Win7 64bit Ultimate - switching between wireless & copper

[bob4432]

i have just changed os on my lenovo t400 from xp to win7 64bit ultimate. for some unknown reason, when i turn off wireless and plug in a network cable, the router hands out the correct lan ip based on the mac address and i can access the internet fine, but for some reason, my network shares are lost and i can't get back into them for quite sometime, possibly even needing a reboot.

fwiw, everything is up-to-date including the network drivers for the laptop.

any light shed on this would be great.

 

[Nothinman]

Have you tried without disabling the wireless? Even with wireless up and connected Windows will give the wired connection priority since it's faster.

 

[JackMDS]

Priority can be set with configuration of the NIC's Metrics.

http://www.ezlan.net/metrics.html

 

[Nothinman]

Priority can be set with configuration of the NIC's Metrics.

http://www.ezlan.net/metrics.html

Which is unnecessary because Windows does that for you with regards to wifi vs wired.

 

[JackMDS]

There is more scenarios of need to Prioritize than just "Speed".

 

[bob4432]

thx, will give it a try. in the link they say use 10 and 20, any reason not to use say 1 & 10? also in win7 there is TCP/IPv6 & 4 and then there is the wired port, the 5100 AGN wireless adapter and then a MS Virtual Wifi Miniport Adapter - it shows a connection like the wireless card but is listed as wireless network connection 2...

do i set the bot the tcp/ip values to the same on the same adapter or will that result in a conflict and should i set them just 1 number off?

 

[corkyg]

I have my T60 setup to use either CAT5 or wireless. If I decide to go wireless, I disconnect the CAT5 and turn on the Wi-Fi main switch, and then the Fn-F5 combo wi-fi switch to ON.

When running hard cable, I turn off the wireless external switch on the front edge. If the T400 lacks these features, I don't think I'll upgrade in the near future.

 

[Nothinman]

I have my T60 setup to use either CAT5 or wireless. If I decide to go wireless, I disconnect the CAT5 and turn on the Wi-Fi main switch, and then the Fn-F5 combo wi-fi switch to ON.

When running hard cable, I turn off the wireless external switch on the front edge. If the T400 lacks these features, I don't think I'll upgrade in the near future.

It's not even that complicated, just plugin the cable and Windows will automatically start routing traffic out that interface instead of the wireless. Unplug it and Windows will use the wifi again.

 

[bob4432]

I have my T60 setup to use either CAT5 or wireless. If I decide to go wireless, I disconnect the CAT5 and turn on the Wi-Fi main switch, and then the Fn-F5 combo wi-fi switch to ON.

When running hard cable, I turn off the wireless external switch on the front edge. If the T400 lacks these features, I don't think I'll upgrade in the near future.

i think it is something i am possibly doing wrong being a win7 newb because i d/l the lenovo app for the hot keys and it still works the same way as it did in xp, but just for some reason my network shares don't show back up - but wireless/copper does work for internet fine - it seems to be a network shares issue only. again, this could be 100% my fault w/ win7 as the fn+f5 key still does turn on/off the wireless.

that being said, i went from a t42 which my wife still uses and it, to me, was built much better - the machine just feels more stout compared to the t400 - the t400 feels a bit more plastic, it could be due to the weight since it has the larger batter and larger screen but just wanted to give you a heads up comparing the older t's versus the newer one on my very small sample. that being said the t400s are nicely priced and you get a lot of computer for the money, i just feel the t42 was built better from a structural standpoint - seems more rigid and in your hand when moving it around the t42 never felt like it flexed where the t400 does a bit. performance wise the t400 runs better w/ the better hardware though.

i will post after i have used the metrics setting for a while and see if that helps the situation.

 

[bob4432]

It's not even that complicated, just plugin the cable and Windows will automatically start routing traffic out that interface instead of the wireless. Unplug it and Windows will use the wifi again.

ususally when i am on a network cable i will turn off the wireless to save on battery power

 

[bob4432]

well, fwiw, i did change the numbers and after unplugging and turning off the wireless and removing the wired and turning the wirelss back on many times, it is nearly seemless now. possibly it is just the way things are acting today, but the transition is working very, very good.

edit: also, i am basing this off of the internal lan, not wan which didn't have the issues. not sure why but that was my experience.

thx

 

[Nothinman]

ususally when i am on a network cable i will turn off the wireless to save on battery power

I've never even paid attention to that. Just plug/unplugged Ethernet as necessary and everything's "just worked".

 

[corkyg]

It's not even that complicated, just plugin the cable and Windows will automatically start routing traffic out that interface instead of the wireless. Unplug it and Windows will use the wifi again.

Not quite that simple. Connecting to my protected wireless network requires a password. I also failed to mention that my normal wireless connection is not via Wi-Fi, but via a Sierra C777 air card, and the connection manager software specifically states not to have more than one wireless network open at a time. It does create conflicts.

Sorry for omitting the details. Two wireless choices and one wired choice. The wired is faster and more secure.

 

[Nothinman]

Not quite that simple. Connecting to my protected wireless network requires a password. I also failed to mention that my normal wireless connection is not via Wi-Fi, but via a Sierra C777 air card, and the connection manager software specifically states not to have more than one wireless network open at a time. It does create conflicts.

Sorry for omitting the details. Two wireless choices and one wired choice. The wired is faster and more secure.

Yea, air cards are different but for normal wifi it "just works", IME.

 

[bob4432]

ok, problem seems to be back again, but now not only when i switch between wired/wireless, but even when the notebook goes into sleep mode either from me shutting the lid or by the power mang timer (the windows one). wan still works fine either way, just lan, am losing all my shares again....need a reboot to get them back.

any additional help would be greatly appreciated...

 

[JackMDS]

Get the Network Cards out of the Power Saving Loop.

 

[stlcardinals]

You could also install Lenovo's Access Connections. It will allow you to setup profiles to do automatic switching of wired and wireless profiles. Automatically shutting off your wireless when plugged in on the LAN, etc...

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/MIGR-73682.html

 

[Modelworks]

I have wdtv live media player that loses shares if I change networking in win7. I thought it was the wdtv live at first because it had win7 sharing issues with older firmware but I found a reboot of the windows pc always brought the shares back without changing anything on the wdtv player.

I found this to work without rebooting the pc:
Open a command prompt.
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /flushdns
ipconfig /renew

 

[bob4432]

You could also install Lenovo's Access Connections. It will allow you to setup profiles to do automatic switching of wired and wireless profiles. Automatically shutting off your wireless when plugged in on the LAN, etc...

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/MIGR-73682.html

will give this a try

 

[bob4432]

I have wdtv live media player that loses shares if I change networking in win7. I thought it was the wdtv live at first because it had win7 sharing issues with older firmware but I found a reboot of the windows pc always brought the shares back without changing anything on the wdtv player.

I found this to work without rebooting the pc:
Open a command prompt.
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /flushdns
ipconfig /renew

w/ those command can i make a little batch file or does it take time beteen the ops? if so is the time constant and can you add time to a batch file - can't remember....

 

[Modelworks]

w/ those command can i make a little batch file or does it take time beteen the ops? if so is the time constant and can you add time to a batch file - can't remember....

You can put them one command on each line and save it as a .bat file, double click and it will run through them.

 

[bob4432]

You can put them one command on each line and save it as a .bat file, double click and it will run through them.

will give it a try, thanks

 

[bob4432]

ok, now a more "interesting" issue - when the laptop goes to standby/hibernate/sleep, when it comes back on, it always tries to connect via wired, even if i haven't had it connected via wired since the last boot. it will not find the network, it just sits there trying to connect wired.

at this point, the laptop will not find a connection. this is fine for me, but it gets old when the wife uses this laptop...

anybody have any idea as to why this will not find a connection? is there a timeout period i can put in somewhere that if no network access or ip address for say 15sec, it tries another wireless adapter?

 

[Emulex]

that lenovo junk - thinkvantage has overtaken your machine. this. here. is why i do not like lenovo any more.

if you can - re-install without any of that thinkvantage junk. i mean seriously there were about 30+ apps on a new out of the box lenovo. insanity.

wait till you find the driver that turns down the wifi power setting on the intel when you unplug the battery - cept it doesn't let you override that

 

[bob4432]

this is a fresh install of win7, the only lenovo stuff is the osd stuff, and the special function keys. windows is handling everything else.