Wireless fails to start after booting

[jsteele]

I'm reaching the end of my string on this. I have several T40s running Windows XP SP2, each of which has a 802.11abg Mini-PCI Adapter II card. For about the past year I've had intermittant problems with the wireless not starting after a boot, either cold or warm restart.

The WLAN fails to connect and the wireless indicator on the panel is ON but there is no signal on the SYSTRAY icon. When I open the Wireless Connection Status it shows the radio OFF. Opening Fn-F5 shows the radio OFF and it will not turn on.

I have removed and reinstalled the drivers and Access Connections and upgraded both to the most recent versions. All to no avail. The ONLY fix for the problem is to run Checkpoint/Restore and go back to an earlier checkpoint, usually several days old is required before the wireless will start again on reboot. In every case there has been NO software installed, removed or changed between the failing state and the restore point that works.

i am baffled. I thought it might be failing hardware but swapping the harddrive to the other T40 has the same problem. As i said I;ve gone forward and backward on drivers and Access Connections and the result is always the same.

Tonight for example I had to reboot and the WLAN did not start. In order to get the WLAN working I had to go back to the restore point of Sept 10 to get it working. The only restore points are 9/10, 9/11, 9/12, 9/13, all of which are routine System Checkpoints with NO intervening software installs, uninstalls or changes.

I have even taken a Manual checkpoint when everything is running and if I restore that checkpoint it stil fails --- I still have to go back several days to get it tow work.

There are NO error messages, no messages in the Event Log, no indication of the cause of any kind. I've thought about going back to drivers and AC from say a year ago to see if that helps but I cannot find any old drivers on the IBM or Lenovo site, only the current versions.

Can anyone suggest something better than constant restores, this is making me crazy

[GomJabbar]

First, make sure you are using BIOS level 2.02 or higher.

Symptoms corrected by version 1RET73WW (2.02)
(New) Support ThinkPad 802.11a/b/g Wireless LAN Mini PCI Adapter.

Otherwise, what I think might be happening is that Windows is not shutting down cleanly, and is booting up from a backup copy of the registry. You can look at the file C:\WINDOWS\Debug\UserMode\userenv.log for errors.

I am not sure of the best way to fix this sort of problem, but I would install UPHClean from Microsoft (see link below), and run a registry cleaner program.
Troubleshooting profile unload issues

It also wouldn't hurt to check your hard disk for errors. Open My Computer, right-click on the hard drive and choose Properties > Tools > Error-checking > Check now, then check both boxes and click on Start.

[sktn77a]

Have you tried it with AC uninstalled completely? I have had intermittent problems with AC and ended up just removing it from all my systems. No problems since!

[GomJabbar]

I forgot to add this to my last post. You can download IBM Access Connections + wireless LAN driver pack from the following webpage. It is an older version of Access Connections with older versions of the wireless drivers.

IBM Access Connections (Back level version) for Windows 2000, XP (WARNING: See document for critical installation limitations) - ThinkPad General

If you decide to try the above, be sure and unistall your existing Access Connections software, then your existing wireless driver software, before proceding. You can do this from Windows Add or Remove Programs.

[jsteele]

Thanks to all.

I did find the older 3,82 version of the AC and the associated drivers. I installed them and the behavior is exactly the same. The radio is OFF when the system starts or restarts and no amount of cajolling will get it to come on. Fn-F5 reports that the radio is OFF and does not display a button to control it, rather it displays the message to reinstall the drivers.

When I reinstall the drivers it hangs at 73% completion and just sits there staring back at me.

I will have to try the UPHClean, assuming I can find a way to get the wireless working again

I have spent all d*mn day, from 9AM this morning until now ( 6:20 PM) mucking with this and the frustration is just unbelievable.

As to removing the AC, I would be happy if that worked --- I'd gladly use Windows configuration at this point. At one point I did in fact have the AC removed (4.11a) and reinstalled the drivers from scratch but the radio still won't come on and the Wireless Tab on the Network Properties was not enabled!

AAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!

[jsteele]

And the frustration continues.

In the past 4 hours I have removed and reinstalled the network drivers 4 times. The only way I was able to remove the package was to go to safe mode --- in normal mode removal simply stopped at 18%. I have also removed Access Connections and tried using Windows Zero Config.

This worked after the last install and I was able to use the wireless until I rebooted, at which point the Wireless Networks tab is again missing from the Network Profile and Windows does not see any networks because the d8mn radio is OFF again. I've tried the Repair function and it simply hangs, never completes and will not allow the PC to Restart --- power off was required. Again after restarting there are no networks and no network tab.

I installed the Hive Cleaner and it made no difference.

This is simply ludicrous. I am at a loss where to go from here short of re-imaging Windows and I really don't want to do that.

[roberts5]

Any luck w/ this? I may be having a similar problem. My wireless randomly dropped out a few times, now seems dead. It wont find any networks. Curious as to what you did.

[Msmax]

I have had a lot of problems too with a 2200BG card installed in my T41 with bios 3.23.

Intermittent connection failures, Fn+F5 not working etc.

I downloaded and installed the latest drivers 7kwc50ww.exe(released 12-2007) from Lenovo website and installed crossing my hart.

After reboot all functions work as expected. Connects immediately and evn Fn+F5 is working now. Can't say anything about AC as I do not use it.

Msmax.

[rush242]

Have you tried it with AC uninstalled completely? I have had intermittent problems with AC and ended up just removing it from all my systems. No problems since!

I have to agree. AC caused EXACTLY the same issues with a number of my computers.

It simply wasn't worth the effort to troubleshoot it when all I needed to do was remove AC.

You don't need it.

Of course, I would MUCH rather know what the issue is, but it took me sooooo much time fiddling with it.

[Lookee]

Has anyone found a definite cause/fix for this problem yet?

I've had no problems with my t40 up until yesterday when I went to my girlfriend's place, started up from standby and windows couldn't find any connections (I was sitting a few feet from the router). I tried to see if it was picking up any networks at all but the windows wireless config just hung forever. My first thought was that I'd shaken the pci or something loose on the walk over but I rebooted and now picked up a couple of really weak signals from neighbors but still not the router sitting in front of me. Meantime, my girlfriend is sitting playing on the net so I know it's not the router. (I checked the router to see it was broadcasting in a,b,g modes but couldn't find an option so I guess it broadcasts all modes by default)

At some stages I was able to detect the router at full strength for a second or two but then it just dropped out and found no connections at all?!

I eventually give up then get home awake the old t40 from standby and it instantly connects to my router. Great! I go in and out of standby a few times with no problems until this morning when I awake it out of standby and it doesn't find any networks and the windows wireless config does the hangs/crashes thing again.

My t40 has the Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 3b Mini PCI adapter and I have the latest drivers installed from lenovo (08/08/2006). I just bought the notebook a few weeks ago and did a fresh install of XP Pro SP2 and everything has been great until now.

Please tell me someone has found a way of fixing this problem, even though it's only happened a few times, from what I've read in this thread it looks like it might become the cause of a few headaches!

[bill bolton]

I checked the router to see it was broadcasting in a,b,g modes but couldn't find an option so I guess it broadcasts all modes by default

Domestic grade routers will definitely do 802.11b and quite likely also do 802.11g simultaneously, but it is extremely unlikely they will do 802.11a at all!

Even in commercial wireless environments, 802.11a installations are quite rare anywhere in our part of the world!

Sorry, I have no advice on your particular problem, my T4xs all work very reliably on 802.11b/g connections, but they are using later Intel cards than yours.

Cheers,

Bill