kodamakage

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I have a Thinkpad T42/T40 that has been giving me a annoying error.

As far as I know this is not a driver issue as I have made sure that I installed the correct driver for the wi-fi card.

Yet, when I try to do something related to the card in the system, I run into this error. As such example, when I'm in cmd, and attempt to run ipconfig I get the following error:

"Windows IP Configuration

An internal error occurred: A device attached to the system is not functioning. Please contact Microsoft Product Support Services for further help. Additional information: Unknown media status code."

I have installed a fresh copy of win XP and downloaded all the patch files from Microsoft and installed all the drivers from the Think Vantage System update program. I don't have unknown items listed in device manager either.

It also has some problems connecting to some wireless networks that have AES encryption. But if I run the system in linux(Ubuntu) I don't the same errors, leaving me to assume its something windows based.

Does anyone have any idea, or any suggestions on what I could try to fix this? (and yes, I need the windows environment other wise I would be happy to just use Ubuntu.)

-Kage
 

kodamakage

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Sorry, I forgot to post the specs,

-Intel Pentium M 1.7Ghz
-Socket 479 mPGA
-1.5Ghz Ram
-ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 Series
-Intel Pro/1000 MT Mobile Connection
-Intel Pro/Wireless 2200BG Network Connection
-Bios: IBM 1RETDRWW (3.23) 6/18/2007
 

Hailie

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Do you have other network adapters in place that could potentially be interfering? If there's a conflict, it's possible that they'll cancel each other out.

Also it might be worth disabling your NIC and then trying to access the Net again through dialing. Assuming that it loads, you'll know that it's a problem to do with your default dial-up. You ca also try reseting the connection to use the default gateway if this isn't already the case

Sounds to me like your NIC could be having trouble though!
 

kodamakage

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One other thing that I forgot to mention that is important, I am able to connect to some wireless networks, but still am not able to run ipconfig.

If I disable the wireless and plug in a eithernet cable I am able to run ipconfig and do not get any kind of error, so its somehow related to the wireless.

One thing that I will get to test in a day or two, I will be getting a USB wireless adapter, and thus I can take out the wireless card, uninstall the drivers for it, and setup the USB one. I assume then if I get the same kind of error then its a system problem and not a NIC problem.

-Kage
 

kodamakage

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Well thanks for the idea, I was able to do some searching during class. As it turns out, and I dont know how this happened to be, some one suggested that I take a look at the 'Routing and Remote Access' service. I saw that it was disabled, started it, and now my ipconfig problem seems to have gone away.
 

mcoabel

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I have exactly the same unit of Thinkpad as yours, and recently I have ecountered the same problem regarding cmd ipconfig myself with same Windows IP Configuration notice. However, unlike you Im not that technical. Do you mind sharing with me how to enable Routing and Remote Access Service to rid my ipconfig problem? Can't seems to find it in Administrative tools as mentioned in other searches I made. thanks
 

kodamakage

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*mcoabel

As it turns out in my case, this is only a temp solution(I put my computer in standby all the time and I think that might be causing this).

But, as you asked here is how to change the service so that it should work.

First- Locate where you have "My Computer", this should be either on your desktop or in your start menu. After you locate it, right click on it. This will bring up a little menu, of the options click on "manage computer"

Second- When the 'Computer Management' program starts up, look along the left side. There are three main sections:"System Tools", "Storage", and "Services and Applications". If your "Services and Applications" is not expanded, then either click the "+" or double click on it.

Third- Within "Services and Applications" there is a list item called "Services". If you left click on that, there will now be a list of all the services in the right side of the window. If you scroll down to the service named "Routing and Remote Access" you should be able to see that in the 'Startup Type" column it should be listed as "Disabled". This is what we want to change.

Fourth- Right click on the Service, and in the menu select "Properties", this will bring up another window. About midway in this window there is an option for "Startup type", you want to change this to "Manual". Then click "Apply". Doing this should now allow you to click on the "start" button. After you start the service, you should run 'ipconfig' like you have in the past, and it should run like it should(unless this fix somehow doesn't work for you). But you dont want to have to go here every time you want this to work, so change the "Startup type" to "Automatic" and hit 'Apply'. This should make it so this service will start when you start your computer.

As a final note, I have no idea why this should fix it as the service as far as I know, has nothing to do with normal network activities.

I hope my steps are clear, if not I can post image to go along with them. I hope this solves your problem.

 

mcoabel

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Hi Kodamakage,

Thank you for taking the time in sharing with me how to configure Routing and Remote Access in WinXP on my T42, appreciate your help very much. As for my unit, it works fine now. Hopefully its not temporarily though, I'll make some observations, and... the least I can do is to atleast let you know how it worked for me in a couple of days. Have a great weekend ahead of you.

Mcoabel
 

kodamakage

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I hope it works out for you. There is one thing I decided to try for my own. If you follow those instructions to the point of the properties window for that service, there is a tab with options if the service fails, I set it to restart on failure. Time will tell.

 

mcoabel

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Hi, the fixed we have is just shortlived same as yours...I'll do however try your last suggestion. But Im still confuse as to how this came to be. Since a few days prior I never had any of these problems, until I decided to upgrade my old IBM drivers to new ones (all of it), including my Adapters and Access Connection. Could it be that there is stilll some unresolved issues on the latest LAN/Wan adapters or Access Connection thats causing this problem?
 

kodamakage

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Some of the items I have read mentioned that its the new drivers problem. I cant remember where off the top of my head, but I think they mentioned that the drivers sometime after 2005 caused the problem.
 

Igor Delac

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I can confirm that if Routing and Remote Access is disabled on WinXP SP3, ipconfig will fail with error message. Tested on IBM ThinkPad T41, Intel PRO1000 MT network adapter, and Intel PRO2100 802.11b wireless adapter.

To solve problem, I simply had to enter BIOS and disable there network adapter. Then it disappeared from Device Manager and Network Connections, which finally left wireless adapter to function normally.

Googling around, I found that newer Intel drivers cause this weird problem.
 

kodamakage

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I'm glad to hear that I wasn't going crazy at the time, and I appreciate the feedback. At this point of time I ended up putting win7 on the Thinkpads so it is a moot point for me. Thanks again.