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See if one of these Microsoft Knowledge Base articles is of any help.

An outdated network router may not function correctly when you use it together with new networking features in Windows Vista

You cannot connect to a wireless network on a Windows Vista-based computer

Several problems occur on a Windows Vista-based computer when you work in a wireless network environment

Message when a device on a Windows Vista-based computer uses a network bridge to access the network: "Connected with limited access"

TCP/IPv4 appears to be enabled even when it is disabled in Windows Vista

I had very similar issue with my x60s. Over the course of three months I gradually fixed the issue with these steps:
1st , I followed most of the advise at ww.cnet.com for speeding up vista and changed the system settings accordingly. This is important because the boot up time is so long that I mistook the boot-up time as a failure to connect. With these changes, and other modifications (basically making sure that anything that does not need to start with boot-up doesn’t.
2nd I down loaded the latest driver directly from the Intel Pro web-site.
3rd, When connecting to a new wifi spot I use the “Manage Connetion then “Create” option , rather than “Find”. This allows for the connection to be edited if it does not work the 1st time.
Eventually, this fooling around brought my boot to wifi connect ion time down from 3 plus minutes to consistently less than 45 seconds.

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I feel your pain, but my impression is that the WIFI connection was more of a Vista issue rather than a Lenovo one. Perhaps ordering the XP recovery disks from Lenovo and rolling the system back to XP may be the best solution. I actually did order the disks ($57 w/ tax & shipping). However, I chickened out on actually doing it as it seemed like such a radical move, and I was making progress on the issue. (Still might do it – I not all that impressed with Vista.)

Please try one more thing when using a non-home WIFI: When using the “Manage” function of the “Access Connections” feature, go to the third tab “Additional Settings” and make sure that the Override Home Page box is unchecked. Many networks, even free ones, want you to route through their home page to check the user agreement box before they will allow full connection to the internet.

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logicbombv wrote:Thanks for the advice GABohan. I'm not sure that last tip will work as my X60 isn't even detecting the free networks when I'm scanning for them, either in access connections or vistas application.

The thing is I haven't done *anything* to my machine since I got it. It's brand spanking new and I just can't believe Lenovo can sell this when it has such a important problem. Furthermore my roommate ordered the T-series with vista also and doesn't seem to be having any of these problems.

I'm thinking of reinstalling Vista once more before I give up. I do have the disks for XP but it seems like its such a pain the [censored] to try and install that. I'd have to buy a USB cd-r which were like $80 on amazon, or else do some other custom install, like create an XP image on a usb key and boot from that, or an XP network install perhaps hahaha..

UGHHHH

Hi, I understand your issue completely. I recently replaced my X40 with an X61 with Vista Business. I am unable to connect my new X61 to the office wireless ( a major manufacturer ~100K employees). In an effort to solve the issue I have created a dual boot partition and installed XP Pro in the second partition.

The Vista boot partition is never able connect to the company network, it always times out, while the XP boot partition connects without any issue at all. I have installed the same applications in each partition and the XP Pro version works fine at work while the Vista partition works fine at home. Both partitions use the latest TP tools and applications.

Good luck, and please post here if you figure the issue out.