Question

Wireless LAN Radio on/off issue

Asked by: mohsyn

Hi,
i have an IBM thinkpad R52 with intel pro set 2200 wireless lan card.
other applications installed are IBM Access connection and thinkpad wireless lan drivers.
All drivers are updated and operating system is Windows XP Professional with SP 2.

Issue is i can power on or off the wireless radio only from adapter configuration settings by selecting a option there to turn on/off the wireless.

No software is able to switch its power state or for that matter even find out if its already on.
All software report that wireless radio is off -- do you want to switch it on ? and are not able to do anything if said yes.

Thinkpads have Fn + F5 key combination to control wireless radio - but even there the turning on or off does not effect the status of radio.

As a result both access connections and default windows wireless configuration tool are not able to detect any network.

Any help would be appreciated.

Regards,

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2006-04-14 at 02:15:54ID21813801
Tags

wireless

,

radio

,

off

Topic

Windows NT Networking

Participating Experts
2
Points
250
Comments
8

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. IBM Wireless
    Hi i have just installed a 11a/b/g wireless pci adapter into an ibm thinkpad with W2k. The drivers are installed but every time i try to enable "radio" throught the systray icon (to scan for networks) it does not turn on, and it says that no networks are found? An...
  2. Wireless Radio - Can't turn it on...
    I have an IBM Thinkpad X32 under XP Pro Sp1. I can't seem to get the wireless radio to turn on. The Cisco VPN adaptor in Device Manager reads disabled. When I enable it, it enables but still doesn't have any effect on the wireless radio -- then upon reboot, the VPN adaapto...
  3. Where's the wireless on Thinkpad T42?
    Laptop: IBM Thinkpad T42 with XP. Laptop is supposed to have built-in wireless capability. I open up Network connections and no wireless adapter is listed. No wireless device is listed in Device Mgr. There are 2 NIC's listed with one being active. Any ideas? Could some...
  4. Thinkpad T40p - Wireless radio won't turn on after Syst…
    I have just updated my THinkPad T40p using Lenovo's System Update. My wireless was working before this update. Now it won't work. The error reported is that the wireless radio is off. However, if I press Fn+F5 and try to turn on the wireless radio, it will NOT turn on. T...
  5. wireless radio on but no networks found
    I turned on my Lenovo ThinkPad X41 tablet today and the wireless radio is on, but no networks are found. I have another laptop nearby and there are 9 available networks). The laptop worked fine this morning and I don't recall changing anything. I don't have wired Net access s...

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: bbaoPosted on 2006-04-16 at 08:01:26ID: 16464455

> but even there the turning on or off does not effect the status of radio.

why say so? when the IBM utility has expliicitly turned off wireless, the wireless radio may be still on and you can still use the wireless network?

 

by: mohsynPosted on 2006-04-16 at 12:19:16ID: 16465427

> but even there the turning on or off does not effect the status of radio.

>> why say so? when the IBM utility has expliicitly turned off wireless, the wireless radio may
>> be still on and you can still use the wireless network?

what i mean to say is, if wireless indicator light on LCD panel is ON, it remains on, even if you click on fn + f5 dialog's "turn of" option and it show as off, even when light is off

 

by: Rant32Posted on 2006-04-16 at 14:34:13ID: 16465925

Is the Intel wireless card purchased directly from IBM or via another vendor? Is it PCMCIA or Mini-PCI (connected to the mainboard next to the memory slots)?

IBM is VERY restrictive in the wireless network cards it allows in the notebook and there are even cases where WLAN cards are bluntly refused by the Thinkpad system BIOS. All kinds of hacks and workarounds have been devised to make the cards work but with these strange results.
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Problem_with_unauthorized_MiniPCI_network_card

I've seen this happen once with *ONBOARD* IBM network adapters. Had to open up the memory bays, remove power, and remove and re-seat the MiniPCI card.

Also check if you have the latest driver and software installed, the most current one is at
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-54956

 

by: mohsynPosted on 2006-04-16 at 22:36:55ID: 16467201

i've not purchased card separately
it came preinstalled with machine
the drivers are updated
i have the option of carry in warranty by ibm but they might ask me to part with laptop till the prob is resolved and hence i want to solve it alternatively.

 

by: Rant32Posted on 2006-04-17 at 00:31:30ID: 16467506

Searching the Lenovo support site comes up with these:

Intel wireless 2200bg and 2915abg upgrade and installation problems - ThinkPad General
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-62223&selectarea=SUPPORT&tempselected=5&brand=IBM%20Notebooks%20and%20handhelds%7CThinkPad%20R52&family=IBM%20Notebooks%20and%20handhelds%7CThinkPad%20R52

Symptoms corrected by the latest Hotkey driver for Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP - ThinkPad General
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-40343&selectarea=SUPPORT&tempselected=5&brand=IBM%20Notebooks%20and%20handhelds%7CThinkPad%20R52&family=IBM%20Notebooks%20and%20handhelds%7CThinkPad%20R52
Symptoms corrected by Version 1.03.02B1
(New) Add Fn+F5 hot key function for Wireless Switch.

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-61519&selectarea=SUPPORT&tempselected=5&brand=IBM%20Notebooks%20and%20handhelds%7CThinkPad%20R52&family=IBM%20Notebooks%20and%20handhelds%7CThinkPad%20R52
Fn+F5 Control the power source of the built-in Bluetooth wireless device. This combination of the keys functions as a toggle switch of the power state.
Notes: In Windows 2000 or Windows XP, this combination of keys enables or disables the built-in wireless networking features (the IEEE 802.11 standard) and the Bluetooth wireless features. To use this function, the following drivers must be installed:
ThinkPad Power Management driver
OnScreen Display utility
Wireless device drivers

Hardware removal and installation - ThinkPad R50/e/p, R51/e, R52
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-53390&selectarea=SUPPORT&tempselected=5&brand=IBM%20Notebooks%20and%20handhelds%7CThinkPad%20R52&family=IBM%20Notebooks%20and%20handhelds%7CThinkPad%20R52

Support phone numbers
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-4HWSE3

 

by: bbaoPosted on 2006-04-17 at 01:46:39ID: 16467677

umm... that sounds like a software defect. you may confirm this by asking other people who are using the same model.

 

by: mohsynPosted on 2006-04-17 at 03:07:09ID: 16467984

rant32 has found something which is very relevant to my current issue viz. the symptoms my machine is having
seems like a bug ibm has not corrected but taken note of - i need to call up customer care and sort it out
let me try out what rant32 has suggested and get back

 

by: mohsynPosted on 2006-04-29 at 02:32:34ID: 16568358

thanks rant

got the problem solved by ibm support providing me with a vbs script to remove all the driver files completely before doing a fresh install to rectify the issue

i've found out that this happens everytime i do hibernate with wireless on.

next time when i resume the wireless stops responding to software to turn it on or off

re-install is only option everytime

if any one has found a better option kindly let me know

regards
mohsyn

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...