re: Zune HD intermittently will not connect to any WiFi network

I've had my 32GB Zune HD about 5 days now and this has been a problem since I got it. Sometimes it will not connect to WiFi. "Sometimes" is the key word here. There's no commonality to when or where it happens. Right now I am at home with 2 laptops, a PS3, a desktop, iPhone, and Zune 120 all connected to my WiFi connection. Earlier the Zune HD was working fine, right now it just says "Local connection only" over and over again when I try to connect to my network. Later it will most likely work fine. I've tried rebooting it, letting it sit, rebooting my laptop, syncing it. Nothing fixes it, it just fixes itself later. It does this at work, at home, and at public WiFi. I always have another WiFi capable device on me so I know it isn't the networks; and I know it isn't some setting or incompatibility issue because it's transient and location agnostic. It sounds like either a firmware issue or possibly a problem with my unit.

Has anyone else observed this same behavior?  Is there a way for MS to gather diagnostic data on this? If this is a problem with my unit so be it, I can return it and get another one. I just want to know if that is the case here or if this is a known issue that is going to be resolved via software; and if so, when.

Thanks.

About 20 minutes later and it is working. Nothing has changed.

I have similar issues.  Both at home, and the college where I spend the majority of my time, I have pretty unreliable connection.  It usually takes many tries to connect, despite other devices having no problem connecting at all.  However, my Zune repeatedly says it "Can't connect (your Zune can't associate with the network.) Try again?" Like you, sometimes I cannot get it to connect at all, despite other devices easily connecting.  However, my issue is not exactly the same because I can usually get connected within 10 tries to connect.  Either way, I would suggest trying another unit (I've tried two others actually), but I am not confident it will solve your problem.  I think it is just due to the ZuneHD having very unreliable wi-fi performance with many networks.

Thanks for responding. It sounds nearly identical. I can sometimes get mine to connect if I am persistent enough but I typically lose patience with it after a couple tries and give up. Later on it'll pick it up and it will work right away, or on the second or third try or something.

It is pretty bad right now, I'd say about 60%-80% of my attempts to connect to WiFi end in me picking up some other device instead.

The problem actually appears to be getting worse. It used to happen sometimes, now it is every time. I cannot connect to WiFi anymore. I am going to try and restore my Zune, see if that helps.

I'm having the same problem with mine. Don't know what's going on.

OK, so I did the restore that doesn't erase your content, just replaces the OS (hold down media and power until it boots into the "Connect to PC" screen). That appeared to help. The first time I tried to connect to WiFi it worked great, but every time since it has not worked. So that leads me to believe replacing the software didn't help, but maybe the reboot did.

I just now tried to connect to WiFi and it failed, rebooted the Zune HD, reconnected, and it worked. I then shut off wireless, turned wireless back on, and reconnected just fine.

Based on what I have seen thusfar my current theory is that the problem happens when the unit goes to sleep while connected to WiFi. When it wakes up it is unable to connect to WiFi or may take many many tried to do so. Rebooting the unit appears to help. I will test this thoroughly today and post my observations here.

OK, so it appears that shutting off WiFi when you are done does the trick. It also doesn't really add too much hassle on. Just whenever you are done with the internet go to "Settings > Wireless" and tap "Wireless: On" so it says "Wireless: Off." You do not have to explicitly turn it back on, attempting to connect to the marketplace or use the browser will turn it on automatically.

It sucks a little, having to remember to turn of WiFi whenever you are done, but I have had a 100% success rate connecting to the internet without issue since I started doing this. I'll keep an eye out and update this if anything chnages.

Well, that was quick :) 4.3 fixes the problem. Since I upgraded my Zune HD to 4.3 I have been able to connect reliably.