ipad mini: wifi "incorrect password" now, dropping Wifi yesterday

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ipad mini: wifi "incorrect password" now, dropping Wifi yesterday

My iPad mini (iOS 8.3) started having problems with my home WiFi yesterday. It would just drop the WiFi connection out of the blue (while in use, and working) and fail to reconnect. Restarting the iPad mini fixed it a few times but that doesn't work anymore. Changing the WiFi router's channel fixed it for a while, but then it dropped again. Now I can't connect at all. I've reset the network settings and now the iPad insists that the password is wrong, although all my other devices work fine. My router is a BT HomeHub5. I've had it for a few months now and it hasn't caused me any issues before yesterday. The iPad mini hasn't had any WiFi issues since I bought it, until yesterday.

[15 minutes later]

It joined the network just fine a minute ago, then it dropped again.

Any ideas what this is all about? I haven't effed with the settings of my router, iPad or anything else recently, and all my other devices work fine.

iPad Mini, iOS 8.3, sudden malfunction

Posted on May 22, 2015 8:21 AM

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Answer 1

sterling r

Community Specialist

May 24, 2015 8:59 AM in response to Uplink03

Hello Uplink03,

As I understand it the Wi-Fi on your iPad seems to be unable to stay connected to your Wi-Fi network, if it even connects at all even though youve reset your network settings. I would doublecheck with the troubleshooting in the following article:

If your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch won’t connect to a Wi-Fi network

Next I would take note of these 2 bullets at the bottom:

Try connecting to a Wi-Fi network in a different location. If your device can connect, you’ll need to get help with your Wi-Fi network. If it can’t connect to any Wi-Fi networks, contact Apple.

Update your Wi-Fi router with the latest firmware and make sure the router supports your Apple product. For more information, contact the manufacturer of your router.

If other networks behave the same way as your home network, then I would next backup your device to iTunes, then restore it as new and verify that it works.

How to erase your iOS device and then set it up as a new device or restore it from backups

If it does, then restore your backup to either verify it still works and the software just needed reinstalled, or isolate the issue to the backup file itself.

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.

All the best,

Sterling

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Answer 2

Uplink03 Author

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May 24, 2015 10:57 AM in response to sterling r

Thanks. I've actually done all the steps in the troubleshooting articles, except for the factory wipe (if that's a solution, you have a problem yourselves) before I posted.

Here's what I did in the end: I went to my router and changed the password. Of course, all my other devices that were working fell off the network. Then I changed the password back. All my devices came back. Including my iPad mini, which no longer has a stability issue. It has been solidly connected ever since.

What exactly could changing my WiFi password back and forth have to do with iPad mini WiFi stability? 🙂 My WiFi is secured using WPA2 only. I'd assume some parameter in my router got reset to 0 and my iPad mini will be happy until it overflows again (I've had this router for 3 months or so).

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