Aw,jeez,a problem already? Wireless on T60

Hey...
I was loving my laptop for about 4 hours, and then I decided to run all the upgrades and stuff.
I hit the ThinkVantage button, went to "Update My System," and let all the updates there install. I also went to Windows Update and worked those updates. Now, I can't do wireless!
EDIT: ThinkVantage installed a driver for the Intel PRO/Wireless card, as well as a BIOS update. Windows Update didn't install anything having to do with my wireless adapter.
Now, when I press Fn+F5 and click the "Power On" option for my 802.11 Wireless Radio, it won't do anything...My bluetooth will turn on and off, but no matter what I do with the Wireless button, it won't change the state of the adapter... what's going on? Do I have to do a restore? I'm really confused and sad... any idea how to fix this?

Another edit: the wireless on my notebook is working... when I let windows configure it. Fn+F5 still shows the adapter as "off," as does ThinkVantage Access Connections. Any idea what has gone wrong and how I can use the IBM software to use my adapter instead of the Windows software?
I'm including a copy of the report that ThinkVantage generated, as that may help someone diagnose my problem.

 

Did you try ThinkPad support?

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-50402

 

No, I didn't... I'll try reinstalling the drivers and update you on the situation. Thanks for the link!

 

Yup, reinstalling Access Connections and the driver worked! Thanks, Fred!

 

Had the same problem and reinstalled AC corrected it..

 

It seems to be a common problem... with the intel 3945 card. but not with the thinkpad a/b/g card.

 

Mine shipped with both Windows and ThinkVantage Access Connections fighting over control of the Intel device.

The symptoms were the little green tower icon at the bottom of the screen lid frame unpredictably went dark--and stayed that way; sometimes after seconds, minutes or sometimes after hours of continuous operation. Once dark, nothing could revive the service until the machine had been completely shut down and restarted. Always, when it went dark, sometimes hovering the cursor over the tray icon yielded a "Wireless Network Connection...Signal Strength: Excellent," and sometimes not. Always, in either state, left or right clicking yielded nothing.

Always, in that state, Start!Connect To!Wireless Network Connection turned up nothing--even those neighboring routers I know always to have been on whenever a list had been viewed in the past.

In most cases, the shutdown coincided with the freezing up of a number of other menu and tray items. Major processes like office apps still continued to run fine. (And the shutdown never happened in the middle of data transmissions.)

The machine also took an incredibly long time to boot up, and to shut down.

Disabling ThinkVantage Access Connections and letting Windows handle the WiFi solved all of the problems. It works great now.

 

I think I might have to do this. When I first got my z61t, I had no problems with my wireless card. But recently, out of the blue, it will drop the connection for no reason. I have a Broadcom card in my Compaq laptop that has never dropped a connection in the year+ that I have owned it. Ive said it before, I think some of the ThinkVantage software causes more conflicts then its worth. (ie. Presentation Manager and the resizing of my desktop after I open/close the lid...uninstalled PM and it works great now)

 

I've had problems with Access Connections on my previous T43p; however, it seems to be working pretty well on my T60. I too just upgraded all my drivers, including the Intel one, but didn't experience any interruption of operations.

I do notice that the AC on the T60 seems to operate faster than the one on the T43p. I actually uninstalled it on my T43p and let Windows handle wireless connections and it was much faster. For now, I'll continue to use it on my T60.

 

But Access Connections is so much better than Windows for wifi... as jjfcpa above suggests, it's faster...
Read the review of T43 (i think, or else T60) in Laptop Logic to see reasons why Access Connections is way cooler.

 

I'm glad it worked. Congratulations.

 

Thanks Bunny.

But reconfiguring it would be risky. It works now; it ain't broke. It's already as fast or faster than any web access I've ever used, plugged into the wall or not.

 

Sounds like my situation with my new laptop.

In addition, an old Orinoco PCMCIA wireless card from another old laptop inserted into the slot, handled by Windows, connects perfectly and runs well, but would prefer to not have that card sticking out an inch from the side of the laptop.

How does one go about disabling AC? (I assume this is other than just uninstalling it?)

 

The release notes for the latest version of Access Connections specifically states that it adds compatibility for the latest wireless drivers.

Update to the latest Access Connections and use it, and love it, it's by far the best tool in its class. It's a big reason I love thinkpads.

 

I just ran into this same problem - it came out of the blue... I uninstalled Client Security Services and the next time I booted into windows Access Connections was on the fritz. I cannot establish IP through Access Connections right now, the program runs slow as hell and will not let me open up the control windows Fn+f5 has a lag time of about a minute. I can't uninstall it from add remove programs, it just seems to ignore my request. The only way I can connect to my wireless network right now is through the windows connection manager... but only when the half broken access connection processes are running; if I disable them I can't connect at all. This is weird and frustrating since I just finished configuring my system how I like it. Any help is appreciated!

EDIT: I resolved the issue by deleting all connection profile info in the connection manager and then setting up the minimum amount of stuff required in access connections to connect to the network.

 

i am having an issue with the wireless connection on my brand new C2D T60. it's very slow regardless of whether i use windows or access connections. i updated the latest access connections and drivers, but it didn't help at all. i have an intel wireless card, by the way.

besides the connection being really slow (i am talking about more than 30 seconds for a page to load, sometimes even more than a minute), i also have a problem of getting disconnected from time to time. my roommate who has an old toshiba and another friend with an HP have no problems with the wireless whatsoever.

does anyone have any suggestions as to what else i should do to correct this? thank you in advance for any advice you can give me.