Solved PCIe Wi-Fi class N (150Mbps) ONLY doesn't work under Win7 HP

[Megahertz07]

My desktop computer is on my home office, and the ISP router (with class N (300Mbps) WiFi) is on the opposite side, about 3m (10ft) away.
Is important to say that I don’t have any other computer, tablet, printer or cell phone to connect to the desktop. The Wi-Fi is only to connect to the Internet.

To avoid the Ethernet cable across the room, I was using a PCI Wi-Fi class G access board (TP-Link WN551G). The installation was plug and play as Win 7 found and installed a driver for it. Never had an issue with it.

Recently (due to another ISP competition) my ISP gave me a free speed upgrade from 15Mbps to 60Mbps. As maximum speed achieved with the WN551G is around 25Mbps, less than half the internet speed, I bought a PCIe Wi-Fi class N (150Mbps) access board (TP-Link WN781ND).
Can’t make it work under Win 7.

I have a SSD (for daily work) with Win 7 HP and Lubuntu and a Win 7 boot able HDD used for backup and maintenance. I also have a boot able Win 10 PE USB pendrive (with a lot of tools).
The TP-Link WN781ND was also plug and play under Lubuntu and Win 10 PE. That excludes a hardware or router problem. The issue is only under Win 7 HP (Doesn’t work on both Win 7 installations).

After physical installing and booting, I installed the driver.
- First ran the driver setup that came with the WN781ND. Didn’t work.
- I downloaded a driver from TP-Link site. Didn’t work.
- The chipset is a Qualcomm Atheros AR9485 so I also tried a driver from it. Didn’t work.

Under device manager – properties it says that the Device is working Properly.
The problem is that it doesn’t find any Wi-Fi and there are at least 4 around.

The Hardware Id is PCI\VEN_168C&DEV_0032&SUBSYS_3118168C&REV_01

I have searched the internet for a solution and tried many options as setting WLAN Autoconfig service to on. Network Access Protection (NAP) is off.

Any ideas?
Thanks, Megahertz07

Solved: Please read Solved

 

[torchwood]

Hi Luiz,

Dumb question time
Thats only a 2.4ghz adapter - is your modem set to broadcast on 5ghz
Check on the advanced settings tab.




Roy

 

[Megahertz07]

Roy, the 2.4ghz adapter works fine under Lubuntu and Win 10PE. It is something on Win 7.

My cable modem / router is a Humax HGB10R-02 and has two radios: 2.4 and 5GHz. As I don't have any device at 5GHz it is turned off.

 

[torchwood]

Luis,

can you run msinfo32,
produces a lot of info about how the system running, have a quick look to see if anything stands out.

Might be easier to run and post BSOD info collector

Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) Posting Instructions

Roy

 

[Megahertz07]

The only thing I found on msinfo32 is that the WiFi use irq 12 that is already in use but it says there is no conflict.
I ran the dm log collector.exe. Don't know what to look for.

 

[torchwood]

Hi Luiz,

something odd here, according to

msinfo>> components>> Network >> adapter
its using AR5005g drivers and there's no set-up detail (obviously why it wont connect)
see screenshot

Your Ethernet looks fine.

compare the details they should be the same - IP/subnet the only difference will be (xx) 192.168.0. XX
ignore MAC
In your position i would disconnect the card - remove drivers AND if it gives you remove Device option DO IT


REBOOT


re-insert the card and let the OS prompt for drivers


Roy

 

[Megahertz07]

Hi Roy,
I have installed and uninstalled the drivers many times, always deleting the previous driver. I have also moved the adapter to another PCIe slot.
Under device manager – properties, all three installs says that the Device is working Properly.

To get an IP/subnet you must choose a router and logon on it. The problem is that windows says that there is no Wi-Fi and there are at least 4 around.

The adapter isn't the AR5005G, it is the AR9485. It is also on msinfo >> components >> Network >> adapter

I'm not alone:atheros ar9485 no connections available windows 7 - Google Search

 

[Megahertz07]

IpConfig /all doesn't show the Wireless adapter

 

[iko22]

netsh wlan show drivers
netsh wlan show interface
netsh wlan show networks

what results do you receive?

 

[Megahertz07]

Thank you Iko

The oem45.inf

 

[Megahertz07]

Success, at last.
Under device manager, I uninstalled the Qualcomm Atheros AR9485 driver. A refresh showed the needed driver.
I tried once again the CD that came with the adapter without running the setup. I searched for the drive on the CD and found one Under Win 7 64. Voila.
The only problem is that the signal is very, very weak.

 

[iko22]

Success, at last.
Under device manager, I uninstalled the Qualcomm Atheros AR9485 driver. A refresh showed the needed driver.
I tried once again the CD that came with the adapter without running the setup. I searched for the drive on the CD and found one Under Win 7 64. Voila.
The only problem is that the signal is very, very weak.

Signal strength should improve with time. Otherwise, use netsh to disable/enable autotuning, if that helps.

netsh interface tcp set global autotuning=disabled

netsh interface tcp set global autotuning=normal

 

[Megahertz07]

Under device manager I did a search for update:
- Fist on the drive I downloaded from Tp-Link site. It did a update and worked.
- Then on the drive I downloaded from internet for Qualcomm Atheros AR9485. It did a update and worked. This is now the current driver.

The only problem now is the weak signal.
- I'm using a 1.8 / 5dBi external antenna
- Channel 1 (that may be interfering with other routers)

 

[Megahertz07]

Made some changes to the Router (MAC filter ON and Bandwidth from 20 to 40MHz)

Thank you Roy and Iko

 

[Megahertz07]

It's working on my SSD (daily use) but can't make it work on my maintenance HDD.

 

[Megahertz07]

Now I can say it's 100% solved.

I did a Win 7 HP SP1 clean install on an old HDD. After installing all MB drivers and BEFORE any update the WN781ND and the WN821N installed without any problems.
Then I installed all the updates and everything is working fine. Then I cloned the installation to the SSD.

So my conclusion is that a Windows update prevented the proper N781ND and the WN821N installation.

 

[SIW2]

So my conclusion is that a Windows update prevented the proper N781ND and the WN821N installation.

Not necessarily.

Have you tried:

1. Update the installation media with Simplix

2. Install that updated image to a spare partition.

3.Then install drivers for your new router.

Probably that will be fine.



It is possible that on your previous installation that windows downloaded several drivers for your Lan card, then there were drivers for your other router, then finally for your new router. Something might have got messed up there. It could be something else - impossible to know if you had your previous installation running for quite some time

It is not necessarily the actual updates ( .msu and .cabs )