WifI Dongle not pulling an IP

[hodag]

I just bought an Obi202 and WiFi dongle.  I have a 75 foot Ethernet cable that will stretch from where the router is located to where the Obi is located, and when I do that the Obi works fine.  However, when I unplug the cable the WiFi will not connect to the router and pull an IP.  I have the router set-up with a static IP and I have opened the TCP and UDP ports referenced elsewhere on this site.  When I reboot the router it creates an IP at the specified address with no problem and the Obi shows up in the LAN list but is not shown as an active client.  This is not an issue with the range (it is only 50 feet) and I have reproduced the problem with the Obi within two feet of the router.

Just to be sure, I delete the static IP address, removed all the port assignments, did a factory reset on the Obi, and cold booted both routers.  There are no signs that the Obi is even attempting to pull an IP, even when positioned 2 feet from the router.  Is this likely a defective dongle?  We have 15 other devices that pull a both static and dynamic IP addresses from this same router with no issues.

[QBZappy]

hodag,

These should be the generic setup instructions:
1) I'm assuming that the first router is also wireless. OBi wifi should connect like a wireless laptop to the router. Set up the appropriate security settings (WEP/WAP) + key
2) Turn off DHCP in theOBi202
3) Set up OBi202 in bridge mode

Is this how you set it up?

[hodag]

Yes, I am pretty good at following instructions , and the Obi comes with a quick setup card.

hodag,

These should be the generic setup instructions:
1) I'm assuming that the first router is also wireless. OBi wifi should connect like a wireless laptop to the router. Set up the appropriate security settings (WEP/WAP) + key

Yes, I need to do that in order for it to connect to my router at all, wire or no wire.

2) Turn off DHCP in theOBi202

Yep, I did that using the ***3 procedure.  For good measure I programmed a static IP into both the router and the Obi using the ***4 procedure.  When I interrogate the basic and advanced network status configurations it plays back the correct information.

3) Set up OBi202 in bridge mode

I don't see a bridge mode anywhere even in the expert setup.  Things I find problematic:

1.  I can't get into the web interface directly using either obiconnect/wifi or 192.168.1.XXX so I can't check those.  I did change the device PW and that shows up in Obitalk correctly. 
2.  I cannot enter preferred SSID and PW in the WiFi setup under Expert Mode.
3.  Most of the options under Expert Mode are "grayed out".

[QBZappy]

I don't see a bridge mode anywhere even in the expert setup.  Things I find problematic:

1.  I can't get into the web interface directly using either obiconnect/wifi or 192.168.1.XXX so I can't check those.  I did change the device PW and that shows up in Obitalk correctly. 
2.  I cannot enter preferred SSID and PW in the WiFi setup under Expert Mode.
3.  Most of the options under Expert Mode are "grayed out".

You may want to connect the OBi202 router directly to a laptop/computer to troubleshoot. Temporarily enable the DHCP. See if you can browse the default OBi202 web page.If you can, you can then configure it there. If it works at this point remember that the OBi portal has the ability to overwrite the unit settings if you don't prevent it in the unit. Also don't forget to disable the DHCP on the OBi202 when you connect to the other router again. In any event I think that any router can be the DHCP server, as long as there is only one offering up the ip addresses.

Another thing that comes to mind if you want to try. Good luck.

[hodag]

I think I have something that is defective.  I tried all the alternatives you mentioned before I posted and I should be able to go directly into the web interface with just the static IP I programmed in the router or the obiconnect/wifi browser page with my Internet turned off.  Neither works. 

I did an e-mail to support and I will wait and see that they say. 

[QBZappy]

OK, I am confused about something.  I had some problems getting my Obi WiFi working and finally got that sorted out,

What did you do to fix it?

[hodag]

I am not sure!

The part of the process where you set-up your wireless connections by entering:

http://www.obiconnect.com/wifi

is very buggy.  I can't tell you how many times I tried that yesterday and I think it worked exactly once (and once more this morning).  I tried with IE9 and FF, cleared my browser caches, disabled my wireless access, etc.  It didn't even work after a factory reset (which is a real pain, who puts the reset on the bottom and the idiot lights that you have to observe while holding the reset on top?).  Anyway, this morning it decided to cooperate and I was able to access the wireless setup and it pulled an IP address via the dongle at last.  Once I had the WiFi dongle acquiring an IP, the rest was trivial.

Why it didn't pull an IP before when I first configured it remains a mystery, but I fully subscribe to the "if it ain't broke then don't fix it" school of electronics repair, so I many never figure it out.