T61 WiFi always on (Pic)

[Mike-NOAA]

I just got a new 14" T61 and like it very much. After using a competing brand for a while, I'm enjoying the clean design and good keyboard & TrackPoint of the ThinkPad.

My question is about theWiFi radio. It is always ON (as indicated by the indicator light under the screen) unless I turn it off with the hardware switch under the keyboard. However, that also turns Bluetooth off.

When bring up the Fn-F5 popup, it always says that WiFi is off. When I click on the "Power on" button, nothing happens. The popup does control Bluetooth OK. Besides not controlling WiFi, this seems to be a nasty piece of software -- it's often unresponsive, won't close, etc.

When I'm at work, I would like to turn Wifi OFF while leaving Bluetooth ON, so I am looking for some working software control. Has anyone else experienced this issue. How did you resolve it?

[khaverblad]

When you have Fn+F5 popup windows; try to click on the Open Access Connection - from there you should be able to disable the wireless connection as well.

[Mike-NOAA]

When you have Fn+F5 popup windows; try to click on the Open Access Connection - from there you should be able to disable the wireless connection as well.

Hi, Kim, and thank you for the hint. However, if there is a place in Access Connections to disable the WiFi, I cannot find it. I have gone through all the menus and tried various options (e.g., Automatic wireless LAN radio control both On and Off, Automatic Connection Switching On and Off).

Regards,
Mike
(former enthusiastic OS/2 user)

[khaverblad]

Guess a capture of the windows might make it a bit easier to see how it looks like; so here goes:



I hope above helps out; another question; doesn't the T61 have the option of disabling all wireless and blue tooth connection with a switch located on the front left on the system? I usually uses this when going on a flight or customer location.

MOD EDIT: Pic warning added to the 1st post.

[Mike-NOAA]

Guess a capture of the windows might make it a bit easier to see how it looks like; so here goes: [...]
doesn't the T61 have the option of disabling all wireless and blue tooth connection with a switch located on the front left on the system? I usually uses this when going on a flight or customer location.

Thanks again, Kim. I recognize the screen capture and do understand what you are suggesting.

I am connected through Ethernet at the office, so the "Disconnect" button shown doesn't turn off WiFi, but instead disconnects my wired LAN. I am trying to turn off WiFi when I am at the office.

The T61 does have the hardware switch you mentioned, and I also use it on flights. However, it also turns off Bluetooth, which I use to sync my Palm Pilot. Although the software offers to turn off WiFi, it does not seem to work on my machine.

Regards,
Mike

[khaverblad]

Hmm okey, odd... If you check the connection profile within Access Connections utility I assume that Type of network connection is set to Best Available Network? If not change it to Best Available Network and as well make sure that the Intel ethernet adapter comes before the wireless on the list.

Got the latest version of AC, ie 4.42?[/i]

[Mike-NOAA]

This seems to be some clash between Access Connections and Windows XP. My home (wireless) profile won't even connect unless I go into the Windows "Network Connections" control panel and check "Use Windows to configure my wireless network settings."

Windows can turn the adapter on and off, make and repair the connection, and so on. It lacks some of the features of Access Connections, so I'd prefer to use the latter, but I can't seem to get it to work.

I would think Access Connections SHOULD work, as it's shipped with thousands of ThinkPads, but it seems resistant in my case. Rather than spend more time on this, I will just give up and use Windows' own methods.

Mike

[khaverblad]

Might be that something got weird with the installation of Access Connections; I would suggest to re-install it and give it another try. You can download the Access Connections from Lenovo Support & Download site. As you say, it's a great feature - among the best utilities that comes along on the ThinkPads. So one way another it should be able to get it to work.

[Mike-NOAA]

Thanks, Kim. When I have time, I'll delete the Windows Network Connection and see if I can get A. C. to work. If not, I'll try re-installing.

M

P.S. Are you using OS/2 on your Thinkpad?

[khaverblad]

There is no need to delete the Windows Network Connection since it can and should be able to co-exist with AC. As well, you could also give Intel own utilities a try to see how they work out.

Also I got some clues from another thread that might be of interest for you as well; so check following thread.

About running OS2 on the T60 - Well, Yes I've made a test installation on my office system using eComstation v2.0 RC1 (OEM version of OS2) and everything runs fine except for that there is no audio drivers to support native MMOS2; having said that the driver that do exist only supports one application and that is WarpVision that plays everything from mp2, divx to DVD's. Dual core is supported in eComstation and OS2 itself supports up to 64 CPU's. Graphic drivers has and is a problem for OS2 earlier we had Scitechs SNAP drivers that supports huge amount if different chipset from different vendors. But, since a year back they have closed down further development of SNAP. Good news is that there now is a Russian developed VESA driver called Panorama that supports most VESA-complaint adapters and it does it really well. Even if it's non accelerated VESA mode it's really fast compared to what one has earlier been used to when it comes to VESA drivers.

About eComstation; you can find a review of the eCS v2 RC1 here.

[Mike-NOAA]

There is no need to delete the Windows Network Connection since it can and should be able to co-exist with AC. As well, you could also give Intel own utilities a try to see how they work out.

Also I got some clues from another thread that might be of interest for you as well; so check following thread.

Kim,

Thanks again. Regarding Intel's own utilities, in the past I found them more feature-rich than native Windows capabilities, but less robust. Perhaps the tenacity of the MS software at gaining control contributes to this.

The last post in the other thread (post by GomJabbar) has a great deal of technical information that seems relevant. I appreciate the reference. When I get some free time, I'll see if any of that helps.

Regards,

[Mike-NOAA]

This may be resolved. First, I checked that all drivers and Access Connections were at most recent, and compatible, levels. They were.

Then, I un-installed AC, and after rebooting, the Fn-F5 popup controlled both radios perfectly. I re-installed AC, and the popup stopped working.

Finally, I reordered the system PATH, as recommended in one of the referenced articles, so that the Intel DLL path is now the first entry. After rebooting, everything seems to work fine. The final test will be whether the TP connects to my wireless system at home -- I'll post again if it doesn't.

For reference, the post dated 7 Jun 2005 by GomJabbar in the thread identified in Kim's previous post has the information on system path, etc.

[Mike-NOAA]

This may be resolved. ... The final test will be whether the TP connects to my wireless system at home -- I'll post again if it doesn't.

Access Connections now works in both locations I've tested. However, when it connects at work, Access Connections displays an error, saying it was unable to contact the DHCP server for an address. The error message is wrong! IPCONFIG confirms that an address has been assigned. Apart from the error message, everything works fine.

Oh, well....

[khaverblad]

Hmm odd, but it's either a bug or issue with AC itself; who knows. The problem is that how done one reports bugs/flaws to Lenovo? I actually last week reported some issues that I had with some of the ThinkVantage utilities and I got back an e-mail saying that my system only had 30 days of support for the software and that I needed to pay for more help..... so much for bug reporting ...

[Mike-NOAA]

Hmm odd, but it's either a bug or issue with AC itself; who knows. The problem is that how done one reports bugs/flaws to Lenovo? I actually last week reported some issues that I had with some of the ThinkVantage utilities and I got back an e-mail saying that my system only had 30 days of support for the software and that I needed to pay for more help..... so much for bug reporting ...

Reminiscent of my attempt long ago to report a serious bug in EPS file handling in Lotus Freelance. After much frustration (similar to yours) with Lotus in the US, I got a German Lotus rep to file the bug report. After a year longer, it was acknowledged by Lotus as a bug. Shortly after, the bug was closed as a permanent limitation. Sometimes, it's just better to move on.