[meirionwyllt]

The built-in Wi-fi card of my laptop is, for the want of a better word, crap, so I bought a PCMCIA 108Mbps card. As for the built-in Wi-fi in my laptop, internet browsing would be ok but file transfer between computers on my home network would be a nightmare, whilst all other PCs would be able to communicate speedily. I also borrowed my friend's USB Wireless LAN dongle to test on my laptop, the transfer speed was great.

So anyway, I bought a PCMCIA card. I followed the instructions for driver installation, but the moment I insert the card the computer just freezes, and I can't even move my mouse cursor, until I remove the card and then normality is restored. I have tried doing it while the in-built Wi-fi adapter of my laptop is disabled in Device Manager and it's software client utility not running, but no change. Can anyone suggest what could be causing this?

[jackdw]

Have you tried inserting the card with the laptop shut down? What I usually find best is to just let windows install drivers for wireless hardware as most programs that come with adapters are a load of rubbish and unstable (as you found out).

Try uninstalling whatever it was it wanted you to install and shutting down. Then inserting the wireless card and booting back up and letting windows do the work. Disable your wireless and try to hook up via ethernet so windows can look online for drivers.

[meirionwyllt]

God I've tried everything. I've tried removing all installation files, removing driver from \system32\drivers, removing all registry entries, then just let windows just do its own thing. Sometimes I can get it to install the driver, but then I get a "Device cannot start (Code 10)" error. I then rebooted, tried that a few times, once I got it start, and search for wireless networks, but couldn't find any, despite being right next to the router, which is usually picked up no probs.

Device Manager says that the chipset is Atheros. I have tried locating better drivers on the net but their website doesn't have any, nor does widows update.

Anything else I could try? cheers.

[TerryNet]

You want to get chipset and other integrated device drivers from your PC (or motherboard) manufacturer's web site. The chipset manufacturer and Window Update do not know which may have been modified to work in the specific system.

For the PCMCIA card get the latest driver from its manufacturer's web site.

[meirionwyllt]

OK, the seller of this card has now given me what he says is the correct driver, which has a completely different filename to the other one. But when I insert the card and try to install the new driver, windows keeps looking for the old driver, even when I guide it towards the new driver file. Is windows looking for the old driver (file AR5211.sys) because:

1. it has scanned the firmware of the card and KNOWS that this is the right one, or

2. it remembers that I previously tried installing this old driver and is stuck on this one?

if the answer is 1, I'll just give up and ask for a refund. if the answer is 2, how do I tell windows to forget the old diver and concentrate on the new one.

thanks again.

[JohnWill]

You should be able to completely uninstall the old driver. In Device Manager, View, Show Hidden Devices. Uninstall anything that relates to the previously installed drivers. You may also have to do a text search for the AR5211.sys in the \Windows\inf folder and remove the INF file that is causing Windows to search for the driver.

[TerryNet]

"OK, the seller of this card has now given me what he says is the correct driver, ..."

What? If this is some no-brand thing get a refund if you can and get a known brand. If it is a legit card what is the brand and exact model?

[meirionwyllt]

thanks for your replies.

JohnWill - the only thing I found in Device Manager that relates is "Atheros Wireless Network Adapter - Packet Scheduler Miniport", but when trying to uninstall I get error "Failed to uninstall the device. The device may be required to boot up the computer". This does not make sense since the card is no longer connected. how do I bypass this error?
The "windows\inf" folder had no relevant .inf files, and I already deleted the .sys file from "system32\drivers".

TerryNet - the card is unbranded, only a sticker describing what it is, no brand name. I didn't think it necessary to get a branded card since most components one buys is unbranded. A refund would be an answer but I'd like to exhaust all other possibilities first.

thanks.

[JohnWill]

Boot up in safe mode and see if you can remote that one. Also, in Device Manager, click View, Show Hidden Devices.

[AcaCandy]

Atheros Wireless Adapters have their own program that switches between wireless/hard wired, and probably the new device. Did you turn off the wireless on the side of the computer? Should be a switch of some sort.

[meirionwyllt]

No, atheros is the driver for the new device, or at least that's the driver I was initially given by the seller. The original wi-fi in my laptop is the biult-in intel centrino. I nned to get rid of the Atheros driver from my system to allow windows to install the new (hopefully correct) driver I have since gotten from the seller.

JohnWill, I tried uninstalling the driver in safe mode (plain safe mode, without networking) and I STILL can't get it deleted. I can't seem to shift it from there. Any other ideas?

Cheers

[tipstir]

Did you disable the onboard wireless nic from the BIOS? You could go into the driver folder and try to rename the *.dll *.drx or whatever is use for the driver. But it seems you're have issues with the OS. Why not backup your files to another PC or USB 2.0 HDD. Delete OS and re-install the OS your using.

[AcaCandy]

Intel Centrino is the chip I think you are confused.

Also, is there an ON/OFF switch for the built in wifi?

[meirionwyllt]

I don't think I've made myself clear on this. Apart from it being the name of the processor, one of the things that makes a laptop a "Centrino" is that it has a built-in wi-fi adapter. Now, I have no trouble in disconnecting/disabling this, or in getting rid of its drivers. This is not where my problem lies.

Because my built-in intel wi-fi adapter was underperforming, I bought a new PCMCIA wi-fi card, but was given the wrong kind of driver for it (Atheros). And now I can't get rid of that driver from my device manager, despite the pcmcia card not being connected, and despite trying it in safe mode. So, now even though I've got the correct driver, windows just keeps looking for the Atheros driver even though the new driver is something different.

So, forget the built-in wi-fi, that can be switched on/off or diabled as desired, I'm just trying to clean my device manager of the old (incorrect) driver for my pcmcia card so that I can install the correct drivers.

thanks.

[AcaCandy]

http://www.intel.com/products/centrino/
I give up. Best of luck to you.