wifi suddenly doesn't work in some public sites?

Okay, so I have a home wifi network like lots of folks, as well as a
laptop I routinely use at home on the network as well as-- until very
recently-- using it at lots of public wifi hotspots, hotel wifi, etc.

Recently, however, I can't connect to many of the hotspots I once used
regularly. My laptop can't even see the networks; it simply reports
that nothing is there. This isn't just my laptop lying to me. I know
because I've tested it by bringing another laptop and confirming that
the access points are alive and kicking in these locations. The funny
thing is, my laptop continues to consistently connect in my home and in
at least one public hotspot. It just doesn't work anywhere else!

I've done a lot of digging on this. At first I thought the trouble
might be traced to a recent installation of OpenSSL. I tried
uninstalling it, which didn't help. I also tried reinstalling Windows
XP Pro from scratch. No dice.

I'm on a IBM Thinkpad T30 which comes with software called "Access
Connections" to manage wifi configurations. I've tried using Access
Connections rather than letting XP manage my connections without
success. I've tried the reverse without success. I've also tried
uninstalling Access Connections. No help.

I've tried using ZoneAlarm, Windows Firewall, and no firewall at all.
It doesn't work under any of these options.

So what can I do?! I've got to believe this is a software/config
problem and not a hardware problem given that wifi still works fine in
a couple of places. I've run out of things to try, though.

I should say that all of the wifi spots in question are free, public
sites not using WEP or any other kind of security. My system is a
ThinkPad T30 with built-in wifi running XP Pro with all the dozens of
updates installed. I've insured the BIOS on my system as well as the
device drivers are all up to date.

HELP!

-Ziad

 

What kind of Wi-Fi do you have at home? Is it 802.11b? Is it possible that
you don't have your T30 configured to use 802.11g? Or perhaps it is the
other way around, you have your T30 configured to use only 'g' and not work
with 'b'? These are the two most likely things in my mind. If it is a case
of your home using the same type of 802.11 as the public site then most
likely it is a configuration problem.

Opening ThinkVantage Access Connection, and click on | Tools | Find Wireless
Networks....| Show Details should show what networks are available to you
and the wireless mode be it a, b, or g.

Check the location profile you are using under ThinkVantage Access
Connection, click Locations | Manage Profiles...| Highlight the Profile you
are trying to use to connect and right click on it, then click Edit... |
Click on the Wireless (tab) | check that Wireless mode is set to Auto. And
connection type is set to Infrastructure. Wireless security type should be
set to none.

Hope this helps
David Hettel
Microsoft MVP Mobile Devices

 

Seems one thing you haven't done is remove and re-install the driver.
Why not try that (maybe a couple of times or more)?

 

As it turns out, uninstalling and reinstalling the driver worked. Even
though I have not idea why it worked-- and it SHOULDN'T have worked (I
did essentially do it once when I reformatted my HD and reinstalled
XP)-- it did, in the end, do the trick.

Thanks for the help!

-Z