If your Nintendo DS is unable to locate your Access Point (SSID) when you Search for an Access Point, it could be due to a variety of reasons. This document provides information on how to troubleshoot and resolve wireless connectivity problems between your Nintendo WFC and your Access Point.

Some of the most common issues that may prevent your Nintendo DS from establishing/maintaining a wireless link to an access point include: being located outside the range of your AP’s radio transmission footprint, your AP not broadcasting it’s SSID, your AP/router being configured to use an incompatible encryption method, excessive radio interference, excessive obstruction in the path of your RF signal, your AP's highly restrictive security settings, incorrect network/LAN interface settings, and your AP being configured to operate in a non-wifi compatible (i.e. only 802.11a or 802.11g) wireless networking mode.

Follow this diagnostic checklist to find out why Nintendo DS may be failing to connect to your Access Point:

• Verify that Your Access Point is Operational: Check the LEDs. If you find LEDs that are Red/Amber, blinking abnormally or turned off, look into your documentation and confirm that you do not have any WAN link or network connectivity issues with your AP itself.
  
• Verify that Your Access Point is Willing to Talk: Try connecting a laptop computer (or a wireless PDA) to your access point from a location that is close to your Nintendo DS. If it fails, try again from close proximity of your AP. If that too fails, work on making your AP play nice with others.
  
• Verify Your AP’s SSID: Especially if you have disabled SSID broadcast on it. Manually enter your SSID using the Nintendo DS's Manual Setup process, and try again.
  
• Verify that Your Nintendo DS is NOT Out of Range: Move your Nintendo DS within close (preferably within 2 to 3 meters or between 6 to 10 feet) proximity of your AP and try again.
  
• Minimize Radio Signal Weakening/Attenuation: Significant RF signal degradation (signal attenuation) can occur if you have thick walls, metallic furniture, etc. between your AP and your Nintendo WFC. Biomass (people, pets, live plants, etc.) and objects that contain water/moisture (large fish-tanks, iceboxes, or foliage/vines covering a wall, etc.) absorb more radio energy than most other non-conducting materials. Try placing your Nintendo DS closer (less than 30ft or 10m) to your AP, minimize obstructions between the two, and try again. A clear line of sight between the two may also help.
  
• Remove/Turn-off other RF Devices: Turn off microwave ovens, cordless phones, etc. and try again. RF devices that operate in 2.4GHz, 5 GHz, and/or 5.8GHz radio spectrum could potentially interfere with your wifi connection. Try different RF channels.
  
• Configure Your AP to Use Nintendo WFC Compatible Security: Use WEP Key based security (or disable it altogether) on your AP, and try again. If your AP/Router is setup to use other security schemes (such as WPA, WPA2, etc.) it will not work with your Nintendo WFC.
  
• Verify Your Network Settings: If you are using DHCP on your AP, verify that not all IP addresses have been already allocated. Try using Static IP addresses, and verify that you are using the correct subnet marks. Verify that DNS Settings (DNS hosts, Default Gateway, etc.) in your TCP/IP applet are correct.
  
• Verify that Your Wireless Network Supports WiFi (IEEE 802.11b) Standards: Unless you set your 802.11a or 802.11g based AP/Router to work in mixed mode, it would not work with your 8021.11b (WiFi) based Nintendo WFC.
  
• Verify Your Access Filters and Firewall Settings: If your AP is configured to use MAC Address Filtering, Access Control Lists based on IP Address/Subnet Filtering, SSID based Filtering, etc., disable those security measures temporarily and try again. If it works, tweak those filters and access control lists so as to allow communication from your Nintendo WFC through it.

While there are many other things that can possibly prevent your Nintendo WFC from establishing a reliable high-speed wireless link to your access point or your broadband wireless gateway/router; identifying and resolving any such contributory factors is not very difficult -just follow your RF data link.

Even though the above checklist covers situations that are encountered frequently, we must note that it is certainly not an all-encompassing list -It is work in progress. Therefore, we would love to hear from you if you have encountered a contributing factor that is not yet included/covered in this checklist.

Please do not hesitate to use our Contact US form to let us know if you still have unresolved issues related to this (Nintendo DS and wireless connectivity) matter. You may also want to explore this site for other helpful content we may have on this subject.