RM Notebook Value 220 not picking up wireless til we log on

[laugbr80]

This is probably going to be something really simple but can anyone help?

 

We've just built 4 RM Notebook Value 220 laptops the same way we build the RM Notebook Value 210s, the only difference I can see is the wireless is Intel Centrino Advanced-n 6200. When we start up I cant get the laptops onto the network wirelessly, although they connect after you log on to the wireless. They're fine booted with a lan connection. (JMicron PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Adapter)

 

I've tried updating the drivers, updating the NIC DOS driver, changing the automatic metric so the wireless overrides the LAN, tried updating / rolling back the chipset.

None will connect and let our users log on wirelessly, just get the no logon servers available message. I've raised this with RM and they've not offered any advice apart from sending an engineer to replace the wireless cards, I can't see that this would be a hardware issue with all 4.

 

Can anyone tell me anything that could help?

 

Thanks

 

Laura

[difinity]

Was there a utility with the wireless or just the drivers. I've found for reliability issues to just install the drivers of some cards and let Windows manage the wireless settings.

[laugbr80]

I've tried with windows managing and intel proset management, no difference either way!

[difinity]

Have you tried it without the Intel utility installed ?

[laugbr80]

yes, we didn't have the intel utility installed to start with

[laugbr80]

Can anyone offer any advice at all for this? I'm at a bit of a dead end!!

[Hedghog]

You could try making the user members of the local security group "network" and possibly "power user" to see what happens

[sionide]

If I understand you correctly, we've got a similar set up with 12 laptops in a trolley... A wireless AP in the trolley broadcasts a network and if it's plugged into a nearby LAN port - it's a portable wireless extension of our standard wired network.

 

These Dell laptops have Intel wireless too.

 

Setup Intel Wireless for PreLogon

 

Described on the link above is the process I used to tell the PROSet wireless tool to connect the wireless network *before* the user logs in. I think that will solve your problem.

 

(Our set up is XP, but I guess it should work the same on 7!)

Edited January 26, 2012 by sionide

[laugbr80]

We have the wireless set on our Default Domain policy which works with other intel proset wireless - the value book 210 has Intel 5100 agn which uses the PROset wireless, so I'm unsure of that being the issue. We had an engineer our yesterday sent by RM to fix 'the hardware fault', which I couldn't see it being hardware seens as it's happening with all 4 of a specific model that we now own. We have around 60 laptops consisting of various Toshiba and Acer models, and have not experienced this issue before.

[denon101]

If I understand you correctly, we've got a similar set up with 12 laptops in a trolley... A wireless AP in the trolley broadcasts a network and if it's plugged into a nearby LAN port - it's a portable wireless extension of our standard wired network.

 

These Dell laptops have Intel wireless too.

 

Setup Intel Wireless for PreLogon

 

Described on the link above is the process I used to tell the PROSet wireless tool to connect the wireless network *before* the user logs in. I think that will solve your problem.

 

(Our set up is XP, but I guess it should work the same on 7!)

 

It does, I have that set up here. Works both on XP and 7. Pretty much works faultlessly. Unless the kids switch off the wireless via the switch. I mean Dell come on, remove external switches!

[difinity]

All the Dell laptops i've ever seen have the option to ignore the wireless swith in the BIOS or UEFI. It's one of the good features of Dells.

[laugbr80]

This will connect prelogon using the administrator tool, but assigns a 162 range IP, whereas we use 172, which is the range the wireless points also use. This still doesn't allow domain users to logon - gives the no logon servers available error, as it's not yet connecting properly. Thanks for all the input though so far

[andyturpie]

@Lora are you running an RM CC3 network, we are having similar issues with new RM 310 laptops. Seems like the driver stalls on loading from time to time.

[laugbr80]

@Lora are you running an RM CC3 network, we are having similar issues with new RM 310 laptops. Seems like the driver stalls on loading from time to time.

We're running a vanilla network, it's stalling every time if that's the case with us

[denon101]

All the Dell laptops i've ever seen have the option to ignore the wireless swith in the BIOS or UEFI. It's one of the good features of Dells.

 

Never knew that, just looked and low and behold there is an option to ignore the wireless switch!!

 

Thanks

 

Lora

 

Have you got the option in your GPO set so that the laptop will wait until network is ready? As we had similar problems but once we enabled that option they went away. The only thing is booting to the logon box will take longer and you will have to let your users know this.

Edited January 27, 2012 by denon101

[laugbr80]

This will connect prelogon using the administrator tool, but assigns a 162 range IP, whereas we use 172, which is the range the wireless points also use. This still doesn't allow domain users to logon - gives the no logon servers available error, as it's not yet connecting properly.

Okay - update - I've just noticed the wireless light flashes orange before the bios screen, then doesn't come on again until it's after the logon when it flashes green. there's no settings I can see in the bios to do with the wireless, it's a very limited bios.

[laugbr80]

Lora

 

Have you got the option in your GPO set so that the laptop will wait until network is ready? As we had similar problems but once we enabled that option they went away. The only thing is booting to the logon box will take longer and you will have to let your users know this.

 

Yes we do...

[laugbr80]

RM are referring this to the next line support.

Does anyone have any laptops with Centrino Advanced-N 6200 that are ok on their network?

[denon101]

Well..............

 

We have 6 Samsung 400B's that use that card. We have a ruckus wireless managed soloution. We had an issue with those cards that using WPA2 and AES they would connect but there was little or no data throughput. We changed it to TKIP and everything works. There was a page about it on the Intel site. I will see if I can find it. But that is not really the issue you have.

 

Have you downloaded the latest drivers from RM or even Intel?

[laugbr80]

Yes we have the latest drivers from Intel, I requested drivers from RM and they sent out a man with a new motherboard, although I did get him to flash the BIOS while he was here. Does your wireless light come on when windows gets to the logon screen or only after the user is logged on like ours do?

 

Thanks

 

Laura

[psydii]

What APs do you have. Is their firmware up to date?

Have you tried enabling the High Performance power profile in windows?

What channel are they on?

Have you ried a completely clean install of W7 with just the drivers? Have you tried the factory installed image?

What do you see if you enable WLAN logging (Using the Windows 7 Event log to check WLAN Link Quality « Anything about IT)

[laugbr80]

What APs do you have. Is their firmware up to date? We use D-Link DWL-2200, and I don't think this is going to be the issue as there's no problem getting connected once we're logged on and the wireless decides to take some power and turn itself on.

Have you tried enabling the High Performance power profile in windows? Yes

What channel are they on? we alternate 1, 6 and 11 in adjacent locations

Have you ried a completely clean install of W7 with just the drivers? yes

Have you tried the factory installed image? yes, this was the first instance

What do you see if you enable WLAN logging...I'll check now

[samba_man]

Did you get anywhere with this?

We bought 20 odd RM Value 220's and we're having exactly the same problem. We're running CC4 on XP clients.

[Jamo]

This will connect prelogon using the administrator tool, but assigns a 162 range IP, whereas we use 172, which is the range the wireless points also use. This still doesn't allow domain users to logon - gives the no logon servers available error, as it's not yet connecting properly.

Okay - update - I've just noticed the wireless light flashes orange before the bios screen, then doesn't come on again until it's after the logon when it flashes green. there's no settings I can see in the bios to do with the wireless, it's a very limited bios.

 

A 162 IP is a link local address meaning that DHCP isn't getting a chance to run. Usually this is because of a buggy driver and it requires the DHCP media sense to be turned off. This however leads to a 60 second wait on startup as the machine can no longer tell when the wireless connection is fully connected.

 

We have a couple of laptops like this its a right pain!! Updating to W7 has sorted those laptops though.

 

The key is:

 

From the website : How to disable the Media Sensing feature for TCP/IP in Windows

 

1. Start Registry Editor.
   
2. Locate the following registry subkey:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters
    
    
   
3. Add the following registry entry to theParameters
   subkey:Name: DisableDHCPMediaSense
   Data type: REG_DWORD (Boolean)
   Value: 1
   Note This entry controls the behavior of Media Sensing. By default, Media Sensing events trigger a DHCP client to take an action. For example, when a connect event occurs, the client tries to obtain a lease. When a disconnect event occurs, the client may invalidate the interface and routes. If you set this value data to 1, DHCP clients and non-DHCP clients ignore Media Sensing events.
   
4. Restart the computer.