wifi doesn't work on T500 with new Intel 5300 card

[neuroman]

A month ago I got a new T500 with the Realtek wifi card, but couldn't get the card to work with CentOS 5.4 (RHEL without the trademark). After weeks of fiddling around with ndiswrapper etc. I finally gave up and bought an Intel 5300 card from Lenovo (part number 43Y6495)--what a painful experience it was to navigate the Lenovo WWW site and phone menus until I finally found the part number, verified its compatibility with the T500, and got somebody at Lenovo to sell it to me, but that's another story.

Now that I installed it, my first test was to get it to run under Win 7. Installed the Win 7 driver, and Device Manager reports the presence of an Intel WiFi Link 5300 AGN and says "this device is working properly." Sure enough, the wifi switch on the front edge of the Thinkpad turns the LED on and off (and presumably also turns the wireless card on & off), and so does Alt-F5.

But all is not well.

I deleted the old wifi profile, and used Access Connections to set up a new one. It detected the wireless card and allowed me to specify and save the SSID, encryption type, and password. However, attempting to establish the wireless connection fails--Diagnostic Tools reports error code 016, "Disconnected" because "wireless radio not powered on" and recommends clicking on Repair. However, the LED is ON, Alt-F5 reported earlier that the adapter was on, and the Connection Status page of Diagnostic Tools recognizes that an Intel WiFi Link 5300 AGN is present and reports "Adapter status" as enabled. Clicking on Repair changes none of this.

In the MSWin Control Panel selecting Network and Internet reveals, among other stuff, Lenovo's "Internet Connection" tool and also Intel PROSet/Wireless Tools. Lenovo's "Turn radios on/off" reports that the card is ON, but PROSet reports that it's OFF. And even when Lenovo's software reports that it's on, it never detects any router's signal (and there are several in this vicinity).

This has been more of a nuisance than I have ever experienced with any wireless device on any previous PC that I've owned, under any OS. Meanwhile, my old MPC TransPort T3100 sitting on the same desk reports half a dozen wireless signals and connects to the right one, every time, using Intel's PROSet software. Too bad MPC went bankrupt in 2008.

Anyone know how to make this thing work?

[Harryc]

Does the card work in Linux? Try a Live CD if you have no permanent installation. Also, please post a link to where you got the driver from.

[neuroman]

At first I tried a Knoppix 6.0.1 live CD, but it couldn't use the card--maybe it doesn't have the firmware? If so, a Knoppix DVD might have all that stuff.

Then I just booted the installed CentOS 5.4, and got the card to work by following the instructions at
http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/Laptops/Wireless
(installing iwl500-firmware package, then loading the iwlagn module and using Network Manager to specify the properties of the connection).

Strong advice to others who intend to use Linux: when buying this machine, either verify in advance that your Linux can use the RealTek card, or spend the few extra $$ to get it with the Intel WiFi card built in.

Still not working under Win 7. Maybe because I installed the card before installing the driver? I'm not inclined to pull the card, reinstall the driver, then plug the card back in (see Caveats below). I seem to recall something about tinkering with the registry to fix such problems under Win 2K, but does Win 7 even have a registry?

Caveats

Plugging the antenna wires into the tiny sockets on the card requires deftness of touch plus just enough force that the connectors seem to be at risk of bending. It's very fiddly to drape the antenna wires so they don't kink, while at the same time preventing the connectors on the end of these wires from shorting out. Plugging in the keyboard connector is hard b/o limited clearance--requires long skinny fingers or maybe a special tool, and alignment between the connectors is hard to achieve because they're very small.

[Harryc]

OK, so the card works. Here's what I would do. Uninstall access connections. Uninstall the Intel wireless driver. Install the driver from this link -
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-73611

Make sure that the prerequisites have been installed on your machine -

* ThinkPad Power Management Driver for Windows 98 SE/Me/2000/XP/Vista/7 version 1.55 or higher or ThinkPad Power Management Driver for SL Series version 1.44 or higher
* Hotkey Features for Windows 7/Vista/XP/2000 version 2.22.0001 or higher

Try to enable wireless through Windows Networking.

If that works, then try to reinstall access connections if you really need it....

[neuroman]

Got up to
"Try to enable wireless through Windows Networking"
and found no existing wireless connections.

Tried Win 7's
Set up a new connection / Manually connect to a wireless network
but it failed with msg
"An unexpected error occurred."

MSWin's
Troubleshoot problems - Network and Internet / Network Adapter / Wireless network connection 3
reported
The wireless network adapter is experiencing problems
Windows Help and Support can provide more information about resolving driver or hardware issues.

But it didn't, really.

Wireless LED is ON.
Switch on left front edge of keyboard turns LED off and on.
Alt F4 brings up "Change power settings of wireless radios" window that reports
Lenovo Wireless adapters . . . are not installed on this system.

[Harryc]

The only thing I can think of is that the correct part number for an Intel 5300 card in a T500 is 43Y6459. You should have checked with us first. I'd call Lenovo and pitch a 'B' .
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-71037

[neuroman]

Nice guess, but . . .

According to IBM the same part has two different numbers--43Y6459 when used in a T500, 43Y6495 when used in a T400. Both refer to the Intel WiFi Link 5300, certified for use in Thinkpads. Verified with sales 877 719 0841 and parts department 800 388 7080. Seems a strange way to keep track of inventory, but that's how they do it.

Any other thoughts?

What bothers me is that, even though I uninstalled the Realtek driver, and Access connections, there's still some chunk of Lenovo software (part of the Thinkvantage stuff?) that acts as if the Realtek card is still there--still issues error msgs that mention the card!--and doesn't seem to "know" about the presence of the Intel card (which is not only physically present, but also has a driver installed).

Which suggests that the problem is due to failure of Lenovo software to properly reconfigure after installation of new hardware. This can't be the first time somebody has run into this problem--there must be an application note or "issue document" somewhere that addresses it.

[Harryc]

Do you have another SATA drive around? I would try to reinstall W7 from scratch on a freshly partitioned and formatted drive to see if it works in Windows at all. How did W7 get on the existing hard drive? Factory recovery partition? Upgrade disc from Lenovo? Retail W7 disc?

[neuroman]

New actions and findings since last post--

Installed latest driver from Intel.
Updated ThinkVantage.
Installed latest Access Connections.
Reverted to original driver.
Reinstalled Access Connections.

After each action, tried to establish a connection but with no success.

I would try to reinstall W7 from scratch on a freshly partitioned and formatted drive to see if it works in Windows at all.

The idea that the hardware would not work under Win 7 hadn't occurred to me, but I don't have a spare Win 7 OEM installer lying around, and time compels me to abandon speculative pursuits. At this point it becomes a warranty issue: Win 7, Access Connections, the card driver, and the card are not playing nice with each other. When next I have a couple hours to spare, I'll call tech support to find out if they have a fix for "wireless not working after switching to a new wireless card."

How did W7 get on the existing hard drive?

It was there when I bought this box.

[Harryc]

t I don't have a spare Win 7 OEM installer lying around...

If the recovery partition is intact, and if you push the Thinkvantavge button when the boot screen appears, you can then choose to reload the machine to factory defaults. If the factory load is W7 then that is what will load.

[neuroman]

If the recovery partition is intact, and if you push the Thinkvantavge button when the boot screen appears, you can then choose to reload the machine to factory defaults.

True, but seems unlikely to be useful. This box was delivered with the Realtek wifi card, so its "factory defaults" are "configured to use the Realtek card." Since I replaced the Realtek card with the Intel 5300 card, this box deviates from its hardware configuration as delivered from the factory. So restoring "factory defaults" in strict terms is doomed to fail.

What about trying it anyway, on the off chance that "factory defaults" are (1) smart enough to discover that the Intel card is now present, and (2) able to use the Intel card?

That would destroy all the customizations I have already done: repartitioning; setting up triple boot to 32 or 64 bit CentOS or Win 7; installing and configuring numerous utilities under Linux, which I use for at least 99% of my work (as far as I'm concerned, Win 7 exists on this box only for the purpose of dealing with the very rare proprietary package that I am compelled to use). To me, the ability to wipe out Linux at the click of a button is more of a bug than a feature.

Not worth it. The hardware and software are both supposed to work under Win 7. Time to let tech support have a turn.

[Harryc]

The Recovery Partition is designed to handle any possible hardware/driver arrangement that is available and order-able/supported for a particular machine. So if the 5300 card is available for a T500 (it is), then the recovey software will install the correct driver for it. Whether or not that is a viable option is your decision.