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Wifi problem Win 98SE Thinkpad 560

I've got a Thinkpad 560 running Win98SE with all current updates. It connects to the Net fine via dialup and Ethernet through a Xircom PCMCIA card, so it appears that the protocol stack is OK. But I've tried two very different wifi adaptors, an Orinoco PCMCIA card and a Netgear USB dongle, and neither of them will work. They both indicate a good radio connection with my access point, and my other laptop (a TP 600) works fine with that AP, so there appears to be no problem there. But neither of these adaptors appears when I run winipcfg. They aren't connecting into the stack.

I've verified all the Control Panel network settings and removed all unused protocols. I removed the Xircom card and rebooted, so I don't think there's a conflict with it. I shut down my firewall. I ran winsockfix, just in case.

I've googled a lot but don't find any discussion of this situation. Any suggestions?

The Thinkpad is second hand, used originally in a corporate setting. Perhaps their admins disabled something inside? Any idea what to look for?

Reply to
BBB
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Forget the computer for a moment, and check the AP... Sometimes they put in the mac addresses of what is allowed, and your's aren't on the list.

Reply to
Peter Pan

other

situation. Any

setting.

In your protocol stack do you have (along with tcpip) "WLAN Transport"? When you installed the cards did it ask for your win98SE CD?

Reply to
Airhead

Thanks for the two suggestions I've received so far concerning my problem in getting a wireless connection to work with my Thinkpad 560 (as described below).

Airhead suggested: In your protocol stack do you have (along with tcpip) "WLAN Transport"? When you installed the cards did it ask for your win98SE CD?

Reponse: Where should I be looking for "WLAN Transport"? Nothing like this shows up anywhere in the Control Panel / Network area, either on the 560 or on my other laptop (TP 600), which is presently working fine with the Orinoco card that won't work in the 560. Yes, as I recall the installation process did ask for the Win98SE CD. Then it found the required files when I pointed it at the right folders on the hard drive.

Peter Pan suggested: Forget the computer for a moment, and check the AP... Sometimes they put in the mac addresses of what is allowed, and your's aren't on the list.

Response: It's my AP, so there isn't any "they" involved! I did a hardware reset of the AP before starting this, restoring it to default values. It's working fine with the TP 600. Not mentioned in my original post was the fact that I also had identical problems on a different AP.

Keep the ideas coming! Thanks.

My original post:

Reply to
BBB

Okay, so much for that idea...just seemed like an easy thing to check and would fit the problems you described... A question.. When you switch cards, do you change the software too?

Okay, another question.. Do you have any easy way to back up your system? (example, I have Ghost and a DVD burner, just backup the laptop to DVD so I can play and not kill it) If so, then you may want to do an emergency restore of a fresh system and try it with absolutely nothing else installed.

(LAST RESORT- > Peter Pan suggested: Forget the computer for a moment, and check the

Reply to
Peter Pan

Just remember, that is an absolute last resort... I don't usually recommend it, I just have the stuff at work to make a backup before I do it, and unfortunately I usually get em to fix after people REALLY screw it up trying to fix it. I have just seen a few that either a) will not work without re-installing, or b) will not work at all/even after reinstalling - something in the way that revision of the system was designed/made (that why I mention some work some don't of the exact same models)

I'm not sure since I'm not at work and don't have my notes (on vacation in Vegas, time to play online, but no work stuff), but many models of systems have upgrades to win xp... If you have been thinking about doing it, may be an option if you are gonna reinstall anyway. It will replace pretty much everything, and it's probably a good thing to get rid of Win98 (not all stuff works with win98se... look for a compatible with line in the ad or documentation.. some will say something like Compatible with Win98SE/ME/2000/XP" and others will say Compatible with "Windows ME/2000/XP"... no Win98se...

Whatever you do, good luck!

BBB wrote:

Reply to
Peter Pan

Right now I've deinstalled the Orinoco card and still have the USB dongle installed. I've got GoBack on the computer, so I can generally pull myself out of any kind of problem if I recognize it soon enough, unless the amount of file activity has overwhelmed its storage.

I'm going to inventory the dll's on the good and the bad machine ot see whether anything that looks critical might be missing, but I would expect the computer itself to tell me if it couldn't find anything.

Last resort is to reinstall Windows. I've never done that before, but all I hear say that laptop are never quite the same afterwards.

Peter Pan wrote:

Reply to
BBB

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