Wireless adapter failure to detect networks.

I recently installed a Belkin N300 on my backroom PC which has Vista Ult OS. The purpose was to connect to the WiFi router/modem of my main PC which has Windows7.

I installed it exactly as instructed by the manufacturer using the disc that came with the adapter. That is, run the disc first and install the adpater when prompted. It said it installed successfully, and Device manager said it was running properly, but in practice it could not detect any networks. Network discovery was turned on, and no yellow warning triangles.

After about an hour of fruitless attemtps to fix the problem, I did a bare bones installation of Vista and installed the adapter on it and it worked perfectly. And it continued to work even after all the various 3rd party software and Windows updates were installed. However, if I now uninstalled/reinstalled it, it would no longer detect networks, even though Device Manager said it was running properly.

I was curious to see if the problem was an incompatibility issue with Vista, so I installed the Belkin adapter on my main PC which already had Windows7 fully loaded. And then tried to connect with a wireless router/modem on the Vista PC. And I got exactly the same result ... everything green lights, but in practice it could not detect my WiFi modem on Vista, or any other networks in the vicinity.

So I repeated the process of installing the adapter on a bare bones installation of Win7, and as on Vista, it now worked perfectly. And continued to work when the other applications were installed. Likewise, if it was now uninstalled/reinstalled, it failed to work.

It then occurred to me there was a WiFi wireless adapter module that came with the motherboard of my Win7 installation. On the Intel installation disc that came with the mobo, it was labelled: WiFi 802.11bgn Wireless Adapter. I installed this adapter on the fully loaded Win7 installation using the Intel mobo installation disc,and it was exactly the same scenario as the Belkin ... that is, all green lights, but not able to detect any networks.

In like manner, it installed and ran perfectly on a bare bones installation of Win7. And continued to run even after all other applications were loaded. But once again, if it was now uninstalled/reinstalled it failed to detect networks.

In summary:

• The only way to get it to work was to load it straight after loading Windows and before any other applications were installed.
• After all applications and upates were loaded, if it was uninstalled and reinstalled, it would not detect networks.
• This was true for two different adapters on two separate computers with different operating systems.

This makes me suspect the conflict is in a Windows update. And that if the update is put in after the adapter is running, then no problem. But if the adapter is installed after the update, it won't work.

Any ideas?

Hi, I know it is an old posting, but I've just spent many hours with similar problems of the nic says ok and drivers all ok, but no connection.
I found this information to share.

1) On web, some people report disabling or having to remove anti virus and/or firewalls. Zone Alarm and Kapersky are both mentioned as being disabled/removed to solve similar issues. I had ZA and disabling didn't solve my connection problem.

2) This did solve for me. Boot into safe mode, in device manager disabled the wireless. Then in device manager rescanned hardware, which reloaded the wireless. After reboot normally, the wireless worked! I experienced/confirmed this with both a Rosewill pci nic and a Edimax usb wireless adapter.

Hope this helps.