How to correctly uninstall Access Connections

[hms46]

Is there anything else that is needed to uninstall Access Connections (AC) other than to remove it by Add/Remove Programs?

Thinkpad tech support said in addition to uninstalling AC that I also must remove the Network Adapter Intel PRO/Wireless 2915ABG Network Connection (under Device Mgr) before rebooting after removing the AC program. Is this really correct?

Background:
I primarily use the R52 with a wired connection w/ occasional use using wireless in the house. The wireless used to work fine. For some reason recently, the wireless connection would not come back on even though wireless radio was "on"; hitting Connect would not work.

TP tech support said the only way to remedy the situation was to uninstall and reinstall AC. The tech went through an 1.5 hr ordeal of uninstalling AC, the Intel adapter, etc, and then reinstalling all of this. After all of this, it still does not work.
Problems:
1. Fn+F5 does not work at all; used to work fine. There is no way to turn the wireless radio on once it has been turned off.

2. AC generally will not find other networks although it will sometimes; not much help if I am using it outside the house. In earlier times, several local wireless networks would appear.

3. Before uninstalling a firewall this evening to update to a later version, I turned off the wireless radio. Upon rebooting, the icon for the wireless disappeared in the toolbar nor would the AC program start (just hung with a splash screen). Therefore, there is no way now to reconnect w/ wireless.

4. The logon/logoff process now is painfully slow (about 1 minute); used to be matter of seconds.

When I rec'd the TP, I set up the wired connection thru Windows; I did not know about AC until I set up the wireless connection.

Due to the many problems I have read about, it would seem to me that I can live w/o AC and instead use Windows for this task. This seems much easier than reinstalling the entire system since I cannot use wireless at all now.

This AC problem is the only serious issue that I have had w/ this R52 which I have had for a year (purchased from a forum member).

I would sincerely appreciate any help w/ this.

[GomJabbar]

Normally the steps tech support gave you is all that is needed. But sometimes things get mucked up to the point that it requires more work to get it completely uninstalled so that a new installation will work as it should. I believe the post by antera309 is the most comprehensive I have read for dealing with this problem.

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 458#215458

[jdhurst]

1. Is there anything else that is needed to uninstall Access Connections (AC) other than to remove it by Add/Remove Programs?

<snip>

2. TP tech support said the only way to remedy the situation was to uninstall and reinstall AC. The tech went through an 1.5 hr ordeal of uninstalling AC, the Intel adapter, etc, and then reinstalling all of this. After all of this, it still does not work.
<snip>

1. Generally, no in my experience.

2. Having said that, if you are having major problems, then I would follow the advice in 2 above.

If Access Connections does not work for you (it works for many of us, and doesn't work for others), then uninstall it, uninstall the wireless NIC, restart and reinstall the wireless NIC and use Windows.

The value for me for Access Connections is to have flexibility for a wide variety of networks, and to *not* find other networks (unless I search for them). This gives me best results with my home wireless. ... JD Hurst

[hms46]

If Access Connections does not work for you (it works for many of us, and doesn't work for others), then uninstall it, uninstall the wireless NIC, restart and reinstall the wireless NIC and use Windows.

Thanks so much for your reponse. If I uninstall Intel 2915a/b/g, how do I reinstall it? My lack of knowledge about wireless connections is one reason that I probably do not need AC. Once I get it uninstalled correctly, I do not plan to reinstall AC.

Thanks again.

[jdhurst]

<snip>
Thanks so much for your reponse. If I uninstall Intel 2915a/b/g, how do I reinstall it? My lack of knowledge about wireless connections is one reason that I probably do not need AC. Once I get it uninstalled correctly, I do not plan to reinstall AC.

Thanks again.

What I do is download the newest wireless NIC driver from IBM (Lenovo now) into a folder I know about. Then I explode it into C:\drivers. I usually keep all new explosions in C:\Drivers\WinXPP for my own sanity. Check there is, or is not, a setup program. For my *wired* NIC, there is no setup; for my *wireless* NIC, there *is* a setup. It matters.

Go to device manager (I right click on My Computer and select Manage), find the wireless NIC and uninstall it. That will usually force a restart. On startup, if there is a Setup program, cancel the automatic Windows install, and run the Setup. If there is no setup, point the Windows install to the folder in C:\Drivers where you exploded the most recent driver. The point here is to get Windows to find the most recent driver.
... JD Hurst

[hms46]

Mr. Hurst, thanks for your help. I hate to belabor the point, but why does the 2915a/b/g driver need to be removed only to reinstall it? It will be the same version as the one that is installed now. When I went through all of this w/ IBM tech support, the old Intel driver was removed and the current one installed.

As an update, today the icons for AC and Intel 2915 appeared again in the taskbar so I was able to turn on the wireless radio. Also, boot times are normal again. Still not finding other networks (not that I plan to connect to them). Very strange.

I had seen the detailed post by antera309 after going through the ordeal with tech support. One of the problems I may be having w/ AC is that tech support said that it did not matter in what order the files were installed (AC, intel 2915, hotkey, etc.) For me, it is not worth the effort of undoing what is done and trying this again.

Thanks again for your patience.

[GomJabbar]

Try repairing the Winsock.

How to recover from Winsock2 Corruption

[jdhurst]

If things are working, you need not uninstall the hardware. I only mentioned that because you said things were not working. Access Connections seems to bind itself tightly to things. If Access Connections is working (always did on my IBM 11 a/b/g Atheros card), then simply uninstalling AC gets rid of it. So if things are working for you now, you probably don't need to uninstall the hardware.

I once tried to bind my cellular card to Access Connections. That did some damage, although I don't know what. I do know that I uninstalled AC, uninstalled the wireless card, ran Registry First Aid, rebooted, installed the wireless card, and then installed AC. Why? The end result worked flawlessly and continues to work flawlessly a couple of years later on the same build.
... JD Hurst

[hms46]

Mr. Hurst, thank you again for helping me understand this. Before deleting AC, I may carry the TP to a nearby free wireless site to see if it will locate the server. If not, I suppose AC will have to go - at least until I restore the hd to original.

Thinking back on this, the problem may have arisen from some problems I was having with Sunbelt Kerio firewall which has been problematic from the start.

Thank you.

[GomJabbar]

I have the Intel 2200bg adapter, and I am using Access Connections. Currently I have the latest versions of the Intel software and Access Connections, both from Lenovo's site. I also use Kerio Personal Firewall without a problem. So there is no inherent incompatibility with this setup. If Kerio is causing you problems, I suspect that may be because you denied something in one of Kerio's pop-up boxes that you should not have. You could uninstall Kerio and then reinstall it. I believe this should reset everything back to default with Kerio.

As I posted previously, sometimes the Winsock gets corrupted and has to be rebuilt.

[hms46]

I went to the link re Winsock corruption. I have not rec'd the error msgs listed. I did go to the Network Protocol entries. Unfortunately, I have about 5 more entries than suggested. I do not have Support Tools installed so I was not able to use that test. I do not know if I could install that from the recovery CD that I rec'd from Lenovo.

Concerning Kerio since you have it installed, I had the first Sunbelt version installed (4.2.912). It seemed fine, altho some BSODs common w/ that version, until I installed WS FTP which I had used for years on other pcs. I rec'd all sorts of error msgs. Turns out that Windows Firewall was turned on as well; I never checked to see since Kerio notified me upon installation that it turned off Windows firewall. If something happened, it may have been then. There has never been another 3rd party firewall installed.

Unrelated to AC, yesterday I uninstalled that version of Kerio to install the newest version (4.3.635); my paid subs. expires this month. It seemed to go well but the gui in the toolbar of my limited user a/c did not appear as it should. Then I went back to admin a/c; Kerio crashed. I uninstalled it and then used the cleaner program it offers. I have not reinstalled it yet. I will see how the new install goes tomorrow. If it does not work correctly, I am not sure what I will use.

Strangely, Windows firewall does not automatically turn on now even though I turn it on manually. Not sure what is causing that.

(For AV, I use AVG; no problems with it.)

Many thanks.