Thinkpads Forum

Hello folks,

I have an IBM Thinkpad X31 with a Philips a/b/g Wireless MiniPCI Adapter installed, it has the Atheros Chipset. I'm finding that my connection will drop all of a sudden, and I am forced to disable and re-enable the adapter to be able to connect to the internet once again.

My other notebooks when connected wirelessly do not drop the connection, and this happens at home, and also when I'm out on campus, or at starbucks.

I am using the latest driver downloaded from the IBM website (4.1.102.147). Has anyone else experienced the same wireless issues as me, or have any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

This does sound very much like a software/driver issue (please note your OS for future reference, in this case it makes a huge difference. I'm assuming you are running XP.) Even so, I'd check to make sure your antennas were properly connected. I'm having the same problem sometimes with an Orinoco card I have, and it seems to be OS independent. The best think you can do is try running a linux live CD or a windows PE CD, (if you don't know what these are, they are OS's that rum from CDs without putting anything on the hard drive, and it's not worth learning just for this problem) if it will work with your card, and see if it drops the connection. Sometimes it also helps if you can get hold of another driver or an older version.

Hope this helps!
Truk

truk wrote:This does sound very much like a software/driver issue (please note your OS for future reference, in this case it makes a huge difference. I'm assuming you are running XP.) Even so, I'd check to make sure your antennas were properly connected. I'm having the same problem sometimes with an Orinoco card I have, and it seems to be OS independent. The best think you can do is try running a linux live CD or a windows PE CD, (if you don't know what these are, they are OS's that rum from CDs without putting anything on the hard drive, and it's not worth learning just for this problem) if it will work with your card, and see if it drops the connection. Sometimes it also helps if you can get hold of another driver or an older version.

Hope this helps!
Truk

Thanks for the reply..I'm running XP Home+SP2..
I am going to try to reconnect the antennas to see if it makes a difference, unfortunately I don't have a cd drive in my X31, and I don't have the dock either :*(

I've been looking around for an older version of the driver..but with no luck..if anyone can provide me with a link for previous drivers..it would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

There are older drivers on the following page:

IBM Access Connections (Back level version) for Windows 2000, XP (WARNING: See document for critical installation limitations) - ThinkPad General

You can also look in C:\IBMTOOLS\drivers\WLLAN---\ for the original wireless lan adapter install program that came with your ThinkPad. At least this is where it is kept on my T42. Double-click on the .XML file to see if you are in the correct subdiirectory for your wireless card.

thank you, i shall give a previous driver a try..hopefully this will solve my issue. *cross fingers*

Can't always rule out the router/access point as a point of trouble, try rebooting it periodically and checking for firmware upgrades, which are ususally downloadable from the manufacturer in the form of .bin files, i recommend hard wiring into the router to do this procedure but it is not difficult.