X31 W/ Win XP - Wireless Drivers Installed, But Not Working?

[edward700]

Hey folks,

I bought my first ThinkPad recently - an X31 - and it's a pretty cool laptop considering the age. I am impressed, especially with the build quality, keyboard, and the design. Well done IBM!

Anyway...

I just installed Windows XP SP3 - clean install. And I used ThinkVantage System Update to grab the main drivers. As far as the Device Manager shows, all is looking good.

BUT... while the wireless card drivers installed without problems (via System Update) - it won't see my wireless router. It tells me "there are no wireless networks in range." But as I say, the wireless card itself is showing as installed and operational.

Under Device Manager, it shows it as:

11 a/b/g Wireless LAN Mini PCI Adapter

And the manufacturer shows as Atheros under the device tab.

I have tried hitting the Fn key and F5, but that makes no difference.

Now, I know the wireless card works because the machine came installed with Windows 7, and it found my router no problems. Worked striaght away.

I noticed there are several wireless card types when I checked out the official IBM drivers site. But I have no clue which type I have. Is there an easy way to find out? I am *assuming* that the System Update tool would have found the correct type and thus the correct drivers are installed... but then again something is not right here. Hmm...

I'd be super happy if any wise folks here could help me get my wireless card working =)

[sjthinkpader]

Remove the keyboard and take a look which WiFi card you have. What version are the driver and Access Connection?

[edward700]

Hey, thanks for the reply =)

I removed the keyboard, and the wifi card is a Philips with FRU 91P7301 written on it.

...

I actually did not have Access Connection installed, so I just went and got it. It is now running, is version 5.33, and it can not find my network either

The driver version is 4.1.2.156

This is really odd. I don't understand why it can't find the network, while seemingly having all drivers installed correctly, and appearing fully operational.

Any help greatly appreciated.

[sjthinkpader]

Is the router set to preshared key? What if you turn off the encryption?

[edward700]

Hey again,

I just disabled encryption, and it still can't see the network. I am sat about 1 metre from the router...

[serek]

I bet you have your card set for American channels (1-11) and your router is set on 12th or 13th. Change it to ETSI channels (1-13) and you'll find your network :]

[edward700]

I bet you have your card set for American channels (1-11) and your router is set on 12th or 13th. Change it to ETSI channels (1-13) and you'll find your network :]

I had a quick look around, but I can't see where I go to check or change that? The router channel is 6.

This is confusing. I *thought* that this stuff was pretty basic... [censored] Windows =)

[edward700]

I've fixed it.

I was getting desparate, so uninstalled all drivers, and also Access Connections.

Rebooted, let windows install whatever drivers it wanted to, and it immediately saw my network. Weird! I checked in Device Manager, and it's using the exact same drivers as before. But whatever... I have spent enough time over this already. I shall just be thankful and leave it there =)

Thanks for the advice.

[EngineersCake]

Rebooted, let windows install whatever drivers it wanted to, and it immediately saw my network. Weird!

My guess, and I've had to deal with something like this, is that the ThinkVantage AccessConnections was conflicting with the WindowsXP network controller. I also have had the "wrong channel" issue. I had an external USB LAN adapter that was hard wired to channel 3, and my router was stuck on channel 11. They never saw each other, and neither was adjustable. So it sucked... then I got a ThinkPad R61 and it was good.