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Crash, crash, crash!

Ruthie

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It's all it ever does! I can be halfway through watching a programme on BBC iPlayer, or just browsing through the App Store or looking at posts on the forum, and suddenly my iPad just stops working. Sometimes if I just switch it off and then on again it will work again, but more often than not I have to switch off my wireless router for a few seconds. It isn't a problem with the router though because I can still use my laptop and my iPod touch will also still load apps that need Internet connection. I used to like to listen to radio apps but it isn't worth it because they only work for a while and then they stop. Do you thin it's a problem with the iPad itself and if so, is it still under warranty. I bought it in March when it first came out.
 
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Ruthie

Ruthie

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AdmiralAdama said:
When you say crash do you mean it freezes or you lose wifi connectivity?

AA

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It loses connectivity. The round 'egg timer' just constantly spins until I get a message that I can't connect to the network.
 

The OB

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Ruthie said:
It loses connectivity. The round 'egg timer' just constantly spins until I get a message that I can't connect to the network.

G'day Ruthie. So it's obvious you are not connecting to your network. Is this happening with a completely new iPad3 you have just bought or is it on an iPad, version 2 or version 3, where you were not having any trouble before now?

Check back on that, can you, your answer could help with the solution
Regards, Andrew
 

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G'day Ruthie. So it's obvious you are not connecting to your network. Is this happening with a completely new iPad3 you have just bought or is it on an iPad, version 2 or version 3, where you were not having any trouble before now?

Check back on that, can you, your answer could help with the solution
Regards, Andrew

It's an iPad she bought in March, when it they first came out. And we can safely assume it is an iPad 3.

It is hard to really know where the problem is in a situation like this. Each device has a little bit different characteristics in terms of its ability to receive and send a wireless signal.

How far are you typically from your wireless router when the wifi drops out? Several rooms away or in the same room? It could be that you are on the edge of the range for your router and your iPad, for one reason or other, is just not pulling in the signal. Sometimes there can be other folks using their wifi on the same band and that makes it harder for your iPad to get it's signals. Do you live in a single dwelling unit (like a house) or in one were several families live (apartment, condo, townhouse, etc)? I know in my house several of my nearby neighbors are all emitting signals on the same band and as I get farther away from the router things get tricky. Just last night, while sitting on the couch, my iPad was having difficulty, while my phone generally did better. My Nexus 7 typically just drops out at this location. While it may seem as if they all should work if one works, that is not true because the antennas are in different locations and in different environments.

I wish there was an app for iOS devices that would let you monitor the strength of your wireless connection. There are such tools for Android devices (Wifi Analyzer) that let you essentially map out the strength of your wifi signal for a given device so you can know in what areas you have a marginal signal (comparatively speaking). These tools also tell you the strength of other wifi signals that are in your house due to your neighbors, and what channels they are using. With such a tool, you can decide if perhaps you need to tell your router to use a different channel where you may have a stronger signal and fewer conflicts with neighbors and such.

I suggest you try the same apps at locations very close to the router (in the same room, with no walls between the iPad and router) and then at farther locations (at the other end of the house, through walls) and note if the problem happens everyone or in just locations that are farther away.

So, at this point it is not clear if the problem is with your iPad or not. More info is needed.
 
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Ruthie

Ruthie

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You are correct in assuming that I have an iPad 3. Before that I had a 1 and I don't recall this happening with the 1. I live in a standard house and my router is in my living room. It is also connected to my Sky box with an Ethernet cable (not sure if that makes a difference). The problem has occurred when I have been in the same room as the router, and also when I have been in a different room. Nobody else in the house uses a computer so I am the only person connected to my wifi at any time.
 

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You are correct in assuming that I have an iPad 3. Before that I had a 1 and I don't recall this happening with the 1. I live in a standard house and my router is in my living room. It is also connected to my Sky box with an Ethernet cable (not sure if that makes a difference). The problem has occurred when I have been in the same room as the router, and also when I have been in a different room. Nobody else in the house uses a computer so I am the only person connected to my wifi at any time.

What router do you have? It is very old?

Did you update to iOS 6 on your 2012 iPad?

You might want try

Settings | General | Reset | Reset Network Settings

but if you do be prepared to reenter all of your network info, like password and such. And don't hit the wrong option as some of them will wipe your iPad.
 

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I'm pretty sure there are not any apps which allow you to analyse wifi signals in the app store. Interrogation of the wifi hardware (necessary to analyse the signals being detected) is not a supported feature of the operating system which Apple would approve an app to use.

The only one I know of exists for jailbroken devices from the Cydia store. It is called "Wifi Analyzer" oddly enough :)

Ruthie, what you are describing is not normal behaviour. I would suggest backing up, then restoring the device using iTunes, then restoring your back-up. This can very often solve serious issues like the one you are describing. It's not something you should have to suffer with.

If that doesn't work, you should be able to take it to any Apple store. They will likely swap it out for a replacement to rule out a hardware issue.

Good luck.
 
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Ruthie

Ruthie

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I have updated to iOS 6. I will give your suggestions a try and see what happens. One thing I was thinking was that my wifi download speeds are pretty low, do you think that can make a difference? If nothing else works then I will try and get to an Apple store and see what they say. Thanks everyone for your advice.
 

AQ_OC

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I have updated to iOS 6. I will give your suggestions a try and see what happens. One thing I was thinking was that my wifi download speeds are pretty low, do you think that can make a difference? If nothing else works then I will try and get to an Apple store and see what they say. Thanks everyone for your advice.

Do you have a neighbor or friend nearby that can let you test your iPad on their network? If all else fails i agree go to the App store, but I would try as much as I can from home. But do back a backup, just in case.

Your wifi download speeds are, if you are streaming over the internet, determined by the level of service you buy from your ISP. Typically, this is a good bit less than what your router can do, but it depends. But your speeds could also be low because you have a poor wifi connection. You can try the "speedtest.net mobile speed test" iphone app in the app store to test your speeds both up and down. If you don't look for the iphone app you won't it. It will test you what kinds of download and upload speeds you are getting inside your house and you can compare that to what your ISP claims to be selling you. At least, this is how it works in the US....things might be different in England!

Also, some are reporting wifi problems after the update to iOS 6, so you might be one of them! The reset might help.
 

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Ruthie said:
I have updated to iOS 6. I will give your suggestions a try and see what happens. One thing I was thinking was that my wifi download speeds are pretty low, do you think that can make a difference? If nothing else works then I will try and get to an Apple store and see what they say. Thanks everyone for your advice.

G'day Ruthie, why not try this. It has worked for some others who have updated to iOS6 or changed an iPad.

Open "Settings" then tap "Network" then "WiFi". Then tap the blue arrow next to the wireless router you are connected to. Then tap "Forget this Network". Go back to WiFi and enter the info your ISP originally required when your had successfully set up your Internet account.

If that does not work, go to "General", tap "Reset" then tap "Reset Network Settings". Reboot you iPad and, as above, connect to your network by entering those details needed by your ISP to get you going on the Internet and hopefully a decent WiFi connection.

Let's have feedback if that worked. If it did not then it could be a WiFi speed problem on your machine. There were many complaints about this some time ago and Apple is supposed have greatly improved that in more newer batches of the new iPad.

Regards, Andrew
 

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