Misc DS Wifi Sucks terribly..

[Topfragger]

Okay, i have a Black Nintendo DS lite made in 2006 one of the launchy ones that came with Dr Kawashimas brain training,
and it has never ever connected to any router or hotspot, it is a piece of garbage, i've only ever had it work with an equally shit router known as Netgear which was garbage canned as it allways crashed and gives shithouse compatibility with PC's and laptops.

if i rememer correctly i think it worked at first with the netgear then stopped,
DON'T tell me that it's my Wifi settings because i have tried to get it working with several.
it often has a habit of telling you your security code you have entered is invalid when you know full bloody well it's not because you set the passkey
and i tried to get online with a Mcdonalds Wifi hotspot which is mainly used by DS owners in public with next to no problems, GUESS WHAT
when it came to testing the connection it failed, and when i try to go onto WFC on anything it just sits there trying to connect but never actually gets somewhere.

Is it true the Black DS lite is a piece of shit for Wifi?

excuse the curse words

 

[Kaos]

My Black DS lite has worked with most WiFi points I've tried, including my router at home.

I'm not sure what problems your DS has.

 

[Dylan]

Never had a problem with mine. You must be doing something wrong/

 

[Topfragger]

My Black DS lite has worked with most WiFi points I've tried, including my router at home.

I'm not sure what problems your DS has.

What date was it made and purchased? Gametraders reckons it's a batch issue, and a person called terrence cain had the same issues, he had a black Lite purchased around the same year as me, same batch obviously, and he could never connect it with anything, he sold his DS lite, and about 6 month's later bought a polar white and an M3 Simply, he never had a single issue connecting to anything after that.

and then he sold that with all the games and the M3 simply.

indecisive nitwit.

 

[Topfragger]

Never had a problem with mine. You must be doing something wrong/

For the second time NO,
when it comes to hooking a DS up to Wifi you just goto settings go search for an access point click the one which isn't WPA encrypted, and then test connection, and DONE just like the Wii which is more advanced than the DS and a little more complicated.

I am definitely not Doing anything wrong, i've checked everything (though what there is to check i dont see as its automated) it's not the router because i have tried several and even one that absolutely SHOULD WORK (Mcdonalds Hotspot) and it didn't and i was right near it too.

its the DS at fault, and another persons experience with a similiar batch as mine reinforces that.

 

[Kaos]

My Black DS lite has worked with most WiFi points I've tried, including my router at home.

I'm not sure what problems your DS has.

What date was it made and purchased? Gametraders reckons it's a batch issue, and a person called terrence cain had the same issues, he had a black Lite purchased around the same year as me, same batch obviously, and he could never connect it with anything, he sold his DS lite, and about 6 month's later bought a polar white and an M3 Simply, he never had a single issue connecting to anything after that.

and then he sold that with all the games and the M3 simply.

indecisive nitwit.

Purchased November 2007 from EB Games, don't know when it was made.

 

[sboi]

nv had a problem with a black nds set.

 

[Another World]

passkey is a term generally used for WPA with passwords. not sure if you used that term with the correct meaning in mind, but as your rant clearly states you are aware WPA does not work on the nds. alot of hot spots require you to sign a digital cert allowing you to use it free of legal repercussions. the nds does not have this ability so before you assume your hot spot is nds friendly, ask those that work there. i personally have had my nds kick back errors at some mc donald's restaurants when attempting to get online for free. some allow me and some just don't. i am aware that the ones that won't do anything and simply appear to be blocking are the ones with digital certs, and YES some mc donald's do use that.

i have a netgear router and it is in now way a piece of shite as you described it. works right out of the box, easy to set up, wifi worked the first try. the only issue was that the SPI firewall was blocking port forward rules but this had nothing to do with the wifi.

before you assume your nds is in need of repair, try other devices on your network or use specific networks you think are nds friendly. try a retail game, try a homebrew, try a rom and see what works and what doesn't. you can't rely on the wifi settings area to debug an issue, it can say your connected and then a game can not access the nds wifi network.

your nds is probably no longer under warranty. i have no idea why you didn't just call it in or return it the very first 10 times you could not get online. but i am not you so i have to assume you had good reason. give the 1-800 # on the back of your nds a call and see if it is under warranty. your problem might be something as simple as replacing the wifi antenna. this is something you can do yourself if you feel brave enough to open up your nds. nintendo will do most standard repairs after the warranty for 65+ dollars. however, after shipping you would be better off just buying a new unit.

and i know you don't want to hear it but double check the router settings!
802.11b or b/g modes only! -it has been reported the b/g mode does not always work.
channel 1, 6, or 11 only! the ds doesn't not support other channels officially according to the nintendo reps
wep 64/128bit encryption with a valid key or just wep only. wpa will never be supported as this is a hardware issue.
ssid set to public broadcast. although it is reported you can turn this off after the initial connection it must be on on a per game/per connection basis.

nintendo also recommends:
that you turn off any range enhancing features as they can cause packet loss on 802.11b.
to change your ssid from the defult one as the nds does its initial handshake based on ssid. two routers in the same broadcast area with the same ssid *can* cause conflict.

finally don't be so upset =). electronics are not perfect and shite happens. debug early, try features out the first week and return faulty hardware as soon as possible.

cheers,
-another world

 

[Topfragger]

Ignorant fools, Passkey means Password ID key Encryption Key, Personal Access Key, 4 Digit security Number, Password and so on, DS doesn't support WPA

But Mcdonalds hotspots aren't WPA now are they? In fact their OPEN and my DS utterly FAILED to connect (along with other common routers) to the Number 1 most used Access point by DS users everywhere in public.

@ Kaos

Judging by how DS lites sell like pancakes, i doubt yours was old stock so i believe it must be a batch issue.

So anyway, yeah all the awesome Wifi based DS homebrew is utterly useless and i'm out of warranty too.

Now then, yeah i would be brave enough to open my DS, i've seen the Wifi ariel its just a simple length of wire concealed in the joint between the bottom section and clamshell, where the mic is housed, i replaced my PSP display when it broke and it was easy, little frustrating but not complicated.

As for Certs well, Mcdonalds (according to Wikipedia) and Nintendo actually had the Wifi hotspots designed to be friendly to DS WFC users, and i did use a game to test the Wifi, i used Diddy Kong racing Clean dump off the AK2 with Download play enabled.

Now, this shouldn't have had any problems, now as for why i never tested these features in the first week, it's because i Could not, i didn't have a Router and by the time i did it was a shitty piece of shit, and when i switched to Linksys it was incompatible.

it's incompatible with ALL routers i've been near basically almost.

 

[Topfragger]

Allright i discovered the problem and a solution.

I need to be in the same room as the router at point blank range, because my DS Wifi ariel is so piss weak it takes the point out of portability.

the Nintendo help files helped me target the problem, and the phone support person said that it's strange anyhow that it didn't pickup any of the 3 in range routers nearby in this unit block, and early last year i used to be able to pick them up, so i would definitely say my DS wifi ariel has gone down to shittie town.

 

[gizmo_gal]

Topfragger, why have you never contacted Nintendo Support with this issue? you' should've acted sooner as now your warranty is probably expired and why'd it take you 2 years to figure out to use the DS in the same room?--You must not have tried very hard to use the Wifi capabilities of the DS.