IBM X30 and IBM Access Connections with Windows XP
John
seen a clear answer or anyone that has successfully corrected the
problem.
I have an X30 with wireless built in and Windows XP and the only way
it will connect with an access point is if I check the box under the
connection properties that says "Let Windows ."
I would like the x30 to connect to the wireless networks automatically
using the IBM Access Connections software, but it is incapable of
doing that. I'm running IBM Access Connections version 3.20, have the
newest drivers for the adapter and the newest firmware for the
adapter. I have uninstalled and reinstalled both the drivers and
Access Connections with no luck.
I know I'm not the only one that has struggled with this so if there
is anybody out there that has fixed this, please let me know.
Thanks in advance,
John
Michael Gerbasio
Wish I could help, but I'm in the same boat. When I let IBM Update
connector update my system, it hasn't worked correctly since.
Funny thing, everything looks good. Access Connections shows I'm connected,
the tasktray icons show I'm connected but I can't see anything on my
network. IBMs only solution is to not use Access Connections or reload the
machine. I have the A31p with the same settings and no problems.
Regards-Michael G.
"John" <jo...@5palmer.com> wrote in message
news:747e0cb2.04061...@posting.google.com...
Gerald Vogt
> Funny thing, everything looks good. Access Connections shows I'm connected,
> the tasktray icons show I'm connected but I can't see anything on my
> network. IBMs only solution is to not use Access Connections or reload the
> machine. I have the A31p with the same settings and no problems.
I have and had the same problems. For a long while I had the problems
with a T40 that did not connect to my access point using AC. I don't
know why but with some update (I think it was version 2->3.0) it all of
a sudden worked and does since then.
On my T30 though, it worked well until, well I don't know exactly
because I usually use the port replicator and ethernet cable, but when I
tried two weeks ago it did not work and I did not get it to work either
with de-/reinstalling drivers, AC etc. in different order...
If you AC shows that you are actually connected then I would say
something else is wrong. When I connect to an AP with open
authentication the wireless tasktray icon shows good connection but
WEP-key error in the status window, the window network connection is
normal (because the connection is associated), AC is disconnected though
and no traffic goes through. I never had it that AC actually shows
connected status even though it was not working...
I think at some time with my T40 it made a difference whether the AP
allowed open authentication or required shared. I think (but I am not
sure) it only worked with shared and not with open...
Anyway, I guess my problem is related with some security/permission
problems of AC setting the WEP keys in the wireless card driver as the
SSID is correct and the card associates with an open auth AP. The only
way to get it working again is to clean the installation of all traces
of the wireless driver and AC and install again. I think this should do.
But you certainly have to know all the registry keys and files the
both require, and last time I tried I did not really figure out how the
wireless configuration works and where AC does actually stores all its
profile information etc...
Gerald
Michael Gerbasio
Thanks for the information. Yes, seeing AC active had me on a wild goose
chase looking somewhere else. Now, I believe that AC is screwed up. All the
settings are the same if I use AC or let Windows manage my connections. All
the animated icons show everything in AC is running fine. I can see the
network tasktray icon and it never flashes, always showing nothing sent or
received. Of course, can't even ping the router or AP. Same setting with
windows configuration for wireless and it works fine. Very
frustrating.Using Windows works so I'll stick with that.
My experience is just the opposite of yours, prior to v3, everything worked
fine on my A31p and X31. Since upgrading I've had nothing but problems on
both Thinkpads although it is finally working on the A31p. I'm really
disappointed in IBM tech support, all they ever seem to say is reset the PC,
load the latest drivers, reset the router and if that doesn't work, reload
the PC.
I followed to the letter the instructions that came with driver 1.2.2.9 and
AC 3.21 still no luck. This required an uninstall which I did, but as you
said, you really can't be sure it cleaned up everything unless you could
manually check and clear the registry. I even tried a new file which bundled
AC with all the drivers to automate the loading of AC. Again, no luck.
Regards-Michael G.
"Gerald Vogt" <vo...@spamcop.net> wrote in message
news:PNYzc.175734$hY.1...@twister.nyroc.rr.com...
Gerald Vogt
> Gerald,
> Thanks for the information. Yes, seeing AC active had me on a wild goose
> chase looking somewhere else. Now, I believe that AC is screwed up. All the
> settings are the same if I use AC or let Windows manage my connections. All
> the animated icons show everything in AC is running fine.
Are you sure your AC tray icon shows operating state and not
disconnected? Mine does realize that it is not connected and shows the
crossed icon and proper disconnected status. That is puzzling me. If
yours says it is connected that would be really strange because it
should not even get the DHCP address. (OK, maybe you have static IP and
now AC does not know how to figure out whether or not it is
connected...) The wireless icon (QCWLICON) is green though for the
association with the open auth AP.
I can see the
> network tasktray icon and it never flashes, always showing nothing sent or
> received. Of course, can't even ping the router or AP. Same setting with
> windows configuration for wireless and it works fine. Very
> frustrating.Using Windows works so I'll stick with that.
That the same here. What does the status message for the wireless
connection shows? (the QCWLICON status window)
> My experience is just the opposite of yours, prior to v3, everything worked
> fine on my A31p and X31. Since upgrading I've had nothing but problems on
> both Thinkpads although it is finally working on the A31p. I'm really
> disappointed in IBM tech support, all they ever seem to say is reset the PC,
> load the latest drivers, reset the router and if that doesn't work, reload
> the PC.
Well it seems to be a very tricky problem, I admit. What I find
disappointing is that there is no documentation about a special debug
command line option or something similar to get a little bit more output
what is going on and what the problem might be. I browsed through the
DLLs and EXEs with a text editor and find quite a few hints that there
is actually debug code and logs included. But I was not able to figure
out how to turn that on and where it goes... I think that would really
help because I am pretty sure that somewhere during setting the WEP keys
for the card there is something failing and thus there should be an
error message somewhere telling something about it.
The worst is: I don't know of an alternative: Intel ProSET does
something similar but then IBM must provide it. Despite of these I am
not aware of a program that does the switching automatically. I know of
netswitcher, but there you have to do yourself i.e. tell the program
which profile to apply when you want to switch.
> I followed to the letter the instructions that came with driver 1.2.2.9 and
> AC 3.21 still no luck. This required an uninstall which I did, but as you
> said, you really can't be sure it cleaned up everything unless you could
> manually check and clear the registry. I even tried a new file which bundled
> AC with all the drivers to automate the loading of AC. Again, no luck.
The new file actually does not even include drivers for my T30 (High
Rate Wireless LAN Mini-PCI Adapter with Modem II) so I never tried it
although I updated the power management driver after I looked through
the contents. Which WLAN cards to you have? Has you AP open or shared auth?
Gerald
John
knows if it uninstalls clean) with still no luck. When I try to make
a wireless connection with AC by pressing the connect button, I get a
red x on the "Connecting to wireless access point..." line and it
doesn't ever connect. As soon as I tell windows to manage the
connection, I get right in.
I'll keep struggling, it's a nice utility (AC) and would be even nicer
if it would work fully.
"Michael Gerbasio" <mwger...@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:<qy6Ac.38328$Xw3....@nwrdny03.gnilink.net>...
John
XP, pull of the list of services and go to the bottom to "Wireless
Zero Configuration" and disable the service. After restarting, AC
connected to my wireless network. Now, I tried this once before and
it didn't work but seems to be working great now. I'm also running
the newest driver and firmware for the adapter as well as the newest
version of AC and am not sure if I was when I tried disabling the
service the first time.
Hopefully this will help some others with the same problem.
John
"Michael Gerbasio" <mwger...@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:<qy6Ac.38328$Xw3....@nwrdny03.gnilink.net>...
Gerald Vogt
> I actually finally had some success after my last post. In Windows
> XP, pull of the list of services and go to the bottom to "Wireless
> Zero Configuration" and disable the service. After restarting, AC
> connected to my wireless network. Now, I tried this once before and
> it didn't work but seems to be working great now. I'm also running
> the newest driver and firmware for the adapter as well as the newest
> version of AC and am not sure if I was when I tried disabling the
> service the first time.
>
> Hopefully this will help some others with the same problem.
Bingo. That did it for me. (Well at least for now... ;-) AC configures
the connection properly. No more WEP key errors as before. As far as I
can test it at the moment it works fine now... I have never actually
tried disabling the WZCSVC when I tried to figure out how to fix it. I
always just stopped the service assuming that it would do to see if it
makes a change. But you actually have to disable it and then reboot to
take affect.
Great job, John!
Gerald
Michael Gerbasio
> > Gerald,
> > Thanks for the information. Yes, seeing AC active had me on a wild
goose
> > chase looking somewhere else. Now, I believe that AC is screwed up. All
the
> > settings are the same if I use AC or let Windows manage my connections.
All
> > the animated icons show everything in AC is running fine.
>
> Are you sure your AC tray icon shows operating state and not
> disconnected? Mine does realize that it is not connected and shows the
> crossed icon and proper disconnected status. That is puzzling me. If
> yours says it is connected that would be really strange because it
> should not even get the DHCP address. (OK, maybe you have static IP and
> now AC does not know how to figure out whether or not it is
> connected...) The wireless icon (QCWLICON) is green though for the
> association with the open auth AP.
I'm using static ip. I didn't know that is how AC determines if it is
connected. All those cute animations would make you think there aren't any
problems yet I can't even ping the router when it shows it is connected to
the router.
>
> I can see the
> > network tasktray icon and it never flashes, always showing nothing sent
or
> > received. Of course, can't even ping the router or AP. Same setting
with
> > windows configuration for wireless and it works fine. Very
> > frustrating.Using Windows works so I'll stick with that.
>
> That the same here. What does the status message for the wireless
> connection shows? (the QCWLICON status window)
I have two tasktray icons, one for the network connection which shows I'm
connected, the other for the wireless which also shows green with an
excellent signal.
>
> > My experience is just the opposite of yours, prior to v3, everything
worked
> > fine on my A31p and X31. Since upgrading I've had nothing but problems
on
> > both Thinkpads although it is finally working on the A31p. I'm really
> > disappointed in IBM tech support, all they ever seem to say is reset the
PC,
> > load the latest drivers, reset the router and if that doesn't work,
reload
> > the PC.
>
> Well it seems to be a very tricky problem, I admit. What I find
> disappointing is that there is no documentation about a special debug
> command line option or something similar to get a little bit more output
> what is going on and what the problem might be. I browsed through the
> DLLs and EXEs with a text editor and find quite a few hints that there
> is actually debug code and logs included. But I was not able to figure
> out how to turn that on and where it goes... I think that would really
> help because I am pretty sure that somewhere during setting the WEP keys
> for the card there is something failing and thus there should be an
> error message somewhere telling something about it.
With all the problems I've been reading about, you'd think tech support
could offer something more than reload the PC. Especially with IBM only
providing restore disks. Setting up multiple partitions is such a pain in
the ass without the actual Windows CDs. Although I really like the
Thinkpads I have, this will probably be my last. No glidepad, no windows
key, only restore disks and tech support that has never offered a solution
other than "try reloading the system" anytime I call. Lastly, IBM got rid
of the user forums and I find the web site very diffcult to navigate to find
a solution compared with Dell.
>
> The worst is: I don't know of an alternative: Intel ProSET does
> something similar but then IBM must provide it. Despite of these I am
> not aware of a program that does the switching automatically. I know of
> netswitcher, but there you have to do yourself i.e. tell the program
> which profile to apply when you want to switch.
>
> > I followed to the letter the instructions that came with driver 1.2.2.9
and
> > AC 3.21 still no luck. This required an uninstall which I did, but as
you
> > said, you really can't be sure it cleaned up everything unless you could
> > manually check and clear the registry. I even tried a new file which
bundled
> > AC with all the drivers to automate the loading of AC. Again, no luck.
>
> The new file actually does not even include drivers for my T30 (High
> Rate Wireless LAN Mini-PCI Adapter with Modem II) so I never tried it
> although I updated the power management driver after I looked through
> the contents. Which WLAN cards to you have? Has you AP open or shared
auth?
>
I'm using a Linksys WAP11 with two IBM Centrino PCs, a desktop with an
Orinoco card, a HP4155 PocketPC all on the WLAN. AP is set for shared, not
open.
Regards-Michael G.
Michael Gerbasio
I had the service disabled but it didn't work. Same here with the drivers,
firmware and Access Connections, all latest versions.
Regards-Michael G.
"John" <jo...@5palmer.com> wrote in message
news:747e0cb2.04061...@posting.google.com...
Gerald Vogt
>>Are you sure your AC tray icon shows operating state and not
>>disconnected? Mine does realize that it is not connected and shows the
>>crossed icon and proper disconnected status. That is puzzling me. If
>>yours says it is connected that would be really strange because it
>>should not even get the DHCP address. (OK, maybe you have static IP and
>>now AC does not know how to figure out whether or not it is
>>connected...) The wireless icon (QCWLICON) is green though for the
>>association with the open auth AP.
>
> I'm using static ip. I didn't know that is how AC determines if it is
> connected. All those cute animations would make you think there aren't any
> problems yet I can't even ping the router when it shows it is connected to
> the router.
I don't know how AC determines if it is connected. The problem is the
wireless driver shows a connection once it is associated with the AP (if
you are using open authentication with the AP, this does not happen with
shared authentication). This does not mean though that you are able to
send any data over this association as for data transfer you need WEP
encryption (if you use WEP and 802.11b). If AC is configured to use DHCP
than it is obvious that you do not have a connection if you do not get
an IP address assigned (so here). If you have static IP I don't know
what happens. Again, the problem here is how do you figure out that
there is a working connection if your wireless card is associated and
says "you have a connection" without any further assumptions (like ping
the router/gateway or whatever which all would depend on specific
functions of other devices...) That's not nice but a good way to test
this would be to try it with Windows Zero Configuration: set your static
IP for your network connection, configure it to use open auth (or even
none should do it) and the card should associate with the AP which may
or may not signal Windows to consider connected...
> I have two tasktray icons, one for the network connection which shows I'm
> connected, the other for the wireless which also shows green with an
> excellent signal.
You should have three icons: one for AC (QCTRAY), one for the wireless
connection (QCWLICON) and one for the network connection. (well, OK, you
can turn them on and off...) Each one of them signals something.
> I'm using a Linksys WAP11 with two IBM Centrino PCs, a desktop with an
> Orinoco card, a HP4155 PocketPC all on the WLAN. AP is set for shared, not
> open.
The Centrinos are little troublesome anyway. I ended up upgrading to a
abg card because I did not want to worry about that thing anymore...
Anyway, have you tried disabling the Windows Zero Configuration service
as mentioned in another post in this thread? That seems to solve the
problem for me...
Gerald
Gerald Vogt
> John,
> I had the service disabled but it didn't work. Same here with the drivers,
> firmware and Access Connections, all latest versions.
[Off-Topic first: Michael, try not to full quote the previous post if
you do not comment on anything there in particular if you use buggy
Outlook Express which messes up the layout of the citation and makes it
very hard to read. I quoted intentionally your post at the end of this
one to show you that...]
Disabling the service works for me. Just stopping the service when the
computer is up did not do it. It must be in disabled state so that it
will not start during boot. If you are sure you have that disabled and
it is still not working, I would deinstall AC, let it trash all its
profiles, deinstall the wireless driver. Then reboot.
When Windows is coming up and tries to install the wireless driver, it
should prompt you for the driver disk to install the driver. DO NOT
point to the extracted archives but just abort the dialog and let it
Windows come up without the driver installed (if Windows knows the
driver and installs it automatically it may be necessary to rename the
Windows distribution directory temporarily and deinstall, reboot again...)
When Windows is up use the setup program of the WLAN driver to install
the driver. Reboot. Install AC. Reboot.
Check that WZCSVC is disabled and not running. Configure AC and see if
it is working...
This is the installation I did the last time and which seems to work now
for me. (except I had WZCSVC running which I just disabled today...) I
hope, this helps...
And please, think about you full quotes...
Gerald
---- Intentional full quote follows ------
Michael Gerbasio
I guess the biggest problem I'm having is I can't uninstall the wireless
card driver without restarting and having winxp detect the card and
reinstall it automatically. I tried searching for the files and manually
deleting them but it always comes back. Any ideas?
Regards-Michael G.
Michael Gerbasio
and manually reload the new drivers. Rebooted again, loaded AC and rebooted
once more. Finally, success. Ata least I can use AC to connect to my home
network. Now to try at work and at public AP during the week.
Thanks for all the help. Seems that uninstalling the drivers then rebooting
and manually installing the drivers did the trick for me.
Regards-Michael G.
"Michael Gerbasio" <mwger...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:a_iBc.8647$U.1...@nwrdny02.gnilink.net...
Gerald Vogt
> Nevermind, not sure how I did it but I managed to remove the drivers, reboot
> and manually reload the new drivers. Rebooted again, loaded AC and rebooted
> once more. Finally, success. Ata least I can use AC to connect to my home
> network. Now to try at work and at public AP during the week.
>
> Thanks for all the help. Seems that uninstalling the drivers then rebooting
> and manually installing the drivers did the trick for me.
I suspected something like that. The setup program of for the drivers
probably installs/configures some parts of the driver to work properly
with AC. If you don't use it it won't work. And reinstalling the newest
driver package doesn't do it either probably because the setup program
thinks AC/the driver is already configured for that...
Makes things a lot clearer...
BTW, do you have the Windows Zero Configuration service disabled or is
it running?
Gerald
Michael Gerbasio
> it running?
I have it disabled. On my PC it was always disabled until I was having
problems with the latest driver/AC, then I manually had to enable it. When
I reloaded the drivers and AC this last time, it was disabled by default.
Regards-Michael G.