iPad 2 keeping dropping wifi connection after iOS 7.0.4 update

[canis]

I've updated my iPad 2 to iOS 7.0.4 when jailbreak came out.

I've been happy with the update and using it for a couple of weeks. Then, all of a sudden, my iPad 2 started dropping wifi connection randomly for 10~20 seconds every 20~3 minutes or so (not this regular, but on average, I'd say).
I have no idea what's the cause of this.
It's not just in Safari. The whole iPad loses wifi connection, so no third party web browser, no Appstore, no Youtube, nothing that requires connection will work during those 10~20 second before wifi connection gets restored.
If it's any help, the error message I get in Safari when I turn wifi off is that I am not connected to the internet, but when Safari fails to connect to a webpage because of this problem, I get the message that server cannot be found. So there seems to be some difference here.

I have tried tinkering with my wireless router settings (although I am sure that's not where the problem is, since all the other devices at home work on the same router no problem and I didn't change anything on the router), reset network settings and then reset the settings on whole iPad (which resulted in my Cydia app icons getting messed up), restored my iPad, reinstalled Cydia tweaks and appstore apps one by one in an attempt to see if it's any particular tweak or app that's causing this problem. I can't quite seem to track it down and it's still happening. In any case I don't have any tweak installed that would explicitly mess with wifi, although I can't be completely sure since I am a regular user. Still, I am not installing anything out of whack. I am only installing things that have been updated for iOS 7 recently, most of them paid tweaks or ones from the Cydia default repo, so I don't think I am installing anything shady or anything.

This makes web surfing on iPad annoying, and streaming video or audio all but nearly impossible.

Does anyone have this problem? Known issue? (It does seem like a lot of people are complaining of similar issues, if not exactly the same as mine. Google "intermittent wifi issues with ipad 2 and wifi" I can't post link because of my post count. Apparently a long running issue, although it only popped up in the last few weeks for me. Never had this problem before in years of iPad 2 usage.) Does anyone know any fix for it?
I would really appreciate some assistance.

I would be very unhappy if the solution is "update to iOS 7.1 when it comes out in a few weeks" since I simply can't use my iPad without jailbreaking. Might as well use an android tablet then. Sigh...

Thank you so much for reading.

 

[willerz2]

Welcome to iPadForums. We hope you enjoy your stay with us. Please also take the time to peruse the forum rules here and abide by them as you post throughout the forum.

Turn off Wifi, and perform a hard reset of your device and see if the issue persists. Install Cydia Substrate if you haven't already, and boot the device into Safe Mode by turning it off completely, and holding the volume up button as you boot the iPad back up again. Use the iPad as you normally would (some/most tweaks may or may not work in Safe Mode depending on the Daemons usage) and see if Wifi is dropping.

The issue may have been carried over when you backed up and restored the iPad to re-jailbreak it using Evasi0n7. If wifi is still dropping while in safe mode, then backup your device again (if your previous backup is insufficient), restore your device and set it up as a new iPad. Test to see if your wifi is still dropping (it shouldn't). Then jailbreak using Evasi0n7 again, and see if wifi is still working as it should. Reinstall your packages (see below on how to restore your packages manually if you do not have PKGBackup installed), and see if the issue comes back. If the issue does not return, then it's a system preference issue that was carried over, so you would have to manually replace your data.

-----

To manually make a list of all your packages, open up MobileTerminal or an SSH Terminal Client (PuTTy, Terminal, etc) on your computer. Login if you're using a computer.

Run the command

• dpkg --get-selections > installed-apps.txt

This will generate a text file in /var/mobile/ with a list of installed packages. Your repos may or may not be backed up along with it, so it's best to have your repos saved in a text file as well if you don't remember them. The default repositories will be there after your re-jailbreak. Any non-default repos will have to be added again most likely.

Restore your device, re-jailbreak, place the text file back into /var/mobile. Then run the following commands in order.

• dpkg --set-selections < installed-apps.txt

• apt-get dselect-upgrade

In some occasions there may be a hiccup in the txt file, in which case, you can run

• apt-get --fix-missing dselect-upgrade

 

[canis]

Thank you. Let me determine what I have tried and what I haven't by replying to your post. I will organize my thoughts this way.

Turn off Wifi, and perform a hard reset of your device and see if the issue persists.

Yes, the issue persists. As I mentioned, I tried a hard reset and this would remove cydia app icons from springboard. In any case, Issue persisted.

Install Cydia Substrate if you haven't already, and boot the device into Safe Mode by turning it off completely, and holding the volume up button as you boot the iPad back up again. Use the iPad as you normally would (some/most tweaks may or may not work in Safe Mode depending on the Daemons usage) and see if Wifi is dropping.

I haven't tried using my iPad in safe mode yet. I will do it and see if the issue pops up.

The issue may have been carried over when you backed up and restored the iPad to re-jailbreak it using Evasi0n7. If wifi is still dropping while in safe mode, then backup your device again (if your previous backup is insufficient), restore your device and set it up as a new iPad.

I did this. The first few times I backed up my device, factory restored my iPad, restored from iTunes. The problem kept being there, so I suspected it might be because I restored iPad using iTunes, so the last time, after factory restoring my iPad, I set it up as a new iPad. Currently, I hardly touched any settings or installed any apps (only three apps). I do have quite a few cydia tweaks installed and I was making a list as I was going along of the tweaks I was installing in order. Since the issue is intermittent, I am not sure if it indeed is a tweak that's causing it. Maybe I should go back and start removing tweaks one by one and try to determine if I can pinpoint it to a tweak.

Test to see if your wifi is still dropping (it shouldn't). Then jailbreak using Evasi0n7 again, and see if wifi is still working as it should.

Right, this does seem right. Not quite sure, but it seemed ok during the time when I was using it as a pure new out of the box device. I was not patient enough to test it for days in that state, so I can't be completely sure though.

Reinstall your packages (see below on how to restore your packages manually if you do not have PKGBackup installed), and see if the issue comes back. If the issue does not return, then it's a system preference issue that was carried over, so you would have to manually replace your data.

Well, based on what I said above, since factory restoring and setting up as new iPad didn't help, I'd suppose it's probably not a system preference issue. Once again, it seems like I will have to try removing cydia tweaks one by one. The only problem is the frequency with which this happens. I stated once every 20~30 minutes, but it can be a lot longer without the problem, making testing very difficult and uncertain. I'd suppose a day's hard use without encountering this issue would be enough, but that's just too much...


Anyway, I think the next for me to try are going into safe mode and see if that happens (if it doesn't, then I'd presume the issue is with one of the tweaks that gets disabled in safe mode, although I don't know how to tell that) and removing tweaks in reverse order of installation and see if I can track down the issue to a tweak.

Thanks, and I wish I could get some additional help as I test this out.

 

[scifan57]

Have you tried resetting the router ?

 

[canis]

Have you tried resetting the router ?

No. I did try changing the wireless mode from mixed to b+g only, and tried switching wireless security setting from WPA 2 to WPA, both of which didn't help. I will try resetting the router.

Edit: I just tried resetting router and modem by unplugging the power cables for 10 seconds, putting them back, and pressing the reset buttons at the back for 10 seconds. Let's see if this helps any.


Also, I was testing in safe mode, and it happened again just now. Is there a way to know which cydia tweaks are active and which ones are not in safe mode?

 

[canis]

Resetting router didn't help.

The only thing left now is to look at which tweaks get disabled in safe mode and try to remove those that are not disabled in safe mode (since the issue was still there in safe mode, so if it indeed is one of the tweaks doing this to me, it must be one that is active in safe mode).

I asked above, but do you know how to do this?

Edit: Updating router firmware didn't do anything. I feel like ditching this trash now.

 

[The OB]

No expert here but just a thought. Is your router a dual band one like 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz? If so perhaps you could try switching over.
Andrew



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