Service Pack 3 (XP) Access Connections can no longer associate w. wireless AP

[mixz1]

T61p with Atheros/Lenovo ABG card. Installed XP SP3. Access Connections can no longer associate with my access point. I uninstalled Access Connections and enabled Windows Configuration. Same problem. Reinstalled Access Connections, same problem. Any ideas would be appreciated.

[icantux]

Wasn't aware that XP SP3 was already made available. Perhaps with the installation of the SP, the MS XP Wireless Manager was reset as the default wireless connections manager thus took control over the Access Connections ability to manage the wireless card. If that's the case, then AC would not be able to find any AP's. I believe there's an option in Access Connections that allows you to choose whether you wish XP or AC to control your wireless connections. Either way, open the Networking Connections in Control Panel (XP) to verify that XP is not chosen as the preferred method for controlling your wireless connections and try Access Connections once more.

[mixz1]

Thanks for the reply. SP3 is available viaTechNet and MSDN, and to answer a question before it's asked, yes it is the final RTM version. Access Connections is the default manager. I've tried uninstalling AC, uninstalling the Atheros card, letting Windows find the Atheros card and reinstall the drivers and then tried using Windows Wireless Zero Config to connect, with the same results. I'm now back to AC again with no change in ability to connect. The Atheros card passes diagnostics and a wired connection to the same access point works perfectly. I'm stuck;.

[icantux]

Which version of the Lenovo drivers are you using for your laptop?

I have a sneaky feeling that SP3 installed a "newer version" wifi driver and didn't quite tell you. In fact, during one of my updates at MS (for XP-SP2) the Atheros wifi drivers got on a list of "drivers to be updated". I unchecked the selection before the MS update "installed a newer version of the driver". This could potentially be the issue that's preventing the wifi card from communicating with a wifi manager properly. If that's the case, the best bet would be to try "disabling" the Wireless LAN in Device Manager completely, uninstall all wifi-related drivers and reboot.

Let's troubleshoot a bit further.  I would suggest this - it's a bit of a procedure, but you'll find out what's going on...

There are two other possibilities for you to try:

1) Use Atheros Client Utility - keep Lenovo wifi drivers (this is less intrusive):
- Forget about AC or Zero Wireless, and install the Atheros Wifi Manager instead - it's called "Atheros Client Utility".  Often the case can be resolved by using a "native" wifi manager for a "native" card (Atheros - Atheros).  Access Connections is a great tool, but if you do make full use of all the features, then it's a bit of an overkill for the regular user.
- uninstall AC, disable Zero Wireless.
- Install Atheros Client Utility
- you can get the Atheros Client Utility from here or here (don't install the drivers when prompted, just the Client Utility)
- see if that works.

2) Use stock Atheros drivers with the MS Zero Wireless instead of Lenovo wifi drivers
- only issue here is that the Fn-F5 feature will not enable/disable your wifi card. (Lenovo drivers are tweaked for precisely this purpose). Point is, however, that you want to troubleshoot where the problem lies, so this may be worthwhile.
- Uninstall the Lenovo Wifi drivers as well as the AC program (you can retain your profiles as an option during uninstall process of AC),
- then install a stock Atheros-based wifi driver (if you need a link I'll post it here), then try to see if Windows wifi manager (Zero wireless) will "see" any AP's.  If it does, then it means something's up with either AC or Lenovo wifi drivers, or both. If it still doesn't see it, then something inclued in SP3 could be to blame and more thorough (re)search would be required.

Otherwise, you may also want to take a peek at MSDN forums to see if others are experiencing Wifi issues due to SP3.

[robpm]

I have a T61.  Until the past few days, Access Connections worked just fine. All of a sudden it just doesn't work It hangs up and/or can find anything.

This was after the latest update, but not (that I know of) including any installation of SP3.  Something is definitely broken with Access Connections.

I use ZoneAlarm Security suite.  I did get a virus warning in one of the files (trojan-downloader.win32.zlob.byu), but I got rid of that and reinstalled the software.  No go

[mixz1]

Well, icantux got me thinking about driver substitutions caused by the Service Pack. I deleted the Atheros card via Device Manager, did  not restart, but used  System Update via the wired LAN port. SU detected the missing hardware drivers, reinstalled them, asked for a reboot and I was back in business. Thanks for the replies and thanks, icantux, for kicking my brain into gear.

BTW, The MS Community Forums and MSDN have lots of posts concerning MS driver updates wrecking Atheros connectivity. Good call icantux.

Message Edited by mixz1 on 04-25-2008 08:52 PM

[icantux]

Great, glad that helped!

@ robpm: disable the anti-virus program while installing Access Connections. AC is known to fool many anti-virus programs with false-positives. If you're worried about viruses attached to AC, then do a full scan after you install it.

[robpm]

Unfortunately, it did not work for me.

I uninstalled Access Connections, disabled my antivirus/antispam program, and rebooted.

Then I installed Access connections. Rebooted.

It still doesn't work - it won't load at start up (as it used to) and when accessed from the Programs dialog it hangs up forever on the splash screen on start up. sometimes it final seems to load, but then you can't do anything in it and it doesn't connect. claims it doesnt see any adapters.

This behavior showed up all of a sudden at the beginning of the week.  This is very very strange, I think it's either a problem with the new version of Access Connections (but I tried rolling back to the preivous version and it still didn't work), a problem with ALL major antivirus programs OR, which seems more likely, a problem related to some recent Windows update.

It is extremely frustrating. At work, where I have printer access directly, I can still print, but at home, where the printer is networked, it does not work.

[icantux]

It's entirely possible that SP3 chewed up some drivers/dll's on your machine which, in turn, have an adverse effect on Access Connections (seems almost a certainty to me that it's a dll issue). If you're out for some excitement, check the SP3 installation logs to see if there's any indication of file replacement, that should be your first clue... Also, follow the discussions related to networking on Technet or MSDN to see what comes up in the coming hours/days - indeed, perhaps the issue has already come up. As with mix's case, networking seems to be the first casualty of MS Service Packs.

[DrDuke44]

With sp3 no access points on wireless connection and the access connection (power on wireless adapter is wacky) it shows on and then gives me a message it is off.  won't let me power on

I installed the latest versions of Lenovo drivers for network connections (wifi and access connections) then installed sp3 and no access points will show up.

So I did system restore back to sp2 and network works again.

any suggestions as to how to make sp3 work with access connections and my network adapters?

thanks