T43p Access connections cannot access the wireless device

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tokjdm · #1 Post by **tokjdm** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 11:16 pm

The Intel Pro Wireless 2915ABG seems to be working fine (the device manager says so) but Think Vantage Access Connections no longer seems able to access the device. When trying to connect through a profile which uses the wireless card, I end up with the following message:
"The wireless network device driver is incorrectly configured or there is a version mismatch with Think Vantage Access Connections. Refer to the installation instructions provided with your network device. You may also need to update Think Vantage Access Connections to the most recent version."
I ran up the utility which upgrades all IBM related software and drivers but it did not touch Access Connections or the wireless card. Both should therefore be up to date.

When scanning for available wireless networks, the software cannot find any while there are at least 10 available around my home.
I use the wireless connection at home and it was working fine in the morning but no longer in the evening. The culprit must be some software I added during the day (Skype lookalike) but they were all immediately uninstalled.

Any help would be appreciated on how to restore the link between Access Connections and the wireless card.

jdm

#2 Post by **GomJabbar** » Fri Jan 27, 2006 11:55 pm

Are you using the following latest version of Access Connections - version 4.01, with the wireless driver version 9.0.2.31?

ThinkVantage Access Connections for Windows 2000 and XP - ThinkPad General

tokjdm · #3 Post by **tokjdm** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 2:24 am

I wasn't using the update (funny that the IBM update utility did not find out about it). I updated the driver and the access connections software but the problem remained the same.

tokjdm · #4 Post by **tokjdm** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 3:23 am

I also noticed that I found the same problem that people in another thread: the MAC address of the wireless device is not the same in Win and in AC.

greghead · #5 Post by **greghead** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 4:43 pm

Never mind. Replied to wrong thread.

tokjdm · #6 Post by **tokjdm** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 8:51 pm

If that can of any help, I called the Lenovo Service Center today and they told me to downgrade Access Connections to v3.81 and to install the AC+driver pack (not the separate versions). I uninstalled the driver and the software, installed the pack and my wireless connection is back....

notebooknewbie · #7 Post by **notebooknewbie** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 9:14 pm

Would you be able to point me to where I can find Access Connections v3.81 and AC+driver pack you're talking about?

Thanks.

tokjdm · #8 Post by **tokjdm** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 9:34 pm

I shouted victory too early. There was a minor change in the sense that Fn+F5 showed the wireless device ON instead of OFF but nothing else. The only thing that the Customer Service is proposing is to do a Recovery which I do not want to do.

I found the pack by searching syd0-02095b7 but that was for Lenovo Japan (although the exe file should install properly in English in an English WinXP environment)

#9 Post by **Kyocera** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 9:41 pm

By reading over your original post it sounds like you are assuming that either the IBM update or the skype(like) software may have caused the issue. Why not try a system restore back to before doing all this, just to see if that is the case.

Personally I don't use AC at all and have never had any problems with either of my lapsters in any environment

tokjdm · #10 Post by **tokjdm** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 10:56 pm

I like Access Connections because it allows to change quickly from one connection to another, setting up for instance the printer to be used primarily for each connection. Do you use another soft to manage your connections ?

#11 Post by **Kyocera** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 11:20 pm

No, changing from one connectionn to another takes seconds, if the printer you are printing to is on the subnet of your connection I am not sure why that would take any extra configuration. But I have to use my laptop to troubleshoot networks so I really can't use a third party software to manage my connections. I do seem to read a lot of posts about problems with AC.

Hope you get yours fixed

tokjdm · #12 Post by **tokjdm** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 11:24 pm

Just tried to connect using Windows but did not work either

#13 Post by **Kyocera** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 11:39 pm

Have you tried uninstall/reinstall your wireless driver?

tokjdm · #14 Post by **tokjdm** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 11:48 pm

I uninstalled and reinstalled it 4 times.

I now found out how to use wireless with Windows. The Wireless Zero Configuration service was not ON. I put it back on Automatic and it worked. I assume that this service is turned off by AC.
Thanks for the idea of switching to Windows.

#15 Post by **Kyocera** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 11:58 pm

Great, hope it keeps working now, it really is not a lot of trouble to manage the connections yourself, if you get used to it. Using the "view available wireless networks" link in the properties of the wireless connection lets you search and connect to a trusted local network. Refresh network list will update local access points. If you network requries an SSID just type it in and you can request to save it.

Chatbox · #16 Post by **Chatbox** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 12:06 am

Kyocera wrote: Great, hope it keeps working now, it really is not a lot of trouble to manage the connections yourself, if you get used to it. Using the "view available wireless networks" link in the properties of the wireless connection lets you search and connect to a trusted local network. Refresh network list will update local access points. If you network requries an SSID just type it in and you can request to save it.

Getting used to it doesn't make the tasks less repetitive. It's tedious when you have to set default printer, internet proxy, map network drives...etc everytime you switch networks. AC helps a lot in my case.

tokjdm · #17 Post by **tokjdm** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 12:07 am

Thanks

tokjdm · #18 Post by **tokjdm** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 12:10 am

IBM Japan Customer Service's official position was that they are not concerned as long as it is a software problem. Strange for a software that they developed and provided but what can I do about it.

#19 Post by **Kyocera** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 12:17 am

Yeah, I am aware of that and can see where it is a great help in that area and the software is made for that type of migration, tedious, and more labor intensive. Any software is great that makes less mouse clicks to reach an end result. Thing is, it is great until it don't work for you, then it helps to be able to go back and configure things manually if you have to. It also helps being able to troubleshoot problems with the software, becasue if a wireless device won't work using AC and will work configured differently( windows ) then you know where to start looking for the problem.

T43p Access connections cannot access the wireless device

T43p Access connections cannot access the wireless device

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