Connecting a Blackberry to my Netgear router Problem

[henrybarnett]

I obtained my Blackberry 8320 from my son. He swapped it for an iPhone and I completely agree with his choice.

With this very BB he was able to Wi-Fi connect in the UK and I thought it would be easy to set up the BB in France.

I unblocked the phone, inserted my SFR SIM card and made and received calls then set about using the Wi-Fi.

I have read dozens of posts where BB users have been unable to connect and I now am a member of that group.

I have the BB 8320, a Netgear WPN824 Wi-Fi router and a Freebox modem. (Free is my ISP)

I have disabled the TCP settings, they are now blank. I selected the default browser as Wi-Fi Hotspot. I changed the browser settings to Wi-Fi only mode. And turned on the Wi-Fi connection under the Manage Connections button.

The BB sees the network but cannot connect.“Cannot assign an IP address”

I have given my Netgear WPN824 router the (device) MAC address of my BB and am now in the throes of trying to understand why the error message “Cannot assign an IP address” appears.

From what I read no-one knows or is capable of resolving the problem. Is it the BB or is it the router or even the modem?

I was looking forward to using the BB but having spent three days trying all combinations I am about to give up and sell the BB or even give it away.

Unless someone knows what is wrong.

[freshfitz]

is dhcp turned on in the router is there a wireless password or WEP key set in the router? How many devices are connected to the wireless router? On the BB is it set to obtain ip address automatically

[henrybarnett]

is dhcp turned on in the router is there a wireless password or WEP key set in the router? How many devices are connected to the wireless router? On the BB is it set to obtain ip address automatically

Hi, and a happy new year to you.

DHCP is turned on in the router but only in the broadband one. there is no DHCP control in the Netgear wifi router as far as I can see.

The WEP key is correctly set.

I do not think I could get as far as the message "unable to obtain an IP address" if the BB was not actually connecting to it. Until I put in the correct MAC address in the Netgear it would not connext to it.

I have not seen where the on the BB you can set it obtain ip address automatically.

[freshfitz]

The BB will default to unable to obtain IP address if any kind of error occurs it's so general you really have to ignore it even if you put in the wrong wep key it may say connected then it will say unable to obtain ip address because it's not truly connected. You say DHCP is turned on in the router but the broadband one and not the netgear is the netgear a second router or just a wifi access point? How many devices are connected to this network cause you need an internal router to dish out ip address outside of the broadband router.

[freshfitz]

the unable to obtain ip address error is so generic you have to ignore it. Even if you put in the wrong wep key it will connect to the wireless then say unable to obtain ip address cause it truly is not connected. Is the netgear wifi being used as a second router or a wifi hot spot. Where do you have the Freebox modem plugged into the netgear in the wan port or in the 1-5 ports? You need an internal router with a dhcp server to make this work which your netgear will do is there any other devices hooked up to this equipment?

[henrybarnett]

The BB will default to unable to obtain IP address if any kind of error occurs it's so general you really have to ignore it even if you put in the wrong wep key it may say connected then it will say unable to obtain ip address because it's not truly connected. You say DHCP is turned on in the router but the broadband one and not the netgear is the netgear a second router or just a wifi access point? How many devices are connected to this network cause you need an internal router to dish out ip address outside of the broadband router.

The setup is: Freebox ADSL (Broadband) modem, hardwired to the Netgear WPN 824 EXT WiFi access point. PC is hard wired to Netgear (RJ45); Laptop is either wifi or more often GPL (also Netgear) connected (as it is now) There is a Wii that can wireless connect (with incredible ease!!!) but is not connected at the moment. That's it.

Q are WEP keys case sensitive. Idem Mac addresses?

[henrybarnett]

the unable to obtain ip address error is so generic you have to ignore it. Even if you put in the wrong wep key it will connect to the wireless then say unable to obtain ip address cause it truly is not connected. Is the netgear wifi being used as a second router or a wifi hot spot. Where do you have the Freebox modem plugged into the netgear in the wan port or in the 1-5 ports? You need an internal router with a dhcp server to make this work which your netgear will do is there any other devices hooked up to this equipment?

Sorry saw some other questions.

I presume the Netgear is being used as a Hot Spot.
The modem was plugged into the WAN port but on reading netgear's docs I have changed it and it uses one of the 1-5 ports.

If as you say I need an internal router with a DHCP server set up, how do I configure this? Or do I have this already?

[elonja]

well,i can say its something to do with the wifi router,because i connected to mine once,and now i cant,plus i can connect to wifi anywhere else,i enabled and disabled,changed and restored to factory,still no luck,im thinking it happened after i did a firmware upgrade for the router

[henrybarnett]

The problem turned out to be that Orange UK needed to DEREGISTER the BB. That has to be done by the original contract holder.

Orange France were incapable of giving me the solution and Orange UK at first did not know what I should do. Three weeks later after I wrote to them they replied with that answer. Meanwhile I sold the BB and will be getting an Iphone or Itouch or even an Ipad!