Thinkpads Forum

I have a problem with T61 laptops here in the UK.
The Ethernet card takes about a minute to initialize after it gets to the logon prompt when you boot it up.

Also if you Disable the card then Enable it, it takes 1 minute and 10 seconds. Before it is opperational again.

99% of other cards will oly take 10 seconds to perform this task.

I have tried the drivers from both the lenovo site and Intel's site.

Has anyone seen this before or have any ideas?

Many thanks.

Nick

hmm.. weird. Try this, set the card speed manually in the device manager and see. Instead of "Auto" change it to 100 Full Duplex and see if that makes a difference.

SHoTTa35 wrote:hmm.. weird. Try this, set the card speed manually in the device manager and see. Instead of "Auto" change it to 100 Full Duplex and see if that makes a difference.

Gave that a go and still the same I'm sorry to say.

Check the power management settings for the ethernet card. If you have something like "Deep Smart Power Down", try disabling it.

I don't know which card you have or your options, but on my T42 I can control those settings from: Start > All Programs > Intel Network Adapters > Intel(R) PROSet for Wired Connections.

Any more idea on this as we cant solve it at all?

Cra, can you clarify if the 1+ minute to initialize is the time going from disabled to ready (device manager) or disabled to connected (status in network connections)? Also, is the network dhcp or fixed ip addresses?

If you are using Access Connections, open it up and go to Configure > Location Switching.... Try checking boxes for Enable Automatic Location Switching and Include Ethernet connections in automatic switching and prompt me to save ethernet ports. Also check box for Ethernet LAN Connection and move it to the top of the priority list.

steveg47 wrote:Cra, can you clarify if the 1+ minute to initialize is the time going from disabled to ready (device manager) or disabled to connected (status in network connections)? Also, is the network dhcp or fixed ip addresses?

Network is DHCP and the 1 minute is from disabled to connected.

Thanks for taking the time to help me with this.

GomJabbar wrote:If you are using Access Connections, open it up and go to Configure > Location Switching.... Try checking boxes for Enable Automatic Location Switching and Include Ethernet connections in automatic switching and prompt me to save ethernet ports. Also check box for Ethernet LAN Connection and move it to the top of the priority list.

Thanks but I'm not using Access Conections

cra, Try adding the gateway ip address in Advanced Settings in the tcp/ip properties. Also, disable wireless.

steveg47 wrote:cra, Try adding the gateway ip address in Advanced Settings in the tcp/ip properties. Also, disable wireless.

Thanks but gave that a go and still the same.

If I give the laptop a statick address and disable and enable the LAN it takes 40 seconds before becoming functional so its not to do with DHCP ewither

cra, if it's any help, I setup two x61s and four t61s last week on a very large corporate infrastructure (dhcp, autodectect) and had no problems. Note that these were XP builds not Vista.

steveg47 wrote:cra, if it's any help, I setup two x61s and four t61s last week on a very large corporate infrastructure (dhcp, autodectect) and had no problems. Note that these were XP builds not Vista.

Im using XP. Were yours builds out the box drivers already installed or a fresh XP install needing new drivers as mine is?

Fresh builds.

steveg47 wrote:Fresh builds.

Do yu still have acces to these machines? Woud love to know the driver model for the ethernet. Also would be interesting to see if yours do have the same problem, its only cos I was pinging a machine as it booted that I notised the issue in the forst place, cos other than that they run fine.

cra wrote:

steveg47 wrote:Fresh builds.

Do yu still have acces to these machines? Woud love to know the driver model for the ethernet. Also would be interesting to see if yours do have the same problem, its only cos I was pinging a machine as it booted that I notised the issue in the forst place, cos other than that they run fine.

Unfortunately, those 61s are no longer readily available.

As GomJabbar suggested did you verify positively that "Deep Smart Power Down" has been disabled.

steveg47 wrote:As GomJabbar suggested did you verify positively that "Deep Smart Power Down" has been disabled.

There is no option anywhere for Deep Smart Power Down on my T61's.

Is anyone with a working T61 able to confirm their driver version for ethernet for me please.

My ones are

Intel 82566MM Gigabit

Driver version 9.7.240.0

Here is the latest Intel wired LAN driver from Lenovo. Did you get your driver from Lenovo or from Intel? Generally it is best to get your drivers from Lenovo.

Intel PRO/1000 LAN adapter software for Windows 2000, XP - ThinkPad R61, R61i, T60, T60p, T61, T61p, X61, X61s, X61 Tablet

Drivers and software - ThinkPad T61, T61p

If Access Connections is installed, be sure and uninstall it and reboot before changing wireless or wired LAN drivers (you can reinstall Access Connections when you are done if you like). You should have the ACPI Power Management driver installed (from Lenovo), the Hotkey utility, and the wireless and wired LAN drivers installed (from Lenovo).

cra wrote:

steveg47 wrote:As GomJabbar suggested did you verify positively that "Deep Smart Power Down" has been disabled.

There is no option anywhere for Deep Smart Power Down on my T61's.

Is anyone with a working T61 able to confirm their driver version for ethernet for me please.

My ones are

Intel 82566MM Gigabit

Driver version 9.7.240.0

Just in case here is a link to the location of Deep Smart Power Down feature on the T60 and T60P.

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-63677

My guess is that the network administrator at your office has configured Spanning Tree Protocol on the office switch port that your laptop is plugged into.

Some implementions of STP will block traffic on a port for ~60 seconds when a port comes up while the office switch checks for looping problems. This causes the port to not pass traffic for ~60 seconds when it is first activated.

There is a way to verify that this is indeed the problem. Does your office IT policy allow desktop switches to be used in your cube? If so, borrow a desktop switch and plug it into your cube ethernet jack. Then wait 60 seconds. Then plug your laptop into the desktop switch. Since the desktop switch is always active your cube port will only go through the STP process the first time the desktop switch is turned on, and then your laptop should be able to pass traffic as soon as it brings its link up.

If STP is the issue, there are some configuration changes your network administrator can make if they want to (Cisco's feature to fix this is called 'portfast'). However, it is often easier to just continue using a $30 desktop switch then convince a network admin to reconfigure their office switches.