DuetWifi and Windows 10 Hotspot

blackmm87 · 12 Jun 2019, 19:34

Hello Everyone,

I'm working in a bit of a public setting and was trying to use my windows wifi laptop to act as a hotspot to connect the duet but I've been running into some weird problems.

The duet can sometimes connect to the laptop hotspot but it won't be accessible through the IP address in a browser, other times it won't connect to the laptop hotspot at all and it can't find the SSID of the laptop. I can connect my phone to the laptop hotspot, but the duet is having some issues. I can also turn my phone's hotspot on and connect both the laptop and the duet and access it there.

My question is mainly what could be causing the connection problem between the duet and the laptop? I'm not too versed in networking but I am just using the native built-in hotspot function in windows 10 with a surfacebook 2.

dc42 · 12 Jun 2019, 20:07

Which version of DuetWiFiServer are you running on the Duet?

Red Sand Robot · 12 Jun 2019, 21:03

@blackmm87 If your laptop has the ability to switch between 5GHz and 2.4GHz bands, if the original network it's connected to is a 5GHz band then the hotspot will be 5GHz as well. You need to go into your network adapter settings (can't remember the exact name) and change it to only connect to 2.4GHz networks. AFAIK the wifi module on the Duet can only connect to 2.4GHz bands.

I ran into the same problem when using my laptop as a hotspot to connect it to my printer at my university, and that's what solved that issue for me.

blackmm87 · 13 Jun 2019, 03:39

@dc42
I am running the version 1.22

@Red-Sand-Robot
I did try it at the 2.4ghz but the results were the same. I also tried connecting to the public wifi which did have an IP but still wouldn't connect. The only luck so far I've had was connecting it to the phone.

Phaedrux · 13 Jun 2019, 03:45

What about flipping it a bit and setting the Duet to access point mode where it creates its own network and connecting to it that way.

blackmm87 · 13 Jun 2019, 04:32

@Phaedrux
That option does work, but I am trying to figure out what the issue is behind connecting to the windows hotspot. I suppose it's not a matter of getting it to connect, but figuring out what is stopping the duet from connecting to the windows hotspot versus a smart phone hotspot.

Phaedrux · 13 Jun 2019, 04:37

@blackmm87 said in DuetWifi and Windows 10 Hotspot:

I am running the version 1.22

You can try updating to version 1.23, at least that's something to try.
https://github.com/dc42/RepRapFirmware/releases/download/2.02/DuetWiFiServer-1.23.bin

You could also try different channels maybe? I'm not sure how much control you have over the laptop hotspot.

Are there any driver updates for the laptop wifi?

blackmm87 · 13 Jun 2019, 20:45

I updated the server firmware and still no luck. I think it might be a Surfacebook 2 thing I suppose. I'm guessing maybe however they decided to run their hotspot isn't compatible with DuetWifi. Strange thing was it worked for a day and then next day it stopped...