Full access to AP but system won't communicate (pic)

[khaverblad]

I've been having this little problem for quite a few month now where both a T60 and X40 indicates that it has 100% signal strength to the access point and when checking Access Connections (AP) everything looks fine. To make sure I've also checked that I can locate the AP when checking with Network Stumbler. All system OK! But, still I'm not able to access any resources on the internet or the LAN.

Based on above I thought that it all was that I had trouble with my wireless access point (in my case an Intertex IX68). But, I have now comed to the conclusion that the fault or error isn't with this unit. Also the feedback that I got from Intertex was to look into the Intel drivers for Windows XP since there seems that there are problems with some of the drivers.

So I did check the 3 system that I have with Intel cards and here is what I got:

Code: Select all

System:         Card:                       Version:    Driver:
ThinkPad T60    Intel Pro Wireless 3945ABG  1.1.30      11.1.1.16 (2007.06.20)
ThinkPad X40    Intel Pro Wireless 2200BG   1.0.3       9.0.4.33 (2007.02.08)
Inspiron 8k6    Intel Pro Wireless 2915ABG  0.1.15      9.0.2.25 (2005.04.29)

And of above the system that works fine is the Inspiron using the oldest driver. So I'm kind of curious if any other can either verify or recognise similar problems.

What I will do next is to upgrade the Inspiron system with the latest driver and downgrade the T60 to see how it affects the system.

There was some other threads (here and here and here) that seems to have similar problem as above; so hopefully it should be quick to verify above.

[DAH]

My experience would suggest that the problem is with the security settings. I would suggest disabling all security temporarily and see if you can connect then. Note that disabling security on a wireless access point normally involves removing power and restarting it.

[khaverblad]

Well, I have no problem at all to connect to the AP it's just that I usually after 2-4 hours not able to access any resources on the either the LAN or internet and according to Access Connection it's connected with great signal strength.

So would be interested of why you think it has to do with the security settings? I agree with you if I couldn't access at all; but that is not the case here.

[DAH]

Originally you said;

But, still I'm not able to access any resources on the internet or the LAN.

Now you've given new details that where not I believe in the original post,

Well, I have no problem at all to connect to the AP it's just that I usually after 2-4 hours not able to access any resources on the either the LAN or Internet and according to Access Connection it's connected with great signal strength.

So yes that changes things. When you no longer can access the Internet, can you still release and renew your IP address or does this to fail? What OS are you running? Have you attempted to disable all power saving features on the wireless cards? If the PCs are putting the wireless cards to sleep (for very short intervals) as part of a power saving plan I have seen it lock up the AP in this time range.

[khaverblad]

So yes that changes things. When you no longer can access the Internet, can you still release and renew your IP address or does this to fail? What OS are you running? Have you attempted to disable all power saving features on the wireless cards? If the PCs are putting the wireless cards to sleep (for very short intervals) as part of a power saving plan I have seen it lock up the AP in this time range.

No, not able to release or renew the IP from either system that runs Win XP SP2. All power savings are disabled on both TP's.

I've just upgraded the Inspiron with the latest driver available for the Intel 2915ABG; so let's see how that turns out.

And I will as well, dig out the original drivers installed on the T60 as well. I know for facts that neither of the system had this problem earlier; so it's either a driver issue and/or software issue. I've also tried to re-installed the T60 with a fresh Win XP SP2 (not from the Lenovo pre-load CDs) and the same error exists.

[GomJabbar]

No, not able to release or renew the IP from either system that runs Win XP SP2.

I have had the same problem in the past. However, I was able to right-click on the wireless adapter in Network Connections and choose Repair with success.

[bill bolton]

Well, I have no problem at all to connect to the AP

Can you please confirm that you can connect to the admininstration web page in the AP from the web browsers on your laptops?!?

Cheers,

Bill B.

[khaverblad]

I can confirm that I can't access the admin interface for the AP; as said AC indicates that I have connection to the AP but I'm not able to communicate. I've confirmed this with other user on another location.

Only system that seems not to be affected is a ThinkPad running with OS2 and wireless access to AP.

I've downgraded and upgraded the drivers on the various system now to see if that makes any difference.

[GomJabbar]

Here are a couple of issues you might check out.

Intel wireless adapters have limited connection methods and cannot be controlled via Fn + F5 - ThinkPad

PSP (Power Save Polling) Causes Connection Issues With Some Access Points

Access Connections is very picky about how it is upgraded. Anytime you upgrade the wireless driver, you should uninstall Access Connections and reboot first. After the wireless driver is upgraded, you can reinstall Access Connections. Additionally, you need to make sure that you are using a compatible version of the wireless driver with the particular version of Access Connections that you are running. See compatibility table on following page.

ThinkVantage Access Connections for Windows XP, 2000 - Notebooks

For the wireless driver, you need a compatible version of the Hotkey Features driver and compatible version of the ACPI Power Management driver installed. Read under Additional information on the following page.

Intel PRO 2200bg, 2915abg, 3945bg, 3945abg, 4965ag, and 4965agn Mini PCI adapter wireless software for Windows XP, 2000 - ThinkPad

Finally, you may have to disable Deep Smart Power Down. See following PDF file for information.

T60, Intel 3945abg wireless disconnects

FYI, I am using the Intel 2200 BG adapter with wireless driver version 9.0.4.36. I thought I had the latest version, but I have 7KWC26WW. Looking just now, I see 7KWC27WW has the following:

Version 11.01.0 API - 7KWC27WW
(New) Support for IEEE 802.11n Draft 2.0
(Fix) Connection may drop when PSK (Pre Shared Key) mode is used.

[khaverblad]

GomJabbar,

Thanks for the different urls; it gave some interesting reading. The primary source for solving this I think would be the power management of the NIC's I've tried some different configuration on couple of system to see what works best. I'll report back how it works out and I should have something later on tonight since the system usually drops the connection couple of times during a day - really frustrating.

[khaverblad]

Here we go with a little feedback; on both the T60 and X40 the wifi drop occurred again. For the T60 it just happend and when checking the Wireless Connection Status is says that everything is alright. Problem is that I'm not able to connect to anything at all; not even the AP webb interface. Here is how the WCS looks like when the wifi has dropped:



MOD EDIT: Picture warning added.