Windows 7 64 bit - wireless N USB Network card - anyone got one working? | The Coffeehouse

OrigamiCar

Hi everyone,

I realise this is more a question for the Windows 7 forums, but I thought I'd throw it out here to the niners first.
Has anyone managed to get Windows 7 64 bit version working with a wireless 'N' USB adaptor yet? If so, which adapter?

I've tried two different adapters here- a Dlink DWA130 and a Netgear WNDA1300, but neither of them work.
Inserting either into the PC, instead of the usual USB connected sound, I get three dings instead and in device manager I'm seeing 'USB2.0 WLan' in Other Devices Tab.
I've tried using the Microsoft Generic USB 802.11a/b/g/n driver that comes with Windows 7, but the thing just hangs when trying to install the driver. Microsoft also provide a driver for the D-Link DWA130 adaptor, but it's for the B revision not the A revision that I have and it doesn't work.

Darned annoying! So can anyone confirm any other USB N adapters that they have managed to get working?

I really hope Microsoft does more to get 64 bit supported in hardware drivers for Windows 7 - requiring a 64 bit driver in order to qualify for Windows Certification would be a good step if they haven't already thought of that...

Matthew van Eerde
AKA Maurits

I've never gotten a USB wireless network adapter to work on any 64-bit Windows - Windows 7 x64, Windows Vista x64, or Windows XP x64.

EDIT: or a USB wired network adapter either.

jugatsu
Boomer zuner

I have used the Netgear WN111 v1 in both Vista x64 & 7 x64 without any problems. There's a v2 of that adapter available and Wal-Mart has them.

Do you mean Netgear WNDA3100? Have you tried v1.6 of the adapter software?

Ion Todirel
buuu

USB networking hardware are the holy grail of crapware, I have never ever ever seen a reliable piece of USB networking hardware

Heywood_J
Trust me, I'm from the Internets

i have a Linksys WUSB600N -- it works fine with Vista x64.

However, I have installed the current Windows 7 beta 3 times and each time the same exact thing has happened -- the wireless adapter works OK for a while then stops working. Win 7 says that everything is OK, but it's not.

androidi

D-Link 64-bit support is terrible for older products like DWA130 Rev A. The Rev B & C have 64 bit drivers on D-Link site.

To increase chance of getting the Rev A to work in 64-bit the first step is to find out the chip manufacturer by looking at the 32 bit drivers. It's Marvell. Turns out Marvell doesn't provide drivers directly for Wifi. So then you find someone who use same chip. Linksys.

http://catalog.update.microsoft.com/v7/site/Search.aspx?q=WUSB300N (the large zip file is the 64 bit I believe)

There you have Linksys 64 bit driver for the Marvell chip. I don't have these products but if you manually force install using device manager (tell it to find all/even incompatible stuff) then there's high chance that it works. I was in same situation and this same procedure did the trick.

androidi

In reply to androidi

#Feb 8th @ 3:07 AM

To whine some more.

It is pretty annoying that while these USB sticks practically always have a SoC solution, there's separate driver downloads for D-Link, Linksys, Netgear etc even when they all use same chip from company X and the only difference between them is they just made their drivers not install if some string doesn't match. (and different logo in the plastic)

OrigamiCar

In reply to androidi

#Feb 8th @ 3:07 AM

BRILLIANT! That worked!

MANY thanks androidi - I would have never worked that one out.
+1 brownie point for androidi Smiley

Beatbuster

In reply to jugatsu

#Feb 6th @ 10:17 PM

Jigatsu: can you please let me know which driver version you are using to get the wg111v1 to work in windows 7/64.

I tried:
- the last version online at netgear (2004)
- the version on my cd
- the version designated for v2 (device properly installed, but not actually working)
- the version designated for v3 (windows 7 crashes and won`t reboot - safe mode, de-install, works fine again)

I d really hate to have to go and buy a new wireless adapter just because I went from XP to Windows 7 (64bit)
Thanks!

n4cer

64-bit device drivers have been a Windows Logo Program requirement since it was revised for Vista.

I've been using this Encore adapter since Windows 7 was in Beta or RC:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833180053&cm_re=802.11n_usb-_-33-180-053-_-Product

It was around $17+shipping when I got it. It doesn't appear to be available for less than $40 now.

I use the chipset manufacturer's drivers (Ralink RT2870) - driver-only install, and have never had a problem on Windows 7 x64.

http://www.ralinktech.com/support.php?s=1

This AZIO adapter also uses a Ralink chipset and is currently $20.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833340014&cm_re=802.11n_usb-_-33-340-014-_-Product

@Beatbuster - The wg111v1 uses an Intersil PrismGT chipset. I could not find a Windows x64 driver for this chipset. The one on Netgear's site is 32-bit. The other versions of the wg111 use Realtek chipsets, (RTL8187L for v2, RTL8187B for v3) so their drivers won't work with your v1.

spivonious

I had the Netgear WN111 v1 working (although my unit ended up being defective). I also have had success with the Rosewill RNX-N1.