.

 

[jhowle9475]

This will fix your problem

Acer Support - Answers, E-Mail, Chat - What can I do if I am unable to connect via WiFi after completing an Acer Android tablet system update?