Access Connections switches to Wireless instead of Wired when both available on T61 and X61 models - SOLVED [ Edited ]

[Anthony_Benders]

Problem  : Thinkvantage Access Connection version 4.42 switches to wireless instead of Wired when it is being used on the new T61 or X61 models.

Details & Software versions :

• Windows XP with latest windows updates
• Latest Lenovo updates of software and drivers through System Update 3.10
• Only applies to the new T61 and X61 models, T60's and X60 do not have this problem

Problem shows as :

- Right bottom taskbar, LAN network shows with exclamation mark saying connected 100MB : limited or no connectivity

Work Around :

When Wireless is disabled, the exclamaition mark disappears and is conneced normally. Turn wireless on: problem appears again and thinkvantage switches back to wireless

Probable issue :

- New Thinkvantage Access Connection 4.42 does not correctly handle network speeds ( or at least makes the wrong decision in this ? ) Or the wireles and wired LAN have somekind of conflict when enabled at the same time.

When Thinkvantage access Connections is removed, problem is gone.....so problem =Access Connection.

Question :

Is there a FIX or an update available for this ? If not, can this be fixed by a registry modification/file modification as I have more and more of these models and users are freaked out by the switching to wireless instead of Wired.

Message Edited by Mark_Lenovo on 01-14-2008 03:24 PM

[JHEM]

Short term, you could teach your users to manually turn off the WiFi (either by Fn+F5 or by use of the power switch on the front of the T61 machines) when the units are connected via their Ethernet connection.

Long term, it sounds like a problem with XP but so far I'm unable to duplicate the error on my T61 under either XP or Vista. I'll continue looking into it as it sounds like there might just be a checkbox that needs to be checked in order to set the correct preference.

One question, are these units docked when the problem occurs?

Regards,

James

[andyP Community SuperMod]

I've just been playing around, please try the following;

a) disable the connectivity warning in the properties of the LAN card.

b) ensure that LAN has priority over WLAN in profile management.

It could cure the problem.

Will add more later if required, I've got 30 mins to shut up shop and get to the post before they shut up shop.

EDIT LATER;

I remembered receiving the "limited connectivity" warning when I first got my T43 in May 05. It had me puzzled for ages. I could also remember that WLAN worked fine, but I couldn’t always switch to a connection over cable.

After I found out I could turn the warning off I don’t remember ever having a problem. I quickly played around with priorities and turning the warning on and off, I found that I could reproduce most of the problem.

What I could not reproduce was “Turn wireless on: problem appears again and think vantage switches back to wireless”.

Message Edited by andyP on 12-12-2007 09:44 PM

[Anthony_Benders]

Yes,

Your tips just solved my problem. It was just thr priority of the Wireless above the Wired.

I swapped the priority and it's now correctly selecting the Wired if available.

When I take the LAN out it will then correctly switch to Wireless....etc.

It looks that with a default configuration of a new profile, the Wireless automatically pops up at the top. I think it used to be the other way around in the older versions of Thinkvantage Access Connections

Thank you all for the feedback. Looks like this did the trick.

Regards,

Anthony