wireless icon indications

My wireless connection is working fine (yay!), but I've been wondering for a
long time what the icon in the system tray indicates--the single 'computer'
with the three 'signal' lines radiating out to the right. I think I've
figured out the 'computer': blank screen means no network activity while blue
screen indicates some activity. But what do the 'signal' lines indicate?!
They alternate between yellow and green, and there doesn't seem to be any
rhyme nor reason to them . . . They don't correlate with signal strength,
because even with 5 green bars in the 'Wireless Network Connection Status'
window they still alternate between green and yellow. The don't seem to
correlate with network activity because they can go green or yellow even when
the 'computer' screen icon stays blank. Does anyone out there *know* what
those three lines indicate? They've got to mean something . . .

Hi
It would be a lot of help if you would divulge what is the nature of your
system (name model type of wireless os), what you are describing does not
seem to be a standard Windows Icon it probably belong to a 3rd party
application.
Jack (MVP-Networking).

"stumped" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:346CFA48-AEAF-417A-AFA3-(E-Mail Removed)...
> My wireless connection is working fine (yay!), but I've been wondering for
> a
> long time what the icon in the system tray indicates--the single
> 'computer'
> with the three 'signal' lines radiating out to the right. I think I've
> figured out the 'computer': blank screen means no network activity while
> blue
> screen indicates some activity. But what do the 'signal' lines indicate?!
> They alternate between yellow and green, and there doesn't seem to be any
> rhyme nor reason to them . . . They don't correlate with signal strength,
> because even with 5 green bars in the 'Wireless Network Connection Status'
> window they still alternate between green and yellow. The don't seem to
> correlate with network activity because they can go green or yellow even
> when
> the 'computer' screen icon stays blank. Does anyone out there *know* what
> those three lines indicate? They've got to mean something . . .

You're joking, right? :-) I'm referring to the wireless network icon that
appears in the system tray when connected to a wireless network (as opposed
to the wired [or LAN] network icon with two 'computers' that flash
back-and-forth and appears when plugged into the LAN port). The one that has
the little yellow 'ball' that bounces back-and-forth when trying to connect
to a wireless network. The one that you have to right-click to 'find
available wireless networks'. The one . . .

OK, just for fun, here are my system details:

IBM T42 with IBM/Atheros (AR5001X+) a/b/g wireless card
Windows XP Pro 5.1.2600 SP2 Build 2600

Which, incidentally, displays the same icon as every other notebook I've
seen with XP installed: HP, Toshiba, Dell, Fujitsu, Sony . . .

But I'm not really surprised by the answer--I've never found anyone who
knows what those lines mean . . . Just thought I'd ask here.

Still,

Stumped

"Jack (MVP-Networking)." wrote:

> Hi
> It would be a lot of help if you would divulge what is the nature of your
> system (name model type of wireless os), what you are describing does not
> seem to be a standard Windows Icon it probably belong to a 3rd party
> application.
> Jack (MVP-Networking).
>
> "stumped" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:346CFA48-AEAF-417A-AFA3-(E-Mail Removed)...
> > My wireless connection is working fine (yay!), but I've been wondering for
> > a
> > long time what the icon in the system tray indicates--the single
> > 'computer'
> > with the three 'signal' lines radiating out to the right. I think I've
> > figured out the 'computer': blank screen means no network activity while
> > blue
> > screen indicates some activity. But what do the 'signal' lines indicate?!
> > They alternate between yellow and green, and there doesn't seem to be any
> > rhyme nor reason to them . . . They don't correlate with signal strength,
> > because even with 5 green bars in the 'Wireless Network Connection Status'
> > window they still alternate between green and yellow. The don't seem to
> > correlate with network activity because they can go green or yellow even
> > when
> > the 'computer' screen icon stays blank. Does anyone out there *know* what
> > those three lines indicate? They've got to mean something . . .
>
>
>

Hi
Yesterday my in my reaction to your post I assumed that you do not have a
standard Windows Wireless Installation.
I sit every day for hours in front of few computers (laptop, and Desktop)
using Windows Wireless Connection, and I never saw the three lines in the
right side of the tray Icon changing any color.
Well I looked very careful at the icon all day long and even spend some time
changing setting and manipulating WZC.
I can not give you an answer since no matter what I do I don't see these
lines doing any thing.
Jack (MVP-Networking).

"stumped" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news1415CDE-AFD8-4E40-9E1C-(E-Mail Removed)...
> You're joking, right? :-) I'm referring to the wireless network icon that
> appears in the system tray when connected to a wireless network (as
> opposed
> to the wired [or LAN] network icon with two 'computers' that flash
> back-and-forth and appears when plugged into the LAN port). The one that
> has
> the little yellow 'ball' that bounces back-and-forth when trying to
> connect
> to a wireless network. The one that you have to right-click to 'find
> available wireless networks'. The one . . .
>
> OK, just for fun, here are my system details:
>
> IBM T42 with IBM/Atheros (AR5001X+) a/b/g wireless card
> Windows XP Pro 5.1.2600 SP2 Build 2600
>
> Which, incidentally, displays the same icon as every other notebook I've
> seen with XP installed: HP, Toshiba, Dell, Fujitsu, Sony . . .
>
> But I'm not really surprised by the answer--I've never found anyone who
> knows what those lines mean . . . Just thought I'd ask here.
>
> Still,
>
> Stumped
>
> "Jack (MVP-Networking)." wrote:
>
>> Hi
>> It would be a lot of help if you would divulge what is the nature of your
>> system (name model type of wireless os), what you are describing does not
>> seem to be a standard Windows Icon it probably belong to a 3rd party
>> application.
>> Jack (MVP-Networking).
>>
>> "stumped" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:346CFA48-AEAF-417A-AFA3-(E-Mail Removed)...
>> > My wireless connection is working fine (yay!), but I've been wondering
>> > for
>> > a
>> > long time what the icon in the system tray indicates--the single
>> > 'computer'
>> > with the three 'signal' lines radiating out to the right. I think I've
>> > figured out the 'computer': blank screen means no network activity
>> > while
>> > blue
>> > screen indicates some activity. But what do the 'signal' lines
>> > indicate?!
>> > They alternate between yellow and green, and there doesn't seem to be
>> > any
>> > rhyme nor reason to them . . . They don't correlate with signal
>> > strength,
>> > because even with 5 green bars in the 'Wireless Network Connection
>> > Status'
>> > window they still alternate between green and yellow. The don't seem to
>> > correlate with network activity because they can go green or yellow
>> > even
>> > when
>> > the 'computer' screen icon stays blank. Does anyone out there *know*
>> > what
>> > those three lines indicate? They've got to mean something . . .
>>
>>
>>

These "signal lines" don't mean anything at all, besides to distinguish
a wireless conection from wired.

--PA


"stumped" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:346CFA48-AEAF-417A-AFA3-(E-Mail Removed)...
> My wireless connection is working fine (yay!), but I've been wondering for a
> long time what the icon in the system tray indicates--the single 'computer'
> with the three 'signal' lines radiating out to the right. I think I've
> figured out the 'computer': blank screen means no network activity while blue
> screen indicates some activity. But what do the 'signal' lines indicate?!
> They alternate between yellow and green, and there doesn't seem to be any
> rhyme nor reason to them . . . They don't correlate with signal strength,
> because even with 5 green bars in the 'Wireless Network Connection Status'
> window they still alternate between green and yellow. The don't seem to
> correlate with network activity because they can go green or yellow even when
> the 'computer' screen icon stays blank. Does anyone out there *know* what
> those three lines indicate? They've got to mean something . . .

I have the same "problem" to solve, except, my signal lines are only flashing green, no yellow so far.

I agree with you, they've got to mean something . . .

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