Ethernet cable not working after wireless

Our office environment includes a handful of laptops, IBM Thinkpad
t40p's and Dell systems, running WinXP SP2 with wireless cards in them.
Our office has a full wired network as well as some newly-added
wireless access points.

The laptops work fine when conected via CAT5 and they correctly switch
to wireless when that CAT5 cable is removed.

However, we're finding that they're unable to make the transition BACK
from wireless to wired once that CAT5 cable is re-attached. All network
connectivity freezes up unless you disable and then re-enable the
network connections.

Is there some common mistake I could be making in our configurations
that would be causing this? I would think that these systems should be
able to transition from wire to wireless (and back) seamlessly.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

On Thu, 14 Oct 2004 00:19:40 GMT, Christopher Scott
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Our office environment includes a handful of laptops, IBM Thinkpad
>t40p's and Dell systems, running WinXP SP2 with wireless cards in them.
>Our office has a full wired network as well as some newly-added
>wireless access points.
>
>The laptops work fine when conected via CAT5 and they correctly switch
>to wireless when that CAT5 cable is removed.
>
>However, we're finding that they're unable to make the transition BACK
>from wireless to wired once that CAT5 cable is re-attached. All network
>connectivity freezes up unless you disable and then re-enable the
>network connections.
>
>Is there some common mistake I could be making in our configurations
>that would be causing this? I would think that these systems should be
>able to transition from wire to wireless (and back) seamlessly.
>
>Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Are you going in Network Connections when you switch back from
wireless to wired to enable the wired connection? The machine knows
when a wire is connected or not but has no way to tell if it needs to
stop looking for a wireless server.

Christopher Scott <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
news:131020042019406394%chrisjscott@NOSPAMmindspri ng.com:

> Is there some common mistake I could be making in our configurations
> that would be causing this? I would think that these systems should be
> able to transition from wire to wireless (and back) seamlessly.

They should be able to, I've never used Dell's wireless setup, so maybe
they have some dumb software that is making things not work.

The only exception to that would be if you are still within Wireless range
and you plug a cable in. The computer may not transition properly then, as
it would still think the wireless was active.

Christopher Scott wrote:
> Our office environment includes a handful of laptops, IBM Thinkpad
> t40p's and Dell systems, running WinXP SP2 with wireless cards in them.
> Our office has a full wired network as well as some newly-added
> wireless access points.
>
> The laptops work fine when conected via CAT5 and they correctly switch
> to wireless when that CAT5 cable is removed.
>
> However, we're finding that they're unable to make the transition BACK
> from wireless to wired once that CAT5 cable is re-attached. All network
> connectivity freezes up unless you disable and then re-enable the
> network connections.
>
> Is there some common mistake I could be making in our configurations
> that would be causing this? I would think that these systems should be
> able to transition from wire to wireless (and back) seamlessly.
>
> Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Are they releasing their DHCP leases? I have an (admittedly very old)
Toshiba Satellite that doesn't automatically release or renew DHCP. If
you don't know how to check, open a command prompt and type ipconfig to
see what your current network configuration is. ipconfig /? gets you
useful instructions. Check what IP addresses they have when they're
first connected to the wired network, after you disconnect the wire and
go wireless, and after you plug the wire in again.

mike

have you set the metric values correctly?

http://www.jsiinc.com/SUBJ/tip4700/rh4728.htm

hth

philip ashley

"Christopher Scott" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:131020042019406394%chrisjscott@NOSPAMmindspri ng.com...
> Our office environment includes a handful of laptops, IBM Thinkpad
> t40p's and Dell systems, running WinXP SP2 with wireless cards in them.
> Our office has a full wired network as well as some newly-added
> wireless access points.
>
> The laptops work fine when conected via CAT5 and they correctly switch
> to wireless when that CAT5 cable is removed.
>
> However, we're finding that they're unable to make the transition BACK
> from wireless to wired once that CAT5 cable is re-attached. All network
> connectivity freezes up unless you disable and then re-enable the
> network connections.
>
> Is there some common mistake I could be making in our configurations
> that would be causing this? I would think that these systems should be
> able to transition from wire to wireless (and back) seamlessly.
>
> Any suggestions would be appreciated.

If you are using IBM Access Connections, the switching settings are set
using "Location Switching" in the Access Connections window.

Jerry Marks

philip ashley wrote:
> have you set the metric values correctly?
>
> http://www.jsiinc.com/SUBJ/tip4700/rh4728.htm
>
> hth
>
> philip ashley
>
> "Christopher Scott" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:131020042019406394%chrisjscott@NOSPAMmindspri ng.com...
>
>>Our office environment includes a handful of laptops, IBM Thinkpad
>>t40p's and Dell systems, running WinXP SP2 with wireless cards in them.
>>Our office has a full wired network as well as some newly-added
>>wireless access points.
>>
>>The laptops work fine when conected via CAT5 and they correctly switch
>>to wireless when that CAT5 cable is removed.
>>
>>However, we're finding that they're unable to make the transition BACK
>>from wireless to wired once that CAT5 cable is re-attached. All network
>>connectivity freezes up unless you disable and then re-enable the
>>network connections.
>>
>>Is there some common mistake I could be making in our configurations
>>that would be causing this? I would think that these systems should be
>>able to transition from wire to wireless (and back) seamlessly.
>>
>>Any suggestions would be appreciated.
>
>
>