New Intel Driver PRO/Wireless 3945ABG

[jdevoo]

Hello,
I own a thinkpad X61s running Vista Ultimate. After experiencing problems with hanging shutdowns and Wireless connection losses, I researched a bit and believe my problems are related to the WiFi adapter.
Intel seems to have recently posted a new version of its
Intel® PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection 11.5.0.32 dated 11/8/2007.
Would this supercede the version I currently have installed which is from Microsoft version 10.6.0.15?
Has anyone tried to install that newer version?
TIA!
- JP

[Jackboot]

Yes it is newer than your current 10.6.0.15

The question is, what has changed with the new release? All changes may be unrelated to the 3945 card for all we know. For some reason there is no "release notes" file on Intel's download page that I can see.

I am running 11.1.1.16 with no problems. I'd be interested to see what changes have been made in the new release. Does anyone know where to find a release notes file for the new version?

[jdevoo]

Hi Jackboot!
Nope, couldn't find the release note either.
I just submitted the question via e-mail to the Intel site. Keep you posted if/when I receive an answer.

[bill bolton]

Hello,
Would this supercede the version I currently have installed which is from Microsoft version 10.6.0.15?

Lenovo has newer version (11.1.1.16) that is available for download for their web site, so why don't you try that first?

Cheers,

Bill B.

[jdevoo]

Hi Bill,

I have wiped my partition and clean-installed Vista Ultimate.
The laptop came with pre-installed bloatware and ThinkVantage addons which duplicate the OS services such as wireless, battery or external screen management. This, combined with what may be a yet-to-solved problem for me, I decided to take that approach.

Windows update did a neat job at fetching the required Lenovo drivers; why didn't it retrieve version 11 of the Intel board - dunno.

My question really is when/if will it retrieve the latest version from Intel?

[John H]

I wonder if this would help me with the problem tht suddenly developed with my T60 wireless? It's become balky under ubuntu and XP.

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?p=362154

[jdevoo]

Hi Hohn and thanks for the pointer.
I suspect indeed that this sort of awake is what's the cause. Status returned by the driver is incorrect and Vista waits for shutdowns or simply sees at times it is gone and can't revive it.
I also noticed this happens when using network-hungry apps such as uTorrent, Doppler and Skype.
I am watching that with TCPView from sysinternals to see...
But now, I'd rather get the latest Intel driver. The thing is that I read some scary stories and don't want to mess things up.

[Jackboot]

It's very easy to try installing the latest Intel driver (or the 'official' Lenovo version). If things get worse, just "roll back" to your previous driver. More likely though it sounds like installing a newer driver will solve the problem.

[John H]

In that case, has anyone solved a problem by installing that Intel Mystery driver?

[John H]

Hello,
Would this supercede the version I currently have installed which is from Microsoft version 10.6.0.15?

Lenovo has newer version (11.1.1.16) that is available for download for their web site, so why don't you try that first?

Cheers,

Bill B.

Gladly, if I knew where to find it.

I spent the last hour spelunking Intel and Lenovo trying to find the right DL, which I think would be the XP flavor of the 11.1.1.16 driver for the 3945abg wireless. This is the best I could do:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-67256

which looks like it's almost right, but not quite.

So it looks like I gotta DL that 27mb monster and then go looking for the Thinkvantage connections software.

Is that right?

Is that what other people have done?

Do I need Vista (shudder!) or can I use XP?

Does someone have a better URL (an actual URL, not a proposed hunting expedition) for the recommended DL(s)?

[jdevoo]

John (spelled correctly this time)
I found the Intel drivers at http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Product ... uctID=2259 which pointed me for Vista to a 5Mb download.
I did what Jackboot suggested and indeed, the install was easy. I unzipped the thing and from my device manager, hit the "Update..." button.
Now, let's wait and see how this baby behaves under sleep-in, sleep-out conditions :-)
Cross fingers!

[John H]

I went there, chose XP pro, and DLed this:

INTEL_NETWORK_CONNECTION_ID_TOOL_305.EXE
Ver:3.0.5 Date:7/6/2007 Size:247 (KB)

Which doesn't have the version number I was expecting, and is maybe backdated too far. Oh well. I guess I'll give it atry under XP and then hope that it also solves the linux problem, somehow.

[bill bolton]

which looks like it's almost right, but not quite.

The driver version number within a package is often not the same as the API version number. Its an minor peculiarity of the way Intel packages their software to OEMs.

Cheers,

Bill B.

[John H]

Problem solved! (slaps forehead with hand)

I just had to set the "Roaming" checkbox in the properties for the wireless connection. Somehow, I don't remember when or why, the actual network AP name was entered.

Now I have to figure out why XP isn't working. Or maybe it'll be fixed. Maybe the 'roaming' sets/resets a state variable in the hardware that isn't affected by a change of OS and/or a reboot.

[jdevoo]

Just reporting that the driver has been working well and I haven't had anymore issues with the laptop going to sleep.

[jdevoo]

Update to my own previous post. It's friday end of the day here and I thought I'd run a ThinkVantage System Update. Note: Windows Update ran earlier today and had nothing to special report.

I noticed System Update reported a new network driver version and decided to run the update. Well... bad idea. It gave me a BLUE SCREEN during the install.

Their new proposed version is:
Version 11.05.0 API (Package)
11.5.0.36 (4965AG/4965AGN)
11.5.0.36 (3945BG/3945ABG)
9.1.2.10 (2915ABG/2200BG)

I must say that my overall experience with this laptop (first time on thinkpad for me) is quite poor. Starting with the silly button, ThinkVantage is more confusing than equivalent utilities of other manufacturers and cannot understand the need to follow different driver numbering schemes, redundant and poorly managed updates procedures.

My previous negative experience with this utility was accepting an optional screen driver update which ended up screwing up the system good; I seriously fail to see the added value from the vendor here... I guess it's ok rely on the end-user to check if an update makes sense and apply the change :?

I restored my laptop to a previous point in time and will continue not trusting whatever comes from that ThinkVantage updater...