Problem w/Fn-F5, installing update, how to turn off wireless

[eliu]

Okay...yeah a lot of questions in the title, lol.

First off, when I press Fn-F5, it gives me this message:
Unable to change the power state of 802.11 wireless radio. Update the driver for the wireless adapter. (It also says I can click a checkbox and it won't show that message again.)

Thing is, I have the latest driver version for my wireless adapter (Intel Pro/Wireless 2200BG). So...I'm not sure what exactly that message means. I tried Fn-F5 with wireless enabled under network places, with network disabled, and with the wireless radio turned off in device manager--all produce the same results. Is this a significant problem, or should I just click the checkbox next time?

Before I go any further...is that the proper way to turn off the wireless radio? I heard that wireless uses a significant amt of battery power, so if I'm say taking a car trip or flying, I'd like to turn it off to increase battery life. Do I have to go to the wireless adapter in device manager and click the "turn off wireless radio" checkbox? Or would simply disabling it in Network Places do the trick? Do I even need to turn it off? That is, if I'm not using the wireless connection, is it still drawing (a lot of) power?

Okay...now last question. I was using IBM's auto-update utility; it wanted to install this: IBM Access Connections + wireless LAN driver pack v3.21. But when I tell it to install, I get this message: An error occured while installing updates on your system. Please contact the IBM HelpCenter.

I looked in the contents of the package, and the only thing I don't have in there is the Access Connections 3.21 (my T42 came with 3.10). I already have latest PM driver and wireless driver installed. Is this failed install the reason why I my Fn-F5 is giving me that error?

Thanks in advance,
-Eric Liu

[adr1974]

i had that problem, too. i didn't uninstall anything, but went to Drivers\Win\WLANCX2 and ran setup. Everything worked fine afterwards.

[eliu]

i had that problem, too. i didn't uninstall anything, but went to Drivers\Win\WLANCX2 and ran setup. Everything worked fine afterwards.

Uhhhh...that folder (the WLANCX2) doesnt exist on my computer

EDIT:
I downloaded the exe file to install that update that IBM's auto-updater wouldn't install. So now I have the 3.21 version of Access Connections...and I saw the WLANCX2 thing as part of what it unpacked...so I went ahead and installed that too.

Looks like you solved all my problems...b/c now I have the update, Fn-F5 works, and I can disable/enable the wireless radio at will...THANKS!!

-Eric

EDIT 2:
How did you know that WLANXC2 was the Pro/Wireless 2200BG driver...? The two names don't seem to match up too good--I'm just curious, for future refernce.

[krcmd]

I've got Intel Pro/Wireless 2915ABG 9.0.4.8 driver. When I install access connections I get a message to upgrade wireless drivers. when I uninstall everything including hotkey drivers and re-install from the wireless drivers to the hotkey drivers, I lose Fnf5 functionality even before I install AC.

Is there a way to do this or should I give up?

thank you.

Ken C

[polityk]

I have the same problem as eliu, but I didn't install any of the wireless utilities and i don't want to...

I had just clicked the computer proprties > device manager > ethernet device > drivers > selected where are they and ok,ok,ok

Is it possible to power on/off the WiFi adapter (IBM TP a/b/g) without any additional wireless software ??

p.s. The fn + F5 works fine for BT.

[polityk]

Okay solved the problem

I installed all the other drivers manually.
(unpacked and then in device manager I had only shown the location)
I did not install AC.
* I removed previous WiFi drivers, rebooted.
* Applied winsock patch: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/811259 , rebooted
* Then unpacked new drivers.
* The wireless driver for IBM TP a/b/g WiFi Card on atheros is:
http://s007.wyslijto.pl/?file_id=00966924318579130048
* And installed them by running setup, rebooted.
Now fn+F5 works fine

The driver was downloaded from IBM surely, but I lost the original link...

[GomJabbar]

EDIT 2:
How did you know that WLANXC2 was the Pro/Wireless 2200BG driver...? The two names don't seem to match up too good--I'm just curious, for future refernce.

Double-click on the .XML file in the folder. That file has the information on what the driver is for (or it's name), as well as the driver or software version.