WifiRanger Problems

I'mdonewiththis forum · February 2, 2019

Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction..... I have a WifiRanger GO2/Elite that I purchased used from a member here a while back. It was working decent up until a couple of days ago. I lost connection with the indoor unit and after rebooting both my laptop and the WifiRanger I could get into the control panel of the Go2. I wasn't able to get into the control panel of the Elite (outdoor) router. I finally reset the outdoor router back to factory. I was able to access the control panel and set it up again, however, even though both units are connected to the campground wifi (showing green) I am unable to access the internet. After resetting everything it is still hit and miss on accessing the Elite control panel. If I reset the outdoor unit MOST times the red light on the GO2 will flash about once a second. If I unplug the cat5 cable then the light stays steady and after I plug it back in it takes a few tries to get the light to stay on and only then will it power up the outdoor unit. Anyone have any ideas????

Tom

docj · February 2, 2019

Hi Tom:

After all the resetting you've done, it's quite possible that the GoAC and the Elite are no longer properly "paired".

My suggestion would be to first unplug the Elite and work with the GoAC by itself. Once you are connected to the Go, I suggest going to its the Setup tab of its control panel and disabling the WFRControl line. Make sure to save the changes before you go back to the main page.

Once you've done that you can get the Go up and running properly. If you have any trouble connecting to its wifi then use an Ethernet cable. Regardless of whether its connected by wifi or cable its address will be the same: 10.1AB.CD.1 where ABCD are the numbers in the Ranger's serial number of the form 7XABCD

Once the Go is working then reconnect the Elite to the Go. From the Setup tab of the Control Panel, turn on WFRControl and then examine the settings using the "gear" on the right side of that line. It should say that it is controlling the Elite and should give its serial number. If anything else is displayed then I would suggest using the dropdown box to "unpair" the Go from other devices. You may need to disconnect the Elite before unpairing; then be sure to Save. After the unpairing is complete the reconnect the Elite and go through the process of pairing it with the Go (and SAVING). Once you've done that you things should be working Ok.

If you have any problems with this procedure, please contract WFR Customer Support and they can lead you through the process.

Joel (AKA docj)

I'mdonewiththis forum · February 2, 2019

Thank you, Joel. I did things the way you said (but I sure thought I did about the same thing last night!) and I am using the Ranger (both inside and outside routers) to post this. I have no idea what happened since the message "Configured Controlling 78xxxx over Ethernet was the same message I got before. I don't know if it makes a whole lot of difference, but mine is the older Go2 (Mikrotech) router. Another issue I have had was when I first get to a campground and put the Ranger online is it is smoking fast but as time goes on (about two weeks) it gets slower and slower. It did this at the last three campgrounds we were at. Any ideas there? I wish I would have realized you were in Rockport. We just spent a month there in Sandollar.

Tom

docj · February 2, 2019

27 minutes ago, Mntom said:

I don't know if it makes a whole lot of difference, but mine is the older Go2 (Mikrotech) router. Another issue I have had was when I first get to a campground and put the Ranger online is it is smoking fast but as time goes on (about two weeks) it gets slower and slower.

WiFiRanger has worked hard to ensure that its older routers can handle the latest firmware, but the older unit have less ROM and slower processors. The change from the Go2 to the GoAC was made several years ago and the GoAC represented a major improvement in performance. I assume you have kept its firmware updated? If Customer Support can't assist you over the phone, it could be sent back for service but I don't think it would be worth it for one this old.

As for issues developing after a couple of weeks, that's not all that uncommon for software-based systems. Even your computer or phone can develop issues if left on for weeks at a time. Rebooting is usually painless and fast.

I'mdonewiththis forum · February 2, 2019

Yea, I knew it wasn't the "latest and greatest". It is running 7.0.7 firmware and I have checked for updates. It actually does run pretty decent for what it is and here in this campground my laptop only sees eight different networks, but the Ranger sees 23 last I checked. It's working just fine now thanks to your advice. Now I just need to remember the sequence when I need it........

Thanks again, Tom

docj · February 2, 2019

3 minutes ago, Mntom said:

Yea, I knew it wasn't the "latest and greatest". It is running 7.0.7 firmware and I have checked for updates. It actually does run pretty decent for what it is and here in this campground my laptop only sees eight different networks, but the Ranger sees 23 last I checked. It's working just fine now thanks to your advice. Now I just need to remember the sequence when I need it........

Thanks again, Tom

I hadn't appreciated that the problems were fully resolved. Wonderful! Glad to have been of assistance.

Joel