2008-01-09 #1

A couple of issues

• I suspended yesterday afternoon at head office; I had to use the secondary menu ( Start-> arrow-next-to-suspend-options -> Suspend) to suspend because the laptop refused to suspend in the dock, and the Suspend icon on the Start Menu had changed to a Apply-Updates-And-Reboot icon. When I got the computer out this morning, the battery was flat, and startup showed a recovered blue-screen error. I started normally, then when I logged in I got the your computer rebooted to apply some updates notification. The implication here is that the computer unsuspended for some reason, decided to apply the updates, and ran out of battery power at some point, probably causing the blue-screen.
• I've noticed that at customer site "T", if I suspend the laptop with the network cable attached, the computer suspends and then immediately unsuspends. Disconnecting the network cable lets the laptop suspend normally.
• If I use the Start menu to suspend, then opening the laptop at the next stop does not unsuspend the laptop; I have to use the power button.
• I was using the network cable at customer "T" this morning and so had the wireless switched off. I switched it on prior to unsuspending the laptop, however windows claimed that the wireless was not enabled. I had to switch the wireless off, then back on, before the wireless would work.

One of my co-workers claims that the wireless problems observed here are related to the wireless-N capabilities of the Intel card in my laptop. I discovered today that I can turn off the -N capabilities through the Hardware Manager. I'll try this, but the access point got killed today by a guest in the building, so I've advised the customer that it may be time to buy another $100 access point and throw this one away.