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HELP Network Adaptor Driver Not Found HELP

1K views 6 replies 3 participants last post by  DavisMcCarn 
#1 ·
Recently bought a USB network adapter and i'm trying to set it up but my operating system doesn't seem to recognize the driver files.

The operating system is Windows 8.1
The network adapter the the TP-Link TL-WN722N

I thought the adapter was supposed to be plug and play so just plugged it in and waited for the light to come on showing it was on but nothing happened.

Then I inserted the CD that came with it into my laptop and ran the application.
I then clicked the install driver button.

The installation wizard popped up and asked if i wanted to install the TP-Link application thingy for connecting to wifi and the driver or just the driver.

I selected the just the driver.

I waited till it had finished installing and then removed the adapter and turned the computer off.

Once the computer was turned back on I then plugged the adapter back in.

The light still on the adapter wasn't on so I opened windows device manager.

In the network adapter section were two Realtek entry's that I think are for my laptops built in wireless card one was called the GBE Family Controller.

I think they are the drivers for my built in card because when i disable them there is a DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NO_INTERNET error when browsing with Google Chrome.

In the section Other devices there is a device called 802. 11n NIC which has the following status:

The drivers for this device are not installed. (Code 28)
There are no compatible drivers for this device.
To find a driver for this device, click Update Driver.
Manufacturer: Unknown.
Location: Port_#0003.Hub_#0001

I believe this device to be the TP wireless adapter because the device disappears when I remove the adapter and reappears when I insert it back in.

I tried updating it using the driver I had installed on my laptop from the CD but Windows said it couldn't find the driver software for the device when i told it to browse in the directory it was in and when i told windows to search automatically for updated software.

I then repeated this with the driver files online from the TP-Link site after downloading and unzipping them with 7zip.

I got the same results.

Then I looked at an online forum here and so went onto the Microsoft easy fix solutions for find and fix problems with devices and hardware and ran the program which said problem 802. 11n NIC doesn't have a driver with a status of not fixed and problem: hardware changes might not be detected status detected.
I also checked for Windows OS updates but was fully up to date

Thats as far as i got no idea of where to go from here. Seems that either there is a problem with my operating system not being able to detect the unzipped driver files or the driver files both on the disc and both versions from online are so faulty they aren't even recognized as drivers. There is also the problem that the device itself wasn't even recognized with a name that's identifiable which means there must be a problem in communication between the device and the operating system. Would trying a driver from the chipset manufacturer help at all? Please & Thank You
 
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#2 ·
It may be a faulty wifi card straight outta the box. TP Link is a cheap manufacturer.

Try returning it and getting another.

FWIW, always run the installer FIRST BEFORE INSERTING THE ADAPTER.
 
#4 ·
It may be a faulty wifi card straight outta the box. TP Link is a cheap manufacturer.

Try returning it and getting another.

FWIW, always run the installer FIRST BEFORE INSERTING THE ADAPTER.
Just tried running the adapter with another machine running WindowsXP using the correct driver as well as my Raspberry Pi 3 but the same issue occurs so i think you are right as the adapter is the common denominator
 
#6 ·
Its the hardware v2 version tried the link you posted with the v2 driver. Installed it but i'm still getting the same information for the adapter. I would just disable the two realtek drivers and i know my wifi password. Files on the cd all appear to be from 2016 apart from a file called "autorun" twith a type of setup information
 
#5 ·
The fact that you posted "Other devices there is a device called 802. 11n NIC" says that the device was recognized; but, there were no drivers available from Windows Update and that the drivers on the CD were not for the correct device or for Windows 8.1.
Did you look at the date on the CD?
If the files are older than 2014, they are probably not for 8.1.
Did you try the link I posted and choosing the version that is printed on the adapter?
Different hardware versions will require different drivers.
Even if you do get the correct drivers installed, you will need to disable the built-in WiFi and connect to any WiFi network you need to, which means you need to know the password.
If that model did not have a real antenna, I would have told you that the built-in WiFi was superior anyway because of the antennae which are in the display section of the laptop and infinitely better than most USB WiFi adapters.
 
#7 ·
It may then, actually be bad; but, it's awfully rare, even for TP-Link.
In Windows 7, 8, or 10, it got much easier to check the device in that, if you go to it's properties, on the details tab, and click the Hardware Id's entry in the pull down, you can then right click on one of the entries (i.e. PCI\VEN_10EC&DEV_8168&SUBSYS_78501462&REV_0C is my gigabit network adapter) and then paste it into a Google search to find what international databases of PC hardware think it is. Be wary of sites that want to install "Driver Update" as they are a scam that will not help; but, what the chip and manufacturer really are should be fairly easy. That same string, BTW (By The Way) (i.e. VEN_10EC&DEV_8168&SUBSYS_78501462 for my example ) must be in the INF file for the installer or Windows won't think it is the correct driver and, While its been a long time since I had to do it, on several occasions, I had to edit the INF file, replacing one of its listed ID's with the one from the actual device. Do not do that until you have verified that the driver files match the hardware ID of the device !
You might try beefing at TP-Link's support folks about the problem.
 
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