# Solved: USB Wifi Adapters Installed OK but not working on Win7



## tidzapete (Jan 1, 2010)

Windows 7 will not connect to a WiFi Network using a USB Network Adapter.

I have 3 adapters, A ***Senoa SUB 364 (EXT)***, a ***Repeatit SU2410 USB V2*** and a ***ZYXEL G202***. All of these devices install OK on Windows 7 Home Premium on my Destop PC (64 bit) and on my Asus Wii Netbook (32 bit).

In each case the adapter can be enabled/disabled and the driver properties says it is working correctly. When I try and connect to a network Windows 7 behaves as though the adapter does not exist and reports no networks.

The Wii has an integrated adapter which works perfectly under Windows and connects to either of the 3 networks available to me.

I have done all the checks I can on the configuration. What seems odd to me is that it happens to all 3 devices on 2 different windows 7 PCs both of which are working perfectly in any other respect.

This suggests the common denominator is me and I must be doing something wrong.. what's also strange is that I cannot find any similar problems being reported on any of the forums.

From what reading I've been able to do it seems like the new wifi virtualisation thingy in W7 is not recognising the adapters which suggests I', missing a configuration option somewhere.

Looking forward to finding out if I'm not alone or just being stupid.

Pete


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## etaf (Oct 2, 2003)

have a look in device manager and see if the USB adapters are seen there OK 
Have you installed windows 7 drivers for those adapters.

so the adapters work ok on a NON windows 7 PC 
and all three failt to work on two PCs both with windows7
it may be they are not compatable with windows 7


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## tidzapete (Jan 1, 2010)

Yes all 3 adapters worked fine on XP. Interestingly they each worked through their own "Utillity Programs" and with Wireless Zero Configuration Service Stopped. In each case the manufacturers say there is no windows 7 utility the connection will be managed by Windows 7. I have checked that the replacement for Wireless Zero Configuration Service, now called "WLAN Autoconfig" is started.

The adapters are installed with the drivers recommended by the manufacturer. They all show in device manager, I can enable and disable them. If I right click and select properties they all report "This device is working properly."

If I go to the Network and Sharing Centre and select Change Adapter Settings they appear there OK. 

If I right click and select Connect/Disconnect windows says "no Connections are Available" (Which is not true)>

Pete


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## etaf (Oct 2, 2003)

strange, i do not know windows 7
download 
http://www.xirrus.com/library/wifitools.php
disable in device manage the aboard wireless and see what the USB adapters detect with this program
Are you using WLAN Autoconfig or the manufacturers wireless program - you only want to use one


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## etaf (Oct 2, 2003)

it may also be worth keeping an eye on this thread
http://forums.techguy.org/windows-7/890066-my-exp-win-7-wireless.html


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## tidzapete (Jan 1, 2010)

I am using WLAN Autoconfig.Non of the manufacturers provide a Windows 7 utility. (Think this is because there is a fundamental change in the way W7 handles WIFI.)

Xcirrus WiFi Inspector cannot see the adapters regardless of whether they are Enabled or Disabled.

Pete


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## etaf (Oct 2, 2003)

i will move the thread across to networking , you may get other responses - you can always use the report button get the thread moved back


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

> The adapters are installed with the drivers recommended by the manufacturer.


Are they Windows 7 or Vista drivers? Did the reps say the adapters work with Windows 7? And these drivers are for your version (32 or 64 bit), right?


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## tidzapete (Jan 1, 2010)

Yes they are windows 7 drivers or vista drivers which the manufacturers say will work. I have put 64 bit drivers on the 64 bit OS and 32 bit drivers on the 32 bit OS.

I would love to hear from anyone with a USB wifi device which works under windows 7.

I have now tried the same on my wife's Lenoenovo - exactly the same result - *the integrated adapter works* - *the USB adapters don't!*


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

I have two different WiFi devices working with Windows 7, and I have no doubt that others would work as well, I have only tested the two that I have.

In my case, I needed no drivers, I just plugged the USB adapters in, and the fired right up. One is the *ZyXEL AG-225H WiFi finder and USB Adapter*, the other is the *Rosewill RNX-G1*.

With one of these devices plugged in and the drivers properly installed, please do this.

Hold the *Windows* key and press *R*, then type *CMD* then press *Enter* to open a command prompt:

In the command prompt window that opens, type type the following command:

_Note that there is a space before the /ALL, but there is *NOT* a space after the / in the following command._

IPCONFIG /ALL

Right click in the command window and choose *Select All*, then hit *Enter* to copy the contents to the clipboard.
Paste the results in a message here.

If you are on a machine with no network connection, use a floppy, USB disk, or a CD-RW disk to transfer a text file with the information to allow pasting it here.


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

I have a (pre-N) Airlink101 300N Wireless USB adapter that works great ('N' speeds even) on my Windows 7. Haven't yet tried my ZyXEL USB Wi-Fi detector and adapter (it has Vista but not 7 drivers).


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Actually Terry, I just plugged in my ZyXEL WiFi finder and it came to life with Windows 7, no driver installation required.


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## tidzapete (Jan 1, 2010)

Here is the info. The xyxel adapter is plugged in and reports as* Wireless connection 5*
Enabled
*Wi-Fi Wireless LAN USB Adapter 2"

*In Network Connections.

Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter GIGABIT Adapter:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : D-Link DGE-528T Gigabit Ethernet Adapter
#2
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-24-01-D7-91-51
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::20f6:aa0f:f78a:672d%24(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.102(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 04 January 2010 12:52:24
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 07 January 2010 12:52:24
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.254
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.254
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 503325697
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-12-76-6A-74-00-1D-60-0B-FC-79

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.254
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Tunnel adapter isatap.{D1EFD856-43C0-4484-99A5-2AC0D954084A}:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #2
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 2001:0:5ef5:73bc:28c8:1a1b:a79f:4919(Pref
erred)
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::28c8:1a1b:a79f:4919%17(Preferred)
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : ::
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

C:\Users\Pete>


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

That's both interesting and disturbing. The ipconfig /all shows no evidence at all of a wireless adapter. That's totally at odds with a wireless connection showing as 'enabled' in Network Connections. The only thing I've seen similar to that was my 1st USB adapter, which would draw more current than some USB ports liked, and it was possible for it to appear in Network Connections but lose power before I could do an ipconfig (it would also disappear from Network Connections). Seriously doubt that's happening to you, but be aware of the possibility.

The only thing I can think of is maybe a problem with the USB ports on both systems? Try installing the latest chipset drivers from the PC manufacturer's web site. Then look closely to see if they (PC manufacturer) have any special drivers or procedures for USB ports.

I make that suggestion because shortly before giving away my 7 year old Dell XP desktop I discovered that there was a complicated multi-step procedure for installing the USB drivers. Since I had installed XP a few times w/o doing any of that it may explain why a few (by no means many) USB devices were flaky with that machine. One of my USB flash drives refused to work properly with it--until after I had performed that procedure.


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## tidzapete (Jan 1, 2010)

I agree, it is disturbing. The problem with your theory on USB ports is that the devices worked perfectly on XP on both the ASUS Eee and the Lenovo.

On all 3 PCsI have started afresh with windows 7 (no upgrade to create residual hangovers and other problems).

Which version of W7 are you using, I just have a funny feeling it may be Pro or Ultimate. I read somewhere that Home Premium (which I am using) does not have the XP compatibility stuff and handles things differently. I am well aware that may be a stupid conjecture but I'm running out of ideas.


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

I have Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit.



> The problem with your theory on USB ports is that the devices worked perfectly on XP on both the ASUS Eee and the Lenovo.


There are lots of problems with lots of my theories  but that's not one of them. If you are using the same chipset and USB drivers for 7 as for XP *THAT *is a big problem. And if you are using whatever drivers Windows supplied or found that could also be a problem.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

I happen to be running with Windows 7 Ultimate, just because I have it. I don't think the driver situation should be any different however.


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

Update on my "legacy" ZyXEL AG-225H Wi-Fi detector and USB adapter with Windows 7.

Plug and pray did not work--no driver.

Installing the June, 2007 Vista utility/driver did not work.

Installing the Vista utility/driver with recommended compatibility (XP SP2 for unknown reason?!) works. Not working especially well, as Speakeasy is giving me 3.8 down/0.6 Mbps up, while ethernet immediately after gave 11.3/0.78. Maybe forcing Vista SP2 compatibility would work better, but I don't feel like any more mandatory reboots now, and don't expect to use it much anyhow.


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## tidzapete (Jan 1, 2010)

TerryNet said:


> *Update on my "legacy" ZyXEL AG-225H Wi-Fi detector and USB adapter with Windows 7.*
> 
> Installing the Vista utility/driver with recommended compatibility (XP SP2 for unknown reason?!) works.


Thaks for the clue Terrynet. My Xyxel driver works if I install the XP driver and force XP SP3 compatibility. - *Now who would have guessed that!
* 
I've not yet found a combination which makes the other 2 work (Repeatit and Senoa 362(ext) - and there's a daunting number of options.

I was singing the praises of Windows 7 till I found this quagmire - like everything else nowadays _support depends on the good nature and good will of people:up: rather than Customer Service from the companies who took our money.:down:_


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

The amazing part is that Terry had a totally different experience with the exact same piece of hardware than I did!

My *ZyXEL AG-225H WiFi finder and USB Adapter* woke up and worked right out of the box with no additional drivers required!

Just to insure I wasn't giving bad information, I took this AG-225H adapter to my wife's 32 bit Win7 machine and plugged it in. After searching Windows Update for drivers, it loaded the correct drivers and successfully connected to my wireless network.


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

I may have screwed up the ZyXEL installation. I had initially started the Vista installation pkg. before plugging in the adapter. When the program did not seem to work correctly and wanted a restart I figured nothing had been done, and didn't restart. But maybe an incorrect driver had been made available and so Windows didn't do the search that it did for John. But, at least if I screwed up, it led to a "solution" for *tidzapete*. 

The major issue with a new Windows has been, still is, and maybe always will be, drivers. To steal and mangle a phrase: It's the *driver*, stupid! 

To get their device to work with Windows the manufacturer has to develop a driver--the software that "translates" between the device's language and Window's language. Sometimes the motherboard or PC manufacturer has to modify that driver to make the device work in the particular unit. When Microsoft changes their language (interface specs) each manufacturer has to develop or modify the driver or assign "legacy" status to the device. Vista included major changes to the interface, and apparently 7 has tweaked that interface or made some changes to the registry structure, which means that not all Vista drivers work in 7.

You don't hear much about driver issues with Macintosh systems because there is only one company (vs. dozens for Windows machines) developing/manufacturing the computers--the same company developing the OS.


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## tidzapete (Jan 1, 2010)

Well.. I got there in the end.

To summarise:
*
Xyxel G-202* The Xyxel driver worked when I install the XP driver and force XP SP3 compatibility.

*Senoa 362(EXT) USB*. I abandoned all the Vista and W7 drivers which were supposed to work and went back to the original XP Driver and Utility package. Forced XP SP3 compatibility and installed the driver only.

*Repeatit SU2410 - USB V2.* This was far more problematic. Tried every combination of driver and compatibility with no success. As a result of reading a post on another forum I installed Drivermax. Provided that the adapter is installed with one of the older (non working) drivers Drivermax will upgrade to Atheros AR5700UG 6.22.0 which (a) works and (b) doesn't seem to be available anywhere else.

*I would like to thank Johnwill and Terrynet for their persistence* and hope that the manufacturers and microsoft get their act together soon. I'm lucky in that I'm retired and can afford 2 days to install 3 network adapters...!!


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

This retired grumpy old man is happy he was of some assistance to you.  Speaking of persistence, I think that *you* get the award!


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Yep, I'd have used them for target practice by now!


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