My laptop connects to the network off-and-on, while other computers are consistently connected

I am trying to connect to my office's wireless network with my new Lenovo Thinkpad T61. The wireless card is an Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG. My wireless router is a D-Link AirPlus Xtreme G, Dl-624S. I am not using a static IP address (I am obtaining the IP address automatically).

Obviously, all my office computers are able to consistently connect to the network. What is strange is that my laptop connects on and off. And not for long periods of time--on for 3 minutes, off for 2, on for 4 seconds, off for four seconds, etc. When it is connected, it runs as fast as the office computers that remain consistently connected.

Restarting my computer and/or the router have no affect.

Let me know if there is any other info I can offer. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

Also, I am using Windows Vista Ultimate with all important updates installed, as well as any relevant recommended and optional ones.

 

Edit: Opps, my post was a few minutes too late

Sounds like a driver issue to me. Do you have the latest drivers for your wireless card and BIOS updates? Check out the lenovo website. You might also want to tell us what OS you are running...

 

Thats pretty normal unless you use a static ip address. Vista has bugs that prevent many machines getting a DHCP address with many routers / wireless hotspots. A drive update may or may not fix the problem.

 

Source? I have 2 Dlinks, 1 Linksys, 1 Netgear and 1 Belkin router and 4 different wireless Vista machines... and none of them are having this issue. Where is this Vista "bug" referenced that stops DHCP? He also mentioned that he CAN connect, but then it dies.

 

Ponicg,

Well you are lucky but a decent % of vista users have this. if it is the dhcp problem you can look in network and sharing center and you see a green line running from your computer to the wireless / lan but no line running from there to the internet and you see the message "local only". Also if you do ipconfig you see the DHCP address missing. It's real good to know about this so you can help luckless Vista users.

To see examples of the zillions of people running vista who have issue look at:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?sour...LJ:2006-47,GGLJ:en&q=windows+vista+local+only

There is chap called "Barb Bowman" over at google groups Vista networking who is answering all the questions. One random example:

http://groups.google.co.uk/group/mi...lnk=gst&q=barb+bowman&rnum=1#21c36fb9e5883e18

you can see from this post it's a nightmare. He must have answered a thousand posts if you look for his name. Why don't they just release a fix!!!

If you want to read the Microsoft article and try the "is my router going to work with vista test" see this link:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928233/en-us

But note it's worse that that because on some machines it may work anyway even if the router fails this test. Personally my Vista machine did not work with any wireless hot spot I could find (inc Vodafone & Jetblue) or one of my routers, and that was out of the box as shipped by Sony.

I never resolved the issue despite new drivers and the many hacks suggested (see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928233/en-us and http://blogs.technet.com/steve_lamb...ing-vista-less-aggressive-on-the-network.aspx) and eventually downgraded to XP. The recommended easy fix of a static ip address is no use for a hotspot. I spoke with Sony and they said it's a Vista problem and not in my warranty. It annoys me so much I am writing about it here.

I am not 100% sure this guy has the problem I am talking about, but I found about four posts in the last day or two that looked like it might be the issue. Of these four clearly this one is the problem:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=175495

Searching around this forum for local only I can find dozens of posts but none of the ones I saw had pointed out what is going on so I though i would do my bit for the world by positing here today. Also someone helped me here the other day so I should do my best to return the favour.

 

Thanks for all the feedback guys. I want to point out that my problem is not actually the same as the one linked to in the last link of the above reply. In that link, the person can connect to the router but not the internet. I AM able to connect to the internet, but it just doesn't stay connected for very long. I will try using a static IP tomorrow and post here again with the results.

 

I finally got around to setting up a static IP on my lap top and I'm still not having any success.

 

There is also a known issue with 3945ABG...which is not dependent on the OS. Go to the device manager...properties on 3945...advanced...find Power management. Set it to Highest.

There is an article about this issue on the intel page...you can look at it if you like. Somewhere under known issues or FAQ of 3945.

 

Check your energy management CP. It almost sounds like Vista is powering down the wireless to save energy. Set to Constantly ON. You will need to look at the the drivers advanced settings too.