WiFi woes with Toughbook CF-19FHGAXNS and a TPM question

Hi! Long time lurker, first time poster here.

I have plenty of laptops, but Panasonic's Toughbook series is -- obviously! -- my favorite one. Yesterday I bought an used Panasonic Toughbook CF-19 (full model number CF-19FHGAXNS) Mark 2 from an auction. As it was somewhat expensive (for me, anyway), I want to make sure it works flawlessly.

Here are the technical specifications from the auction:

10.4" Tablet TFT, 1024 x 768 touchscreen
Intel® Core™ Duo Processor U7500 CPU, 2 Cores, 1.06 GHz, 2M Cache, 64-bit
2 GB DDR2 RAM
320 GB / 7200rpm Western Digital HDD
Mobile Intel® GMA 965 Chipset GPU
Gigabit Ethernet, WLAN a/b/g, Bluetooth 2.0, Novatel Expedite 3G modem
Windows XP Professional FIN/ENG operating system
Kensington Lock slot, TPM 1.2, 4 in 1 memory card reader

Whenever the computer is booted up and Windows' desktop loads, after a brief while, the Intel PROSet WiFi software notifies of available wireless networks.
I click on the notice, which loads the Intel PROSet/Wireless WiFi Connection Helper's main window.
I select my home network from the list and press the "Connect" button. Then I press the "Next" button, as required, at which point it asks me for the "owner password" of the device (=the router), which turned out to be all zeros (interesting that the router's manual & web page fail to mention that, instead I had to Google for it).
After inputting the correct owner password and pressing "Next" again, it fetches a bunch of settings (SSID, Security Protocol and "Password (key)").
The SSID is correct, and if memory serves me correct, the Security Protocol type is correct, too (WPA2 - Personal (AES-CCMP)).
I have no idea what the "Password (key)" is -- it seems to be entirely randomly generated and changes every time.
After this, I press "Next" and it attempts to define the settings, but every time the end result is "Receiving wireless settings failed. Defining the settings failed.".

What would be the root cause of this and how would I fix it? Now, I'm well aware that my wireless network isn't the best one out there, but it works with almost every other computer I have, including my Toughbook CF-29 and IBM ThinkPad T40 -- which is enough to prove that it does work, but I'm probably just being dumb and doing something somewhere wrong...

And now for the mandatory BIOS question (not related to password cracking, which I understand is against the forum rules):
When pressing F2 in the Panasonic boot screen to enter BIOS, under the "Security" menu there is an "Embedded Security (TPM) Sub-Menu". Using the arrow keys to go down to it and pressing "Enter" to enter is yields a "Setup Notice" stating that "Supervisor Password is required to enter this Sub-Menu". The only available option is "Continue"; when pressing Enter to continue, it merely dismisses this notice.
Quick Google search came up with a bunch of documents related to the installation of TPM on (different) Toughbooks, but I just wanted to make sure that my conclusion is correct: when there is no supervisor password (SVP) set, the "Embedded Security (TPM) Sub-Menu" in BIOS' security menu is not accessible. Am I right?

 

Because of ur wireless problem: just switch to
Windows configuration instead of Intel configuration
(u can use this string for Google )
Because of TPM: Yes, u need to set the supervisor password. If u use a different password then the user password u have the choice what u can do inside of ur BIOS, because if u used ur user pass, u can't setup TPM or boot order. Only if u use ur supervisor pass.

 

You have to set up your router

 

Though without a supervisor password you do not have access to that TPM BIOS menu, that does not mean that the TPM cannot be used at all if that password is not set.

Dave

 

Thanks for the replies, everyone!

I'm glad to know that the BIOS message means that the supervisor password is not set. I don't care much for the TPM and I certainly don't want to set a supervisor password, so the status quo is fine for me.

After some digging, I came across KB #968682 and I tried those steps out, but to no avail -- after disabling the Intel PROSet/Wireless WiFi Service and enabling Windows' built-in Wireless Zero Configuration, Windows would still show an error message on the "Wireless Connection 2" window, telling me that Windows can't manage it and I should use the other program (Intel's) instead. Any ideas?

Could you please clarify what you mean by this? Considering that things magically Just Work™ with a bunch of other laptops (of which one is a Toughbook CF-29), I have to admit that I fail to see how the router would be the problem here, but then again, I'm no router expert by any means.

 

That's my way. It should work.
U followed the instructions step by step?
Is the driver out of date? U can check this here: Intel® Driver Update Utility

 

Dear onirakkiss, thank you so much for this message! Inspired by it and confident that I was doing something wrong, I booted up my CF-19 and went to fiddle with it some more...and it works (well, kinda! More about that later on).

Here's what I did:

1. Start -> Run -> Typed "Services.msc" -> Pressed Enter
2. Located Intel® PROSet/Wireless WiFi Service, as it's the only service (of those mentioned in KB#968682) installed
3. Right-click on the "Intel® PROSet/Wireless WiFi Service" -> Properties
4. Pressed the "Stop" button to stop the service, then set "Startup type" to "Disabled"
5. Pressed the OK button
6. Moved on to the Wireless Zero Configuration service -> right click -> Properties
7. "Startup type" was already automatic (maybe because of my previous attempt, can't remember), so I just started the service by pressing the "Start" button
8. Service started, pressed the "OK" button
9. File -> Exit
10. Went to Start -> Connect To -> Show all connections
11. This brought up the Network Connections menu, from which I chose "Wireless Network Connection 2" -> right click -> Properties
12. Chose the "Wireless Networks" tab, and checked the "Use Windows to configure my wireless network settings" -> OK

After that, I was able to see the list of availabe wireless networks by double-clicking on the Wireless Network Connection 2 icon. Hooray!

...Too bad it still doesn't work as expected. Upon connecting to the network, it asks for a "network key (also called a WEP or WPA key)" and it claims that the network's protection type is WPA, but if memory serves me correctly, that's not true.
I give it the correct key, it attempts to connect to the network, there's no error message or anything, yet it...doesn't connect to the network. When I attempt to reconnect, there key is prefilled...and it's wrong; the correct key is 13 characters long, the one Windows has there is only 8 characters (and since the OS is Windows XP, there's no checkbox or anything to show the characters).

I'm guessing that my local wireless network is partially to be blamed, too, since it doesn't fully work with my main computer either; the difference is that my main computer has plenty of other issues, too, which are caused by the fact it's running Windows 7 Premium, but was designed for Windows Vista only, whereas the CF-19 was designed to run Windows XP.
Still, I must admit that it is somewhat ironical that the two computers that should have a working wireless connection -- my main computer, an LG E500, and the CF-19 -- don't have it, but all the other computers have no issues whatsoever with the wireless connection (though some computers show "Connected to: <my wireless network's name> (unsecured)" upon connecting, but that's not a big deal since the wireless connection works).

It'd be very nice to have wireless connection working, so I'm open to suggestions and thoughts, though I'll live without it, as I can just use a cable when I'm home.

 

For WEP, you must enter WEP "key 1" (found in the router) into ur computer, not the WEP password or passphrase.
For WPA or WPA2, enter the key (sometimes called password or passphrase) into ur computer.
Note that for WPA or WPA2, use "personal", not "enterprise".
Also, nomenclature sometimes causes problems. Note the following:
WPA = WPA with TKIP = PSK
WPA2 = WPA with AES = PSK2
Also note that Windows XP requires SP3 to run WPA2 ( = WPA with AES).
Also, each time u try a new encryption method, u must remove old settings from ur computer. To do this, do the following:
In the computer, go to ur wireless software, and go to "Preferred Networks" (sometimes called "Profiles" ). There are probably a few networks listed. Delete any network named "linksys". Also delete any network that u do not recognize, or that u no longer use. Delete ur current network (this will remove any old settings). Reboot computer. Return to "Preferred Networks" and re-enter ur current network info (SSID, encryption (if any), and key (if any) ). Then select ur current network and make it ur default network, and set it to automatic login. U may need to go to "settings" to do this, or u may need to right click on ur network and select "Properties" or "settings". Reboot computer. U should connect automatically (it can take up to two minutes). If u still have trouble, in the computer, temporarily turn off ur computer software firewall, and see if that helps.
If the above does not fix ur problem, download and install the latest driver for your wireless card.

(txt stolen from a different forum, thanks)

 

Thank you for that post, onirakkiss!

Once again motivated by your post, I went to double and triple check certain things. Yep, the CF-19 is running Windows XP Service Pack 3, so that's not a problem. The router is a BeWAN Systems one, and there are a bunch of different things listed on the sticker on its bottom panel, among which are the SSID and WPA key.

My CF-19 was (and is) using the Intel PROSet software for wireless network configuration instead of Windows' built-in Wireless Zero Configuration service. I went to the profiles list, which was empty. Now, here's the crucial part (or at least I think so). In the past, when Intel PROSet's notification of available WiFi networks had popped up, I had clicked on it, selected a network name from the drop-down menu and attempted to connect it via that way, which didn't work, however. Instead of doing that again, I decided to create a new profile, which I named after the SSID (now the SSID and profile name are the same).
After doing this, I chose the profile and pressed the "connect" button, which -- somewhat unsurprisingly -- did absolutely nothing. Strange, but true. After that I returned to Intel PROSet's main menu, chose my wireless network from the list and pressed the "connect" button there. As expected, it detected that there already is a profile with the same name and the software wanted my confirmation that it's OK to overwrite previous data. I allowed this, naturally. Then I was prompted for the WPA key (though the actual encryption type is WPA2, so the naming is a bit misleading there). I gave it the correct WPA key, the new profile was created & saved...and it connected to the wireless network!

I'm both very happy and thankful, but also a bit puzzled as to why the automagic configuration wizard would always fail...then again, now I know exactly what I need to do to add a new wireless network profile into the Intel PROSet software!

(In all honesty, I probably forgot a few steps there...if there's a need for step-by-step screenshots or somesuch, I can try to provide those.)