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OS/2, eCS & ArcaOS - Technical => Setup & Installation => Topic started by: mwmjr on November 29, 2016, 10:57:21 pm

Title: Thinkpad T41 and wireless connection
Post by: mwmjr on November 29, 2016, 10:57:21 pm
Looking for wireless recommendation for a thinkpad T41 with Warp 4.52 installed. It has a built in Intel Wireless but I'm not having any luck. Does someone know of a driver that allows the built in wireless to function OR what pcmcia card would be recommended?

Thanks in advance for recommendations

Mike
Title: Re: Thinkpad T41 and wireless connection
Post by: Dave Yeo on November 29, 2016, 11:56:13 pm
Checkout http://trac.netlabs.org/xwlan (http://trac.netlabs.org/xwlan), I believe that is what I'm using on my T42 (installed with eCS2.2B2) and it works well.
Title: Re: Thinkpad T41 and wireless connection
Post by: Doug Bissett on November 30, 2016, 07:58:11 am
Check out ftp://genmac@ftp.os2voice.org/ (ftp://genmac@ftp.os2voice.org/). You need to know what the PCI ID is for the device. You can get that using the PCI.EXE program from HOBBES: http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/util/misc/pci104vka.zip (http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/util/misc/pci104vka.zip). It will be something like 8086:1234.
Title: Re: Thinkpad T41 and wireless connection
Post by: ak120 on November 30, 2016, 04:28:05 pm
Before using xwlan you need this one:
ftp://ftp.netlabs.org/pub/genmac/genmac220.wpi (http://ftp://ftp.netlabs.org/pub/genmac/genmac220.wpi)
Title: Re: Thinkpad T41 and wireless connection
Post by: xynixme on March 08, 2017, 10:57:03 am
A ThinkPad T23's (and a ThinkPad X20's) XWLAN 3.10 cannot see the installed GenMAC adapter (built-in Intel 2200BG MiniPCI) anymore, and the only available option is a GenPRISM adapter (PCMCIA, not inserted). Is fully deleting the XWLAN configuration an option? If so, where is it stored? A full install of just XWLAN310.ZIP uses the same configuration again.

The GenMAC driver is loaded, the GenMAC adapter is installed, and another installed OS is always able to use this adapter. With the same install the GenMAC adapter was the working default. Swapping the order of the adapters by using MPTS doesn't solve the problem.
Title: Re: Thinkpad T41 and wireless connection
Post by: Andi B. on March 08, 2017, 11:48:07 am
I've successfully tested Genmac/XWLAN with -
Code: [Select]
T42p    Intel 2200  8086:4220   WRND32$ V2.01

T43     Intel 2915  8086:4224   WRND32$ V2.02
R52     Intel 2915  8086:4224   WRND32$ V2.02

T41     Atheros     168C:1014   WRND32$ V2.02
R60e    Atheros     168C:1014   WRND32$ V2.02
T60     Atheros     168C:1014   WRND32$ V2.02

PCI/PCMCIA Atheros  168C:0013   WRND32$ V2.02

As you see my T41 has an Atheros built in which works. But I use the T41 not very often with wireless networks. The T42p with Intel 2200  8086:4220 is the one which I did most of my testing. No clue why I've installed Genmac v2.01 for this though. Perhaps cause it is my oldest notebook and 2.02 was not available at that time.

If XWLAN do not 'see' the wireless card then it's most probably a Genmac problem. No version of XWLAN even the latest v3.12 can work without working Genmac setup. You should check with the programs supplied with genmac if it is correctly loaded.

XWLAN option are stored in the .ini files. But if the xwlan setup panel does not show correctly 'detected device ....' I'm pretty sure they have nothing to do with your problem.

Btw, there is a troubleshooting section here http://trac.netlabs.org/xwlan/browser/trunk/src/ship/readme.txt (http://trac.netlabs.org/xwlan/browser/trunk/src/ship/readme.txt) which you can check one after another. Although based for newer xwlan versions number 1) is still valid even for xwlan3.10.
Title: Re: Thinkpad T41 and wireless connection
Post by: Doug Bissett on March 09, 2017, 07:27:22 am
Quote
A ThinkPad T23's (and a ThinkPad X20's) XWLAN 3.10 cannot see the installed GenMAC adapter (built-in Intel 2200BG MiniPCI) anymore,

If you are saying that it did work, but no longer works (or even if it never worked), it is very likely that you are running out of some system resource. Shared memory space is the most likely thing to be used up by other things (Firefox, Thunderbird, and Seamonkey, are the most likely to use too much shared memory space, but other things can do it too). In fact, that seems to be one of the main reasons why GENMAC doesn't work with more modern windows drivers. The other main reason is that newer drivers use APIs that GENMAC doesn't know about.

Some things to try (but no guarantees):
- Put "DLLBASING=OFF" near the top of CONFIG.SYS.
- Change "VIRTUALADDRESS=" to 3072.
- Find an older windows driver, and substitute that in the GENMAC setup. Older drivers usually don't need as many resources, but often don't exist.
- Set some programs to use high shared memory space (but there can be problems with that, if you ever close the programs).

Some experimenting may be required to find a working combination (which may not exist).

An alternative, is to use an external WiFi adapter. There are a number of them available, and they can be useful for other things. I use a D-Link 506L, and it works well (once you figure out how to use it), but is probably obsolete by now.
Title: Re: Thinkpad T41 and wireless connection
Post by: xynixme on March 09, 2017, 02:00:42 pm
If you are saying that it did work, but no longer works (or even if it never worked), it is very likely that you are running out of some system resource.

It worked until about a year ago. After a reboot XWLAN should be able to see the device (/driver). Only GenPRISM is displayed, and can be selected with XWLAN. There are no eCenter changes. The system has changed, e.g. PATH length. Windows XP can still always use the device. With eCS the device driver is loaded correctly by CONFIG.SYS. The number of working devices installed is one (GenMAC's by built-in default, or GenPRISM's PCMCIA if GenMAC doesn't work), so hot swaps are not a requirement. All affected systems are Pentrium III notebooks with a nearly identical setup, so browsing with FF/SM is slow anyway.

It is a guess to want to delete the configuration, but that not work too. I'll try "DLLBASING=OFF", albeit no new nor updated software is in my clean startup folder. A full reinstall of the OS may be the winning answer.
Title: Re: Thinkpad T41 and wireless connection
Post by: ak120 on March 09, 2017, 04:37:23 pm
If you are saying that it did work, but no longer works (or even if it never worked), it is very likely that you are running out of some system resource.

It worked until about a year ago. After a reboot XWLAN should be able to see the device (/driver). Only GenPRISM is displayed, and can be selected with XWLAN. There are no eCenter changes. The system has changed, e.g. PATH length. Windows XP can still always use the device. With eCS the device driver is loaded correctly by CONFIG.SYS. The number of working devices installed is one (GenMAC's by built-in default, or GenPRISM's PCMCIA if GenMAC doesn't work), so hot swaps are not a requirement. All affected systems are Pentrium III notebooks with a nearly identical setup, so browsing with FF/SM is slow anyway.

It is a guess to want to delete the configuration, but that not work too. I'll try "DLLBASING=OFF", albeit no new nor updated software is in my clean startup folder. A full reinstall of the OS may be the winning answer.

In my opinion it would be better to simply deinstall XWLAN. Remove or edit the key entries from the *.INI files by using regedit2 search for "Wireless LAN Monitor". It should list 3 interfaces in your case: E100B or E1000 for LAN, PRISMC for the PC Card and the WRND32 for GenMac wrapper. And reinstall XWLAN in the worst case.
Title: Re: Thinkpad T41 and wireless connection
Post by: xynixme on March 11, 2017, 12:26:40 pm
In my opinion it would be better to simply deinstall XWLAN. Remove or edit the key entries from the *.INI files by using regedit2 search for "Wireless LAN Monitor". It should list 3 interfaces in your case: E100B or E1000 for LAN, PRISMC for the PC Card and the WRND32 for GenMac wrapper. And reinstall XWLAN in the worst case.

Understood, thank you. A Pentium 4 (different MiniPCI WLAN adapter) with nearly an identical setup never had the problem, so e.g. the length of a PATH is not a likely cause.
Title: Re: Thinkpad T41 and wireless connection
Post by: Doug Bissett on March 11, 2017, 09:13:49 pm
Quote
It worked until about a year ago.

Okay, if it did work, it should still work. What is in \IBMCOM\LANTRAN.LOG? That usually gives some clues. The WRND32 log (sorry, i don't have GENMAC installed at the moment, so I don't have the exact location) should also give useful information. You can also do "COPY WRND32$ WRND32.TXT", and post that too. I expect that the problem is that GENMAC is not loading the driver, for some reason.

It is unlikely, but not impossible, that XWLAN is causing the problem. You could try http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/util/wps/xwlan312.zip (http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/util/wps/xwlan312.zip), which is an updated XWLAN, but be sure to READ the instructions. It think it also needs the DHCLIENT package.
Title: Re: Thinkpad T41 and wireless connection
Post by: Andreas Schnellbacher on March 11, 2017, 09:50:43 pm
From past experiences:

WLAN and XWLAN are quite similar products, e.g: IIRC, both install a WPS class for configuration.

What failed in the past for me on several machines was

To 1: Andi B. has integrated another DHCP client, that works better.

To 2: That problem is gone since Christian added LLAECS.EXE (Link-local IP address, also named "APIPA" by MS = Automatic Private IP Addressing) for eCS. (I don't know if it's available with XWLAN/WLAN, because I always used the newest packages from eCS.)
Title: Re: Thinkpad T41 and wireless connection
Post by: xynixme on March 13, 2017, 11:17:28 am
Deleting XWLAN 3.10 settings via REGEDIT2 and reinstalling XWLAN: no change.
Reinstalling GenMac after the previous step: no change.

Different Pentium III machine, without the previous attempts to make it work: the GenMac driver loads. Visually. XWLAN's icon is "No WLAN driver". According to MPTS the installed drivers are GenMac (Intel 2200) and GenPRISM (no adapter inserted).

LANTRAN.LOG, translated:

Code: [Select]
LT00073: FFST/2 is installed but not started. LANTRAN.LOG will be created.
IBM OS/2 LANMSGDD [05/21/04] 6.00 is loaded and activated.
IBM OS/2 LAN Netbind
WRND32$  WRAPPER : Helperw.exe must be started before NETBIND!.
PRO0021: A general error occured during the execution of a bind for TCPIP_NIF and W8086X4220_NIF.

WRND32.LOG (v2.20):

Code: [Select]
//------------ Version 2.1 ------------------
WRND32.TXT:

Code: [Select]
[D:\genmac\driver]copy WRND32$ WRND32.TXT
The system cannot open the device or file specified.
        0 file(s) copied.

XWLAN doesn't show any selectable driver, but let's restrict that to the missing GenMac driver. I've rebooted to make sure that the driver was loaded by CONFIG.SYS, visually. The usual, expected green message appeared. Does XWLAN (still) work corrrectly, but does it not actually (fully) load the GenMac driver indeed?
Title: Re: Thinkpad T41 and wireless connection
Post by: xynixme on March 13, 2017, 11:57:05 am
Other one (IBM ThinkPad T23, reinstalled MPTS/XWLAN/GenMac): green (& white) CONFIG.SYS text, same log files w.r.t. GenMac (WRND32.LOG can be found in x:\GENMAC\DRIVER).

Driver not actually fully loaded, start looking for a LLAECS.EXE?
Title: Re: Thinkpad T41 and wireless connection
Post by: ak120 on March 13, 2017, 03:38:50 pm
I don't know which version of genmac you were using. But usually the install program should put a first line to the CONFIG.SYS:
 RUN=x:\genmac\DRIVER\HELPERW.EXE
From the posted information it seems that \IBMCOM\PROTOCOL.INI is not correct. Because PROTMAN cannot bind the wireless (genmac) NDIS MAC to the TCP protocol.
Title: Re: Thinkpad T41 and wireless connection
Post by: Doug Bissett on March 13, 2017, 08:35:16 pm
Quote
LANTRAN.LOG, translated:

Code:

LT00073: FFST/2 is installed but not started. LANTRAN.LOG will be created.
IBM OS/2 LANMSGDD [05/21/04] 6.00 is loaded and activated.
IBM OS/2 LAN Netbind
WRND32$  WRAPPER : Helperw.exe must be started before NETBIND!.
PRO0021: A general error occured during the execution of a bind for TCPIP_NIF and W8086X4220_NIF.

Well, that tells you exactly what the problem is.  Apparently, you have lost the HELPERW.EXE line, or it got sorted to too late in CONFIG.SYS.

I recommend using my LCSS (Logical Config.Sys Sort) program, it is at HOBBES. Be sure to READ the instructions. The GENMAC installer should put the line into CONFIG.SYS, near the top, but it may not move it, if it already exists in the wrong place.
Title: Re: Thinkpad T41 and wireless connection
Post by: xynixme on March 14, 2017, 11:07:28 pm
Spot on. IBM ThinkPad 20-series were involved, because several older, slightly different CONFIG.SYSes were combined. LCSS gets it right too. HELPERW is now the first network-related CALL/RUN item, before e.g. NETBIND, and GenMac is selectable with XWLAN.
Title: Re: Thinkpad T41 and wireless connection
Post by: xynixme on March 27, 2017, 03:50:37 am
I recommend using my LCSS (Logical Config.Sys Sort) program

Both the installer and the Rexx app don't support all possibly dropped HPFS/JFS filenames. The Rexx app can produce a SYS1003 without an updated original file, or a damaged original file if e.g. the user repaired the installer's parameter setting of LCSS.CMD.
Title: Re: Thinkpad T41 and wireless connection
Post by: Doug Bissett on March 27, 2017, 06:03:14 am
Quote
Both the installer and the Rexx app don't support all possibly dropped HPFS/JFS filenames. The Rexx app can produce a SYS1003 without an updated original file, or a damaged original file if e.g. the user repaired the installer's parameter setting of LCSS.CMD.

I am sorry, but I have no idea what you are trying to say.
Title: Re: Thinkpad T41 and wireless connection
Post by: xynixme on April 16, 2017, 11:13:50 am
Is RXTT an OS component since eCS 2.x?

In general: if so, and HELP 1003 wasn't some clue, then go to a prompt near you and type: view rxtt36 file and directory names.

No quotes in the OS/2 command (a.o. the PARAMETERS-setting of the WPS object), no PARSEing of quotes, no quotes when executing an external OS/2 commands.
Title: Re: Thinkpad T41 and wireless connection
Post by: Doug Bissett on April 16, 2017, 06:09:54 pm
Is RXTT an OS component since eCS 2.x?

In general: if so, and HELP 1003 wasn't some clue, then go to a prompt near you and type: view rxtt36 file and directory names.

No quotes in the OS/2 command (a.o. the PARAMETERS-setting of the WPS object), no PARSEing of quotes, no quotes when executing an external OS/2 commands.

I still have no idea what you are talking about. If there is a problem, please describe, exactly, how to reproduce it.