Access connections and wifi problem [T42p]

Message

livevil · #1 Post by **livevil** » Tue May 13, 2008 5:12 pm

Hi,

I just spent 3 hours trying to figure out what happened to my computer. When I went home this evening and I turned on the laptop, the wifi connection never came up. Usually I don't even have to take care of establishing the connection 'thanks' to AC, but today I did my best and finally came up with the solution of removing AC.

The first symptom was that the wireless led was on, but AC didn't see it (it could never activate the wireless, at least that's what it said since Windows said it was OK). Then I tried everything from updating with System update, removing by hand and reinstalling the drivers, AC ... but AC won't do anything with the wireless access (surprinsingly the LAN was OK).

Finally I've installed the lastest drivers from Intel, which include IntelPROSet / Wireless, and I could use the wifi connection again. I know that lots of people have been through lots of problems with AC, but it (almost) always workef fine for me. I never made any change that could explain the sudden behaviour (it worked this morning when I left home, the wifi connection was then disabled at work since I switch on LAN, but I didn't install anything or made any update today).

Does anyone have a solution because I'd like to get AC back ? I like the fast switching between networks and the possibility to set the default printer according to the network you're on.

Tim M · #2 Post by **Tim M** » Tue May 13, 2008 5:35 pm

Have you installed SP3 or PC-Doctor 5? Both of these destroyed my wireless connectivity, forcing me to revert to a saved backup.

livevil · #3 Post by **livevil** » Wed May 14, 2008 1:53 am

No, I'm still with SP2, and as I said, I only checked my mails yesterday (no install or whatever) !

Brad · #4 Post by **Brad** » Wed May 14, 2008 5:07 am

If you have system restore turned on I would try a restore point from before the problem started just to help troubleshoot if this is a hardware or software problem.

Brad

livevil · #5 Post by **livevil** » Wed May 14, 2008 9:14 am

Yes, it's on. I'm going to try that but not right now (I don't wanna spend another night on this problem

).

However it's seems to be a software problem since it works fine without AC.

jgrobertson · #6 Post by **jgrobertson** » Thu May 15, 2008 11:10 am

I have had a problem with the latest version of AC where it won't turn on the WiFi card after I turn if off. To fix this I had to reinstall the driver for the WiFi card, or uninstall AC.

This was on Vista 32.

livevil · #7 Post by **livevil** » Thu May 15, 2008 3:06 pm

Unfortunately, reinstalling the drivers didn't change anything...

jgrobertson · #8 Post by **jgrobertson** » Thu May 15, 2008 3:36 pm

Actually what I had to do was uninstall the device in the Device Manager and then reboot. It reinstalled the device and then it worked.

That version of AC 4.52 is a little suspect for me.

livevil · #9 Post by **livevil** » Fri May 16, 2008 1:56 am

Yes, that's what I did... Which driver did you used ?

jgrobertson · #10 Post by **jgrobertson** » Fri May 16, 2008 10:32 am

9.1.2.10 for the Intel 2915ABG
11.5.0.32 for the Intel 3945ABG

livevil · #11 Post by **livevil** » Fri May 16, 2008 11:26 am

I tried both 11.05.0 from lenovo's support and 11.5.1.2_X32 directly from Intel. No change between both of them...

billp117 · #12 Post by **billp117** » Mon May 26, 2008 8:06 pm

I have a T42 with the Intel ABG wifi. Windows XP Pro SP3 causes weird connections and renders the connection useless after a few minutes. Rebooting seems to fix the problem for about 30 minutes and then it keeps trying to connect with no luck. I had no known issues downloading SP3 until trying to use my T42 for extended periods via a wireless connection.

I finally removed SP3 by retoring back to an earlier date and it now connects rock solid at 54MBS. It seems OK on my X60s running Windows XP Pro with SP3. I will check my T40 (Atheros) and T43 (Intel) to see if they stay connected.

Note: At the same time my wireless router became flakey and I have since replaced it.

Lenovo should provide a solution to this connection problem since Microsoft will not support third party problems.

Any more input from the Forum?

Bill Pratt

#13 Post by **jdhurst** » Mon May 26, 2008 8:47 pm

Wireless is starting to become problematic, or at least so it appears to me.

For me, my IBM 11 a/b/g Atheros card in my XP laptop using SP3 against (first) a commercial Netopia 3387W-ENT "B" router and (now) a commercial Netopia 3387WG-ENT "G" router is rock solid.

My Vista-64 SP1 laptop with different Atheros 11 a/b/g card is NOT stable (page connections do not finish, meaning sites with authentication do not work properly at all. People with Vista have had success with Intel and I am likely now to try an Intel card just to see.
... JDH

livevil · #14 Post by **livevil** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 3:23 am

FYI, I was able to fix the problem. I've talked about that in another post but I'll quote it here :

livevil wrote: - I've downloaded the latest drivers from IBM website for Access connection (7tcx26ww.exe), HotKeys (7avu43ww.exe), Power Management (7tku03ww.exe) and the wifi card (7kwc50ww.exe). There are all connected to AC.

- I've removed Thinkvantage System Update (indeed I didn't put it back and I think I won't)

- I've removed AC, Power Management

- I couldn't remove Hotkeys from the Add/Delete Programs so I removed its reference by using msconfig and unchecking the corresponding line (not sure it's useful, but that's what I did)

- I've rebooted

- I've reinstalled the drivers of the card (be sure they are really installed ; if necessary do it manually). There are two files to launch where the drivers have been unpacked : ./Apps/X32/iProInst.exe and in ./Drivers/X32/iProdifx.EXE

- Reboot again

- Install of Power management, HotKeys and finally Access connection. Then reboot again.

After doing that, everything came back to normal. The FnF5 is able to activate or deactivate the wifi (as well as the BT), and Access connection is also OK.

Tim M · #15 Post by **Tim M** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 1:00 am

^^ I took a similar approach, as I found that upgrading CSS or R&R was also breaking AC. However, I decided to remove AC altogether and then repair/reinstall the drivers for the wireless and the Ethernet. I now have Windows managing the connections.

All seems well, though I will sometimes get a popup window saying the wireless connection is "now connected" even though I got no prior loss of connection warning. Is this something I should be concerned about or just due to network congestion?

sjthinkpader · #16 Post by **sjthinkpader** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 11:21 am

I had a broken AC after changing from intel 11a/b/g to Atheros 11a/b/g/n in my T60. Only new driver was installed for the Atheros card. Everything was up to date before that.

I have to uninstall and re-install AC to get it to working again.

skygodtj · #17 Post by **skygodtj** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 11:25 am

My daughters T40 (w/WP Pro) has a developed a disturbing problem. On startup, it hangs at the user log-in window, with a second smaller [IBM Access Connections.. Connecting, please wait] window.. it just hangs, all day and all night, trying to log-in I guess. I cant get past it. It does it also when I try to log in as Administrator in Normal mode. If I go in thru Admin Safe Mode it loads ok. I've gone into AccessConnections profile to try to find something that says Dont Load on Startup but I cant find anything like that.. I just cant find how to disable Access Connections profiling. And turning off the wifi card doesnt help.

..anyone know how to disable the AC profiling at boot-up?

Thanks

TJ

livevil · #18 Post by **livevil** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 5:17 am

Hi all !

Almost one year later, same problem : the wifi connection suddenly went crazy (although LAN is still OK) and impossible to connect to any access point using access connections (sometimes it can't apply the connection parameters, or it can't obtain an IP address).

I've checked by using windows XP and the connection is OK. I blame my firewall and even deleted it before finding out that it wasn't involved in anything.

So I've tried again to reinstall Access connections, Hotkeys and Power Management, with no luck this time... I think this is it, I give up with access connections. I'm fed up spending my evenings trying to figure out whats wrong with it...

If anyone has a last suggestion, let them speak now or forever hold their peace...

sjthinkpader · #19 Post by **sjthinkpader** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 6:07 pm

I would reseat the WiFi card.

The computer has a constant minute vibration from the HDD, fan etc. This minute vibration may cause the contact interface to form a non-conductive layer. The WiFi card uses a high pressure gold to gold contact system but some card contact plating may be poor.

Like you, I use AC all the time. The latest one that works well is ver 1.51a. This will need .NET Frameworks 3.0.

livevil · #20 Post by **livevil** » Tue Jun 16, 2009 3:24 pm

The thing is I can use the wifi connection when managing with XP, only Access Connections seems to fail.

In fact I've trie to reinstall everything mentionned in my former post another time. I also went further by running CCleaner in order to remove everything that would remain even after the uninstall. I also updated the drivers (they have been updated in 2009, but since I have uninstalled Thinkvantage System Upadte, I haven't figured that out).

Result: Access Connections is OK, but I don't understand why the first try failed... I will probably have to do it again in 6 months

...

Access connections and wifi problem [T42p]

Access connections and wifi problem [T42p]

Re: Access connections and wifi problem [T42p]

Re: Access connections and wifi problem [T42p]

Re: Access connections and wifi problem [T42p]

Who is online