From: "Carl Gehr" Received: from [192.168.100.201] (account carl.gehr@mcgcg.com HELO localhost) by 2rosenthals.com (CommuniGate Pro SMTP 5.1.16) with ESMTPA id 2473293 for ecs-t6x@2rosenthals.com; Fri, 15 May 2009 16:40:01 -0400 To: "TPad T60/T61 Issues w/eCS MailList" Date: Fri, 15 May 2009 16:39:46 -0400 (EDT) Reply-To: "Carl Gehr" Priority: Normal X-Mailer: PMMail 2.20.2382 for OS/2 Warp 4.5 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: T60: Disconnect between xWLan and Router/AP Message-ID: Pardon the long post, but I'm trying to provide all I know to minimize the need for follow up questions. I have been experiencing an on-going problem for several months where the connection between my TPad T60, eCS 2.0 RC2 + updates, Widget xWLan,... and my Linksys AP unexpectedly just drops. The exact problem has several manifestations: * The LED indicator that the radio is ON will begin blinking, usually starting with a slow blink, gradually increasing until the widget eventually shows that it is no longer connected, but "Searching for a connection with the current profile." At this point, I can often move the 'radio switch' under the lower-left of the KB OFF/ON and the connection will be re-established. * OTOH, if I miss the blinking and it goes on too long, the blinking stops; the LED light is OFF; the 'Searching...' continues, but there is no way to get the connection back without a re-boot. The physical switch OFF/ON does nothing. * Sometimes, though, rather than blinking, the LED light is on solid; the xWLan is 'Searching...'; but again, the physical switch does nothing; and a re-boot is required to recover the connection. In the first case, where a recovery is possible, the system will just continue to run as usual. In the latter two cases, most of the time the system will continue to do anything except a function that requires the network connection. Less often, with the latter two cases, eCenter may become inoperative [e.g., the CPU Pulse stops working] and attempts to use eCenter to open a new application from a drawer, to restore focus to a window or just to re-boot, may end up locking the whole system. The only 'recovery' in this case is to Power OFF/ON the whole system. Five other pertinent points: * When the connection is lost, looking at the lights on the front of the Router/AP, shows the 'Wireless' light as ON. This says to me that the AP is active. Also, this AP is cable connected to my primary router that actually has the connection to the Internet. PINGs from a PC that is directly connected to that primary router gets responses from the WiFi Router/AP. Recycling the power on the AP does not help with this problem. * If I move the TPad to a docking station that has a wired connection to the primary router, I can switch to the wired connection and continue operating. BUT, an attempt to switch back to the Wireless link does not see the AP. * Thinking the above was a hardware problem, and since the TPad is still under warranty, the WiFi card and the system board have both been replaced. No change in behavior with the new hardware. * I have also booted to a USB Flash install of Linux. While that system also experiences the 'flashing LED' for the WiFi radio, I have never experienced a case of the connection completely dropping such that it requires a re-boot to get back on-line. * I have used this TPad at other locations that have WiFi APs. I have seen the same eCS behavior - flashing LED and lost connections - at those sites also. I can only conclude, therefore, that it is something with: a) eCS or one of its components. b) xWLan losing its way and not being able to see the AP. The questions are: 1) Why is this happening? 2) Is there some documentation that I can provide to a network guru that will help answer #1? I obviously have no clue! -- TIA, Carl