X40 startup issues

[Ravenheart]

Hi Everyone,

Here is a sequence of system events at startup I've seen off and on lately, from my X40 running XP SP2. They happen in this order over about one minute:

event 4202

The system detected that network adapter \DEVICE\TCPIP_{B03D4EFE-4BFD-46F9-AFEE-DE748DFD5771} was disconnected from the network, and the adapter's network configuration has been released. If the network adapter was not disconnected, this may indicate that it has malfunctioned. Please contact your vendor for updated drivers.

event 4201

The system detected that network adapter \DEVICE\TCPIP_{B03D4EFE-4BFD-46F9-AFEE-DE748DFD5771} was connected to the network, and has initiated normal operation over the network adapter.

event 1003

Your computer was not able to renew its address from the network (from the DHCP Server) for the Network Card with network address 00028AF2221F. The following error occurred:
The operation was canceled by the user. . Your computer will continue to try and obtain an address on its own from the network address (DHCP) server.

event 1003

Your computer was not able to renew its address from the network (from the DHCP Server) for the Network Card with network address 00028AF2221F. The following error occurred:
The semaphore timeout period has expired. . Your computer will continue to try and obtain an address on its own from the network address (DHCP) server.

event 1007

Your computer has automatically configured the IP address for the Network Card with network address 00028AF2221F. The IP address being used is 169.254.54.252.

At this point, Windows has assigned itself an APIPA address and nothing can connect out.


Looking back through the events log, I see that the first two events, 4202 and 4201, have been happening all along since I bought this machine used about a year ago. They seem not to have caused serious problems in themselves.

I began having added problems after I installed a network scanner, Inssider from Metageek. I got rid of that and reverted to an earlier system state but began seeing problems again after an antivirus update, and again after getting rid of that but going through Windows Update. I've reverted to an earlier state of the system (via substituting a cloned hard disk) that had none of that and am now seeing just the first two events again. So I think that rules out a hardware problem [edit: or at least a new one]. I've also tried replacing the wireless driver.

Are these first two events a familiar feature of X40 startup? Any other suggestions? I could just leave well enough alone and not install or update anything else, but that's not much fun.

[tim S]

It seems that the diagnostics point exclusively to your wireless card. Since replacement cards are only about $20 on eBay that's the route I'd take.
Tim S

[Ravenheart]

Tim, I'll give that a go, thanks!

I found an Intel 2200 card offered new for $19.

[tim S]

On re-reading your initial post I see it's the network adapter that the diagnostics are pointing to which could mean the Ethernet port, or your wireless card, or both have a problem. I had assumed you connected to the Internet wirelessly. If that isn't the case, and you use a cable to go online, then the possibility of a motherboard component failure is high.
So I would do the following. If you normally connect using the wireless card then I would disable it and use an Ethernet cable to see if you can get online without the error messages. Or conversely, disable the Ethernet adapter and go online wirelessly and see how that goes. That way you should be able to isolate the problem.
Tim S

[Ravenheart]

Ah, I should have mentioned that I was connecting wirelessly.

I see that when I connect over Ethernet, no error events turn up.

Hmm, when I first reenabled wireless, no events turned up either, until the first restart.

[tim S]

So it's starting to look like a wireless card problem. Reseating the antenna wires along with the whole card might be worthwhile. While you are in there make sure the antenna wires aren't being pinched where they come out of the screen and into the laptop.
Finally $20.00 for a new wireless card, if reseating does nothing, seems like money well spent.
Tim S

[Ravenheart]

Tim, thanks again. I'll try reseating the card when I get a few minutes.