Question about WiFi Cards *PIC*

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Lightning · #1 Post by **Lightning** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 7:08 am

One last question I need to ask. My original WiFi card has three (3) connection points; Main, Aux, and over in the corner... an un-marked female black connector

The new cards I've been trying (that supposedly work with a T30) don't have that small black slide-in connector which would receive that little white male connector in the upper LHS of the image. I hope that is not for the antenna, or is it?

Device manager reports the card is working, but it's not picking up my wireless router which is 3 feet away. Is it possible that there's a jack hidden under the label?

BTW, I apologize for so many different posts on this problem, but days are going by with no responses to the old posts, so I figured a new post will get seen.

Mike

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#2 Post by **Harryc** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 7:27 am

IIRC the mPCI card in a T21 can be a combo modem/ethernet card. I'd guess that the other connector is for a modem or ethernet.

Lightning · #3 Post by **Lightning** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 8:45 am

Hey Harry... Thanks for the reply

This is in the T30 (I sold the T21 long ago), and when the ethernet cable is plugged in the machine recognizes the network just fine. I was wondering where the antenna links up to the WiFi, and hoped it wasn't that little jack.

Mike

#4 Post by **Harryc** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 8:56 am

The only wires required for wireless are the (2) you have connected.

The Spirit of X21 · #5 Post by **The Spirit of X21** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 12:18 pm

The original description of your T30 (2366-JBU) lists that the machine had a wireless/modem mPCI combo card. As harryc said, the little black connector on your original wireless card is definitely for the modem. If the IBM drivers for the 2200BG are not working well with your system, I would highly recommend using the 2200BG drivers from intel.com. They have worked wonderfully in my father's X30.

Lightning · #6 Post by **Lightning** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 4:00 pm

When I get home later I'll try to post the info about the drivers so we can confirm that I have the right one. At this point, the machine thinks the card is working properly at least... so its being recognized. And Harry... thanks... I was thinking that the antenna was disconnected.

Now, the issue is how do I turn on the wireless on the card? My son took it to his cafe/shop today and they have free wifi (he set it up) just to see if it was my wifi setup. Wouldn't recognize the network, but thre were three other people within 10 feet using their laptops just fine. He dropped off the T30 at my house and called me... said that I should check to make sure the drivers are really the right ones because even when he played with it, it said that it couldn't connect.

Have you got a link to those 2200BG drivers?

The Spirit of X21 · #7 Post by **The Spirit of X21** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 12:18 am

Lightning wrote: Have you got a link to those 2200BG drivers?

Sure:

http://tinyurl.com/32zzcd

Lightning · #8 Post by **Lightning** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 11:49 am

I tried those drivers and for some reason, the system will not install them saying that I have better drivers.

The Spirit of X21 · #9 Post by **The Spirit of X21** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 2:26 pm

Lightning wrote:I tried those drivers and for some reason, the system will not install them saying that I have better drivers.

Right, you will have to uninstall those drivers to install the Intel ones. Windows may say that they are better, but such a statement is of little use to you if your system isn't running properly.... your choice, of course.

Lightning · #10 Post by **Lightning** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 9:42 pm

When I did uninstall the drivers, shut the machine down and then used the latest intel drivers (Driver date: 4/4/2006 v.9.0.4.6), I'm still not getting any joy. Get this message when I try to "repair" the wifi connection:

Windows could not finish repairing the problem because the following action cannot be completed:
Connecting to the wireless network.

For assistance, contact the person who manages your network

On the Network Connection Page, the wireless connection shows up, but it says it's Not Connected. I don't know if that means I need to do something with advanced settings, or what. I have totally disabled the firewall on the laptop. Device manager indicates all is well.

I'm wondering if it could have anything to do with my LinkSys Wireless Gateway's settings, but I checked and wireless is enabled. Somehow my wireless is not working with regard to handshaking with the router. I have to solve that first.

Is there any sort of diagnostic check I can run that will actually tell me something? Somebody had once suggested Netstumbler so I ran it, and it reports a LinkSys MAC is active and transmitting (?) at 54 Mbps on channel 6, and it lists the MAC. Netstumbler has very little documentation and whats there is very esoteric for an old fart like me. Is something working?

At this point I may check around and see if anyone has a working OEM wifi card and even though it'd be slow... switch back to that. My son said I should just buy a PCMCIA card, but that's going against my grain because this T30 is certainly capable of running an internal card. I think I was so intrigued by the retrofit that I thought it was easy to get running and apparently its not. But thanks for hanging with me guys... maybe somebody will come up with the possible solution before I throw it out the window. Keep'em coming.

Mike

The Spirit of X21 · #11 Post by **The Spirit of X21** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 12:48 am

Are you running any sort of security on your wireless network? Sorry to hear you are having so much trouble

#12 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 5:57 am

Try this:
click on Start/Run and type in services.msc and hit Enter
Scroll down and double-click on Wireless Zero Configuration, then click on the Start service button, then on OK/Apply.
Now try it again.

Lightning · #13 Post by **Lightning** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 12:43 pm

RBS...

I think we're 95% closer. The services was listed as stopped. I did what you said and I'm now told I'm connected and everything is working. That's the 95%.

The other 5% is that I can't access any web page... google, msn, ebay, etc. I'm just getting that grey screen with a message that the server cannot be found.

This is probably something obscure... but I'm in the forrest and I can't see the darn trees!

Tell me what to try next!

#14 Post by **Harryc** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 1:41 pm

Put the below url into your web browser's address window. Do you get to a site that says, " Hello, it worked !" ?

http://216.229.83.235

Lightning · #15 Post by **Lightning** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 7:29 pm

Yes... it did.

1. While it seemed to connect, all of a sudden it stopped. Then it sort of starts and stops.

2. When I check its status, it says it is working at 54.0 Mbps.

3. Its also finding _some_ pages, but while it found Thinkpads.com, it can't find eBay, but it only finds them once.

4. The bubble down in the tray pops up about every 10 seconds and says it's operational (connected)... then the next time it says its disconnected.

5. Also, if I click on any link while its on a page like Thinkpads.com, it goes dead.

It sounds like the card is working, but for some reason it's not staying on. I'm writing this on my desktop BTW.

Lightning · #16 Post by **Lightning** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 2:07 pm

I'm bamboozled. I rebooted my laptop this morning after leaving it running all night and now the wifi appears to be working continuously.

I still would like to know what the apaches deal did... harry?

Lightning · #17 Post by **Lightning** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 6:05 pm

So much for success. Rebooted tonight and I'm back to square one. Says it can't connect and wireless services are started and going to http://216.229.83.235 says "unable to connect".

Amazing because it worked perfectly all day and night yesterday.

petteram · #18 Post by **petteram** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 3:57 am

Try to change channel on your router. Maybe its crashing with someone elses router in the neighborhod.
I had similar problems with my Wlan and just before i ripped all my hair off,
I changed the channel from 6 to 9 and everything has worked fine since.

Lightning · #19 Post by **Lightning** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 7:14 am

Thanks for the suggestion... I tried channels 6-9-11 and neither of them changed the status. Still reports as "Not Connected".

I don't understand what the Http://216.229.83.235/ address is but I get the "Hello, It Worked!" message even though its not really connected. I switch to Google and I get the "Server Not Found Message".

What is really throwing me off is that it worked on Sunday all day after I entered the above address and played with it for a few minutes. I was getting 54Mbps 50 feet from the LinkSys, and right now I can't get any signal at 4 feet away.

Is it possible that there's some other setting in the LinkSys that needs to be tried?

Mike

#20 Post by **Harryc** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 7:27 am

Lightning wrote: I don't understand what the Http://216.229.83.235/ address is but I get the "Hello, It Worked!" message even though its not really connected. I switch to Google and I get the "Server Not Found Message".

I had you try that IP address as a test to see if you are having a DNS (Domain name server) problem with your ISP's (Internet service provider) DNS server. If you can get to the "hello, it worked" page, but not anywhere else, it is a problem with your ISP or how you have configured DNS in your router, or a problem with your router, or a problem with how you've configured DNS in your Thinkpads network options. As a starting point, I'd connect the thinkpad directly to your broadband modem and bypass the router to see if that makes any difference. You may have to manually configure the ISP DNS server IP addresses in the Thinkpad network connections properties for your adapter/connection, although it is normally not required by default. Get the DNS IP addresses from your ISP or their website.

Lightning · #21 Post by **Lightning** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 4:06 pm

Harry... I had a thought when you mentioned configuration. Do I need to put the actual MAC address of the new WiFi card into the LinkSys Wireless settings? I know the MAC address for the old card and the new one are different.

BTW, the card works just fine when it's hard-wired to the router.

Mike

#22 Post by **Harryc** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 4:25 pm

Basically what you're talking about is cloning your Mac address for the wireless device into your routers settings. I don't think that is the issue because the wireless device would not work at a hardware level, in other words you wouldn't even be able to get to the "hello, it worked" page. On the surface it looks like a DNS problem, possibly a hardware problem on top of that. Try what I said in the previous post. It would be interesting if you had a PCMCIA wifi card to try as a test.

Lightning · #23 Post by **Lightning** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 10:54 pm

Hey Guys... I got a Netgear PCMCIA card 802.11 a/b Model WAB501 to use for the weekend. I plugged it in and after using my ethernet cable to DL the drivers, I figured something good would happen. Well, this one was working on my son's ThinkPad this morning, but it doesn't seem to be able to connect with the LinkSys Wireless G Cable Gateway... and he has the exact same router!

If you have any things I can check, spell them out and I will follow your instructions.

Mike

#24 Post by **Harryc** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 5:42 am

Did you remove the mPCI card first?

Lightning · #25 Post by **Lightning** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 9:34 am

No... I didn't remove the internal card. So I just shut it down and removed the card, put the cover back on, and re-inserted the PCMCIA wifi card... still can't connect. This card is showing a signal, but won't connect.

I'm still wondering if the white jack is the connection to the antenna? How does the built-in antenna communicate with the internal wifi card? Is it through the edge connector or the white jack in the corner that the newer card is missing? IOW, maybe newer cards/laptops do connect through the edge connector, but perhaps the T30 needs a hard-wired connection?

But I'll shoot a hole in that one by noting that last Sunday it worked for a day and a half with that white wire dangling in the compartment connected to nothing.

I have to believe that its something to do with my LinkSys hardware or settings.

#26 Post by **Harryc** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 10:26 am

The white jack is not a wifi antenna connection. As mentioned previously I think it's a modem connection. This is a good problem, hard to diagnose without being there. I want to say that it's possible that you have a TCPIP stack problem, but since your ethernet works I'm not sure. There is a fix for it if you want to work through it as something to try...

The command is mentioned in this thread, also post the mentioned log after a reset.

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?=&p=251995

Lightning · #27 Post by **Lightning** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 12:17 pm

Harry...

My son came over a little while ago and after five minutes of messing with my LinkSys settings, he had the T30 working with his wireless card. So we removed the card, and re-inserted the internal card, rebooted and same old, same old.... its telling me that it can't connect to the wireless network.

I'm going to look at that thread, but any suggestions would be appreciated. Heck, maybe I should mail the darn notebook up to you with a return mailer!!!

#28 Post by **Harryc** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 1:08 pm

If the pcmcia card works and the mPCI card does not, then the mPCI card is bad(or incompatible). You've tried the right drivers, the wires/card appear to be installed correctly, there is no other magic. Your network is fine if the PCMCIA card works too.

Lightning · #29 Post by **Lightning** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 1:45 pm

OK, remarkable news.

Its working. We totally reset everything including the LinkSys, plus I removed AVG and reinstalled the Comcast McAfee security. One hitch is that IBM Access will not recognize the new 2200BG connection and therefore would not connect. We switched to using Windows to find the card, network, and logon... and that seems to work. I've rebooted 3-4 times with no problem.

This may be the final chapter in this mess, and I sincerely hope it is. Before I forget my manners, I want to thank Harry and everyone else for going out of their way to hang in there with me.

THANKS EVERYONE!

My advice to those considering going this route... take a deep breath and be ready for a lot of issues that need addressing.

Mike

#30 Post by **Harryc** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 2:20 pm

Good news!. It sounds like Access Connections may have been the culprit all along.

Question about WiFi Cards PIC

Question about WiFi Cards PIC

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