T-42 wireless issues

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JmartinLGA · #1 Post by **JmartinLGA** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 4:24 pm

I have a few T-42's that when connecting to a wireless network. Will connect briefly then disconnect. Or will Just sit stuck @ acquiring Network address. I have updated drivers this did not resolve anything

ArrayInteractive · #2 Post by **ArrayInteractive** » Thu Feb 17, 2011 11:25 pm

I just received a T-42 today that was suffering from the same symptoms. Sometimes it would be connected for seconds and sometimes a few minutes before it would disconnect.

I booted up the machine using a Ubuntu live cd, and the wifi seemed to be working fine there. In fact Ubuntu was running so well off the live CD that I'm very tempted to switch over, it was running real slick. Anyway, looked to be more of a windows issue than a hardware issue.

Booting back into windows, I uninstalled the wifi driver, installed ThinkVantage Connections Access, rebooted and the wifi has been solid ever since. About 6 hours, so far so good...

dr_st · #3 Post by **dr_st** » Fri Feb 18, 2011 10:12 am

Trying the Linux solution first is good advice - to determine if it's a hardware or software issue.

If it turns out it is hardware, then I've just recently handled a case of faulty Wifi on my T42 with Intel 2200BG. For several months it has been working poorly, barely connecting. Then at some point, the device showed up as disabled in device manager with a message along the lines of "Windows disabled this device since it's reported it had problems". At some point the device was no longer detected at all. Opened up the laptop, took out the MiniPCI card, and what do you know? The big blue resistor in the upper left corner fell off. Resoldering the resistor fixed everything.

ArrayInteractive · #4 Post by **ArrayInteractive** » Fri Feb 18, 2011 1:09 pm

Wow that's a bit intense. I was worried about something along those lines as well, from research it sounds like these cards can have problems related to soldering. I wanted to have a look at the card but doesn't seem to easy to get at. I believe it's located under the touchpad?

One thing that still seems a bit strange with my machine is that when I try to do an ipconfig it tells me the device is not functioning properly... However it seems to be functioning well enough otherwise...

#5 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Fri Feb 18, 2011 5:13 pm

Opening your TP (keyboard + KB-bezel) and a visual inspection is the way to go.
Even buying a new card will set you back less than $20.-

jrumohr · #6 Post by **jrumohr** » Sun Mar 20, 2011 3:44 am

On my T40, I discovered the problem with constantly getting kicked off the wireless network was I was allowing WinXP to manage the device. Once I told ThinkVantage Access Connections to manage, problem was solved. Thanks Array for giving me the idea!

jrumohr · #7 Post by **jrumohr** » Sun Mar 27, 2011 3:10 am

New problem now:

For my T40:

I upgraded the Intel 2100b to the 2200bg mini pci card. After multiple install/uninstall of the driver software and Access Connections and the winsock reset command, I can finally connect via the XP wireless utility. However, I happen to really like Access Connections. AC does not recognize my wireless card. When I press Fn+F5, I get the message: "no supported wireless devices are installed on this system."

The wifi card I bought from ebay. It has an FRU on it and I believe was pulled from a T42 or 43. The drivers are from Lenovo. Question is, are there different 2200bg drivers for the T4x various models?

I've searched many of the messages here...any more suggestions how I can the ThinkVantage softwares (especially access connections) to recognize my new wireless card?

Thanks.

#8 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Sun Mar 27, 2011 4:51 am

I would suggest to go into Device Manager and uninstall the wifi drivers from there.
Then reboot.
If Windows is clever enough, it should find 'new hardware' and auto-install the best drivers for it.
What happens if you do so?

jrumohr · #9 Post by **jrumohr** » Sun Mar 27, 2011 6:15 pm

RealBlackStuff wrote:I would suggest to go into Device Manager and uninstall the wifi drivers from there.
Then reboot.
If Windows is clever enough, it should find 'new hardware' and auto-install the best drivers for it.
What happens if you do so?

Yeah, I tried that. And I just tried it again. After uninstalling the device from D. Manager and two reboots later, I can once again access wifi via XP's wireless utility. But Access Connections still doesn't recognize that a wireless device is installed. I've also before uninstalled AC, then the wireless device, rebooted and then reinstalled AC, same problem. I really liked how AC will let me create default printers for each wireless connection profile.

At this point, I bet a clean install of XP would do the trick, but I'm not interested in doing that right now.

But is there a way to remove all traces of any ThinkVantage softwares (other than simply uninstalling those programs), any registry clean up, etc? Not sure I want to mess with that since it is mostly working now, but would be good to know.

#10 Post by **GomJabbar** » Sun Mar 27, 2011 7:56 pm

The information in this thread may help: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=29939

jrumohr · #11 Post by **jrumohr** » Sun Mar 27, 2011 11:39 pm

Gom, thanks for that link, I actually tried some of that stuff in there, such as renaming that .dll file and a lot of uninstall/installs. Wow, way too much headache for me, I think I will save myself anymore hassle...I don't need Fn+F5 or Access Connections that bad! My 2200bg wifi works, that's the important part.

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