Can't turn on wireless, Fn+F5 no longer working

[texasdiver]

For years my T42p would automatically turn on WiFi and connect to my home network every time I turned it on. I never messed with the WiFi settings and rarely ever connected to other networks.

Lately however my Wifi radio has been staying turned off and I can no longer get Fn+F5 to turn it on. Whenever I push those key combinations I get the beep sound that Windows normally makes when a USB item like a printer or flash drive is plugged in or unplugged. I cannot for the life of me get to the wifi/bluetooth radio control panel.

Don't know if this is related or not. But when I go to IBM System Update to see if there are any updates it always downloads "HOT KEYS" as a critical update. But when I go to install it the installation stalls and tells me that I have to manually uninstall the previous version of FN-On Screen Display. Which I cannot for the life of me locate in "add/remove" programs control panel or anywhere else on my computer.

Any advice would be appreciated. I'm getting sick of being tied to a cable while my wifi isn't working

[texasdiver]

As a follow-up to my previous post, it appears that when I type Fn+F5 all that is happening is that I am toggling my bluetooth on and off. Nothing else happens with the WiFi and I don't get to the old dialog box about turning radios off and on.

Still haven't figured out what's wrong.

[livevil]

Hi,

A few weeks ago, my wifi connection went down : I couldn't connect anymore using Access Connection. I could still have access to to the FnF5 screen overlay (and see the wifi being active or not) but whatever was chosen, the Wifi led was always on. AC couldn't find any wireless network.

I had to switch to WinXP mananagement for the wifi connection (though the LAN was still fine with AC). So I've deleted AC, installed the latest drivers from Intel and their software to manage the wireless connection. It was fine, but I find that AC is doing better.

Today I've decided to reinstall everything concerning the Wireless connection. Here is what I did (hopefully it worked) :

- I've downloaded the latest drivers from IBM website for Access connection (7tcx26ww.exe), HotKeys (7avu43ww.exe), Power Management (7tku03ww.exe) and the wifi card (7kwc50ww.exe). There are all connected to AC.

- I've removed Thinkvantage System Update (indeed I didn't put it back and I think I won't)

- I've removed AC, Power Management

- I couldn't remove Hotkeys from the Add/Delete Programs so I removed its reference by using msconfig and unchecking the corresponding line (not sure it's useful, but that's what I did)

- I've rebooted

- I've reinstalled the drivers of the card (be sure they are really installed ; if necessary do it manually). There are two files to launch where the drivers have been unpacked : ./Apps/X32/iProInst.exe and in ./Drivers/X32/iProdifx.EXE

- Reboot again

- Install of Power management, HotKeys and finally Access connection. Then reboot again.

After doing that, everything came back to normal. The FnF5 is able to activate or deactivate the wifi (as well as the BT), and Access connection is also OK.

I hope this can help !

[sjthinkpader]

To OP, you can also turn it on via Access Connection utility. If the device disappear from Fn+F5 list, you may have a hardware failure. Remove the card and reboot the computer. Then reinstall the WiFi card and reboot the computer to see if it shows up in the Fn+F5 hotkey list.

[texasdiver]

To OP, you can also turn it on via Access Connection utility. If the device disappear from Fn+F5 list, you may have a hardware failure. Remove the card and reboot the computer. Then reinstall the WiFi card and reboot the computer to see if it shows up in the Fn+F5 hotkey list.

Mysteriously upon awakening from sleep the wireless turned itself back on for me this evening. So no hardware failure that I know of.

How does one turn on wireless via Access Connections? When I launch Access Connections I cannot for the life of me find any menu or button that turns the wireless off and on.

[livevil]

Don't you have an icon in the systray which looks like signal intensity ? There should be 2 icons : one for the AC main window and one for the direct access to the wireless connection.

Otherwise in the AC main window, there is a button to search for wireless networks. Another solution is to create a new connection in AC, then chose wireless only (by unchecking the LAN) and when you're asked to enter the SSID, there should be a button beneath that will allow you to 'scan' for the existing wireless network.

edit : and when switching between networks (eg WLAN to WLAN), you can ask to automatically switch WLAN off in the Access Connection Profile.

[crashnburn]

As a follow-up to my previous post, it appears that when I type Fn+F5 all that is happening is that I am toggling my bluetooth on and off. Nothing else happens with the WiFi and I don't get to the old dialog box about turning radios off and on.

Still haven't figured out what's wrong.

I have a few Win 7 installs on different HDDs. One particular install this same problem has been happening. I thought I could figure out some Registry key or something where I could fix it.

So another one of my Win 7 installs starts doing the same. I am guessing there is a fault with some of the Win/ Lenovo drivers.

[Johan]

I'm not sure if you've solved your problem already, but in any case: I too have had (my share of!) "Fn+F5" problems from time to time, most often (as far as I recall) when upgrading Access Connections and/or when upgrading drivers. As you no doubt know, there are many, many threads on the forum dealing with Fn+F5 issues, but a good thread with a step-by-step guide to get Fn+F5 to work again, which I have had success following, is More Fn-F5 problems.

Johan

[crashnburn]

I'm not sure if you've solved your problem already, but in any case: I too have had (my share of!) "Fn+F5" problems from time to time, most often (as far as I recall) when upgrading Access Connections and/or when upgrading drivers. As you no doubt know, there are many, many threads on the forum dealing with Fn+F5 issues, but a good thread with a step-by-step guide to get Fn+F5 to work again, which I have had success following, is More Fn-F5 problems.

Johan

I tried this last solution that was posted. It has not worked so far. Which particular POST/ Solution are you hinting towards. Would appreciate if you could point out what worked for you.

your all bloody mad... to fix Fn+f5 simply install the correct power management software from Ibm or lenovo or anywhere else you can find it!!!

i made an account here just to help you out! so pls if i helped let me know with a post!!!!

I did install the Power Management Software but I had to uninstall Fn-F5 from Add/Remove using CCCleaner because my Wireless would always be off. I could enable & disable Bluetooth using the Control Panel that Fn-F5 brought up, but all attempts to enable WLAN Card would not enable it.

Or are there a certain versions of the following on X61T that all work together well on Win 7 x64?:

Power Drivers | Power Management Software | Wireless Drivers (Windows or Lenovo) | Fn-F5