TP T42 (2374-BW8) - Wireless stopped working

[Steelers2012]

Hi all,

I have four T42 (2374-BW8) thinkpads that have been working for years, but have all suddenly developed wireless problems. In short, none of them can connect to the WAP.

The WAP is a D-Link DWL-2100AP. Settings are WPA-PSK (AES). Other devices can connect - dell laptop, smartphones etc.

Troubleshooting that's been done:

- update windows (currently running XPSP3)
- uninstall/reinstall wireless nic.
- run hotfix from MS. (fixccs) - supposed to help with refreshing network lists - doesn't work.
- ran winsockxpfix - sometimes works but does not survive a reboot?
- verified WAP with different laptop and smart phone = OK
- uninstalled/reinstalled SP3
- tried D-LINK USB wireless nic - same problem
- booted to live ubuntu CD - tested wireless = OK. Connects fine and can see internet.

Any help greatly appreciated,
Rob

[Johan]

Welcome to the forum, Rob!

What comes to mind is that the issue you're reporting must be SW-related, since it has simultaneously occurred to all of your T42's. Did you do anything when (= before) the problem... updated something? Did you try to revert to an older System Restore Point?

What is exactly the problem you're seeing... slow wireless, dropping connection, entirely unable to connect or what... "doesn't work" is a little unspecific (!).

Try see the thread Winsock refresh - does that change anything?

Your T42 has the following (stock) specifications:

ThinkPad T42 (2374-BW8)
Based 2374-4WG: P M 735(1.7GHz), 1GB RAM, 40GB 5400rpm HDD, 14.1 XGA(1024x768) TFT LCD, 32MB ATI Radeon 7500, 24x24x24x/8x CD-RW/DVD, IBM 802.11abg wireless, Modem, 1Gb Ether, UltraNav, Sec Chip, 6 cell Li-Ion Batt, WinXP Pro

... so the WLAN module is the IBM 802.11abg the drivers for which can be found via the T42 drivers page pointing to Wireless LAN ThinkPad (11bg, 11abg, 11abgn) for Windows XP, 2000 - ThinkPad or Wireless LAN software - ThinkPad 802.11ab, 802.11abg, and 802.11bg for Windows 2000 and XP - ThinkPad G40, R40, R50, R50p, R51, R51e, T40, T40p, T41, T41p, T42, T42p, X31, X40, X41 - did you try update your T42's with any of these drivers?

Johan

[Steelers2012]

Thanks for the prompt reply.

- one of the T42s started working when running windows updates for .net 4. Makes no sense, but it happened. However, this did not happen when the other laptops were fully updated win .net 4.

- the problem occurred before running updates. The setup was working fine (the T42s & d-link WAP).

- what happens is you get the "wireless network detected" in the system tray - but if you open it you get nothing - the list is empty even after refreshes. If you put the connection in manually it still doesn't work.

- I think the xpwinsockfix does the same thing as winsock refresh?

- I tried both the drivers below - the one from 2007 appeared to work for a moment, but did not survive a reboot.

we are troubleshooting further with yet another Dell laptop (win 7) and an old T40 running Ubuntu 10.04.

Rob

[Steelers2012]

Some more troubleshooting:

Took a T40 running ubuntu and a newer dell win7 and they both connected to the WAP just fine. Ran updates on both of them (about 300mb each) and worked fine. I then found another toshiba XP laptop and ran every update possible on it - works fine.

Any thoughts? Theories?

Rob

[RealBlackStuff]

Go to Control Panel/System/Hardware/Device Manager/Network adapters.
Rightclick on your wireless entry, then click on Uninstall.
Reboot, the machine will find New Hardware, let it install drivers automatically.
Any luck?

[Steelers2012]

I tried uninstalling/reinstalling on all four - no luck. Even tried older drivers.

I've narrowed it down a bit:

- not the WAP - everything else connects just fine.
- not the laptop itself - ubuntu bootable CD connects OK.
- not linux. not win7 (both connects OK)
- not XP on other systems

So the only thing I can think of is that there is some issue with XP on a T42. I have two WAPs to test on (one wireless G, other N) and the T42s can't connect to either.

When this started, I originally had one t42 with problems - the rest were on the shelf. After troubleshooting didn't work on the first one, I then tried the others which either started out with the same problem, or developed it from running updates and reboots.

Driving me nuts.

Rob

[RealBlackStuff]

I lost hours the other day, trying to connect a PC wirelessly to a router.
Turned out the lady in question had given me the wrong network WPA2-PSK password...
Breaking into the router finally solved the mystery. 30 seconds later she was up and running with the correct password!

[Steelers2012]

Hi all,
I tried troubleshooting this again, and there's even more weirdness.

I have tested this on three t42 thinkpads.

If you start the TP with a lan connection (wired) to the network, then the wireless works fine (you can even unplug the network cable after you get to the desktop). If you check, it will actually get TWO IP addresses.

If you start the TP with just the wireless, it never connects - just sits there trying to get an IP address.

This has been consistently happening through reboots etc on all three laptops.

Any thoughts? Theories?

Thanks,
Rob

[systemBuilder]

IF they are Intel 2100 wireless cards those things are garbage and mine (on a T41) went through a slow fail, just as you describe. At first, it could see the APs but could not connect. Deleting the driver and reinstalling it would allow you to connect, once. Then eventually, nothing. I bought a $5 NetGear 509 PCMCIA card to fix the problem, in XP it works far far better than the stock software from microsoft.

We currently are running 3x T42's with XP-SP3 so I don't think there is some fundamental problem with T42 computers.

Another thing to think about is the power saving option, go into driver>card configuration and turn it off, so that the laptop is not (perhaps) disabling the 802.11 card to save power. The techs at my company said that this had caused a lot of problems with the T4x series of computers.

The problem you describe (able to connect but not able to get an IP address) sounds like a problem in wireless zero-config or DHCP, you might want to check that those services are activated and run on boot-up. And, if possible, you might want to reinstall those services, or roll back to an earlier version of XP.

[Steelers2012]

Thanks for the reply.

The problem still remains. We tested the zero-config & DHCP before - same problem.

Something I didn't mention before - we also tried different wireless NICs on these - a linksys PCMCIA and a Netgear USB. Both have exactly the same problem.

I took a T42 that was giving me problems - wiped the drive and put Ubuntu on it. Connects flawlessly.

I took another T42 and restored it from a ghost backup from two years ago. Did not run any updates etc. - same problem.

The only thing I can think of is that XP SP3 on a T42 has problems connecting to WPA2.

- it's not XP - since other XP laptops connect fine. I have a toshiba XP laptop that is used every day on this WAP - just fine.
- it's not the hardware - since the same laptop with Ubuntu connects fine.

So I'm stumped.

Rob

[Eric Giles]

If you are using the Access Connections software, have you updated to the latest version? That 'might' help the issue-it's worth a shot!

As an aside, a friend of mine has had two T4x systems that just will not reliably connect to his wireless router with a high level of security enabled..they will work fine everywhere else, but just not on his router. Every single other computer or device with wifi that he brings in connects fine with no issues. He has used Windows XP and Windows 7 with the same results. I know that isn't much help, but it does show that occasionally these T4x systems have some weird wireless issues-but I feel they are the fault of the older wifi cards they utilitize-which as was mentioned do then to fail as they get older. I have had a few go bad for me also that had to be replaced.

[RealBlackStuff]

Put in an Intel 2200BG wifi card with IBM P/N 39T0076, FRU 39T0077.
These are old(er) cards but have proven very reliable over the years.
Available e.g. here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Wireless- ... 0569703507

[Steelers2012]

Update - I picked one of the laptops - DBANed it, put XP on it (with sp3 & all updates) - and it works just fine...

Rob

[systemBuilder]

I can confirm that my previous T41 laptop simply wouldn't work well with XP+WPA wireless networks off-site (TIA HQ), so it may be some kind of a driver problem with these early intel wireless cards and/or windows XP, and the latter WPA standards (not fully implemented or not fully stable at the time the driver entered end-of-life). Friends with T6x laptops and XP did not have problems. In fact, I could NEVER connect to the wireless networks at work when they were recently deployed with that security system. On the other hand, if you are willing to run a newer PCMCIA external network card with its own drivers you might see success. I used a NetGear 509 wireless card and the NetGear drivers would connect sometimes - the windows drivers never, ever would connect.