The Fix To My Wireless Woes


  1. Posts : 7
    Windows 7 64-bit
       #1

    The Fix To My Wireless Woes


    ...has to do with my USB chipset?

    Disclaimer before I get into this:
    Apply any of the below at your own risk (It means applying a hotfix), but I get the feeling that if you're having the same problems I did, this may help.

    Let me begin here by enumerating the problems I had with 64-Bit Windows 7 Professional (Until today), many of which I recall a number of other people here struggling with and never finding the fix:

    - Internet connection dies on wake-up from sleep and requires a restart to get back.
    - Intermittent dropping of wireless connection for apparently no reason whatsoever (While it worked flawlessly on another system running Windows 7 Ultimate and even worked on the same machine booting a different OS) and requires a restart to get back.
    - Coinciding with each of these, my USB devices would somewhat frequently (But without any real consistency) die at the same time my internet did. And by 'die', I don't mean they stopped appearing to the system. They just became inaccessible. Again, this required a restart to fix.

    For the record, my wireless adapter is not USB. So I never thought the issue was USB anything specifically, but I always figured there was some sort of connection between all these problems.

    One common thread running between a whole host of people with these above issues was that we all had NVIDIA chipsets and we all either A) had 64-bit W7 or B) had at least 4GB RAM. Well apparently there was an identified bug in NVIDIA chipsets using 64-bit addressing that Microsoft released a hotfix for - You encounter problems when you move data over USB from a Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2-based computer that has an NVIDIA USB EHCI chipset and at least 4GB of RAM

    Although the description explicitly states this being a fix for a USB-related problem, after applying it, all of the above three problems for me have been solved. No internet drops (At least thus far, which is about a 12-hour period - much, much longer than how long it usually lasts). No disconnected internet on wakeup from sleep (And I tested this about a dozen times just to be absolutely sure - before it happened with a 100% rate). No USB devices randomly disappearing.

    Figured I'd share what worked for me in hopes that it might help some other people here with similar problems considering how often people were having strange issues with NVIDIA chipsets and Windows 7.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 11
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64
       #2

    How can I tell if i have this USB chipset?
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 7
    Windows 7 64-bit
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Judging from your post in the thread you made, your issue is on a computer running a different chipset (According to the Acer website, it's an Intel PM45 Express for all models of the 5739), but I think your issue may be distinctly different as your internet still works with an ethernet cable or a different wireless adapter plugged in. The above issues for me happened even when I used a different wireless adapter entirely.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 11
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64
       #4

    Whats the deal with Windows 7 and all these wireless connectivity glitches?!!! Each one is different. Why is this not in the news that this is a major issue?
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 9
    Windows 7 Home Premium-64 bit
       #5

    I will try this when I get home. I'm so sick of trying to watch a video or download something and getting hit with limited access error.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 4
    Windows 7
       #6

    Thanks,thanks,thanks. I have been looking for this solution during 2 weeks. Thanks!!! A lot!!!
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 9
    Windows 7 Home Premium-64 bit
       #7

    ok I need help installing it. when i open it windows update standalone installer says the update is not applicable to your computer
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 4
    Windows 7
       #8

    You need to download the x64 version. You´ve downloaded the x86 version. When you are at the Microsoft Website, you should push at a arrow, and you´ll see this option (x64).

    It works!!!
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 9
    Windows 7 Home Premium-64 bit
       #9

    sergikhan said:
    You need to download the x64 version. You´ve downloaded the x86 version. When you are at the Microsoft Website, you should push at a arrow, and you´ll see this option (x64).

    It works!!!
    Hey it works now! No more limited access after downloading a file, watching some videos or anything that is data intense. I saw this on another thread that is similar to what you had posted and the exact problem I was experiencing.

    "I just wanted to put a general warning out there.
    There seems to be a pretty big problem with Ralink drivers right now, even ones automatically downloaded from Windows Update for at least 3 Ralink Chipset groups.
    The problem:
    There's some kind of messup when certain environments are the same. Windows 7 64 bit and over 3GB of RAM and a Ralink Wireless card/usb device. Once these variables are the same, most ralink wireless drivers will crash. The crash is very sneaky, it simply looks like your wireless connection has been switched to limited, however the wireless system can't and won't recover.You can try to disconnect or connect to another wireless system, but this doesn't work. You also won't be able to shut down or restart your machine,even after log off. If you do try and let the computer wait it out, eventually it will blue screen and reboot after a very long time.This happens when the system transfers a significant amount of data or sometimes at a certain speed. For me it happened whenever I xfered a certain amount of data or once the card hit 5 MB speeds. But it varies with driver version and system. Sometimes it seemed random and just happened while surfing.I have 2 usb devices with the ralink chipset and I've been able to reproduce the crashes everytime on several machines.The ONLY machine that does not mess up is a laptop with 2GB of RAM.I decided to make this general warning, because I imagine some people are blaming their routers for the problem. I've read several posts on here where people have these symptoms and assume that it's their router.The only fix/workaround right now is to remove some RAM,which of course isn't entirely convenient. I've contacted Ralink about it and heard nothing back, so I don't know if they've identified it as a problem or not yet.The other option is to get a usb device or card with another chipset brand....I purchased a usb device with the atheros chipset (the only cheap alternative to ralink,all the others are slightly more expensive) and that usb device worked PERFECTLY. If you are using a pci card or usb device with a Ralink chipset and the computer specs I've mentioned and it actually WORKS, I'd love to hear from you right here. Remember, it has to be a Windows 7 64 bit system and 4GB or more of RAM. Make sure the system is 4GB and not 3.x because of an onboard GPU. The problem MAY happen on Vista as well, but I haven't tested it...all my systems are running 7.
      My Computer


 

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