USB wifi adapter unrecognized on start up at times

Hey All,

My usb Wireless Adapter is sometimes not recognized at start up. I’m running a Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit operating system. My wireless adapter is a Premiertek Powerlink 802.11b/g/n that is mounted outside (Michigan). I am connecting to a neighbors unsecured wifi and at times my adapter is not recognized in the Device Manager (Unknown Device).

I noticed that when it is not working that the adapter is not showing in my network connections. At times I do several startups to get it going again. At other times I have unconnected the adapter from my rear usb port and connect it to a usb multiple port adapter that I bought (4 ports). It works there sporadically (connecting and disconnecting) then I end up plugging it back into the usb port on the back of the computer to get it going again.

I have tried following things I have tried to no avail. I have reset the adapter with a “netsh int ip reset” command. Removing the “unknown device” from the device manager and having windows try to recognize it again. I have directed the unknown device to update in several ways . From the drivers in the Windows/System32/driver and driverstore directories and I get a most up to date driver message when I do.

I have unloaded the Ralink software and driver for this device and reloaded it. I have taken screen shots of services running when it does not work and when working. I have noticed that in administrative services certain things have not started when not working: Computer Browser, Function Discovery Provider Host, Home Group Listener & Provider, Peer Name Resolution Protocol, Peer Networking Group, PnP-X IP Bus Enumerator, SSDP Discovery, and UPnP Device Host.

I have tried starting these services manually and it didn’t help. I noticed that RalinkRegistryWriter, RalinkRegistryWriter64 are running in services if connecting or not connecting. I also noticed that RaMediaServer is not running when not connected or connected. I downloaded DriveMax (with forums tutorial recommendation) and it says that I have the most up to date driver for this device.

RAD1

It sounds like your system has some file integrity problems. You should start by running the sfc/scannow command. It's sometimes required to run this command more than once in order to fix certain problems.
SFC /SCANNOW Command - System File Checker

A start up repair would be my second choice for fixing this problem. It's sometimes required to run the start up repair three times in order to fix certain problems. :)
Startup Repair

A repair install might also be required if the other steps don't fix the problem.
Repair Install

I ran a sfc /scannow, tried that for a while, then did a start up repair and it said there was no problems. I finally wiped my computer out with a diskpart clean all, since I had a few other issues. This time Windows 7 loaded the 802.11 USB wireless Lan Card driver and I did not load the driver or software from the disk that came with the Ralink device. It seems more stable so far.

Here’s what I come up with in the devices and printers area when the device shows as unknown.

Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43)
Device Type: Universal Serial Bus Controller
Manufacturer: Standard USB Host Controller
Port_#0002 Hub_#0002
Problem Code 0000002B

Chev65 I do appreciate your input here, because it is putting me more on track to solving this file integrity startup issue. Out of 256 people who looked at this post, you were the only one that is giving it a shot and I do appreciate your time and efforts. Do you know if there is a registry setting that I should be watching when it goes wrong?

I thought I would conclude this thread thinking that someone might read it and find a few ideas. I have noticed that connection problems have been more apt to happen in the morning after my computer has been off all night. I have this usb wifi adapter connected to about 45 foot of cord (one extended usb connection) that leads up to my roof.

I’m now thinking by how it has been acting that it takes time for the usb cords to warm up to where the adapter is finally recognized. It sometimes takes several restarts to get going and seems to work better if things are warmed up. My solution is that I will keep my computer on and turn off my monitor over night since once it is connected there is no problem.