[PLUG] The ThinkPad 600E Wireless Saga -- Sorta' Resolved

Michael Ewan mhewan1 at comcast.net
Mon Oct 22 01:58:53 UTC 2007


Rich Shepard wrote:
>    I know that folks have been waiting breathlessly for the next episode to
> learn whether Lassie is able to drag Tommy out of the raging floodwaters
> along the curb by grabbing his ear. So, without further ado, or ads from our
> sponsors, here's tonight's episode ...
>
>    Recently I bought a LinkSys WRT54GC mini-router. It accommodates wireless
> and four wired connections to the 'Net. This evening I took it out and
> plugged in the cat5 cable from our firewall/router to one of the ethernet
> (not Internet) ports. Now, wireless connection from the ThinkPad works! And,
> from the den in the back of the house, too.
>
>    So, something must have gone bad with the LinkSys WAP that had been
> working just fine until I changed distributions on the ThinkPad. I don't
> know how to troubleshoot that unit, or if it's worth the effort. Perhaps the
> most parsimonious solution is to buy another WRT54GC and use it locally.
> Apparently I don't even need the additional, external antenna on it.
>
>    Might be a coincidence that the hardware failed at the time of the
> software upgrade, but that's apparently what happened.
>
>    Thanks to everyone (Kurt, Russell, Keith, Bill) for ideas and direct help.
>
> Rich
>
>   
Have you updated the firmware in your old Linksys recently.  At one 
point, my Linksys BEFW1154 stopped getting an address from the cable 
company, just would not do it. I figured the cable company did something 
bad so I called them, went through the trouble shooting steps of 
connecting a PC directly to the cable modem.  Guess what that got an 
address, the guy on the phone said to update the firmware on the 
Linksys.  Sure enough, that fixed it.  I really hate it when the cable 
company is right.

The radio on the BEFW1154 finally wore out, got weaker and weaker to the 
point I couldn't go out on the deck to work.  Bought a new WRT54G and 
life is good.  Still have the old guy as the firewall with the radio 
turned off.





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