A colleague just got a factory refurbished T42 in which the reseller replaced the Intel 2100b mini PCI card with an Intel 2915abg card. It works properly except Fn+F5 doesn't recognize the card and thus won't power it on and off.
Tried downloading and installing the Intel 2915abg drivers from Lenovo, but no change, and no sign of the Intel PRO/Wireless Manager.
Next step would seem to be the generic Intel drivers from the Intel site, but first checking to see if anyone knows how to get Fn+F5 working without doing that.
Check the BIOS for any feature that looks like "power control" or "battery save".
Check the properties for the 2915abg and see if Power Management is enabled. There are a large number of possible settings in Proset under "Appliation Settings" that might be the culprit. You have to check the box "Include Applications Settings in this package" to make them appear.
If using Proset 10.x, check the "power save polling" feature. This has some weirdness associated with it. See:
This is not the same problem, but the settings locations are detailed.
Is there a Bluegoof adapter installed in the same machine? I've seen some interaction between the BT and WiFi drivers fighting for power control. I don't think they both use Fn-F5 for on/off, but it's worth checking.
Have you downloaded all the megabloats of updates from IBM using the Thinkvantage software update tools? I think it will detect the
2915abg and download whatever Lenovo considers the latest.
Are you sure it's a real 2915abg and not a counterfeit? I haven't seen this with Intel wireless yet, but certainly have with other cards I've purchased cheap on eBay. Try the ID tool at:
and see if it properly identifies the card. It probably will, but it's worth a try.
On Tue, 12 Dec 2006 09:34:15 -0800, Jeff Liebermann wrote in :
Sure, but to be clear, the basic problem is just that the Wi-Fi card can't be powered on/off with Fn+F5 because the ThinkPad software can't find a supported card/driver. Otherwise the card works fine. Another problem is that I don't have ready access to the machine.
I'm pretty sure that (a) all BIOS settings are at defaults and (b) none of them have any effect on this particular issue, but I'll nonetheless check when I get a chance.
I don't think any of these settings have any bearing on this particular issue, but I'll nonetheless check when I get a chance.
Again, I don't think any of these settings have any bearing on this particular issue, but I'll nonetheless check when I get a chance.
No Bluegoof.
Yep.
It should, but I've already downloaded and installed the appropriate driver manually.
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