MAK Wifi

frankan9

New member
I finally had the time to reinstall the chip into my 2 Star, and I'm glad to say this seems to have solved the issue. I had the Wifi connected for over 2 hrs before shutting it down. Previously I was lucky to have it stay connected for 15-20 minutes before getting the
"CHK SSID"message . Thank you for your help
Frankan9, This is going to sound strange, but give this a try: Set your WiFi router passphrase to 13 characters. Not at least 13, but 13 exactly (no spaces), and see if it helps.

Also make sure there are no spaces in the router SSID name.

Years ago at the computer shop we learned that for some reason the algorithms used for WiFi security are more compatible with more devices using a 13 character passphrase.

Adding a second router setup as a repeater, closer to your MAK, may also help with this.
 

TentHunter

Moderator
I'm glad it worked! It was a shot in the dark based on previous experience at the computer shop.


Maybe MAK (or other WiFi grill owners) can add this to their arsenal of things to try in a WiFi situation.
 

Sinitron

New member
Hi all, I haven't posted in a long time but had a wireless issue with my 2-star and figured I'd share the info and things to look out for when using wireless and your MAK Grill.

1) Make sure your wireless signal is strong by the grill, at least 1 bar of signal strength. A friend of mine was trouble with the router in the basement and the grill on the deck opposite end of the house. If it managed to connect, it would run for a random period of time before reverting to 'smoke' when the signal dropped. Typically under 15 min in most cases. This is most common with the verizon fios factory 2.4/5ghz router that has very poor signal broadcast. I recently replaced mine with the TP-Link Google wireless unit and now have zero issues as the broadcast coverage is much improved.

2) If you have your grill working on an existing network, and you replace the router or access point, your grill may no longer work! Even though you pick the same network name, case-sensitive spelling, security type, and password, it may fail to connect. Go through the panel to clear out all the stored info (SSID, Passphrase, WEP, etc.) and wipe it out. Turn grill off, turn back on, input your network info, password, and give it a go. This worked for me when replacing Verizon router w/ Google Wifi.

3) Password strength or passphrase length only comes into play if you are using old WEP encryption, that's the reason the old computer store trick still worked:
-WEP 64bit requires 40 bits (from a given password) + 24 from an initialization vector; 40 bits means 10 hexadecimal digits or (as a restriction) 5 ASCII characters you type in.
-WEP 128bit: requires 104 bits (from a given password) + 24 bit from the Initialization Vector; hence the given password can have 26 hexadecimal digits (4*26=104) or - as a particular case - 13 ASCII characters you type in.

Change your encryption to WPA. If it doesn't have it as an option, the equipment is wicked old, (circa 2003+) time for a new one.

Enjoy and happy smoking!
 

TentHunter

Moderator
3) Password strength or passphrase length only comes into play if you are using old WEP encryption, that's the reason the old computer store trick still worked:
-WEP 64bit requires 40 bits (from a given password) + 24 from an initialization vector; 40 bits means 10 hexadecimal digits or (as a restriction) 5 ASCII characters you type in.
-WEP 128bit: requires 104 bits (from a given password) + 24 bit from the Initialization Vector; hence the given password can have 26 hexadecimal digits (4*26=104) or - as a particular case - 13 ASCII characters you type in.

Change your encryption to WPA. If it doesn't have it as an option, the equipment is wicked old, (circa 2003+) time for a new one.


When I learned this trick WEP was already old, and we were dealing with 802.11n routers using WPA2.

In fact I just recently had this same issue with a client who installed a brand new router and had one device that wouldn't connect (everything else connected). It was already using WPA2 encryption by default. We changed the passphrase to a 13 character one and voila; it connected with no issues! That's what made me think to post this trick here.

It's not often, but I do see this crop up once in a while.
 
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