Hex Net won't connect (wireless) to (two) iOS devices ??? "heads up" iOS users

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stefdds

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Hex Net won't connect (wireless) to (two) iOS devices ??? "heads up" iOS users

I've been using Hex Net for some time now with little or no Connection problems: either windows 7 or 10 on a laptop or my Ipad air ; both wireless or with vcds Mobile. In fact I had just used , 2 days earlier, the ipad with vcds mobile to reset some service settings.

Yesterday I upgraded / updated my Iphone . I was using a 4s from late 2011 ; I upgraded to a iphone X x-max (it was a big day). After I activated my new Iphone and did a apps transfer etc. , I wanted to connect to vcds with the hex net. I could not connect to the hex net with either the ipad or the iphone. No matter what I tried , either mode infrastructure or access point, wiFi showed the correct address of the hex-net or the home wifi address, but nothing would work. The message on the all white screen was "hex net can not find connection address" or something similar to that. (no home screen or log in / password landing page). Also, refreshing made no difference, nor did it even function.

I called tech support this morning and spoke with a very knowledgeable member of the RT team (she sounded like Kim Komando! - I hope that doesn't offend her) who was very thorough and helpful. She recommend a few diagnostics: Use the config cable and power up the hex net and go into hex net config utility and try to connect the vcds with either vcds or vcds mobile while using my windows lap-top. So, I did just that and hex net connected just fine: both wireless on the new iphone with vcds mobile and plugged into the windows laptop with vcds. I also did a update as long as I had the config utility going. Which she did mention, but thought that was not the problem. I wasn't completely surprised , since this all started when I activated my new iphone.

I then plugged it back into the car and had the same connection problem on both the Iphone and the Ipad with vcds mobile - No connection , no device found. I then wanted to try my theory: I reasoned that the two ios devices were now synced together since they both run current ios software 12.3.1 or something like that. The 4s iphone would only update to 9.3 or there about. And since I had no problem before the new phone, I reasoned that perhaps hex net was now trying to connect to TWO iOS devices at the same time! Even though I was only using one device at a time. The carriers are different as the ipad has verizon LTE, and the iphone is ATT . But, in settings you can choose the address you wish to connect to wifi or hex net address or the home att wifi . I mention this because maybe one is causing problems in the background (verizon LTE ? even though wifi selected ?? ) ; I really don't know, but wanted to mention it.

I then completely Powered OFF the ipad (the screen was dark before, but it was not completely powered off) and tried the iphone with vcds mobile in access point (green LEDs on the ends and amber in the middle) and boom, it connected right away to the landing sign in page! I then Powered OFF the iphone and turned on the ipad and had the same successful result: no problem connecting with vcds mobile on the ipad which went right to the sign in page. Both sign ins required me to go to settings and select the hex net address number (they were showing the home wifi address initially), but when selected all functioned as intended.

So, the "heads up" , and what I have discovered, is if you are using two iOS devices in the car or even in range of one another at home (a iphone and a ipad for example) and both are in low power mode with the screen dark and you choose to use one with the hex net , there seems to be a conflict with connecting to hex net wireless ; simply Power off completely one of the devices and all works as intended (no connection problems) ! I'm sure there is a way to set one or both of the devices so there is no conflict, but I have not discovered or know enough about the details to do that setting at this time. I suspect that even though the wifi or hex net address is selected, the verizon LTE is creating a problem in the "back ground" - just not sure.

And a big Thank you to the young lady (Edit , Dana) I spoke with this morning at RT support!!
 
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Uwe

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The young lady's name is Dana. She's coming up on 10 years with Ross-Tech and spent 5 or 6 years before that as tech at a VW dealership. She's good. :thumbs:

Sounds like Apple is doings some really strange stuff there, but I'm not sure what it could be. :confused:

-Uwe-
 
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stefdds

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Thanks Uwe, I'm a bit embarrassed I didn't catch her name as I think she introduced herself when the call connected. The conversation really moved right along! Dana's manor and "Kim Komandos" are very similar : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Komando ; perhaps they are both from the same area ; its uncanny . Hello to jyoung also!
I'll email KK and see if I can give her relevant information to sort this out.
I'll also call Apple support . They should be receptive since I just purchased one of their phones.
Updates to follow. Thanks everyone!
 
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romad

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You should look at getting FING for your iDevices as it can show you the IP address of each device on the network you're using.
 
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stefdds

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Thank you Romad, I will investigate that!
 
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stefdds

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I wanted to post a update for the latest information I have.

KK web-site has a membership fee , so couldn't ask the question there and I don't expect a answer from KK herself anytime soon.

I did contact Apple customer service and the representative mentioned that it did sound like the Hex-Net was trying to connect with two devices at the same time ; and that I should not have to power off either device. I could simply go to control center and disable bluetooth and wifi on the device that I wasn't using - at that moment.

So, I thought I would try it out about a hour ago: I went to the car with the ipad mounted in it and I sat in the seat with my new iphone. Just for the heck of it I was going to take some Ipad screen shots , with the messages, to show here, but when I went to settings and then selected the hex-net SN address followed by opening vcds Mobile, the address showed in the address bar above as well as on the screen (it wasn't doing that before). It would show in the address window, but not on the screen as that was where the error messages were shown. So,I tapped on the hex-net address and vcds opened! With the iphone present and fully active , but with the screen dark. All works well suddenly - on either device! And no need to deactivate other devices that are in range.

Best I can tell is that although ATT activated the phone, the other wireless features were still active on the old phone and the new activation was simply not complete yet. (?????????)

I do think the thread is still valid and the fix is if this does happen to you with a brand new device.... give the activation from your carrier of your new device about 24 hours to finalize all of your "details" and make a complete transfer. After that period of time, then test . VCDS Mobile working well! ET on a complete scan is 3 min. and 8 sec. !
 
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PetrolDave

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the fix is if this does happen to you with a brand new device.... give the activation from your carrier of your new device about 24 hours to finalize all of your "details" and make a complete transfer.
Some mobile operators admit that the transfer can be a gradual process over 24 hours or so (while the various elements of their network synchronise), Vodafone UK being one of those.
 
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stefdds

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Thanks PD, it was rather striking how all connections suddenly came to life! I think we have our answer. Cheers!
 
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Uwe

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I'm skeptical that carrier activation has anything to do with this. Why would that affect the behavior of the these iDevices on Wifi? How is an un-activated or partially activated iPad different than a WiFi-only iPad? Apple does still sell WiFi-only iPads, don't they?

-Uwe-
 
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stefdds

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Your point is well taken Uwe, and I just don't know enough about how all the systems work. Not sure about wifi only devices either. But I do know what I experienced in a rather short period of time. I would only speculate that once the new iphone was activated or partially activated throughout the att system ; it synced up with the Ipad. The home system is ATT wifi and /or direct with a cable from the router. This was all experienced at my residence ; I wasn't at any other location on any other carrier. Why would powering off one device make a functional connection for the other regarding the Hex-Net connection (I think that is your point Uwe) ? Unless the ATT system was not allowing full functionality at that moment in time. Perhaps the ATT system was seeing my actions as foreign - with the new Iphone processing - and blocked it. Once I powered off one of them, the att system recognized the request (my point).

Powering off one of the devices works with my point and with your point! It was the new Iphone that is the common thread:D through all of this! That much we do know for certain.
 
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stefdds

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UPDATE: I recently did a iOS update to "iOS 13 dot something": I did this on my Iphone X and Ipad. I did the updates about a week ago with no problems. Recently I had a wheel TPMS acting up and wanted to use VCDS Mobile to erase the fault code. I could not open vcds mobile in either mode on either device! Both the hex-net and the phone/ipad was on wifi and all appeared to be functioning (green LED lights on and the last one flashing etc.) , yet the the SN address of the hex-net on the screen would not respond to touch or refresh and nor would the app open. Note: this was only a problem on VCDS Mobile app ; the PC with the hex-net worked fine (wireless).

I sat back for a bit and thought perhaps the iOS updates changed some thing? So, it was easy enough to delete the VCDS Mobile app off each device and Reload them from the apple app store. And...... wa-la ! All is well once again and the app is opening and functioning fine!

So, if you do any Apple updates on your devices, you may need to delete and then Reload the VCDS Mobile app from the app store. It sure worked for me.
 
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