? Access Connections Problem

[snpollack]

I wonder if anyone might be able to assist.

I have a T41p and have been using Access Connections for the past two years or so without major difficulty. Because I work at several different physical locations, I have several profiles - at least one for each location. Some are wired (Ethernet) and some are wireless.

What I notice at my home location is that Access Connections only sometimes can connect to my wired profile, although it seems to always work on my wireless profile. When I try to switch from my connected wireless profile to my wired one via AC, I get an eventual error (017) stating that my gateway cannot be reached (i.e., my router). However, I know that my router is working fine, and it is reachable from other computers on my network. In fact, the wireless connection that works so well on my laptop connects via an access point that leads to my router.

If I try to "repair" the Ethernet connection in Network Connections, I get a message saying "TCP/IP is not installed". However, I can occassionally connect using AC to my wired Ethernet connection after a variable number of reboots. Also, uninstalling my network adapter, rebooting, and having the "new" hardware detected allows me to connect via Ethernet, but I lose the ability again after a simple restart.

My profile uses a static IP address with appropriate gateway, network mask, and DNS addresses. I also tried another one with DHCP, and it behaves similarly.

I updated to AC 4.11a (and up-to-date adapter drivers, too) without any improvement. I also tried uninstalling AC and using Windows for connection, and this seems to work, at least the few times I tried it.

IBM wants to replace my motherboard, but I'm not convinced this is a hardware issue. It seems to be AC related, but I would be grateful for any guidance from others.

Thanks in advance,
Stu