Thinkpads Forum

i have Access connections installed, and the drivers off the lenovo website.

when i look for signals nearby, i usually see alot and im happy about that, but i try connecting to some, and if they are like below 60% in signal quality, most likely it will fail to connect.
also, if i move slightly, like 1 foot away, and i click find again, alot of the connections will disappear.

does this just happen to me? or is it like this for everyone using an Atheros?

I can see 2 extra "open" access points from my house between ~15 and 45% (both of which are cleverly named "linksys") and I can not connect to either of them. I never really consider it an issue when I fail to connect to some completely random network. When I have tried to connect to open access points at schools or store, I never seem to have a problem even if the signal is looking low.

On my computer it seems like AC show the signal strength higher then it actually is when using the Atheros adapter. If i look at the network connection in windows or use a tool like netstumbler the signal is always pretty much lower then what i see in AC. I also read other that says the signal strength shown in AC is always 100% even if it's actually lower. So even if AC show 60% the real signal strength might actually be lower. That might be the reason why you cannot connect even if the signal strength look's good.
You could try to use a tool like netstumbler (it's freeware) to check if the signal actually is 60%. I had this issue with two different Thinkpads using the Atheros adapter, but not when using a Intel adapter. When using the Intel adapter the signal strength in AC seems to be lower and more accurate. Also even if the signal strength is high a lot of noise might give you problems connecting.

I never seen the issue you descibe where i move like 1 foot away and all the wireless networks disappear unless the signal is very low it might disappear and reappear all the time, but it has nothing to so with me moving 1 foot away. In that case it happen when standing still as well when i click refresh several times.

ocellaris wrote:I can see 2 extra "open" access points from my house between ~15 and 45% (both of which are cleverly named "linksys") and I can not connect to either of them. I never really consider it an issue when I fail to connect to some completely random network. When I have tried to connect to open access points at schools or store, I never seem to have a problem even if the signal is looking low.

If the signal should be strong enough to connect maybe they use a mac-filter and that is the reason why you cannot connect. When using a mac-filter the connection will still be shown as unsecured.

man, i wish i had the passwords to get onto the encrypted connections to see if i can actually connect to them.

currently my AC signal shows 98%, but when i move to my bed, which is no more than 3 feet away, it drops to yellow, maybe 70%. and i will drop signal randomly.

should i have gone with an intel instead? i got an atheros because i heard it picks farther signals.

here is an example of what i see sometimes from the same exact spot.

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/4779/wificv3.jpg

and currently its at this.

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/1028/untitledou8.jpg

The first check is to make absolutely sure you have the most recent wireless device driver. Do not rely on automatic system updating for this!

Check what in the Driver Matrix for your model on the Lenovo support web site and then check what is actually installed using Device Manager to make sure they are the same..... if not install the latest driver.

Cheers,

Bill B.

The Atheros card use Max Power Save (or High) by default. So while you maybe able to see these 15% Access Points you'll need to set the card to use max power (Lowest) to actually connect to it.

i have 5.3.0.35, and its the latest from lenovo. i re-installed them again anyways.

i went to device manager, and put powersave to OFF.
i'll post back here with the results.