Access Connections 4.12 + Intel Pro/Wireless 10.5 borked

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yossarian · #1 Post by **yossarian** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 5:22 am

Ever since upgrading to the 10.x APIs, access connections has been kinda broken for wireless.

For 10.1.1.3, PEAP + 802.1x authentication didn't work even though unsecured connections worked not to mention the override TCP/IP ability broke.

On 10.5 I'm finding that AC does not respond to my unsecured wifi profile now either. It does not even bring up the dialog box that shows the status of the attempt to connect. Instead, it stays disconnected. All other wifi profiles I try create exhibit same behaviour.

When you bring up the "Help Me Fix This" link, it says the cause is:
"Windows Wireless Configuration Service is not enabled."

I am baffled as to what exactly that means. Unsecured wifi seems to be working via windows by itself, but Access Connections is ignoring it. No services with the keyword "wireless" has been disabled since the 10.5 upgrade.

The Access Connections tray icon thta shows the signal strength and allowed the wireless to be turned off has also disappeared.

#2 Post by **GomJabbar** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 5:41 am

Anytime you upgrade the wireless driver software, you need to uninstall Access Connection first - otherwise you are liable to run into problems.

Try the following to fix your problems. Uninstall Access Connections and your Wireless driver software. You can uninstall these with Software Installer or Windows Add or Remove Programs. For the Intel Wireless card, in Add or Remove Programs it is called: Intel(R) PROSet/Wireless Software. Next reboot and cancel any Found Hardware Wizard. Now install your wireless driver software. [I do a reboot between installing the wireless driver software and Access Connections, but I am not sure if it is necessary.] Finally install Access Connections again. Reboot and you should be good to go.

yossarian · #3 Post by **yossarian** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 3:14 pm

Thanks GomJabbar, that did the trick for getting AC back.

But now that AC is back, there are new problems...

When I click for creating new location profiles, it takes forever before the dialog box comes up.

Also, the wireless signal strength icon reports that wireless is on but that transmit rate is 0.0 Kbps.

If I click on the "View Status" it has a button for "Power On" wireless. Clicking that does nothing.

If I use the Fn + F5 command, it also shows the wireless as off and an option for enabling. But trying to enable that way does not work either.

So as far as I can tell, the wireless is not working anymore.

#4 Post by **GomJabbar** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 6:17 pm

See if the following might be the problem.

Go to Start > Connect To > Show all connections. Right-click on the wireless adapter and choose Properties, then on the Wireless Networks tab, clear the Use Windows to configure my wireless network settings check box. I believe there might be a similar check box in the Intel PROSet software (I think I have seen it before, but I don't see it in my present configuration).

Alternatively, you can go to Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services, then Stop and Disable the Wireless Zero Configuration service. If this service is stopped, you will not see the Wireless Networks tab mentioned above.

If the above doesn't work, here is something to try; uninstall Access Connections, the Hotkey Features driver, and the ACPI Power management driver, reboot then reinstall the ACPI Power management driver, the Hotkey Features driver, then Access Connections. Reboot again.

yossarian · #5 Post by **yossarian** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 5:13 am

I feel like a fool. I installed AC 4.00 instead of 4.12 since I backed up 4.12's package to cd and deleted it from. But I've now installed 4.12 after uninstalling AC 4.00 first.

The weird behaviour from creating profiles is gone. However, the original problem in the first post of this thread is back again.

This means that uninstall Intel drivers 10.5, AC 4.12, then installing drivers, reboot, install AC 4.12 did not get rid of the broken behaviour.

I'm guessing GomJabbar has 10.5 with AC 4.12 working fine?

I have no idea what is causing my problem.

I have a T43 and Intel 2915 ABG wifi card FYI.

#6 Post by **GomJabbar** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 6:26 am

Yes, I have 10.5 with AC 4.12 working fine.

When you get problems like yours, they can be hard to fix. You can try repairing the Winsock. How to recover from Winsock2 Corruption

If that doesn't work, then you must have some bad entries in your registry. I suggest you read through the following thread, since it more or less covers all the bases.

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 31&start=0

yossarian · #7 Post by **yossarian** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 7:05 pm

Winsock2 is fine (used the diagnostic methods on that link) and I tried uninstalling with "Your Installer! 2006" as well as using that vbs script and then reinstalling clean to no avail :S

aschb · #8 Post by **aschb** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 4:11 am

Installed 10.5 with AC 4.12 and is working fine. I didn't uninstall the former version but it seems the install procedure did it anyway.

#9 Post by **GomJabbar** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 5:45 am

It's up to you what you want to try at this point. You could try and troubleshoot the problem some more, but your time may be better spent starting off from scratch. I think I would just bite the bullet and do a reinstall of the Operating System. Backup any files you need to save, then Restore to Factory Contents from the hard drive, or use the Product Recovery Discs (make a set now if you haven't already).

Use Software Installer or System Update to update your programs. I would do it in batches. Start with the basic core stuff first, then work your way up to the non-hardware programs. For instance, the Intel Chipset drivers first, next power management, then Windows critical and recommended (the ones you want) updates. Do not download and install the Windows hardware updates. If you go to Windows Update and choose Custom, then you can see what you are actually downloading and installing. After Windows Update, then using Software Installer or System Update to get the rest of your hardware drivers updated, including the Hotkeys driver. Lastly get Access Connections and other software. Note: You may have to go to the driver matrix page for your T43 to find all of the updates. I know Software Installer doesn't always find all of them. I am not so sure about System Update, since I don't use it.

The above is what I would do. I feel bad that so far my advice has not panned out for you. I know it is frustrating and time-consuming to do all these installs, uninstalls, and reboots. And after all that, still not getting it to work right. If you want other advice, it seems Wiz and riddil know this Access Connections business about as well as anyone here. Search for their posts on the subject.

FWIW, I notice you have a different Intel card than I do. I have the Intel 2200bg. I don't know if this makes any difference with the problems you are having...

yossarian · #10 Post by **yossarian** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 6:45 am

Thanks for the suggestions. They were much appreciated despite the lack of results.

I think I'll bite the bullet as you say, and do a system reinstall. Funny enough, making backup cds was the first thing I did. One of the first things I did with this thinkpad when I first go it was mess up the installation when playing around with bootstrapping, so those cds really came in handy. I will probably delay the reinstall for a month or so when exams are over.

It would be curious to see if the slightly different wifi chipset did make a difference and I wonder what card aschb is using with his setup.

aschb · #11 Post by **aschb** » Sun Oct 15, 2006 3:32 am

Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG

Other components:

Intel Driver: 10.5.0.0 API
BIOS: 1.29
Embedded Controller 1.06
Access Connections 4.12

yossarian · #12 Post by **yossarian** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 7:25 am

I can happily report that the new Access Connections 4.21 seems to fix a lot of the wonky behaviour. The status bar is back now.

The connecting status bar is back, all the system tray icons are back and I didn't even have to uninstall the wifi drivers first.

I just have to actually test the wifi connectivity now to make sure it works. Probably won't be for a while though with exams and all.

aschb · #13 Post by **aschb** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 11:18 am

Instalaled 4.21, too. Looks good.

lfeagan · #14 Post by **lfeagan** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 5:04 pm

Thanks for the help GomJabbar. I admit not having updated my ThinkVantage tools for many months and had never upgraded my Access Connections and so for the first time experienced this unpleasant experience. I was quite concerned at first...but a quick search of the ThinkPads forums always comes to the rescue. Thanks!

Access Connections 4.12 + Intel Pro/Wireless 10.5 borked

Access Connections 4.12 + Intel Pro/Wireless 10.5 borked

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