T60p: XP, Intel 5300, Access Connections -- Not Working

[ethink]

I recently purchased a ThinkPad T60 from a thinkpads.com member via the Marketplace.

This T60p was originally a 2008-93U model, with a 15" IPS display.

It was rebuilt with a number of upgrades:

• 1. BIOS uses a modified "whitelist" BIOS
  2. CPU was upgraded to a T7300
  3. Wireless card was upgraded to Intel 5300 AGN

The prior owner used this modified T60p with Windows 7 and it ran smoothly.

Prior to shipping the machine to me he reloaded the original T60p Windows XP SP2 recovery disks (IBM, pre Lenovo) and restored the machine to the factory state.

When I received the machine, I noticed two problems:

• 1. I could not power on the wireless Lan card via Fn + F5 or the front switch
  2. There was a yellow ! indicating a missing driver for a Network Controller

I upgraded the machine with following software:

• 1. Windows SP3
  2. IE 8
  3. Lenovo Power Manager
  4. Lenovo Hot Key Utility
  5. Lenovo Access Connections
  6. Lenovo Drivers for Intel 5300 AGN

This updated software resolved the two initial problems:

• 1. Wireless LAN and Blue Tooth can now be tuned on and off via Fn + F5
  2. Intel 5300 AGN now recognized as a Wireless Network Card

Now, I have run into three additional problems:

• 1. Access Connections (5.97) does NOT seem to work with the Intel 5300 AGN. The Wireless Card does NOT see the home wireless network.
  
  2. I modified the the Wireless Network Connection to allow Microsoft XP to manage the 5300 AGN. In this setting, the home wireless network is seen by the 5300 AGN, but the signal is low (2 bars out of 5) and the speed is low ~30mbps.
  
  3. I cannot install the Intel PROSet Wireless Utilty to test or adjust the 5300 AGN card. The installation always fails

I really want to use Access Connections to manage the wired and wireless networks. I also want to stay on Windows XP with this machine.

Given that this T60p as a modified BIOS and a non-original OEM card I wonder if I need to go back to a more standard wireless card. My other T60p (2007-93U) has the original 3945 ABG wireless card and that works fine.

I welcome your advice on how to resolve this problem.

Thanks,

[ethink]

I reloaded a newer version of the Lenovo Recovery CDs and started with a fresh image. The only missing driver after installation was a "Network Controller" which is actually the Intel 5300-AGN Wireless Card.

I then upgraded the MS platforms by applying Win XP SP3, upgrading the browser to IE8 and upgrading dotNet to 3.51.

I was then able to successfully install the Lenovo version of the Intel Utility and Driver for the 5300-AGN Wireless Card.

I then upgraded the Lenovo ThinkPad software for:

• Power Manager
• Power Management Driver (ACPI)
• HotKey
• Uninstalled the old Access Connections and installed Access Connections 5.87

This successfully integrated Access Connection with 5300-AGN Wireless Utility.

The only Lenovo SW that will not work is the System Update utility. This is because the "whitelist" BIOS appears to have changed the T60p model from 2008-93U to one that is not recognized.

This resolved the problem.