Tuesday, July 15, 2008

On Losing Internet (and Insanity) After a Standby

So I've got a Lenovo T60p running Windows XP. Every time I bring the laptop out of standby mode the wireless device stops working. The issue manifests itself in a "No wireless connections available" error reported from the Wireless Network Connection wizard. I'm sure this happens on other platforms, but I've only ever seen it with the Atheros wifi drivers on the Lenovo T60p (Atheros 11a/b/g/n Wireless LAN Mini-PCI Express Adapter).

Anyway, it appears to be a bug in how the driver handles power saving. I think such thoughts because by disabling the power-save mode of the driver, the issue goes away.

So how does one disable power save mode on their wifi driver.

1. Right-click My Network Places, select Properties.
2. Richt click Wireless Network Connection.
3. In the General tab, click on the Configure... button.
4. Select the Advanced tab
5. Choose Power Save Mode from the Property field.
6. Select Off for the Value.

I just upgraded to the Atheros 7.4.2.105 driver, so I'm going to need to test Standby mode again with Power Save Mode set to Maximum.

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