T61 Wireless Woe

There are two ways (maybe more):

1. Left click the icon in your taskbar. (It looks like a little CRT with a wire beneath it.)

2. From the Start button on the taskbar, navigate to the ThinkVantage program group, then select Access Connections.

 

Well, it's been about 24 hours, and my wireless connection is still working fine. Woke up this morning and still connected. I suspect now that the trouble began when I updated the driver for my 3945ABG through Windows Update. The "Power Management" default for the updated driver must have been to allow the computer to turn off the device to save power, which it proceeded to do way too aggressively.

So the fault was probably not with Access Connections, although I stand by my previous statement about the need for better documentation for that program.

 

For those of you who had problems - did you find your entire network layer hosed when your connection died?

My T61 is entirely predictable in this situation with XP

- at approx 30mins of time while on wireless (WITH power plugged in) the net connection dies
- anything to do with networking is hung
- you can't open access connections
- you can't do ipconfig without returning an error
- you can't even open the properties of the network adaptor

Only resolution is reboot, and then it will do the exact same thing. On wired it performs flawless. This happens regardless of which wireless network I've tried.

I've tried changing the power setting in Access Connections now and will see what that does for me. Was wondering if others had noticed the entire network layer dying when they lost network?

 

I had same problem and I was running XP .
I fixed my problem by changing setting on Power manager .
You need to go to Globalsettings on Power manger (you can double click Battery to ge there)Then you need to click on advanced settings .Under Power mangement click so it shows Disable for CPU and PCI Bus . This will not hurt computer but it will keep your computer from shutting off wirelss card to save power .You will need to restart for change to take effect . Also make sure Battery stretch is disabled . Finally
choose maximum performance as scheme name .

 

Yeah having the same problems here with the wireless on my T61p (6459A12) running Vista Ultimate.

Wireless drops out regularly. Sometimes it reconnects, and other times it doesn't. When it does reconnect, it's very slowwwwwwwww.

When it doesn't reconnect for a while, all of a sudden the Wireless Radio LED display turns off.

Definitely not the router as I have 2 desktops (1 running XP and the other Vista Ultimate) and 1 other laptop (running XP) connected to the router and they never have any dropout issues.

Also, not because of the Power Option setting as I have set it to Maximum Performance.

I have only had the laptop for 3 weeks and have had this problem since Day 1. It's now at the Lenovo repair shop...........................................

 

First post here...new T61 owner and love it. Running Vista Ultimate and was having this same wireless problem. My OS was a clean install with no Thinkvantage software running on it. Wireless would suddenly disconnect (wife's wireless would be fine), power light for the wireless would turn off and nothing I could do besides reboot would bring it back. I think after reading this thread the problem is solved (so far at least). When using the maximum performance plan in power options and adjusting the "Advanced Power Settings" for the wireless, the wireless adapter settings would go back to Maximum Power Saving after reboot...so when I originally changed that setting, I figured it didn't work since I lost wireless the next day. I wound up creating a new power plan and setting the wireless to maximum performance. Been 2 days and after numerous reboots, the setting "sticks" and I haven't lost wireless yet.

 

I've always found intel wifi cards to be quirky and finicky depending on the router you're pairing with.... And don't even bother with Access connections or any of the windows wireless management, you'll just get terrible throughput and bad connections. Use Intel's wifi software to manage your wifi card, you'll have a better experience and Fn-F5 will still work to turn the wifi card on and off.

I personally always opt for the Atheros card as a recommendation for my clients simply because the card offers better stability and connectivity using whichever OS (I deal with XP, Win2003, Vista, Unix and BSD on a regular basis).

Cheers

 

Hey all-

I work in the IT department at my company, and we VERY recently started having problems with the wireless. T60s, everything was fine. T61s, wireless nightmare. All of our computers are still currently XP SP2.

The strange part is that it wasn't a consistent problem, and it seemed to be more a configuration problem than anything. When we'd snap a computer in to the domain, it would immediately lose all wireless capability. Before the snap in, it would see the area networks, but afterwards it detected nothing.

I have been working on this for a while now, and for MY situation, have a solution, though it's not terribly specific. AND, I can't tell you which updates I installed, since I didn't bother wading through the slop for the specifics.

*Downloaded/installed the latest wireless drivers from Lenovo (Intel PRO 2200bg, 2915abg, 3945bg, 3945abg, 4965ag, and 4965agn Mini PCI adapter wireless software for Windows XP, 2000 - ThinkPad). The date on these is 12/12/07, so it's still pretty new.

*Installed all Windows Updates

*Restarted the computer, BOOM - Wireless City.

It may or may not help someone else, but I thought I'd pass this along to others on the off chance that it may provide some assistance. Hopefully there has been little recent discussion because everyone's laptops are working perfectly!

~Brian

 

keep us updated please

 

Hi,

Well, I am very sad to read this post. I have been researching a new computer and I am 'this' close to purchasing a T61. I had read in a PCWorld review that there might be some problems with the Lenovo tech support not replacing parts when they need to, so I went looking for confirmation today and found this thread. I definitely do not want headaches like this with a new computer. Right now I am using a 5yr old Dell and never have a wireless problem.

What really bothers me the most about this post is how many people are posting about it and why? If you have a new computer with a warranty, I just don't know why tech support hasn't straightened it out for you?

This new issue with wireless is the third significant issue I have heard of.

So much has been said about Lenovo being well built, about better tech support than Dell, but even if I had a lot of hardware problems with Dell, at least they were very quick to replace the part and get it over with, without any arm twisting. I'm certainly not going to work with a computer company that I actually have to create a video to show them what the problem is before I can get a response.

I would really like to know if anyone on this thread has attempted to get this issue resolved with their tech support?

Thanks,
adam

 

Omfg, I just checked under High Performance and wireless was set at MAXIMUM POWER SAVING.

WTF?

How?

Anyway I made my own power plan..

 

I've a week old T61 running XP with Intel PRO 3945. I have been experiencing the same dropped connection or low connectivity issues. Okay so I've tried the power management stuff suggested in previous posts, and for the moment all's well. As a matter of fact I just woke the computer up and was connected.

The issue I'm still having, however, is that despite having run the network setup wizard (for purposes of printer sharing), I can't see any of the other computers in my "workgroup" and I can't see my T61 from the other computers already connected to my wireless network. I have enabled printer sharing, disabled firewalls, made sure tcp/ip is installed, etc...

Any ideas what I may be missing? Suggestions?

 

Have you tried changing the wireless router channel?

 

I've had this problem since the day I got the T61 (~6 months ago). It connects to my home router just fine (happened once out of hundreds) but to some of my university routers, it happens a lot. It's strange that it works flawlessly to some access points but not to others. I thought it had something to do with the amount of people connecting to the same router but I tested during some mornings or nights where very few were connected and the problem still persists as frequently.

I've always ensured the basic settings were right (max performance instead of max power saving, turn off auto-turnoff power saver thing). I also update the drivers to their latest but it doesn't stop the disconnections. I hate how the settings reset themselves when the disconnection happens.

I also still can't figure out the source of the constant 50% CPU usage. It's not listed anywhere in the program/resource/service manager.

I've been playing with the advanced settings of the 3945ABG in device manager. I changed roaming aggressiveness to lowest, enabled throughput enhancement, and switched to only wireless g mode. Hopefully these settings could relieve the problem. I'll have to do some testing on the router of "death" on my university. Most people connect to it just fine so I assume it has something to do with my wireless device.

 

wow! And I was just considering getting one, since they have a nice 25% off sale right now... The pervasiveness of issues in this thread and elsewhere (now that I google it) makes me think that I should probably consider something else... Sorry you all are having so many problems with it :-(

 

Just curious... as anyone having these problems cracked open their case to see if all of the wireless antennas are still connected to the card? N, specifically, will act like absolute crap if you don't have 3 antennas attached.

 

I had my wireless network cut off on my brand new T61.
I did two things and now everything is stable:
a) Update the drivers on the Intel AGN card with the one published by Lenovo
b) Switch the MAXIMUM POWER SAVINGS to MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE in all the power plans

Doing a) made the connection solid when I was at work on the Wireless G there, but I still had issues at home with my Wireless N network.
After doing b) it was fine there as well.

Nothing else was changed. I did not touch the router and any other settings on my laptop.

Maybe this helps others.

 

Note on the thinkpad mach's ALL OF THEM will have a few wireless issues everynow and again depending on the machine and the wireless card. Powermanagement pays a BIG role in this also, and also theres what I call a wireless stack which includes the ACPI Powermanagement driver, Hotkey Utility Wireless Driver, and (optional) Access Connections. Many of you addressed your connection issues by change power settings that were set to low by default or automatically set to turn off when in sleep or standby, and uninstalling Access Connections, this is why the power management driver and wlan driver is essential and should be up to date (up to date from LENOVO/IBM website NOT Windows Update). Now if lets say you do a windows update and you recieve an update for either wireless or your powermanagement from microsoft, (which at times install drivers that were never tested for compatibility with the Thinkvantage Utilities that manage your wireless radio) that screws up the wireless stack and you can get issues where the wireless radio will shut off by itself while in use, it'll also cause issues where when you do FN+F5 to turn on the radio the option doesnt work. A quick fix would be to uninstall Access Connections, reboot and go into Add/Remove Programs or Programs and Features (Vista) and do a repair on the Intel Proset Wireless. Also there is a more common issue with the T61's with the Intel wireless N card where the card just doesnt negotiate well with some older routers (may need a firmware upgrade or try a new channel). Also believe it or not since the connectivity and speed of wireless is so dependant on Powermanagement having an up-to-date Bios also is good for your wireless stability. Hope this helps somebody! ... lol

 

I had the same problem with a Dell XPS Laptop & the Intel Wireless 4965 AGN chipset, running Vista Home Premium 32bit. The 4695 card was connecting to an unsecured wireless network. Upon first boot it worked fine. Closed the lid & opened it up again and it worked fine (if it was plugged into AC pwr). Unplugged it, closed lid, opened the lid again and it said it could not find the access point, and the laptop froze for about 5 minutes. Sometimes all that would fix it was to reboot.

I updated the 4965 drivers via dell's website...no joy.
I changed the power scheme (via ctrl panel, system & maintenance) to balanced, and the wireless card behavior under advanced settings to max. performance....no joy

What did work for me was:

-Click Start, click Run, type ncpa.cpl, and then click OK.
-Click on Manage Network connections, then right-click on the Intel Wireless card and choose properties.
-Click Configure
-The last tab on the right will be power management
-Uncheck the box that says "allow windows to turn off this device to save power" or something like that. Apply, then ok.

Wifi worked great coming out of standby while running on battery pwr from that point on.