Installed Genie for Android, now phone won't connect to wifi network
OK, this is a strange one. About a month ago I installed a new R6400 router. Assigned the same SSID and password that were already in use so I wouldn't have to reconfigure about a dozen devices. Everything, including two Galaxy S5 phones, worked flawlessly.
Then, after a week or so, I installed the Genie Android app on one of the Galaxy S5 phones. Started the app, successfully connected to the router, and everything still seemed to be working as it should. However, the next day, the phone that had Genie installed quit connecting to the 2.4 GHz wifi. (Every other device, including the other identical phone, continued working fine.) It would hang at the "obtaining IP address" step, then show an unhelpful message about the AP not being in use. Uninstalling the Genie app and rebooting the phone did nothing. The only thing that would restore the wifi connection was found on a Verizon support forum: Turn off wifi on the phone; shut down phone; remove battery and SIM card; then reinstall SIM card and battery and power on phone. The 2.4 GHz wifi connection then started working again, and worked perfectly for several weeks.
To see if I could duplicate the issue, I again installed, but did not run, the Genie Android app. The phone continued to connect to wifi perfectly. After several days I ran the Genie app, and sure enough, within an hour or two the phone's wifi again quit connecting. This tells me that the Genie app is the cause of this problem. I'm just leaving the app off both smart phones until I can find a solution.
Re: Installed Genie for Android, now phone won't connect to wifi network
1. Android 5.0
2. Genie version 2.4.26
3. Link is here. The issue in that thread doesn't appear to involve the router or router app, but I stumbled on that thread while searching on my wifi connection problem. The solution in the second post - turn off wifi/power down/remove sim card - is the only workaround that has restored the wifi connection on my phone.
Before I posted here I duplicated the problem twice, but after I posted I again lost the wifi connection without ever opening the Genie app, so now I'm not sure what's going on. I never saw this problem with my previous router, a WNDR3800. The problem first showed up a week or two after I upgraded to a R6400. I don't see how it's a router issue though, because all other devices -- wireless printer, tablet, laptop, Roku, smart TV -- have all been working flawlessly.
Re: Installed Genie for Android, now phone won't connect to wifi network
Sorry for the late reply, had to leave town unexpectedly. The behavior did recently show up on the other S5 phone a single time. Since that phone has never had Genie installed, it looks like I jumped to a wrong conclusion about Genie, even though I duplicated it twice. Just amazing coincidence I guess. The two phones are the only Android devices regularly used on the network.
I'm now starting to suspect a recently installed Roku. It has a screen mirroring option that, even though is labeled as "beta", was enabled by default. Instead of the usual AP it uses some kind of point-to-point protocol with Android devices, and the behavior started arount the time it was installed. I'm not home right now and probably won't be able to do any troubleshooting for a while though.
Re: Installed Genie for Android, now phone won't connect to wifi network
OK, finally got back home and looked into this a little more. My earlier suspicion was wrong; it was NOT the Android genie app causing the problem. I reinstalled Genie on my S5 phone and have used it extensively, and the problem has not reoccurred. It still looks like the new Roku with it's beta screen mirroring feature is the most likely culprit. When I was losing the phone wifi connection while running Genie, I realized I was sitting in the same room where the Roku was placed. I disabled the Roku screen mirroring option (which uses miracast BTW), and have not seen the problem since.
Several things changed at the same time which led to the confusion. I installed the new R6400 router, which was the first fully compliant ac router I've owned and turned on the 5g network. Also bought the new Roku, which is the only Roku in the house that will connect to 5g, and also the only one with the miracast screen mirroring option. Also tried the Android Genie app for the first time right after the new networking hardware was installed. It took a while, but I think I've finally got things sorted out.
