X301 wireless slow to reconnect on resume

[stephenw]

Whenever I open the lid of my X301, it takes about 20 seconds for the wireless to be active.

In the status area, first, the blue circle spins for a while. Then it fails to connect, and shows the yellow asterisk symbol (no connection). Then the blue circle spins some more. Then finally it connects.

This is a recent new install to factory state. I think it actually worked fine for a few days, but once I installed Windows 7 service pack 1, it started doing this.

I have tried the following:
- updated driver to latest version
- deleted wireless profiles and created them again
- removed lenovo wireless software
- adjusted power settings to max performance for wireless

Also, I know there is nothing wrong with the hardware because when I ran linux on this machine it was much quicker to start the wireless.

Nothing seems to help. Does anyone else have this problem? Any ideas what else to try?

Thanks in advance.

[skut]

I solved it by uninstalling Lenovo's wireless manager software along with Intel's. Let Windows deal with wireless connections.

[stephenw]

Wow, I uninstalled the Intel software and I think that has done the trick... thank you for the tip!

I didn't realize Intel was trying to manage the wireless as well. So THREE different pieces of software--Windows, Lenovo and Intel--were all trying to manage the connection. No wonder it doesn't work.

[skut]

np

[stephenw]

It stopped working again. When I open the lid, I have wireless for a few seconds, then I lose it. It takes about 20 seconds to reconnect. This happens every single time.

I have uninstalled Lenovo access connections and the Intel driver.

Any ideas?

Please help, the wireless on this computer is driving me crazy.

[91011]

I have three x301s and your post got me to check each one for wakeup WiFi connection time.
One connects like yours, ~:25 sec, the second ~:14 sec and the third instantly; all were originally clean installs, not from Recovery discs.

So I did a new, clean install of Win 7 Pro 64bit, and WiFi connected instantly from standby.
Then installed all the Important & Optional Windows updates, except IE9 - still connected instantly.

Installed and ran TVSU; then installed each item one at a time, rebooted and checked the WiFi connection time from standby.
Connection time remained instant until the fourth driver, Intel PRO 1000 LAN, installed and the time went to ~:15sec.
Yes, I know it makes no sense that the Ethernet driver would affect the WiFi but it did. Rolled the driver back to the original driver included in the Win 7 install disc and the connection time went back to zero.

Ended up installing 14 TVSU items while not installing System Migration and TP Device Experience for Win 7.
When everything was done, the Intel Pro 1000 LAN Driver update was reinstalled and connection time has stayed at zero.

I also have an x201 and x201s with Intel 6200 cards. One takes ~:25 sec to connect - the other is instant.
If you do decide to replace the 5100, you might want to remove the whitelist with a modded BIOS and find a non-Intel card.

Really just a long way of saying the 5100 & 6200 will keep connected when coming out of standby but there is something causing it to later break.

No idea what it might be but I did notice TVSU does not suggests installing Access Connections and the Intel ProSet icon no longer appears in the Control Panel.
But uninstalling both from an existing install does not fix the connection time (for me).
FWIW, with both cards, the oldest and most complicated install is the machine with the longest delay coming out of standby.

Good luck, let us know how it works out for you.

[stephenw]

Wow, thanks for checking this out on your three systems. Very interesting!

I think I finally found a solution, that seems to work for my machine at least (fingers crossed)...

There are currently two drivers available for the Intel 5100 on the X301 on the Lenovo website. There is version 14.03, and there is version 13.04. Of course, I was using the most recent one (14.03). I uninstalled that, and installed the older one (13.04) (that is still supposed to work), and now, my wireless connects instantly on resume.

By the way, I *didn't* install the Intel wireless management crap that comes with the driver, and I have uninstalled Access connections a long time ago. It does not help to have three separate pieces of software trying to control the wireless!

91011, you might want to try this and see if it improves the wake-up time of your machines.

I agree the 5100 is a card that can function fine if all conditions are optimal. But it seems extremely sensitive under Windows to the precise configuration, I have had lots of different problems with it, and I wouldn't be surprised if some future Windows update messes it up again. It also did not work great under Linux (I had to disable the N mode to get that working). But yeah, I don't really want to mess with the BIOS so I'm going to try to live with it.

[91011]

Congrats, that seems to be the solution.
My clean install had the original Win 7 driver from 9/15/2009 (13.0.0.107) and did connect instantly.
Oddly enough, TVSU didn't suggest any updates for it.
The bad x301 had the 14.03 driver, so I installed 13.0.0.107 and it now keeps the connection.

Now need to find the good 6200 driver.

Thanks,
John

[91011]

Didn't stick, resume time is back to :25 seconds with any one of three different drivers below the 14.03.

[u751920]

Just wondering what the Intel Wireless controlling program is?

Is it Intel(R) PROSet/Wireless WiFi Software?

The Lenovo one I asume is ThinkVantage Access Connections?

Thanks

[91011]

That's correct but neither are necessary - Windows works fine.
But if Recovery Discs are used you have no choice, they are installed and, in my experience, 'break' the standy resume time even when uninstalled.
My two clean (and working correctly) installs do not have either.

[shurane]

Wow, so scientific. It's great that you had so many different machines to test the wifi problem with, 91011. Just chiming in.