Reset device, now stuck on sign-in and can't do anything! What's my next step?

[scrappydeb]

Reset device, now stuck on sign-in and can't do anything!

Suddenly today, my Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (7") would not connect to the play store, telling me that I had no internet connection (although I did, for everything else, and could see that the device was connected on my router). After some research and trying some suggested fixes for this apparent known problem (cleared app cache, forced stop, etc), I decided to reset the device. It's been running sluggish anyway.

So when it goes through the reset procedure, I connect to my home internet... and it STILL says "no connection", which means it couldn't even go to the next step of the set-up. So I think, "hey, let me try this Xfinity hotspot network"... even though I KNOW I should be on my home network just fine.... but what the hell, I just want something to work here! So I select it, and the device says "connected to Xfinity", but never gave me a log-in. Then it has me enter my Google account login, and then it goes to "Signing in.... this can take a few minutes." And it COMPLETELY HANGS there. I can't do ANYTHING. Even when I hit "cancel", it now seems to be trying to cancel, but it's hung up on that, too. I can do a hard re-start, but it doesn't let me pick a different wifi network, because it still thinks that it's on the Xfinity hotspot! And I don't think it actually HAS an internet connection on that, so it can't do anything, but I can't change it! PLEASE HELP... I'm completely stuck and as of right now, the tablet is worthless!

ETA: after going through all this BS with the tablet, I thought to check whether I could access the Play store from my Samsung phone... and I get the same damn error! So I essentially "locked out" my tablet for nothing, and can't access the Play Store app from either device. I can access the Play Store fine on my computer, and from the browser on my phone. Is there some server issue with the Play Store mobile site??

 

[B. Diddy]

Re: Reset device, now stuck on sign-in and can't do anything!

Welcome to Android Central! Are you unable to access the Play Store only when you're using your router? What about using mobile data on your phone? If it's only the router, try rebooting the router by unplugging its power for 10 seconds, then plugging it back in.

 

[scrappydeb]

Re: Reset device, now stuck on sign-in and can't do anything!

OMG B.Diddy.... that did it!! Sure enough, on my phone when I turned off wifi, I was able to connect. So I unplugged the router - and that also "unstuck" the tablet, because the Xfinity hotspot was gone, so I was able to select my home network once the router rebooted, and the set-up on the tablet is complete. DAMN I never needed to reset it in the first place, lol!! But THANK YOU SO MUCH for the simple solution! I'm back in business!

 

[scrappydeb]

Re: Reset device, now stuck on sign-in and can't do anything!

Aaaaannnnndd..... it worked for a few minutes, long enough for me to download a few apps to the tablet. And now it is not working again, on either tablet or phone. So I guess the real question I need to answer now is, what's wrong with the connection to my router, that the Play Store does not recognize that the device is connected?? I've had the phone for 2 years, the tablet much longer than that, and the router for well over a year, and NEVER had this problem before.... This is very frustrating!!

 

[B. Diddy]

Re: Reset device, now stuck on sign-in and can't do anything!

The xfinitywireless hotspot is the public one that your router broadcasts is you're an Xfinity customer--anyone can access that hotspot, as long as they're an Xfinity customer as well. If you've tried connecting to xfinitywireless in the past, the phone may keep trying to connect automatically, which can be a pain if you don't want to connect to it at home. When you connect to xfinitywireless, you're supposed to get a login screen on the browser that requires you to enter your Xfinity account username and password--this is primarily for you to be able to connect to hotspots when you're away from home. If the tablet is somehow switching preferentially to the xfinitywireless hotspot and not giving you the login screen, that might be why the Play Store loses the connection.

On your tablet, forget the xfinitywireless network so that it doesn't automatically connect. Then make sure you're connected to your home wi-fi network that you had originally set up. Is it still not connecting correctly?