Astounding Failure of Network Adapters...

buckett421

I've gone through 3 different wireless adapters and the best connection I can get is one that lasts, at most, five minutes. I'm using windows 7 64 bit.

The drivers consistently say that they fail to install or the adapter just freezes the system until I unplug it; however, if I check it under the device manager it says that the correct driver is installed...

Any advice would be much appreciated, because every other resource I've used has been a total bust.

Thanks

amateurhour

1) Are you using the same brand with all three adapters?

2) Did you actually go to the driver's website and get the latest 64 bit drivers?

3) Did you use "run as administrator" if UAC is turned on for your account?

4) Do the adapters work with your wireless configuration, and what are you trying to connect to? (home router or like shared connection at a dorm)

5) Is windows firewall enabled? If so, have you made a rule to allow the network traffic?

Straygatsby

Even now, Win7/64 is absolutely, terribly, unbefuckinglievably terrible to find good drivers/adapters for. I would check Belkin and Cisco corporate sites to see if their most recent N adapters come with vetted 64 bit adapters and buy from there. I went through 3 or 4 belkin and cisco G adapters before I literally gave up and rewired my home network to start from my Win 7/64 bit PC (because even if you get an adapter working, many people have issues with the polling process of the connection which can ruin online play).

Start with the driver and work backwards. For some reason, companies just had an absolutely terrible batch of x64 drivers for the first coupla waves (admittedly, this could be a Win 7 issue as well).

amateurhour

also also, you might be able to run the 32 bit drivers in compatibility mode and see if that works... It's a longshot but it might pay off.

Lastly, are you using home premium? because it's got some fucked network configs. I have a network hard drive with some older drivers and when I upgraded to 64 bit home premium it started freezing my machine at login because it was trying to find the external hard drive on the network. Similar issue, and eventually I just had to scrap the drive or use RDP with the drive connected to my server.

Rye

I went through the exact same problems on my system (windows 7 64, Professional though). Here are some "gotchas" I figured out:

1) Use an internal device if possible. The USB/plugin ones get hot and/or fail a LOT more. My current PC has been running wirelessly for almost a year with no problems since I switched to an internal device (wireless PCIe "card"). Also, Windows seems to enjoy having things on the board directly and won't disrupt the device when sleeping/screensavers are enacted. Mine was ~$20 on newegg, or ~$30 if I bought it in the store.

2) Windows 7 (and their online stuff) typically have the BEST compatibility drivers as opposed to Belkin, Cisco etc. disks. This isn't always the case, but I'd try to use windows drivers before the manufactured driver.

3) Uninstall whatever drivers you have first before trying a new approach.

4) Have the computer plugged in (wired) to the LAN while trying to get drivers for your Wireless card. This way, your computer recognizes the need for the driver and has the CAPABILITY to look online for it. Once I got my driver, I unplugged the wire and have never had to plug in since.