rahh! stupid wireless and access connections!!

[Nabeel]

Oh man, this is making me sooo annoyed.

I updated Access Connections and then it pretty much stops working.
When I reboot the machine, it doesn't show up in the system tray (neither icons, yes they're turned on)
I look in the task manager, they're like "stuck" there, and I have to kill them.

Then I have to uninstall AC, and then reinstall. Then it'll work, but after I reboot once or twice, it stops working.
After some poking around, after I goto network connections, and disable the Wireless Network adapter, then access connections will start, but it's all screwy.

I've uninstalled the lan drivers + ac, reinstalled, does the same thing

"Use windows to connection/control wireless devices" isn't checked.

Now I can't start the wireless adapter, it just gets stuck
It's extremely frustrating!!


Any ideas? I did disable some services when I spoke to Microsoft, but Iv've since re-enabled them. I called them because even though I disabled the Windows Firewall, my computer is still blocking ports. And it just started doing that again, I don't know why.

Blahhh


Edit; When I re=install the LAN drivers, it works. Then I reboot once or twice, it stops.

[Zirynx]

FWIW, I'm jumping through the same hoops at the moment!

About six months ago I configured a T41 (out of the box drivers and apps) to use Access Connections to control all wired and wireless connectivity using profiles, and it worked a treat. A week ago I updated that same machine with the latest drivers, apps, XP updates and finally, SP2. Initially it all appeared to run smoothly but then, within a few hours (and several reboots) I couldn't get Access Connections to work reliably at all, and sometimes not at all.

Same issue with icons not coming up in the tray for a long time. Fn-F5 also takes an age to produce a window. I have WZC disabled to stop Windows from jumping on the wireless adapter. Hoping for a spark of inspiration to spot the problem or, failing that, a bit of help from somebody else out there!!

[jdhurst]

I have Access Connections 3.53 running on a T41 with the IBM 11/a/b/g card with the latest drivers. It works fine. It takes time to start, but there is always a dialogue saying what adapter it is trying. I do not turn off the Wireless Zero service, but I did uncheck the setting for Windows to manage the Wireless NIC.

What has worked for me is to completely uninstall Access Connections including all the profiles, then uninstall the wireless NIC, and then shut down. Make sure before this that the wireless driver has been exploded to the C:\Drivers folder. Start up, install the wireless NIC, then install Access Connections. This sequence has always worked for me.

I have SP2 running (have has since August) plus all the latest BIOS and application/driver updates from IBM.
... JD Hurst

[Zirynx]

Thanks JD for the reassuring words!

The only thing that springs to mind is that I used the version of the Access Connections (3.53) installer that contains the Wireless LAN drivers package, so it all went in in one go. I'll certainly try uninstalling and then applying the updates from their separate installers.

Do you happen to know whether Access Connections operates any less favourably (functional restrictions aside) under a limited account? I seemed to experience greater connection difficulty when account privileges were limited.

[Leon]

shouldn't matter.....

[jdhurst]

With newer versions of Access Connections, you install it as Administrator, and then check the setting to allow it to be used by anyone. But that shouldn't make any difference to it running (which I think is what Leon referred to). ... JD Hurst

[Leon]

yes, thanks for the clarification JD....

[Zirynx]

Ah. That sounds like the step that I missed.

I'll make that change when I next get access to the machine (perhaps a couple of days away) and post back the outcome. But for now, I do feel that that very likely explains my problem, and will (hopefully) fix it.

Thanks.

[Nabeel]

What has worked for me is to completely uninstall Access Connections including all the profiles, then uninstall the wireless NIC, and then shut down. Make sure before this that the wireless driver has been exploded to the C:\Drivers folder. Start up, install the wireless NIC, then install Access Connections. This sequence has always worked for me.

I tried doing that, it hasn't worked
After a few reboots, it goes back to getting "stuck"

Does it have to installed as Administrator, or an account with Administrator privledges?

Could it be BIOS/Embedded controller updates? Mine aren't upto date, it's the original ones that came with the T42

[DavidNZ]

It takes time to start, but there is always a dialogue saying what adapter it is trying.

JD, where in AC can you toggle this dialogue to appear - I've searched but can't find it. As I posted in the Windows OS sub-forum, I'm experiencing a delay in AC starting up (it always does), but want to see if it's trying to find a network or something.

Cheers

David

[cchsiao]

I went to Berkeley (my boss's house) this Monday, and found that I have the same problem after installing PM via Windows Update. I think this might be the reason why I can not get access connection work because it works fine before updating. The way I solve the problem is just to reinstall access connection without removing it. Right now access connection works.

By the way, I don't know if this is really the cause of the problem, but anyone who want to update PM through Windows Update should have this problem in mind.

[jdhurst]

There were several comments here.
1. I recommend that you never use Windows Update to update IBM drivers (I assume by PM you meant Power Management). Use only the drivers supplied by IBM. More people than me here will make this same recommendation.
2. Look in Global Settings in Access Connections. There is a check box to allow all users to switch to any connection. This is off by default, and I turned it on. There is one check that is set by default that may affect what you see: Display the progress indicator while a profile is being applied. I have that checked.
3. In Preferences, there is setting that says Do not show ballon tips from the tray icon. I have this unchecked and this is (I think) what I see while the system is starting.
4. You need administrative priviledges to install Access Connections. You do not need to log on to the Administrator account. I do not.

I use Access Connections pretty much straight out of the box. I did not change much.

I hope this helps somewhat. .... JD Hurst

[Nabeel]

I installed it using an administrator account

When I boot, it's like Windows takes control of the connection before anything else.

But the thing is, when I boot up, the wireless connection works. I have WEP enabled, and it's all set up through AC. And in the task manager, all the apps show up, it's just not in the system tray or anything.

In services, what's PACSPTISVR? It's disabled.
I've looked around, can't find out what it is.

So confused!

[jdhurst]

First PACSPTISVR belongs to Sony. I don't have that running (or installed) - Source = Google.

Second. What I did recently when all else failed. After a bout with Access Connections and Wireless Drivers, my T41 would not start reliably. This is not funny in front of a client. I went to RoseCity Software, paid for, downloaded, installed and ran Registry First Aid. It cleaned out 89Kb of bad registry entries. My T41 has never failed to start properly since. I don't necessarily recommend (or not recommend) Registry First Aid. Registry cleaners have limited scope and RFA is near the top of its class. You have to make your own choice here. I uninstalled AC and Wireless NIC before running RFA.

Third. DO NOT DO THIS UNLESS YOU TAKE FULL AND COMPLETE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS!

In the registry, under HKLM -> System sits Current Control Set. Under that is Control. Under that is Network. The first key (if you explode it all) are the network devices. If you have more network devices in there than physically exist, you might try getting rid of the extras. How do you do this? Uninstall the wireless NIC. Do not restart. Uninstall VMware if you run it. Uninstall any cellular wireless NIC if you have one. Then look in the registry. There should be one network device (the wired LAN). If there are more, consider removing the extras. Remember - first major key under network.

... JD Hurst

[Leon]

back up your registry before making changes... (or set a restore point)... then if you "muck things up" you can go back!

[Nabeel]

Alrighty, thanks. I'll look into it the next time it does it. I haven't rebooted yet and it's running fine now, but the next time it does, I'll try that out.

Thanks


Edit: I tried all that, with the registry cleaner and whatnot, it seems as thought it's working now. IBM also finally came out with non-diskette versions of the bios and embedded controller updates, so I applied those also. It seems to be working now. I'll work with it for a bit, and then reboot later and see how it's doing then.

BTW, I had ControlSet001-002 and then CurrentControlSet. The entries in all 3 were duplicates, so I removed the left over devices in all of them. It still had the first wireless connection and the other 3

[GACrabill]

This may not help but it might help someone sometime. My Access Connections 3.53 (and prior releases) has been working fine on my T40 for a long time. All of a sudden, I started having problems last week getting the tray icon to show up when turning on the T40 (not at all fun when you're dependent on Access Connections). The only change in the preceeding days was an automatic JAVA update ... taking that off didn't help. After searching this forum, I found this update which solved my problem. Good luck.

http://www-306.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-38953

[andyli]

My problem (T42) is that IBM Access Connections connects to the Wireless Point (after I just restarted about three times).

However, the Windows Wireless Icon will continue to display "Acquiring Network Address" like it isn't associated...

I can't figure it out. Anyone running into this problem?

[Nabeel]

Wait, what's the exactly problem?

[andyli]

The fact that IBM Access is connected and has an IP from the Wireless Access Point, but the Windows Icon is still looking for an IP?

It doesn't go away, either, so it is not a timing issue. I'm just wondering why they don't read the same thing.

[Nabeel]

It's done that for me a few times. Windows doesn't have control over the device, I just have that wireless icon disabled. But it might just be because it doesn' thave contorl over it and windows is retarded

[jdhurst]

back up your registry before making changes... (or set a restore point)... then if you "muck things up" you can go back!

Good advice ! JD Hurst

Additionally, you can rename the adapters in Windows in the Network Connections Folder to something unique, and then they are easy to spot in the registry. I learned that trick the hard way

[DavidNZ]

Hey, not to hijack this thread or anything, but why is it that IBM hasn't posted (http://tinyurl.com/7xvdu) the list of changes for the 3.53 version of Access Connections?

Before I install it, I'd kinda like to know what was fixed. It it's minor, I may not even bother.

edited to add: thanks, JD, for the comments/ideas posted earlier in this thread - very helpful!

[rjm1135]

Hey, not to hijack this thread or anything, but why is it that IBM hasn't posted (http://tinyurl.com/7xvdu) the list of changes for the 3.53 version of Access Connections?

David,

The readme file associated with the download

ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pccbbs/mo ... cn12ww.txt

lists the following as well as what's on the web page

<3.52>
-(New) Support for CCKM in LEAP connection
-(New) Support for Network Profile Deployment to disable IE settings,
Security settings, printer settings, program settings.
-(Fix) Domain name is not grayed out in EAP-TTLS login menu.
-(Fix) Connection fails for PEAP-GTC Token after suspend/hibernation.
-(Fix) Adhoc mode shows 0% signal strength.
-(Fix) Unable to disable Bluetooth Radio.
-(Fix) Domain logon fails in LEAP SSO profile.
-(Fix) SSO progress screen does not come if the last profile was non-SSO
profile and Novel GINA is installed.

<3.53>
-(New) Support for Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese and Korean.

Cheers,
Rob.

[DavidNZ]

whoa boy - don't I feel like a hoser.



Hehe, thanks Rob - always RTFRM (read the flippin' read me).

[Leon]

back up your registry before making changes... (or set a restore point)... then if you "muck things up" you can go back!

Good advice ! JD Hurst

Additionally, you can rename the adapters in Windows in the Network Connections Folder to something unique, and then they are easy to spot in the registry. I learned that trick the hard way

Hey JD, followed all your advice, and removed the duplicates. My Wireless connection time was NOT slow, but as a techie, do not/cannot subscribe to "if it's not broke, don't fix it". In any case, my already fast connection time got even faster! Thanks!

[jdhurst]

Hi Leon,

Some years ago, my printing from my home computer was slow, and printing from the laptop was fast. My printer is on the home network. I did some digging and found the extraneous network connections in the registry caused by install/uninstall of an early version of VMware. I deleted extraneous entries in the Current Control Set, and voila - my printer worked faster. I also think extra connections in here can screw up Access Connections. Anyway, glad it helped. ... JD Hurst

[Nabeel]

Okay.

I guess it didn't work. I rebooted, and same problem. I don't reboot often, but often enough for it to be a problem.

Here's what I've noticed:

After I reboot:

In the "Wireless Connection Status" window, the driver version doesn't show up, only the adapter name.
If I reinstall the drivers (from the WLANCX2 folder), I reboot, then Access Connections will work.

Otherwise, AC, and it's associated programs will get "stuck" in the task manager, and no tray icon shows up. The only way it'll show up is if I disconnect the wireless connection, but then the wireless won't work (That's how I even got to check out the "Wireless Connection Status" window above)

So the only way to get it to work is to reinstall those WLANCX2 drivers, which takes a few reboots, then it'll work. Rahh.

I've tried all the above tips, still hasn't dont anything. I even bought that registry cleaner, while it did clean out alot, it still hasn't fixed this!

Is there any way to completely clean out the drivers...after I uninstall the wireless card and I reboot, it automatically reinstalls the drivers. I'm not sure where it's getting the drivers from. Maybe an .inf file, but I can't seem to find where/what. I tried using the search and looking "inside" the files, but no luck.

Also, it might be that windows is taking over the connection on boot. The wireless icon stays lit while booting up...IIRC before this happened, it never did this. But I also didn't use wireless this much (I just got a g wireless router, I had a b before but used it rarely on wireless). But even then, I don't remember that happening. I don't want to connect to wireless or even turn the adapter on unless I manually do that, but that's a seperate issue...or it might not be. If I can get the wireless adapter to stay off during boot, then maybe that will work. I was probing around AC, and the default profile, it was as "ethernet only", I changed that from "Choose best connection", but I changed it back, don't know if it'll make any difference...

But I do remembering having to turn the wireless on manually. The setting in AC is to shut off the radios before the user logs off. I may have to shut it on/off manually before rebooting from now on, but I haven't tried that. It's getting a little late now to try that, perhaps I will tomorrow if I have time...

I tried disabling/enabling the Wireless Zero...makes no difference.

Called up IBM, after about 40minutes the manager came on the phone, told me to uninstall and reinstall, and if that didn't work, to call them back. I didn't call them back, because at that point, they seemed eager to get me off the phone. They didn't offer any solutions however.

Sorry it's a little long...but trying to be as thorough as possible.
Thank ya in advance

[Nabeel]

A kinda bump