Repairs Made Machine Lose Networking – Help!

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I’m in the throes of a real problem. I have a 2.5 year old Lenovo T61, running XP SP3, dual core 2.? speed, 4G ram, 200G HD, NVida, with gigabit ethernet, abgn intel wireless card, bluetooth.

A week ago, the display chip went nuts, and I called warranty service (glad I bought that long warranty). They sent a tech with a (refurbished) motherboard next day.

Replaced the motherboard, booted up the machine, and – lo and behold – the display works, but no connectivity: no wireless, no ethernet, no modem, no USB modem (I have service to attach my blackberry as a modem). Nothing works in the dock or directly connected

Call warranty service, danced on their heads about refurb parts, and – long story short, on Tuesday, tech shows up with another (new this time – last one in North America, they claim) motherboard. Replace motherboard. Same problems. No connectivity. Zip. Nada.

Back to warranty service – next day, tech shows up with new wireless card, miscellaneous cables, etc. Replaces wireless card. Same problem. No connectivity. Even tried connecting the cable modem directly (bypassing router). Nothing.

Lots of tech trying to fiddle with software settings, but no soap.

It’s been escalated at Lenovo, but I’m now a week without my main machine and really distressed. I’m not willing to send it to depot, because I need access to the programs and data (not duplicated, though backed up).

Does anyone have any experience with something like this – perfectly functioning networking vanishing with the replacement of the motherboard?

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Have you checked the devices in Device Manager – right click on My Computer > Manage?
Try deleting the network card and re-booting – Windows will re-install it – then check the network set up.

cheers, Paul

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Have you checked the devices in Device Manager – right click on My Computer > Manage?
Try deleting the network card and re-booting – Windows will re-install it – then check the network set up.

cheers, Paul

Thanks – yes, with both replacement motherboards…. I see on the Lenovo support forum that recently a whole lot of people are having problems of one sort or another with their T61s with the NVida video card. Lots of problems.

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Have you checked the devices in Device Manager – right click on My Computer > Manage?
Try deleting the network card and re-booting – Windows will re-install it – then check the network set up.

cheers, Paul

Funny, it didn’t work when the techs did it — they tried to reinstall the drivers. But, I tried it exactly as you suggested – uninstalling the network cards (Ethernet and wireless) and doing a reboot.

First time I did it, I got the Ethernet card back, but no wireless card. That was major progress! I had been concerned about the wireless driver anyway – it was an old one, and every attempt to update it had failed. So, I went to ThinkVantage update and when I ran it, it offered me (inter alia) an updated wireless driver. I was not very confident it would install, but anything was worth a try at this point (10 days into disaster) and I downloaded it and let it install. When I rebooted (when told I would need to to complete installation), the new driver was installed and the wireless card was now working.

Interesting, and I very much appreciate your help.

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I’m glad that Paul’s suggestion worked for you with those devices. Are there any others which you are having trouble with?

I’m unsure of the exact course of events as I’m sure not even you are with the various “technicians” attempting to fix your laptop. It’s a shame the warranty tech-monkeys weren’t able to get it right for you a week ago.

It sounds like you’re well on your way to a full functionality laptop again if you aren’t already

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I’m glad that Paul’s suggestion worked for you with those devices. Are there any others which you are having trouble with?

I’m unsure of the exact course of events as I’m sure not even you are with the various “technicians” attempting to fix your laptop. It’s a shame the warranty tech-monkeys weren’t able to get it right for you a week ago.

It sounds like you’re well on your way to a full functionality laptop again if you aren’t already

There is an option in the BIOS to disable the network card. Just a thing to look out for in the future.

Cheers,
Matti

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