ALFA AWUS036H usb Adapter REFUSES completely to connect

SOLVED! By me, please see page 2!

OK,

This is my first post, so go easy on me..!

I have a Sony VPCEC2S0E laptop which is less than a year old.

I have spent DAYS trying to get the ALFA adapter to work, I have searched the net, and in particular the forums, including this one, and I have found lots of issues with it, a couple of solutions, but no joy for me.

I have tried lots of different drivers, tried it with and without the Realtek Utility (VERY conflicty - if that is a word), installed XP on separate partition - my laptop is now dual boot, even had the adapter changed in case it was faulty. No joy at all.

With Windows XP I have various drivers missing so I gave up, got the ethernet working though.

I have an internal Atheros AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter, (got the usb ALFA to improve the range) I have disabled it while installing, and after, but could this be stopping ALFA connecting?

Or maybe some Sony bloatware in the background?

The Adapter (Realtek RTL8187 Wireless 802.11b/g 54Mbps USB 2.0 Network Adapter) is listed in device manager as working. It is Enabled in Network Connections, the troubleshooter just tells me what I already know - that there is a problem with it!

There are 2 drivers in Driver File Details - RTL8187.sys (Realtek) and vwifibus.sys (Microsoft)

I am sure that either I am doing something simple wrong, or it just does not work on my system, but I have followed the instructions to the letter, and the thing just sits there. Getting slightly warm.

Please help if you can, it is so frustrating, don't know whether to cry or smash the thing up!!
Asking you guys is surely the best option!

Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit - and as of yesterday, SP1
Intel i5 2.27GHz
6GB RAM

Hi gin99, welcome to seven forums, did you install the driver that came with the device? if so could you system restore prior to the installation of alfa if you could go back as far as the first installation. my experienced with alfa is that the driver that came with the device is not compatible with windows 7. you can download the driver here

ALFA Network – WLAN, WiFi phone, ADSL, KVM, Bluetooth, PoE Products -- Driver

choose the correct model and version of windows.

Hi rbeldua, thanks for the quick response.

Yes, I have tried the included drivers, and the one from the Alfa site.
I have not done a system restore though, will that possibly remove more stuff than just uninstalling the drivers manually?
Also, would it be best to only install the driver from that download, or run the exe file (so including the realtek utility)

Many thanks in advance

if you have not done a system restore, you can wipe the previous driver with this

Guru3D - Driver Sweeper (Setup) download from Guru3D.com

then download the appropriate driver from alfa site, extract it and click the setup.exe as shown on the right. that will install the utility also, which is on the left. but if you the want the driver only, let windows search for it automatically on your harddrive.

if successfully installed, eventually you will have two network wireless adapters displayed like so.

i hope this helps.

Thanks for the advice, but

my system restore doesn't go back far enough
Driver Sweeper is no longer available from their site
The win7 drivers are no longer available from the alfa site!

Could it be Alfa are fiddling with the win7 driver??

I shall struggle on...

hi gin99, the links are working perfectly and they are available on their sites just downloaded myself. the alfa driver is 17 mb with the filename 036_WindowsDriver_Win7_6.1316.1209.2009_UI_1.00.0145.L and driver sweeper is 4.5 mb with the filename DriverSweeper_2.1.0-[Guru3D.com].

edit: currently i am using alfa awuso36h device for wifi connection. i had the same problem before, what i did was...(i reformatted my hardrive with fresh installation) just to have this device working. make sure your device is not defective and check also your usb cable.

hmmm,

The link on the alfa site goes to 4shared.com and says "The file link that you requested is not valid."

And the Guru3D site says this on it- "Attention - Guru3D Driver Sweeper has been discontinued as such you will not find any download links here any longer."

Sorry, rbeldua, am I being stooopid?

Hope this may help...
I can post other screen shots, please let me know any in particular

Guru3D Driver Sweeper can be found here:

Guru3D - Driver Sweeper 3.0.0 FREE Download - FREEWARE at SoftCns.com


The AWUS036H driver can be found here:
036H_Win7_6.1316.1209.2009_UI_1.00.0145.L.zip - 4shared.com - online file sharing and storage - download

Links working as of May 27, 2011

Thanks for the links, Mkam, I have the correct driver, I am sure of that now.

The adapter should just work, I think now that it must be a problem with my Vaio. Sony have been utterly useless in helping. Just doing the usual passing the buck.

Screen cap attached.

Just thought I would update, as I have now fixed the problem.

Unfortunately, the only way was to restore to factory settings. Takes a while, as anyone who (especially if you dont constantly backup all your files) has done it knows.

After taking things as far as I could, I emailled the Managing Director of Sony. I was promptly replied to, and after a couple of telephone calls from a very helpful chap at head office, I was contacted by an engineer from Egypt. Lots of calls and emails and going through the usual check this, check that, I gave up and sorted it myself by doing the above. He probably would have eventually worked out what was going on, some sort of software conflict I am certain, but sod that, just wipe the HD and start again is my advice.

Anyway, I done that, downloaded the utility, plugged in the adapter, and it works!

Thanks for your help!

Driver download page ====>>> ALFA Network – WLAN, WiFi phone, ADSL, KVM, Bluetooth, PoE Products -- Driver

My Alfa adaptor wouldn't work either and i had tried a lots of times with installing drivers and so on. that was a couple of years ago..A friend of mine has discovered that the problem i had was the windows signature. The driver wasnt signed by windows..or smth like that. So he just installed a script on my pc which everytime i turn it on is going to disable signature, after that windows gets in, and my Alfa adaptor works smoothly!

I need some serious help with this adaptor? I don't even know where to begin

Rbeldua I have two network wireless adapters showing

Goodgellas1833 said:

Rbeldua I have two network wireless adapters showing

Click to expand...

hi welcome to the forums, could you post a screenshot of the 2 network adapters showing? thanks

this guide will help you how to post a screenshot:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/9733-screenshots-files-upload-post-seven-forums.html

ok as soon as i get back home from i work i will thanks

View attachment Doc1sc.docx
this is what it looks like u see i have the antenna pulling in the the full bars and my actual internet is week...i know the adapter is working i just can connect you see the realtek window under general no activity

2 network adapters is showing that's because 1 is your built in wireless network (I presume you're using a laptop, you have to disable or turn it off) and the other wireless network would be the Alfa.