The Outsider Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 Ok, so I've spent hours on this now. Reinstalled Windows XP on IBM ThinkPad T41p today and then installed the drivers etc. Problem is that the Network Connections folder is showing only the Bluetooth Network Connection icon and Device Manager is not showing the wireless or ethernet cards. Both were working fine before the reinstall - had to reinstall XP because of spyware/viruses caught probably from watching too many free streams. So I can't get online from that laptop at all either from the LAN cable or using wireless. I've spent hours on google and found some forums on which people had similar problems but none of those solutions have worked for me. Any help would be greatly appreciated and will be justly rewarded with $ICF :icflove: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rajiv Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 Dont u have the CD with MB drivers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Outsider Posted December 20, 2009 Author Share Posted December 20, 2009 Dont u have the CD with MB drivers? No...couldn't find it. I have installed the drivers from the internet though. The system is not even detecting the two cards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Outsider Posted December 20, 2009 Author Share Posted December 20, 2009 Another thing - if I go to BIOS -> CONFIG -> NETWORK am I supposed to see the devices? Because, I don't see them there. Just have the following options : Wake on LAN Flash Over LAN Internal Network Option ROM Hard drive Direct Memory Access Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ludhianvi Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 I'm not too sure so its just a guess but try installing the network adapter drivers http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-62922 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Outsider Posted December 20, 2009 Author Share Posted December 20, 2009 I'm not too sure so its just a guess but try installing the network adapter drivers http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-62922 Yeah...those are the exact ones I've installed. Installation was successful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rajiv Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 OK, when u download the drivers - .exe, can u extract ( with winrar ) it to a folder, then gto device manager, open up Network adapters and update via that folder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Outsider Posted December 20, 2009 Author Share Posted December 20, 2009 OK' date=' when u download the drivers - .exe, can u extract ( with winrar ) it to a folder, then gto device manager, open up Network adapters and update via that folder[/quote'] All I see under Network Adapters is the Bluetooth Device - it's not pulling up the Wireless or Ethernet card there. Another thing - when I plug in the LAN cable, I do get a green light indicator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rajiv Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 OK, how abt add Hardware > Network adapter and then say have disk and then update Also have u tried Windows Update Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Outsider Posted December 20, 2009 Author Share Posted December 20, 2009 OK, how abt add Hardware > Network adapter and then say have disk and then update Also have u tried Windows Update Can't do a windows update because haven't been able to get online with that machine. Here is a screenshot of the Network Adapter part - just Bluetooth : EDIT : Never mind - the file size is too big to post a screenshot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ludhianvi Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 Try the various networking drivers towards the bottom until one works :P http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/MIGR-46258.html Maybe the previous one wasnt the correct one. Also try creating a new connection and see which error comes up : http://support.microsoft.com/kb/283070 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Outsider Posted December 20, 2009 Author Share Posted December 20, 2009 Anyhow, I've been able to connect using an external wireless card for now - will try to figure out about the internal card and ethernet later. Had too much of this crap for one day :mad: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnterTheVoid Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 For the computer to communicate to the hardware, you need to have the appropriate drivers installed; The easiest way to do this is to download a program called AIDA 32, which will tell you the serial / model number of the Ethernet card / wireless architecture installed on your system; Next step, just google those drivers and install them; Seems to me, yours is a driver problem; Since you re installed windows, you also have to re install all the drivers, particularly for the ethernet card if you want to access onelline Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ViruRulez Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 I had forgot to configure a few times the wireless and those were due to simple mistakes from my sides. Though I am quite sure you might be a lot more knowledgeable in the wireless configuring field, but I can tell you the most frequent mistakes I make after a fresh install. Not sure if they are of any help to you but you might just check. The most frequent mistake I do is that sometimes after a fresh install I do not click the option "Use Windows to configure my wireless network settings" which is required for Windows to configure your wireless network. At first I would like to ask you that do you see the wireless network/card icon when you check network connection. If you do so, then I hope you are also right clicking the wireless network icon and selecting Wireless Network Connection properties. Inside properties, the second tab is "Wireless Networks". Click on that and then click the option named "Use Windows to configure my wireless network settings". Save the settings and then check if the wireless network icon works or if you see networks in "View Available Wireless Networks" If you are able to see your router live on your wireless and yet you are not able to connect then make sure that you have not kept any security key on the router for the connection to go through. I keep a security key on the router so that neighbours or somebody else cannot misuse it by any chance. Unless I put the same security key on the computer's wireless settings too, my connection is not active. Last and another simple thing which creates problem is that sometimes I switch off the wireless from my keyboard (especially when I format my laptops which has got the wireless button on the keyboard too). It happened once that I switched it off and the wireless came up when I switched it on through the keyboard. Hope that helps if you did one of the above mistakes especially the "Use Windows to configure my wireless network settings" one which I used to do quite often when I format some of my computers after a long time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
triam Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 shwetabh go to my computer ->manage->device manager->network adapters, right click on the adapters and see what options you get, let me know what options you have Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Outsider Posted December 21, 2009 Author Share Posted December 21, 2009 ^ Thanks for the replies above - the problem is perhaps at a more basic level. Drivers will help only if my system sees the cards, which is not happening right now. Sri, I tried AIDA and it is not detecting the wireless or ethernet cards - just shows up the bluetooth and the external wireless card, which I got working. I have installed the drivers anyways. triam, under network adapters I don't see the wireless or ethernet cards. I am starting to suspect it might even be a hardware issue, but it would be weird for both cards to conk off at the same time immediately after a reinstall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ViruRulez Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 ^ Thanks for the replies above - the problem is perhaps at a more basic level. Drivers will help only if my system sees the cards, which is not happening right now. Sri, I tried AIDA and it is not detecting the wireless or ethernet cards - just shows up the bluetooth and the external wireless card, which I got working. I have installed the drivers anyways. triam, under network adapters I don't see the wireless or ethernet cards. I am starting to suspect it might even be a hardware issue, but it would be weird for both cards to conk off at the same time immediately after a reinstall. maybe the drivers you had installed were not correctly installed .. not sure but maybe triam would be able to assist better Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnterTheVoid Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 ^ Thanks for the replies above - the problem is perhaps at a more basic level. Drivers will help only if my system sees the cards, which is not happening right now. Sri, I tried AIDA and it is not detecting the wireless or ethernet cards - just shows up the bluetooth and the external wireless card, which I got working. I have installed the drivers anyways. Shwetabh, if the hardware is functoning correctly but the issue is with the driver (eg, incorrectly installed version), than there will be a question mark next to the device under question under device manager (Right click on my computer icon -> Properties -> Device Manager) Since, the computer is not recognizing the hardware at all, I feel the issue is with the hardware itself, in which case, you might need to buy a replacement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Outsider Posted December 21, 2009 Author Share Posted December 21, 2009 http://www.fixya.com/support/t2744922-after_reinstalling_xp_t42_turn_wireless http://forum.lenovo.com/t5/X-Series-ThinkPad-Laptops/X60-no-wireless-adapters-recognized-xp-sp3/m-p/186127 Found some links for the same problem but no real solution. Will try posting on the lenova forum and hope to have some luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maggot_brain Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 Easiest way to check if it's an actual hardware problem is to download an Ubuntu Linux live CD. You can boot and run Ubuntu without making any changes to your laptops hdd. I'd highly recommend you do this it's the very first thing I try if I suspect a hardware problem. If any help is required then PM me. Windows uses ACPI and the BIOS to query for hardware while Linux directly access the PCI bus. If Linux doesn't detect the hardware you could try updating the BIOS and then clearing the CMOS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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