Lose wireless Internet connection when unplug laptop power to battery

Wondering if someone can solve a problem that has stumped many IT
professionals.

Why does my Thinkpad t40 running XP Pro lose the Internet connection
when I unplug the laptop and run off the battery?

In other words, I'll be working on the laptop wirelessly fine. I unplug
the computer to move to another room, and the Internet connection drops
off (but the computer is still running). The weird thing is that I
still see the Wireless Network Connection icon in the lower right-hand
corner (near the clock).

Any suggestions?

> Any suggestions?

Depends on the card but I'd wonder if the machine's not configured to go
into some sort of reduced performance mode when running off of the
batteries. Try reconfiguring the power control panel such that it operates
as "full performance" regardless of being on batteries or not. Then checked
the Advanced tab of the network card control panel and see if there are also
power saving modes; disable them. See if that makes a difference. Then
decide which power saving modes are best suited to how you need to use the
machine.

WiFi depends on using a radio, and as such it'll certainly drain your
batteries faster than not using it. But it's been my experience that
software drivers attempting to 'manage' the power consumption often fail
horribly. The exception being my wife's teenie little Sony VAIO T350PL,
that thing's just amazing on how well it manages *everything* power-related.
Anyway, check those control panels and preferences and see if that makes a
difference; it probably will.

-Bill Kearney