Bluetooth, WLAN and Infrared on T42p

[Cecilia76]

Hallo,

I would like to understand the difference between the different wireless connection: my laptop (T42p - 2373HTG) should have all of them:

1. WLAN
2. Bluetooth
3. Infrared

But I don't know the differences. For example, I can activate the BT by pressing Fn + F5 but can I activate the WLAN or the Infrared?
In the control panel I can't find any WLAN, I think.

Thanks, C.

[Cecilia76]

Nobody can help me?

[elvisjohndowson]

Hi !
If you press Fn+F5 it will bring up a black panel that will display the status of your wireless LAN and Bluetooth devices. You can enable or disable the Wireless LAN and Bluetooth devices here.

The infrared port is normally always active. If you bring another infrared device near the infrared port on the T42p, an icon will pop up near the icon tray next to where the time is displayed. It will also install an icon temporarily on the desktop for transferring files to the infrared device.
The infrared transciever is located just below the botton left area, underneath the front part of your keyboard.

Best regards,

Elvis Dowson

[Plinkerton]

WLAN is for connecting wirelessly to the internet. Bluetooth is for connecting to cell phones, or mice, or PDAs or anything like that, that uses bluetooth. Infrared can be used to connect to some devices without bluetooth, like older cell phones, and other stuff.

Just in case that's what you were asking for.

[Cecilia76]

Thanks a lot for your answer. When I press Fn + F5 I can activate only BT and no WIRELESS devices seems to be present. But I SHOULD have one!!
Should I do anything to activate it???

Thanks, C.

[elvisjohndowson]

Hi,
Did you, by any chance, re-install the OS preload with a retail version of Windows XP / Server 2003 ? If your laptop does indeed have a Wireless Mini PCI card installed, then go to the IBM support site, select drivers and downloads. On that page, click on detect model number or enter you laptop model number and click on Go.

You will find a list of drivers, navigate the web pages to go to any one Wireless Mini PCI driver ( IBM , Intel 2200 or Intel 2100 ). On this page you will get an option to detect the Wireless Mini PCI installed on your computer. Click on this link, and ensure that your Internet Security settings are set to low (for all the three zones Internet, Trusted Sites and Intranet ) to enable the ActiveX control to get installed locally on your computer. Then the webpage should display the correct Wireless LAN adapter installed on your machine.

Navigate to the correct wireless MiniPCI driver and install the driver. Ensure that you have the latest version of IBM Access Connections, also installed, so that the wireless LAN software works correctly.

Best regards,

Elvis Dowson