T61 - Intell 4965AGN - Wireless radio is powered off

[WGPuckett]

I am getting to wits end trying to get my wifi connection to work.  I NEED HELP!!!

I just purchased a Lenovo T61.  It came with Vista which I despise!!!!  So I decided to install XP.  I didn't want to eliminate Vista since I develop programs for windows and want to keep Vista around for testing purposes.  I partitioned the hard drive and installed Windows XP Pro SP2.   After about 3 weeks of research and installs, un-installs and re-installs and then finally getting ThinkVantage Update installed and letting it get everything updated I think I have a pretty good setup.  Except for the wifi adapter.

The computer came with the two LAN connections.  A gigabit adapter for wired connections and an Intell 4965AGN wifi adapter.  I am using ThinkVantage Access Connections.  I prefer to keep this because I use the laptop at home, work and on the road.  Access Connections gives me the capability to save a separate IP configuration for each location.  That is worth a lot.

The wifi switch on the front of the T61 is switched on.  If I bring up Fn-F5 it shows the "Hardware Wireless Radio Switch" as ON.

I am able to get the gigabit connection to work without issue.  But I can't get the wifi adapter to work.  If I bring it up on Device Manager I see the 4965AGN under Network Devices.  If I bring up the Properties dialog it shows "Wireless On" on the Advanced tab and the Driver tab lists a driver version 11.5.0.36 dated 11/27/2007.  The toolbar shows the wifi icon with a red X showing that it is not connected.  If I click on "View Wireless Connections" I get the message that Windows cannot manage that wireless connection.

So I start Access Connections and start setting up a new wireless connection.  I identify the connection as wireless and move to the second page titled "Enter wireless network configuration:".  I give it an SSID and click on "Find Network".  I immediately get a pop-up stating "The wireless radio is powered off.  Do you want to power it on?".  I click on "Yes" and that dialog goes away.  But nothing on the entry page changes.  None of the drop downs are populated.  If I click on "Find Network" again I get the same message.

I have tried re-loading the wifi drivers from the Lenovo web page with no change.  How can I fix this?

Glenn Puckett

Lexington, KY

[lopsl]

I seem to recall having faced this problem myself once. I can't remember exactly what I did but I think I physically turned the wifi switch off and then on when Access Connections was running.

[Calle2008]

Dear Glenn

I have had the same problem with my Thinkpad T61P and I think that it is related to the running services. I just found this page:

http://www.blackviper.com/WinVista/servicecfg.htm

and in particular this subpage:

http://www.blackviper.com/WinVista/Services/WLAN_AutoConfig.htm

If you have XP then there are also pages related to that OS.

Please read those and see if there is help there.

Yours
Calle2008

[WGPuckett]

As best I can tell from researching this, XP does not have a WLAN AutoConfig.  Vista is a new breed.  It appears you can't determine an XP fix from related problems in Vista.

I appreciate the feedback but still don't have a resolution for this.

Glenn


Message Edited by WGPuckett on 03-18-2008 01:03 PM

[xzma]

Glenn,

I am having the exactly same problem since yesterday. I don't have XP dual installed. Only the Vista that came with the T61 that was about 6 months. The problem happened after I restarted the laptop.  It's worked fine since I purchased it.  

I have ruled out the hardware defect by running a Ubuntu 7.04 live CD on it and I have both wired and wireless connections. But with Vista, I can only use wired LAN now. My last window/Lenovo update was on 2/7/08, but I don't have recall if I have restarted my laptop since then, but I probably have.

If you have a solution/work around, please post it. I will do the same.

Thanks!

Xiaozheng

[WGPuckett]

My problem is entirely with AccessConnections.  I still haven't got it resolved.  It is so difficult to find anything or anybody with any real expertise to respond I have just about given up.  I resolved the issue by turning off AccessConnections and letting Windows manage the wireless connections.  It now works without any problems at all.

I have to assume that there are some configuration or installation issues with AccessConnections that I have yet to come across.  It also could be with the ThinkVantage drivers.   Who knows?!?!?  I just have no way to easily find out.  I have too much going on to spend day after day researching the problem.

I really like the concept of AccessConnections.  I move around a lot with my laptop and it is a big hassle having to change my TCP/IP configuration every time I change wifi networks.  But at least that takes care of the problem for the moment. 

Glenn

[xzma]

I tried turn off the access connections service manually from service list (start->control panel->admin tools->services) As Glenn suggested. But i still cannot use the Vista Wireless service.  Some more research makes realize that my  WLAN autoConfig service has failed to start.  Which  is why the  list of  available wireless ssids were missing.  The WLAN AutoConfig is around the bottom of the service list. If you are lucky you can just restart it since by default, VISTA home edition set it to start manually.

I was having some damaged dll files that involved in the WLAN autoconfig service. So I cannot restart it easily. Here is what I did. --realizing this can be a popular pain to some vista users with wireless-- and hope it can save some frustrators' time :-)
1) click on Start,  right click on 'comamnd prompt', run as administrator
2) from the cmd command, type 'sfc/scannow' without quotes then enter, this may take about 5 minutes. This process will repair some broken dll files. scf stands for system file checker. see: http://www.updatexp.com/scannow-sfc.html
after this is done, look at the log file, and see if you find some thing interest. In any case, try go to services page and restart the 'WLAN autoConfig' (bottom of the list)and 'access connections' (top of the list)

Hope this helps!

Xiaozheng

[xzma]

Sorry, forgot mentioning that the above sfc wroks for me. It repired  the dll damages and my wirelesss service on Vista works!

[fmalan]

Found a solution yet?

I have a similar problem. I also have a T61 which came with Vista. I immediately removed Vista (with fdisk), and did a clean (and legal) XP Professional installation. After much trouble (XP doesn't support SATA during installation) I got XP to run, and then started the process of re-integrating the ThinkVantage suite of tools, which I actually quite like a lot. Was also a bit of a mission (needed the correct sequence of updates before ThinkVantage Update Manager would run), but everything was fine, eventually.

Until I switched off the Wi-Fi using the hard switch (front of laptop). Now, with it switched on again, Windows' Wi-Fi Manager sees my networks, but Access Connections (Ctrl-F5) doesn't recognize that the Wi-Fi is switched on. It actually doesn't list the WiFi card at all, but only the Bluetooth. The green LED for WiFi is lit, however.

Any suggestions? Please - this is a very annoying problem!

[blackcapsteve]

I think I have a solution to this. It worked for me. I wandered into this forum and found people with the same issues. I have just fixed my R61i. It was a Vista which I downgraded to an XP ( it was doing my head in)..
Everything went well, apart from the wireless not showing in access... it worked, but only outside. I too LOVE the access program.

This is how I fixed it..

I went here
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=MIGR-62875

I then downloaded the patch and installed it. I was curious in that the "Intel Proset Wireless Software was NOT in my program list (under Add/Remove Software)
I ran the install (its clear in the instructions where to find it) page 3 under Manual install.
 I restarted and ping... up came a new icon, and gone was the initial freeze at startup time (which was happening every now and again)

I love my R61i. I love it even better now it works under XP and works with access. Although Mine is an R61i  A lot of T models are listed at the top of the solution. Print off the  full text and read it whilst you work through.. Good Luck
I have registered just to pass this on because a few of you above seemed stumped, just like I was.

Steve