WiFi problem on T20

[ManUtdFan]

Hey guys,

Just tried using a Lucent Technologies/ORiNOCO wireless (802.11b) network adapter for PCMCIA in my Thinkpad T20 hoping that it would work fine, but there's a problem in Windows XP. When I open the menu that should display the available wireless networks nearby (where I would also need to type the WEP authentication key), everything is greyed out, I can only click cancel... Any ideas as to what could be the problem? Also tried with a USB adapter by Transcend, and the problem remains...

[Nolonemo]

Personally, I would use the Orinoco client software instead of the XP wireless management (I've never used the client built into XP, so I can't help you with that). Have you installed the Orinoco client software? If so start it up and set up inside that.

[ManUtdFan]

Okay thanks, I'll try that and report back

[ManUtdFan]

I tried installing the Client Manager from Orinoco, and it never gets past "Searching for network". I am positive that there's a wireless network connection available, because the T20 is only a few feet away from the access point/router... Also have another laptop on the wireless network right now...

[Nolonemo]

Is your AP broadcasting the SSID, that's the only thing I can think of. Unless the AP is a b/g model and is set to g mode only (any your wifi card is b mode only)

[ManUtdFan]

Yes, my AP is broadcasting the SSID, and I've double checked that it's set to both b and g mode. This is a laptop I'm borrowing from work temporarily - could it be that they've done something to disable wireless networking entirely?

[Nolonemo]

If the laptop is set up to log you into the network at work, you may have difficulty accessing a different network, depending on how they've set it up. (I had a work laptop that was setup so you could either log into the Novell network at work, or work in standalone mode. I couldn't get it to connect to my home network, ended up partitioning the HD and setting it up to dual boot (the IT guys would have gone apeshit if they'd ever found out).

You can't have a wired connection and a wireless connection going at the same time, but I doubt that's the issue. You might want to go into settings -> network connections, find the icon for your wireless network connection and make sure it's enabled (right click on the icon). If no icon, try creating a network connection.

The other thing you can do in the Orinoco client manager (I'm a little hazy on the details) is just to go into the client manager, and create a new profile, into which you'll enter the SSID and the appropriate stuff for whatever encryption is running (as I recall the Orinioco Silver cards only support 64 bit WEP) - though when I'm setting up a new connection, I turn encryption off at the router, try to connect with the laptop, and when I know that an unencrypted connection can be established, then add in encryption.