Bought old T41, Need help with wifi

[priyansh]

Hi,

i have just bought an old T41, with model no 2373-4GG and OS as windows 2000 pro. there are no manuals or software along with this laptop.I am new to both laptops and wi-fi. It seems wireless and bluetooth does not work on this laptop. I checked for drivers in the driver manager and it seems that they are installed correctly but are disabled. I tried to enable them but they get enabled for few seconds and then they again get disabled. Can anyone explain this strange behaviour. Also i tried to remove the driver for intel wireless LAN mini PCI adapter and after restart again installed the driver but it seems that now its not even getting installed. I am all confused up. Can anyone help me out.
Also I need to clean up the system and install the windows XP. Cn anyone also provide me the link which list all the IBM drivers which i would require.

Priyansh

[newmanm]

I just had a similar problem with bluetooth.

I got several really good answers, but the solution that worked was the easiest, TURN IT ON.

Fn + F5 (it may be different on your tp, I have a T43) accesses the switches to turn the units on. there is one for bluetooth and another for wireless in the same screen.

your previous owner probably turned them off to save power.

when I turned on my bluetooth, since I am the first owner, the tp installed a bunch of other bluetooth drivers and programs for audio, etc.

[newmanm]

this is the link I got when I hit the access IBM button:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... ATRIX.html

[jdhurst]

This machine should come as:

Original description: P M 1.6GHz, 512MB RAM, 40GB 5400rpm HDD, 14.1 XGA(1024x768) TFT LCD, 32MB ATI Radeon 7500, 16x10x24x/8x CD-RW/DVD, IBM 802.11a/b/g wireless(MPCI), Bluetooth/Modem(CDC), 1Gb Ethernet(LOM), UltraNav, Secure Chip, 6 cell Li-Ion battery, WinXP Pro

If the Hidden Protected Area is intact, F11 should restore the machine to XP Pro and working just fine. That is what I would try. And if not, it may be still under warranty. Ask IBM to purchase the recovery CD's. If you can get the recovery CD's (recommended), change the hard drive to a 7200 rpm hard drive and you will have a fine performer (I have a T41 that works wonderfully well and is quite powerful).
... JD Hurst

[newmanm]

is it better to buy the recovery CDs than use the ones one makes when using the program under Access IBM "Create Recovery CDs" ?

[jdhurst]

If we are speaking about the T41, I don't think it can make recovery CD's (Mine can't). Newer T's can.

So to the question:
If they "make" correctly, the results are the same as from IBM. But you only get one chance.

To this point (because I have a T41 or earlier), I have always just called IBM in the first 30 days and got them for free. My next machine, I will call and pay for them because I don't want to trust a bad build (that I don't know about until it's too late).
... JD Hurst

[JHEM]

If we are speaking about the T41, I don't think it can make recovery CD's (Mine can't). Newer T's can.

Huh???

If you use the new R&R John you can make the recovery CDs on any T series machine starting with the T30.

I've made them on both my T41s (one CD and one DVD) as well as on both my T40s and my wife's T42.

Regards,

James

[priyansh]

Thanks for help. as explained I can see the bluetooth icon light up when I use FN+F5 key but now how I can test that? I have tried to detect with my bluetooth enabled mobile but it does not detect it.
I still don't know if wi-fi is working as its icon(indicator) is still not lit up
Another thing Ihave noticed is that when I press Access IBM button nothing shows up.
It seems this laptop needs a complete reconditioning. What do u advice?

Priyansh

[gauthier]

Hello Priyansh,

did you have installed xp sp2?

I've got simillar issue when upgrading to xp sp 2 yesterday. I've switched to the windows management of wireless network instead of the one provided by IBM and everything seems to work now.

Hope this helps.

[priyansh]

I have windows 2000 on laptop which I am currently upgrading to windows XP. Will then test the system again.

[GomJabbar]

Another thing Ihave noticed is that when I press Access IBM button nothing shows up.
It seems this laptop needs a complete reconditioning. What do u advice?

Priyansh

The Access IBM button provides two completely different functions.

(1) In windows it brings up Access IBM Help system. In a nutshell; here you can find out how to use various features of your ThinkPad as well as get a list of the factory installed parts and warranty information.

(2) If you press the Access IBM button at the beginning of the boot sequence, that should bring up the Rescue and Recovery workspace. From here you can reinstall the factory software or restore a backup, access the BIOS, and do a few other things.

Option (1) can be restored by downloading Access IBM help, and maybe the Hot Keys features.

If your T41 originally came with XP, then option (2) above may (probably will not) not be available. If your T41 came with W2K, then it should work unless the operating system was reinstalled at some point by a method other than by restoring IBM's factory state. Anytime you mess with the master boot record, you run the risk of damaging the Rescue and Recovery boot option.

[priyansh]

I have been successful in getting windows XP working along with wi-fi and bluetooth on the laptop. I have been able to do that using IBM access at boot time and using Rescue and recovery workspace.
But I am not able to get Access IBM help system in windows. I have installed the file again from IBM site but still nothing happens when I use IBM access button. Any help in this?
Also while doing the recovery thinkpad created three disk partitions of 4,6 and 27 GB. C system partition it created of 4 GB which is very less for all the files which goes in there. How can I merge two of the partitions?