Windows 7: Wireless LAN adapter will not be detected

I am running Windows 7 x64 Home Premium, recently I had a hard drive failure and installed a new one. The O/S installation went well, but I had no internet or network connection. My system has to NICs. One is hardwire the other the wireless, which is the subject matter. The system detects the Realtek NIC, but has a caution symbol but the other network controller, which is the wireless. I tried updating the driver and I get "Windows was unable to install your Network Controller". It could not find the software for your device. I went to the Dell site downloaded the drivers,same message.
I disabled the Realtek and tried again, same message. I uninstalled the drivers for both NICs, rebooted, it detected the Realtek, the other still has the caution symbol. The wireless card has the green light on but the other is not blinking. I opened up the case removed the card and placed it back, same results. While the system was running I removed the card and the put it back and the system didn't respond at all. I am using my laptop for this forum, It has windows 7 x64 Ultimate Edition, and it connects fine, so there is no issue with the router. There is another laptop and game system using the network with no problem. Is my card defective?

Welcome itwiz90,









You are lucky you didn't FRY the complete system




What is the make & model of the wireless card ?

Nah, that will never happen. I 've been doing this for many years. (I Love the picture)

Anyhow,
I ran a system diagnostic software and it tells me the wireless card is a

Atheros AR928X Wireless Network Adapter (PCI Express).

The Dell driver worked before and I think is was for their 1505 model, if I am not mistaken.

I installed and uninstalled the Dell drivers and Atheros drivers.

Hi itwiz90,

'Studio XPS 435T/9000' is generally shipped with only a 'network card' (Realtek RTL8111C).

To install the 'network card' drivers compatible to 'Windows 7/64 bit please use the following link:Driver Details | Dell United States

Would like to know, when you purchased 'Atheros AR928x card'; you may have received its 'software installation media' along with it. I failed to find a suitable (validated/reliable) driver for this card on the 'manufacturer website'.

Please share the 'Hardware Id' of the 'Wireless Card' for more clarity:
- Open 'Device Manager' > Right Click 'Atheros Wireless Adapter' > Click 'Properties' > Click 'Details' tab > Select 'Hardware Id' from the drop-down > Capture all details listed here and share it

While researching, I came across the following thread on 'Microsoft Community Forum' that you may want to look at; appears to have fixed this issue for a user by a 'driver rollback': Windows update has rendered my Atheros AR928X Wireless Network Adapter - Microsoft Community

Hope this helps. Do reply if you have any further questions. I would be glad to assist.

Never ever connect or disconnect hardware inside a computer if still powered on!

realtek is working fine and you can access the internet wired?

It detects the wireless network card in device manager...caution sybol shows up. Can you tell me the error message

The card came with the PC when I purchased it from Dell 3 years ago. Worked fine, but on occassion would loose connectivity. I sometimes had to reset my router, even though someone else in my network was connect fine.
THe values for the Hardware ids:

PCI\\VEN_168C&DEV_002A&SUBSYS_0203168C&REV_01
PCI\\VEN_168C&DEV_002A&SUBSYS_0203168C
PCI\\VEN_168C&DEV_002A&CC_028000
PCI\\VEN_168C&DEV_002A&CC_0280

I don't think a rollback would work, I have nothing to rollback to, it is a clean install not an update. I lost a hard drive and replaced it.

Thanks I will try the Dell Link, hopefully it is different from the one I have been using.
---------------It is the same link I used originally. This driver does not work.

When I try to install this driver, I get this message:

"An error occured while unzipping. One or more files were not successfully unzipped. The error code is 40."

I hope this helps.

This is driver navigator not a driver. This probably contains spam. I cannot connect to the internet with the PC anyway, so this is mute. I need the actual driver. Thanks

here's the driver
Extract in new so empty folder. Then upgrade the driver as explained in Driver Install - Device Manager
I gave you the Windows 7 driver

Thanks a million. You are a Godsend. The driver worked. I will back this driver up on two hard drives, hopefully I will not have to do this. again.