ActiveSync 4.2 disables Wireless networking when not connected

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Richard Hall - 28 Nov 2006 16:07 GMT

Installed AS 4.2 on two Windows XP SP2 machines (Toshiba and IBM Thinpad
tablet) and unfortunately lost wireless connectivity on both (ipconfig /all
returns no output at all ;( ) Note - even when Mobile device is not
cradled, no AS running.

Uninstalling AS 4.2 did not rectify. Nor did using AS 4.5 Beta 2.

Only connetivity via Internet Sharing on Windows Mobile 5 device.

Running IE7, Office 2007 on both machines.

Any advice short or reimaging?

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Paul G. Tobey [eMVP] - 28 Nov 2006 17:19 GMT

IE7 has nothing to do with this and XPSP2 works very well with AS and
Windows Mobile 5.

If both of your target PCs are running Intel wireless networking adapters,
you might want to read the old thread in this group titled "ActiveSync Kills
Wireless". The wireless problem in that case occurred when attaching the
mobile device and could only be repaired by rebooting the PC after
disconnecting the device. It seems to me that your problem is a bit
different, but if this does describe what you see, the solutions that some
in that thread found might help. groups.google.com

You should make sure that you are not running a virtual private network or
other network management software. If you are, it's probably disconnecting
itself when you connect a new network device, the mobile device which looks
like a USB network adapter.

Paul T.

> Installed AS 4.2 on two Windows XP SP2 machines (Toshiba and IBM Thinpad
> tablet) and unfortunately lost wireless connectivity on both (ipconfig
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
>
> Any advice short or reimaging?

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Richard Hall - 28 Nov 2006 20:02 GMT

Thanks Paul, but this does seem to be a different variant of the problem.
As used to posting bug reports I included the OS/IE details for reference.

Initially Wireless network icon appears with Excellent connectivity, and
when viewing connection status appears connected, but on detail page no IP
or DNS etc listed.

I wondered if the problem was then above the driver level etc and somewhere
higher in the TCP/IP stack in XP, and so I ran up a Virtual PC with Vista on
the Thinkpad. Intriguingly, the virtual PC had no problems with
connectivity and Vista network diagnostics sees no problem (flipping to the
native XP, connectivity at application level is still down). So posting
this from Vista Windows Mail as a guest o/s ;)

Note that both misbehaving machines use native Intel wireless management, no
VPN connections, one machine is very heavily loaded with latest MS software,
the other is a simple home machine with nothing but IE/Office/WMP etc. And
ActiveSync ;) One still has AS 4.5B2 installed the other has had AS
uninstalled, but no improvements after shutdown/reboot.

So, underlying card, drivers run fine. But no application level internet
access (including normally determined apps such as Live Messenger and
Groove), ipconfig /all returns no media adapter details unless Internet
Sharing turned on with Windows Mobile via USB, in which case only lists that
LAN interface and not the fixed and wireless connection.

When running Network Diagnostics for XP, the Wireless icon flips to
'disconnected status' and as the diagnostic proceeds, it finally crashes
with

"Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime library
Runtime Error!
Program c:\windows\network diagnostics\xpnetdiag.exe

this application has requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual
way.
Please contact the application's support team for more infomation."

Also repeated the process with a wired ethernet connection with same result.

Looking at network diagnostic log, full of the messages similar to below:

missing IP address
unexpected error calling iphlpapi - pipe being closed
unable to retrieve IP address for NIC

> IE7 has nothing to do with this and XPSP2 works very well with AS and
> Windows Mobile 5.
[quoted text clipped - 26 lines]
>>
>> Any advice short or reimaging?

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Paul G. Tobey [eMVP] - 28 Nov 2006 20:13 GMT

Verify for me that rebooting *with the WM device disconnected* leaves the
wireless networking in the disconnected state.

If so, what authentication and encryption are you using on your wireless
network? How are IP addresses assigned? If by DHCP, switch to static and
set suitable IP addresses and see if the devices can be pinged by other
network machines at the new static IP addresses.

If not, it sounds like the old thread story to me. Check with Intel for the
latest drivers and wireless manager program.

Paul T.

> Thanks Paul, but this does seem to be a different variant of the problem.
> As used to posting bug reports I included the OS/IE details for reference.
[quoted text clipped - 74 lines]
>>>
>>> Any advice short or reimaging?

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