Dongle won’t connect to local WiFi after router change

Hi
I had my internet router changed. The new router has been set up with an identical SSID and pass key to the old router.
Everything else in the house that used the WiFi has carried on working except the GivEnergy dongle. This is flashing to show it is not connected to WiFi.
I have checked the dongles set up page (10.10.100.254) and it still shows correct SSID/passkey. I can see the WiFi signal from this set up page. However when I press “Restart” from the set up page the screen shows “Rebooting…” and it then seems to freeze. I have left it for >10minutes and the dongle fails to connect.
Any suggestions would be gratefully accepted as I can’t see how to move on from this.

I had something very similar after the wifi extender in the garage was accidentally switched off for a few days - when it was switched back on the dongle would not reconnect - I did a full reboot of the dongle several times (with the micro switch in the end) and ended up buying a new dongle and connecting that - then getting GE support to link it to my account. One thing that occurred to me after I'd "fixed" it that way was that with the new dongle I took a laptop out to the garage and presumably connected to my wifi extender in the garage with the laptop and the dongle - even though the extender is set up to mirror the main wifi I wondered if that made a difference - oh and I switched the 5Ghz (IIRC) off on the repeater too for both the old and new dongle. All other devices (Zappi and Inverter) were fine and didn't need any attention so I presumed a fault with the first 6 month old dongle.

Thanks for your reply.
I have turned off the 5Ghz signal on the new router to make sure this is not the problem. No difference occurred.
Similarly my battery system is in the garage (but with no extender). Other things in the garage (such as EV charger, EV and Air Source Heat Pump monitoring) which connect to WiFi, have continued to work fine.
My battery monitoring app was working fine until the point the router was changed. As such I was finding it difficult to believe it was a simultaneous fault in the dongle.
Did your dongle replacement sort the problem?

Hooray back in business!
My installer just came round and sorted the problem.
What he did was pressed the reset on the bottom of the dongle, switched off the main isolator AND switched off the isolator on the battery. He then returned all the power, reset everything in the set up page and the dongle reconnected (went solid blue).
Data is now appearing on the app again and I’m a happy bunny!

Hope this info is useful to others in the future.

JR Thanks for posting. I will be changing my router and I won't be able to change the SSID and pass key, so this might come in useful...

wrefordj I would be very worried if I had to install a router which did not allow me to configure wifi and security. Everyone should be prepared to do this in the event of being hacked. You are very much more likely to be hacked if you rely on any defaults provided to you.

wrefordj as @cluelesscris says it would leave you at risk by not being able to change the SSID and password - a lot of ISP provider routers have known password formats which can be easy to crack if you know what make it is. I would refuse an ISP router I couldn't configure, or look to change it ASAP with my own.

wrefordj
what make of router or what supplier are you going to that wont allow this?

positor1 If I understand it correctly, Jurassic Fibre (in SW England) do not allow access to their router. I will check this but presumably they keep security under control?

https://jurassic-fibre.com/

wrefordj The only people that should know your wifi sign on is you. If they don't allow you to do this then you should ask them for a WAN access only and install your own router. If you are not technical then I can understand the temptation to let others manage this for you but your trust circle would then expand to everyone at Jurassic. For me this would be a no go and I wouldn't consider them at all. I'm certain any aware business wouldn't either. This all sound a bit negative but actually I suspect Juarassic will be able to allow you to control your own security. You might just have to ask.

cluelesscris Thanks for the advice! Much appreciated.
I am contacting them to check and maybe will go for the WAN option.

cluelesscris
Complete agreement.

I believe that the BT supplied Home Hub (residential) has plenty of restrictions on what you can or can't change.
This is why for the second hand market the Business models are superior as they allow 100% amendments to SSID, 2.4/5ghz, channels and so on.

dragon2905 Our BT Home Hub has no restrictions for SSID, or bands. I can have separate SSIDs and passwords for 2.4GHz and 5GHz, or the same settings for both. I can set the channel selection to auto or specify a channel (although available options are only 1, 6 and 11 at 2.4GHz). The only thing I can't do is turn off the external BTWi-fi but then I sometimes use the same facility when I'm away from home, so fair's fair.

Tim Cool, they may have changed it then. Its been 4 years since I bought my Home Hub Business router from Fleabay to use as an extender.

Just FYI I did a router change this morning and kept the same SSID and Password and it worked OK - so odd that it would fail in some instances?

Anyway glad you got it sorted.

Hmmm since around 12:38 my Inverter has gone off line and dongle is flashing - Now trying to see how to get it back on line. I spoke too soon. It was working fine this morning...

Is your inverter configured to use a static IP address? It could be that the new router has issued the same IP address via DHCP to another device. Either way I would start by rebooting the router then same for the inverter.

I can't reboot inverter as it is offline - Trying to find way to manually re-boot the inverter physically - but I am aboiut to travel and this could not have happened at worse time.

I have managed to log onto the dongle and tried to re-start it but not sure if it has re-started - no obvious message and mobile phone keeps losing connection to the dongle as it has no wifi...

I checked the dongle web pages and it has the right SSID and Password - So just need to find way to re boot the whole thing.

BTW I did not use static IP as far as I am aware and it was all good until about 12:30 today...

Now to google a reboot of inverter...

JR please can you be more precise the steps your installer took so I be able to follow. It would a great help for me. I am having the same problem sadly.

JR just out of curiosity, did he charge you a "call out charge"?

M_J Check that your router isn't using channel 12 or 13 for the 2.4GHz band. Apparently, the dongle can't use those channels.

As you are able to get into the dongle page I would use a different SSID on the new router and start a fresh. Then to save everything else in the house from needing the change, change the router back and the same with the GE dongle.
I know this sounds like a pain but I'm almost certain it's to do with the security methods on the wifi. The handshake could be different and the only way know for sure is change it to something else.

Hi Gents, back from France and now looking into this issue, thanks for the suggestions and a quick update on what happened after I left the house - as it went down when I was trying to pack and get to Ferry on time so a tad stressful and I did not have time to spend on the issue...

Anyway when I got to France the bloody thing was working OK and I was getting stats so all hunky dory - but alas there is an underlying issue...

So when I got home last night I powered up my PC and it killed the Battery Network connection -

So when I switched internet providers I switched my PC to use Wifi rather than a network cable as the crappy NowTV (Sky Router) has two network cables not the 4 of the old BT Home Hub. I need three as my wife and I have a PC and I use Devolo Network Wifi Extenders around the house as a 300 year old Ironstone faraday cage of a cottage.

So I think the issue might be down to something with my PC using wifi? Or maybe not...

The router was left on unchanged while I was away and the Battery dongle got on and back up and running yet turning my PC on killed it? Mind you turning PC off it did not re-connect until around 6am when I woke up this morning? So maybe not down to my PC. - All I did this morning was power up a Devolo adaptor in the master bedroom to watch TV and that might have helped the reconnection? - It was turned off while we were away?

The other thing tied to my switching routers is that my phone now finds the same SSID and does not switch between the Router and Devolo extenders - forgetting passwords - I now need to see what I can do to solve that and work out the root cause for the Battery dongle - so will check your suggestions above and report back when / if I find the answer...

Tim Hi don't think that is an issue as it was choosing channel for me, not sure how to check it but have chosen channel one to see if this makes a difference. Thanks for the tip and useful to know. For other folks reading this later channels 1 6 and 11 are ones to try to see if it improves your wifi as less chance of congestion unless neighbours using nearby channels - i.e. 2 if you choose 1...

MarkyG82

Hi a great suggestion and I might follow that later - I am going to do some googling as to why I am now getting duplicate SSID when my phone moves downstairs and picks up a Devolo adaptor in that new area - It should just seamlessly pick up the stronger Wifi - but it is not and it could be part of the problem...

I used to be an IT PM and I have a modicum of knowledge but god help anyone else getting batteries and swapping out routers - the joys of IT....

Will post back further on developments - many thanks for people suggesting solutions 🙂

Well turned off my PC and got the Devolo App for the devices and refreshed via the Devolo App all the passwords - Same PWD BTW - had lunch and noticed that GivEnergy Dongle has gone off line again...

Very odd - I might try the suggestion fromMarkyG82 and see if using a different SSID on the router and updating the Dongle with new one to see what happens.

Refreshing the Pwds via the Devolo App seems to have removed the duplicate SSID from the phones and they seem to now be switching between the Devolo devices and the router better(ish)

OK after much faffing I have followed @MarkyG82 advice and changed the router SSID to a slightly different name and kept the same pwd and got it connected and working. Then re-changed it back to the original name and it now seems to be connected - time will tell if that is a stable connection. I even have local monitoring set up again and working.

Alas I disabled my sims to stop them connecting and now I seem to have lost my main sim, so might have to re-seat sim or find out how to re-enable it as it is not popping back up - so now I have no mobile phone access... Joy one step forward two back - I HATE IT.... 🙁

A quick update for anyone finding this thread another day - The fix as suggested byMarkyG82 seems (fingers crossed) to have worked. Will update if that changes...

I had to go to Currys this morning to pick up a replacement ID mobile SIM after I bricked it by disabling the Sim to stop it logging onto data when trying to talk to the GivEnergy Wifi Dongle. Not sure why ID Mobile do this as the 3 Sim in the same phone was disabled and re-enabled with no problem.

So another lesson learnt - don't disable the ID Mobile SIM within the phone wait until you find the access internet option.....

I did find a poor chap had done the same while on Holiday travelling and the only way to fix it is with a new SIM which being in Australia was a bit of a problem for them....

At least I used the EV to pick it up and it is now being charged by the solar panels.... 😉

My update for this thread....
Today we changed broadband supplier and router from Virgin Media cable to full fibre FTTP from Open Reach and EE. I had hoped that I would be able to rename the router to the Virgin settings but that wasn't possible as the new router needed a different format of network name and password. So it was with some trepidation that I used the Settings - Setup WiFi Dongle. It did stutter a few times as I went through the steps, however it did work and my GivEnergy inverter is connected to the new router and data is flowing!

My update for this thread....
Today we changed broadband supplier and router from Virgin Media cable to full fibre FTTP from Open Reach and EE. I had hoped that I would be able to rename the router to the Virgin settings but that wasn't possible as the new router needed a different format of network name and password. So it was with some trepidation that I used the Settings - Setup WiFi Dongle. It did stutter a few times as I went through the steps, however it did work and my GivEnergy inverter is connected to the new router and data is flowing!
Not so easy with my EO Mini Pro 2 which needs me to scan the QR code on the charger which has been weathered for the past four years and so is nearly invisible - and no it didn't occur to me to photograph the QR code four years ago. I am not sure how important it is as Octopus Intelligent with Tesla controls the charging schedule but I did use the app to make the charger not live when away from the home to prevent electron theft!