Wi-Fi issues on my IBM R40

Intel Pentium 4-M 1.9
DDR SDRAM 266 MHz / PC2100 - 266 MHz - Installed 128MB (max 1GB)
AGP 4x - ATI Mobility Radeon - 16 MB DDR SDRAM
HDD 20GB
Audio AC '97, Sound Blaster Pro

...this thing is really struggling even with Windows XP, just constantly swapping to the hard drive... honestly, maybe the user upgraded the RAM after all (fingers crossed).

The machine is running Windows XP SP3 with all drivers fully installed. If you check the Device Manager, the Wi-Fi card shows up correctly with no yellow warning icons. However, the Wi-Fi icon in the system tray has a red 'X' through it. Ethernet works perfectly fine, but the wireless connection isn't kicking in. For reference, the card is an Atheros ar5001x.

Windows XP runs perfectly fine with just 1 GB of RAM, especially if you're only using it for YouTube and catching up on the news. Haha

..man, I just gotta remind myself what the Windows XP "network connection" screen actually looked like... you know, where if the LAN and Wi-Fi icons both show up, you can try right-clicking the Wi-Fi one and hitting "enable" ...

Both my LAN and Wi-Fi connections are enabled, yet I am facing a persistent issue. Despite everything being active, pressing the Fn-Fnešto key combination on my keyboard does absolutely nothing to trigger the Wi-Fi. Why should the hardware simply refuse to respond when the software shows everything is ready?

If you can find a driver for the keyboard, I'd say go ahead and install it...

I gave that a shot too, but it didn't change a thing.

Did you end up installing the chipset driver?

I just finished the installation, and yet nothing has changed

Why not give all those drivers listed under "keyboard & mouse drivers" a shot? There should be two or three of them available. Just a quick heads-up on the proper order of operations: when you're running through the installation process, you really ought to install the chipset driver first. Once that's settled, you can move on to everything else—audio, Wi-Fi, LAN, and so on.

It’s running Windows XP SP3

I find it hard to believe that the installation order makes any difference here. When I set up the OS last time, everything went perfectly smoothly without a single hiccup. Still, you might have a point. I'll give it a shot and see what happens.

Kids these days are just spinning their wheels trying to mess with drivers, different Windows versions, WPA, and all that nonsense—it’s a total waste of time. But look, Alex Johnson4 actually laid out a real way through this. Here’s the deal: the IBM Power Management tool lets you toggle the actual radio receiver using those Fn keys, rather than just disabling the whole thing in the Device Manager. It's entirely possible someone disabled the Wi-Fi radio before the OS was even finished installing, and now they're stuck. They won't be able to get it back online until they install that Power Management app and manually hit enable—or, better yet, just get the hotkey driver running and hit Fn-Fnešto.

"...It’s also totally possible that someone disabled the wifi radio before the OS was even wiped, and now they can't toggle it back on until they get that Power Management app installed and manually click enable there..."

So, I dropped the link for the specific drivers needed for that IBM machine, but the guy tried them and still nothing.
Even if someone turned it off previously, it shouldn't matter now because he wiped the drive and did a clean install of the OS—meaning those old settings in the app are long gone.

ps: thanks for the "kid" comment... I'm only 60. 😛

Here are two more paths you could take. First, there’s the BIOS route; I've attached a video walkthrough below to clarify things:



The second option involves the Power Management driver. Check out the video below—it shows Windows 7, but the settings are identical:

After installing everything you guys suggested along with every possible driver, the Wi-Fi window finally popped up showing available networks. But here’s the problem: when I select my network and enter the password, it just sits there with that standard "Please wait while Windows connects to the ADSL" message, and then... nothing. It fails to connect, and the icon still shows a red X. To make matters worse, a prompt appeared saying: "During installation, you chose to not use Microsoft wireless configuration manager to control your network card. However, it is currently enabled for this device. Do you want to disable it? Yes or No?"

quiettiger9 said:After installing everything you guys suggested along with every possible driver, the Wi-Fi window finally popped up showing available networks. But here’s the problem: when I select my network and enter the password, it just sits there with that standard "Please wait while Windows connects to the ADSL" message, and then... nothing. It fails to connect, and the icon still shows a red X. To make matters worse, a prompt appeared saying: "During installation, you chose to not use Microsoft wireless configuration manager to control your network card. However, it is currently enabled for this device. Do you want to disable it? Yes or No?"

Well, you essentially told Windows to take over the Wi-Fi management instead of letting the Lenovo software handle it. When it asks, "Do you want to disable it? Yes or no," the answer is YES. Also, check your BIOS. Is the Fn key option enabled on your keyboard? (Check that first video)

After I selected "yes," my wireless networks completely vanished. They aren't appearing in the options anymore. When I check the BIOS, the only thing listed is the Fn key lock option, which is currently disabled. Furthermore, when I attempt to toggle the Wi-Fi using the Fn+F5 shortcut, I am met with this error: "unable to change power state of 802.11 wireless radio. Update drivers of network adapter."

quiettiger9 said:After I selected "yes," my wireless networks completely vanished. They aren't appearing in the options anymore. When I check the BIOS, the only thing listed is the Fn key lock option, which is currently disabled. Furthermore, when I attempt to toggle the Wi-Fi using the Fn+F5 shortcut, I am met with this error: "unable to change power state of 802.11 wireless radio. Update drivers of network adapter."

Alright, head over to the
Device Manager
. https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-open...anager-2626075

Under the network adapters section, look for the Atheros ar5001x driver. Right-click it and select "Update Driver." You'll have the choice to search the web or locate a specific file or disc containing the driver. There is one small catch: you will need to have the laptop connected to the internet via a LAN cable during the process, unless you happen to have the driver files ready on a disc or USB drive.

The drivers on the card are already the latest versions available. There's no way an update would work, so that definitely isn't the issue here.