Oh boy, the Nintendo DS is so fussy about a network configuration... Here we go...

1. SSID encryption support: None or WEP, That's all folks!
Modern access points are most likely using WPA2/PSK or WPA3, chances are, it's what your using right now, which would be incompatible.

2. Wireless interface support: 2.4 GHz 802.11b+g (Wi-Fi 3) or 2.4 GHz 802.11n+g+b (Wi-Fi 4)
It doesn't support 802.11g+n (Wi-Fi 4) which most access points probably use at this point. It does not support anything that uses the 5 GHz band.

3. "Not Encrypted", "No Encryption", "None" Security options may not be what you think.
Some routers however not all! often mask these options as a passwordless but still encrypted connection that would use whatever encryption is standard, probably WPA2/PSK. As it's still encrypted, your old device won't be able to connect to it, regardless of the fact that there's no password. This may not be the case, various devices or software on devices let you see what actual encryption is wanted by the access point, e.g. on my Samsung S8, it shows it when I connect to it and go into its Information by tapping and holding, and, the PSP shows it when creating a new connection in the access point list.

4. Encountering error messages referencing DHCP?
possible cause of error codes: 50000, 52000, 50000-1, 51000-1

Edit: Ok, so, originally I thought this was to do with the DHCP (or possibly DNS in the end?) local server address being the same as the Router's default gateway's causing problems, however, that wasn't the case, I realized soon after why that ended up looking like the solution when it wasn't, and we can thank my FRITZ!Box disabling Wifi Access Points after making the change allowing me to look into it more to find the real reason why it worked. While I don't know why DHCP sucks on the NDS so much, I now have a solution that should work for everyone's routers.

The problem:

• The NDS can connect to the access point, but returns an error stating to check the configuration of the DHCP.

The reason:

• The NDS can connect to the access point, but cannot obtain an IP address via LLC, DHCP, ARP protocol packets. LLC packet seems to send out correctly however the NDS doesn't send out a DHCP packet for whatever reason, or perhaps tries to and fails, so it can never send out an ARP. This returns the message stating a DHCP configuration error to you, the user, without any real information on what actually failed, which is super handy thanks Nintendo...

The fix:

1. Go into your router's admin portal (aka default gateway)
2. You should have a way to see a list of devices that are currently, or have previously, connected to your router.
3. Find the Nintendo DS connection and delete/clear its settings. If the device name isn't telling you enough, look for it by it's MAC address, which you can find on your Nintendo DS in the WFC Setup menu.
4. You should have a way to manually specify a static IP Address to a MAC Address, possibly a button like Add Device, (+) button, or such. Scope around your router settings and find it.
5. Go into the Nintendo WFC setup menu on your Nintendo DS, click the orange "Options" button, click System Information, and jot down the MAC Address.
6. In the Add Device on your router screen, put the name of the device, the MAC Address, and an IPv4 Address you wish to use for the Nintendo DS that isn't used by any other device. Apply.
7. You're not done yet, this is a very important step that every single "solution" I see online don't even whisper about, go and turn off and back on the WiFi access points your router sends out, or restart the router. I cannot stress how important this is, so many routers for some reason don't properly apply this fix unless you do so.
8. Now, after restarting the access point, on your Nintendo DS, have "Auto-obtain IP Address" set to "Yes" and try to connect, it should connect within a few seconds. If it fails, try manually specifying the IP Address, Mask, and Gateway. All of which can be found in your router's admin portal somewhere.

Why does this work? The NDS couldn't negotiate with your route an IP Address to apply for the connection, so instead, we applied one manually on the router admin portal, and now it doesn't need to negotiate anymore. You may be asking isn't that the point of manually specifying IP, Subnet Mask, and Gateway is for? Yes, it is, however it seems even that has compatibility issues with newer routers.

However, while this worked, it was somewhat temporary on my end, after a while of absolutely no activity (< 5 minutes) by the NDS, Router, or any other device at all, it stopped working.

5. The internet connection test fails, but the router connection itself succeeds:
This can occur if the Nintendo DS is connecting to the official test addresses, e.g. nintendowfc.net for connection tests, the problem is these have been down for a long time. You need to use a custom fan-made Nintendo WFC replacement server which is done by changing your DNS values from "Auto" to "Manual" and specify a DNS that will redirect all Nintendo WFC related addresses to fan-hosted ones. Do note that the DNS needs to apply nds-constraint for it to be work without having to patch the ROM files itself. If you don't know of a DNS to use, take a look at my other thread that has a list of fan-hosted DNS servers that you can use.

If you have specified the DNS address and it still occurs, it may be because the DNS itself has failed to be connected to, or it's connecting to the "Secondary" DNS server which you might not have specified. It's a good rule of thumb that if you only have one DNS address available to use, to just specify the same address for both Primary and Secondary, this ensures that it has to connect through that DNS or don't connect at all.

All information shown unless stated alongside it has been tested and verified with a FRITZ!Box 7530.
If you have any suggestions on stuff to check, please do let me know, and ill sticky your post.

 

[Deleted User]

some basic solutions (to the wifi interface and encryption) you can do is use ubuntu or some form of linux, and if you have two methods of getting internet, with one needing to be wifi, and the second can be wifi, or ethernet. You can setup a hotspot with no encryption, with mac whitelist, and preferably if possible, also make it so it doesn't broadcast the connection (using your wifi card) (makes it hidden so you have to fill the ssid in. helps prevent unwanted people, but mac whitelisting should also be used. this essentially helps keep the connection protected, without changing router settings)

 

[PRAGMA]

some basic solutions (to the wifi interface and encryption) you can do is use ubuntu or some form of linux, and if you have two methods of getting internet, with one needing to be wifi, and the second can be wifi, or ethernet. You can setup a hotspot with no encryption, with mac whitelist, and preferably if possible, also make it so it doesn't broadcast the connection (using your wifi card) (makes it hidden so you have to fill the ssid in. helps prevent unwanted people, but mac whitelisting should also be used. this essentially helps keep the connection protected, without changing router settings)

That would be referencing a solution to blasting an access point from a capable wifi card, though not all wifi cards support this, and you would need 2 wifi cards, or 1 wifi card and be connected through ethernet for it to work, which isn't reasonable to assume.

It can be done on Linux, as well as Windows, e.g. with software like Connectify however I have had many issues with that.

A solution I use is actually my phone's hotspot option. Unlike blasting an access point from a PC, it's reasonable to expect most to have a phone nearby that isn't from the stone age and capable of running a hotspot.

Most phone hotspots allow actual no-encryption setups which the NDS supports, but also the ability to block new devices from connecting (so essentially connect your NDS, then stop allowing new devices to connect), or in the case of my Samsung S8, you can MAC whitelist devices and hide the SSID, so you could whitelist your NDS's MAC Address, set your SSID to be super random like a password, and connect that way making it very difficult (but not impossible) to find.

For example, the scenario I just explained will result in a PSP finding the network, but not properly honoring the hide SSID flag and showing the connection, its encryption properties, signal, e.t.c, but with a blank SSID name.

 

[Deleted User]

That would be referencing a solution to blasting an access point from a capable wifi card, though not all wifi cards support this, and you would need 2 wifi cards, or 1 wifi card and be connected through ethernet for it to work, which isn't reasonable to assume.

It can be done on Linux, as well as Windows, e.g. with software like Connectify however I have had many issues with that.

A solution I use is actually my phone's hotspot option. Unlike blasting an access point from a PC, it's reasonable to expect most to have a phone nearby that isn't from the stone age and capable of running a hotspot.

Most phone hotspots allow actual no-encryption setups which the NDS supports, but also the ability to block new devices from connecting (so essentially connect your NDS, then stop allowing new devices to connect), or in the case of my Samsung S8, you can MAC whitelist devices and hide the SSID, so you could whitelist your NDS's MAC Address, set your SSID to be super random like a password, and connect that way making it very difficult (but not impossible) to find.

For example, the scenario I just explained will result in a PSP finding the network, but not properly honoring the hide SSID flag and showing the connection, its encryption properties, signal, e.t.c, but with a blank SSID name.

windows is far more finicky to deal with. And it's not completely unreasonable. There are users who likely have a Ethernet connection, and a built in wifi card on their pc. And two wifi cards aren't exactly needed if you already have a wifi usb dongle. (for the double wifi setup) The issue with phone hotspots is it uses data from the carrier. (at least every attempt on my andriod phone)
I'm just mentioning it as a possible solution. Since adjusting the router can cause a lot of problems.

 

[PRAGMA]

windows is far more finicky to deal with. And it's not completely unreasonable. There are users who likely have a Ethernet connection, and a built in wifi card on their pc. And two wifi cards aren't exactly needed if you already have a wifi usb dongle. (for the double wifi setup) The issue with phone hotspots is it uses data from the carrier. (at least every attempt on my andriod phone)
I'm just mentioning it as a possible solution. Since adjusting the router can cause a lot of problems.

Yeah thats all fairly valid, I should note though that my Samsung S8 never tries to use Mobile Data, instead, it tries to use the WiFi connection.

 

[Deleted User]

Yeah thats all fairly valid, I should note though that my Samsung S8 never tries to use Mobile Data, instead, it tries to use the WiFi connection.

yeah with mine there is no option to try to use wifi. it will scream at you if you try, forcing the hotspost to turn off

 

[martrainer]

Do you have any idea what the error code 52101 means? I've been trying to get this thing to work all day. I've tried everything already, and nothing seems to be working.

 

[PRAGMA]

Do you have any idea what the error code 52101 means? I've been trying to get this thing to work all day. I've tried everything already, and nothing seems to be working.

That's a subset of the DHCP issues I think, which may indicate that you need to follow the DHCP steps listed. If it doesn't work you need to try manually enter details instead of "Auto", but those are a bit advanced and even me knowing what to put, it still wouldn't work when I had DHCP issues.