Question for all those T40 owners... Re: Wireless

[GizmoFreak]

Has anyone had problems with the T40 and wireless reception?

I've got the full Centrino platform with Intel wireless.

I'm able to connect to my WLAN fine but the connection keeps dropping. The signal is strong but after a minute or two, it consistently drops and tries to reconnect. This is not a problem at all with another laptop so I know it is not my wireless router.

Is it the Intel wireless card? I've read the reception was poor but should it drop the connection altogether so frequently? Or is it the software? XP / drivers / Thinkpad software perhaps?

Has anyone experienced this problem? It is a major major annoyance.

 

[Pennstate]

play with the various transmit power settings under the device manager. any chance you wl router is the dlink 614+?

 

[GizmoFreak]

It's a linksys wireless router

 

[Viper0329]

I have a T40. It and my D-Link 614+ have had a nightmare trying to make it all work. I either settle for BSODs or dropping connection.

 

[NeoMadHatter]

Originally posted by: Viper0329
I have a T40. It and my D-Link 614+ have had a nightmare trying to make it all work. I either settle for BSODs or dropping connection.

i don't get dropped connections on my laptop with the full centrino. it's not a T40, but no drops.

 

[Bloodstein]

hey, i recently ordered my full centrino T40. Can someone pls reassure me that the wireless is not of inferior quality...

 

[Pennstate]

Under the Intel wireless 2100 device in device manager, increase "power management" under advance tab. Set it to higest. Somehow, Dlink 614+ doesn't handle powersave transmit mode very well. My Speedstream ss2624 has no problems with powersave mode whatsoever. BTW, it's onsale at OD for $35 shipped. It has a print server too.

 

[NeoMadHatter]

Originally posted by: Pennstate
Under the Intel wireless 2100 device in device manager, increase "power management" under advance tab. Set it to higest. Somehow, Dlink 614+ doesn't handle powersave transmit mode very well. My Speedstream ss2624 has no problems with powersave mode whatsoever. BTW, it's onsale at OD for $35 shipped. It has a print server too.

i think doing that will lower your battery life when you're going around mobile. at least it seems like it should.

 

[Bloodstein]

So, getting it straight, is it a prob with the T40 or the router?

 

[UltraWide]

disable the "wireless zero configuration" service in services under administrative tools and use the provided intel applet to setup your Wireless info.

 

[GizmoFreak]

Originally posted by: UltraWide
disable the "wireless zero configuration" service in services under administrative tools and use the provided intel applet to setup your Wireless info.

Hmm, I'll give that a try. Thanks.

I was thinking that maybe it had to do with Access Thinkpad software and its wireless network utility.

 

[thelittleprincess]

so does anyone have the t40 and netgear router? i have nada yet....but i've been researching on what i might buy. netgear was "editor's choice" on one interent review - and it's going for about $84-119. just wondering if anyone owns these two and are having problems since others are experiencing difficulty with their router. thanks.

 

[Pennstate]

Go to officedepot.com, search for speedstream. They have the ss2624 model w/ print server for $49. There's a $15 off $50 coupon floating around. $35 delivered net.

 

[babisjhu]

I recently bought a T40 (centrino, 1.5ghz) and I have two wireless connections, at home and at college.

My home setup uses a wireless linksys router. It took me a while to figure out, as it turns out I have to assign a dummy ip address and specify the dns servers and it wouldn't work by obtaining an ip address automatically.

My college setup was a breeze, however to have both setups working I had to use the IBM utility (IBM Access Connections) and mention that my home setup needed to have an ip assigned (and dns servers specified) whereas the college setup didn't require one

Well, its only been a couple of days and I must say, both connections work great. I turn on my computer at home and it automatically logs me into my home network, then i go onto college and I have internet access at the library. (finally i don't have to go all the way back to my apt to use my files and have net access)

My home network is a cable connection and at school i think we have a t3 connection. Regardless at both places I get well over 1000 Kbps (using the cnet speed test)

The funniest thing I found out when I first got my T40 (and my first experience with wireless) is that so many wireless connections existed in my building and most of them weren't encrypted!!! (in other words, don't forget to tweak your security settings on your router)

Having already said that, the reception on my system isn't as great when compared to external cards. (mainly because the systems with external cards can pickup a signal at areas where my system couldn't. Clearly, the problem exists on my campus, and I just think it's a matter of the school getting more access points or something and everything will work out! Obvioulsy, the above problem doesn't exist in my home network.

Anyhow, I just wanted to share my experiences with wireless connectivity via a T40 centrino system using a linksys wireless router and the access points at college.

 

[NeoMadHatter]

Originally posted by: NeoMadHatter

Originally posted by: Pennstate
Under the Intel wireless 2100 device in device manager, increase "power management" under advance tab. Set it to higest. Somehow, Dlink 614+ doesn't handle powersave transmit mode very well. My Speedstream ss2624 has no problems with powersave mode whatsoever. BTW, it's onsale at OD for $35 shipped. It has a print server too.

i think doing that will lower your battery life when you're going around mobile. at least it seems like it should.

yea i think this does lower the battery life of your laptop if you keep it on highest performance when you're on the go. at least that's what it says when you change that. where does it say that the Dlink has problems with powersave transmit mode?

 

[GizmoFreak]

I feel like the Windows XP wireless software is conflicting with IBM's own wireless software.... I turned one of them off and now things seem to be fine...

 

[NeoMadHatter]

i'd still like to know where it says that the Dlink has problems with powersave transmit mode?