T41: Wireless Drops when Unplugging or Plugging AC Adapter

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pduan87 · #1 Post by **pduan87** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 2:45 pm

I have a problem where if I am connected to a wireless network, and then I either plug in or unplug my power cord, the wireless network will drop and say "Limited or No Connectivity". I then have to disable the network and reconnect in order to get back on the network. This happens just about every time.

Does anyone know what the problem is and if there is a solution? Thanks.

SHoTTa35 · #2 Post by **SHoTTa35** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 2:53 pm

your router doesn't support the powermodes required to make the card do what it's designed to

You can try upgrading your routers firmware or you can disable power saving on the card.

You didn't say what OS you're using but here's a test. Set the power options to max performance (always on in windows XP) and then unplug your laptop and see if it does it. If it doesn't then i was right

Your card is going from no power savings (while plugged in) to a lower performance mode to save battery power. You can change that in the device manager i think. Go to the properties for your card and then the advanced tab and disable the power manager thing. Change it from "Auto" to either medium or perfomance or whatever (not sure what it says there)

pduan87 · #3 Post by **pduan87** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 3:07 pm

Yes I am using Windows XP. I tried the windows "Always-On" option but nothing changed. The connection *instantly* drops when I unplug or plug in the power adapter. Then I have to disconnect, research wireless networks, and reconnect.

This machine has the Cisco Systems PCI Wireless LAN adapter.

SHoTTa35 · #4 Post by **SHoTTa35** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 3:10 pm

hmm.. very weird. i'm sure you've already uninstalled the card and reinstalled it right?

The next thing i can think which usually doesn't make a difference now is in the Device Manager again. Properties for your card and go to the power management tab and then uncheck turn off this card to save power. I think that might be affecting it since the power levels changed and causing Windows to put the card to sleep.

pduan87 · #5 Post by **pduan87** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 3:18 pm

I have not uninstalled/reinstalled the card because the installation I am running on right now is from the IBM restore. I have gone to the device manager and strangely enough, this device does not have the power management option.

SHoTTa35 · #6 Post by **SHoTTa35** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 3:56 pm

next step, upgrade the drivers to the latest ones.

PS - did you see if there was a upgrade for your routers firmware yet?

pduan87 · #7 Post by **pduan87** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 3:24 pm

It is not the router because this happens on any wireless connection.

The firmware for the internal wireless is the most recent.

Could this have anything to do with the disabling of IBM Power Monitoring (pwrmnt.exe, the little battery icon thing that is on the taskbar). I had to do this because when I had that on, it would cause Rundll32.exe to run at 100% and then I would have to restart the computer.

I know this is probably a power management software problem but I am not sure which one could cause this.

coreman · #8 Post by **coreman** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 10:22 pm

pduan87 wrote:I had to do this because when I had that on, it would cause Rundll32.exe to run at 100% and then I would have to restart the computer.

I find this response interesting...I also had Rundll32.exe errors for the longest time. Your comment reminds me that I accidentally removed the Battery Maximizer Gauge from TaskBar and couldn't find a way to reactivate it so I activated the Power Management gauge from inside the Power Settings.

After doing a major upgrade to Win XP SP2 along with all Lenovo updates in Aug 2006, I got my Battery Maximizer Gauge back. I never experience this Rundll fault anymore...now I know where it came from!! I looked all over the internet trying to find the root cause (before I found this site) without success.

As an aside, I had lots of trouble with my wireless card after the upgrade (dropping connections, failing to make connections, etc). WHen I rolled back to 2005 driver, all problems went away and card works flawlessly...probably isn't your problem but easy enough to try.

Again thanks for the Rundll32.exe explanation...

stustrway · #9 Post by **stustrway** » Tue Jul 24, 2007 11:07 pm

I have the same problems on my T40 with the Cisco Wifi card under Windows XP SP2. I have no suggestions as to how to solve it, but do hope that someone posts a solution.

pduan87 · #10 Post by **pduan87** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 12:04 am

I actually fixed it! I updated the ThinkPad Power Management driver and I believe that did the trick.

pduan87 · #11 Post by **pduan87** » Sat Aug 18, 2007 10:21 am

Ah, scratch my last post. I am still having this problem even with the updated drivers. Does anyone know what is going on?

Stustrway did you figure out a solution?

stustrway · #12 Post by **stustrway** » Sat Aug 18, 2007 2:18 pm

nope, unfortunately.

coreman · #13 Post by **coreman** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 12:50 am

Try rolling back the wireless driver to 2005 vintage...that fixed several different connection problems I was having with my T41 (but not this specific one)...easy enough to try and restore if it doesn't help.

Aso I let Win XP handle my wireless connection rather than Access Connections because of issues I had with AC (please note that many members here use it very successfully).

pduan87 · #14 Post by **pduan87** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 5:26 am

coreman wrote:Try rolling back the wireless driver to 2005 vintage...that fixed several different connection problems I was having with my T41 (but not this specific one)...easy enough to try and restore if it doesn't help.

Aso I let Win XP handle my wireless connection rather than Access Connections because of issues I had with AC (please note that many members here use it very successfully).

I think for the Cisco PCI wireless card, the newest driver is from 2004. I don't think I have Access Connections installed either.

What internal wireless card did you have in your computer? Was it the Cisco one?

coreman · #15 Post by **coreman** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 12:17 am

Intel 2100 3B mini-pci...Driver 1.2.4.41 dated 2/28/2005...

T41: Wireless Drops when Unplugging or Plugging AC Adapter

T41: Wireless Drops when Unplugging or Plugging AC Adapter

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