Z61m Wireless Radio/Ethernet problem

[jgordon]

There's no wireless manager. As weird as this sounds, I've never had another way of connecting to the Internet besides Access Connections - nothing's been installed ever since I've been using this computer (no icon in Network Connections, no nothing). I feel like there's a possibility my computer might have just come with AC only, because I've never seen anything otherwise since I've owned this computer. That was the case before I started having trouble with my wireless.

[Marin85]

There's no wireless manager. As weird as this sounds, I've never had another way of connecting to the Internet besides Access Connections - nothing's been installed ever since I've been using this computer (no icon in Network Connections, no nothing). I feel like there's a possibility my computer might have just come with AC only, because I've never seen anything otherwise since I've owned this computer. That was the case before I started having trouble with my wireless.

I suspected something like this, but I highly doubt that your machine comes only with AC and no network manager. AFAIK, AC cannot work without windows network manager, besides, windows network manager is a component of windows that can´t be removed just like this. Then try this: network connections -> wireless -> properties -> wireless networks -> check "use windows to configure my wireless networks". Apply (and reboot if you want). In the same tab you should find "view wireless networks", which should do what it stands for after you have enabled the thing above.

[jgordon]

There's no wireless icon in my Network Connections; there hasn't been for a long, long time. All that I have listed in there is a VPN that I use to get on my school's wireless. Is it hidden, or disconnected, or what?

[Marin85]

What happens if you do the same thing I described above with the VPN icon? (right click -> ???)

Device Manager -> Network adapters -> what do you see there?

[jgordon]

None of that's listed under the VPN.

In Device Manager, I see three things: 11a/b/g Wireless LAN Mini PCI Express Adaspter, 1394 Net Adapter #2, and Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet. All of them are working.

[Marin85]

So, all of them are enabled ...

[jgordon]

Yeah, I don't know. I've never had an icon in Network Connections; last year, I was having problems getting onto a wireless network in AC, and my friend's dad tried to go it through Network Connections, but there was no path. Is reinstalling AC a viable idea at all given this? I'm at a loss.

[Marin85]

That´s definitely the most weird problem I have ever seen... Well, at least you can reinstall AC and see if it will help somehow (but to be honest, I doubt that). The other thing you could try is to attempt a repair install of XP. If you decide to go this way, BACK UP your data before.

[jgordon]

One other note: My Network Setup Wizard says that my network hardware (the wireless/ethernet adapters) are both disconnected. Could this have something to do with the problem?

[Marin85]

As far as I understand it, it reports so, because your computer is not connected to any network/router/modem.

[jgordon]

According to the Microsoft site:

"If your network adapter does not appear in the Network Connections window, it has not been properly installed. Uninstall the driver and network adapter as described in Troubleshoot device driver problems. Then reinstall the network adapter according to the manufacturer's instructions or by following the instructions in Install a network adapter."

I assume this takes means the 11a/b/g Wireless LAN Mini PCI Express Adapter under my device manager. If I were to reinstall the driver/adapter, how would I do so?

[Marin85]

It only means to enable the device from Device Manager and (re)install the corresponding driver. But since Device Manager is reporting all network devices to be working properly (from what you have said earlier), I doubt that is the problem. Reinstalling the wifi driver doesn´t hurt anyway though...

[jgordon]

I screwed up. I tried to install AC, but it logged me out of my computer for the first time and asked me for my password. I don't know the password, since my dad set it up to always log in automatically, and like a fool I never set up the fingerprint system, so now I can't get back in. I'd ask my dad what the password is, but he's since passed away. Is there anyway to do a system restore without logging in? I backed up all of my data to my external hard drive; at this point, I'm thinking I might just restore the [censored] thing to factory conditions and be done with it.

[jgordon]

Alternately, is there any other way to log in? Or is that impossible? Is there no fail safe?

[jgordon]

Never mind, I got back in; there wasn't a password after all! I am nothing if not dumb.

Anyways, installing AC again gets me the same problem, that it says the wireless radio is shut off. What now? Am I just screwed? This ordeal has been very annoying. I'm thinking of just restoring everything. Will Windows XP already be installed, or will I need the CD?

[jgordon]

Okay! multiple posting style. I did a bit of digging and found a topic where a guy had a similar problem with his Lenovo:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthr ... 603&page=2

The solution seems to make sense because it's the exact problem I've been having, but renaming the one libeay32.dll file I found in my C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 folder didn't seem to do the trick. I don't think the similarities are 100%...but what are other ideas to fix it? Rename all of the libeay32.dll files on my computer? Reinstall it? What's the deal?

[Marin85]

Don´t worry about the password. Same thing has happened to many of us..., we learn from our experience. By restoring everything, you mean reinstalling windows? Since your machine came preloaded with all Lenovo stuff (I assume so from your first posts), you should be able to boot in the Rescue&Recovery predesktop area and perform a (custom-)restore to factory contents. Choosing custom restore will allow you to pick only those Lenovo applications that you think you need. However, I don´t know what else the image may or may not include, like your VPN and some other software from your school will be probably not installed, so you will have to reinstall them separately (ask your school about that). Alternatively, you may want to consider a clean install of XP using some standard XP installation media. But then you will have to install all Lenovo drivers as well as any additional stuff you think you gonna need.

[Marin85]

The problem of the guy from notebookreview forum is actually that his wifi randomly turns itself off (which might be related to power management). In you case, your wifi is permanently turned off or sort of since you don´t see nothing under network connections.

[jgordon]

The wireless icon near my screen is still flashing, but Fn+F5 tells me it's shut off. That seems similar to this guy's case. The difference is that I don't have anything in Network Connections and haven't had anything for a while...I don't know. It just seemed like the closest thing. Does that make a difference at all?

[Marin85]

I have no idea, but you could try those wifi power management tweaks...

[jgordon]

Where do I find the power management for the wireless card? I don't see anything when I'm in Device Manager. The network adapter's tabs when I click on it are: General, Advanced, Driver, Details, and Resources. I don't see any Power Management option.

[Marin85]

Well, it could be then only advanced (sorry, I don´t use XP, but something should be there, I think).

[jgordon]

There was something called "Power Save" mode under the Advanced tab. I turned it off.

I can't, however, find anything related to wi-fi in my Lenovo Power Manager or AC. I don't even know where my Windows Power Manager is; nothing popped up when I searched, and "Power Options" doesn't have anything about wi-fi either. Do you know what the deal is?

Also, if I restore my computer to factory settings, will I need a CD to reinstall Windows XP or will it automatically be there?

[Marin85]

Don´t bother with the power settings. If the first doesn´t help, it is very unlikely that the others would do IMO.

If your predesktop area and the hidden partition are intact, then you won´t need any XP CDs, that´s actually the purpose of the hidden partition.

[jgordon]

Alright. I think I've taken this as far as I can. Sometime soon, I'm going to do the system restore and get back to basics, then just reinstall everything. I figure it'll be a nice way to clear my computer of all the crap I've built up over the last few years.

Thanks for all the help. I can't believe I never figured out what was wrong in the first place! Bummer.

[jgordon]

Quick, unrelated question: I'm going to be going home for spring break soon and will want to use the network I have at home. My dad set up the settings on my computer a while ago; as such, the password to the network is long out of my memory. It was 10-digit hexanumeric entry, not a custom password. Is there any way to explicate the password before I delete all my settings? The computer used to set up the wifi network is no longer in use. A friend of mine says I can use a connection to the network (my mom's computer) to reset the password; is this true?

[Marin85]

I guess you mean the wifi encryption key. Ask your parents about the key, they should know it. The easiest way to recover the key is by using Cain&Abel. Install it, it will prompt to install winpcap, skip that, launch Cain -> Tab Decoders -> Cached passwords -> Wireless Passwords -> press the big plus button in the toolbar. It should dump all wifi keys saved on your computer. As far as I remember, the Cain displays the wifi keys in hex, but that should do as well. Besides, one can always convert hex to decimal (google it if you need to do such thing). Use this utility only for legal purposes!

Hope this helps,

Marin