Can't get wi-fi to work after reinstalling Win7

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Appin

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Jun 4, 2013
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Hi,

I am having problems getting wi-fi to work on a friend's reinstalled Win7 Samsung R530 laptop. Wi-fi was working fine before the reinstallation of Win7. They had lost the OS and Device Drivers disc so they got a Win7 (x64) disc and licence from eBay. I checked the Samsung website and it seemed to have all the device drivers for this exact model. So I reformatted the disc and installed Win7 and that was fine. I used Windows Update to make sure that all the correct patches were installed, then installed the device drivers from the website. So far so good.

Wired ethernet works fine, but I cannot get the wi-fi to work at all. I have tried several possible device drivers from the Samsung website, BIOS Agent Plus and Windows Update. None of them seem to work. I have tried turning the wi-fi off and on (little blue light on the front to indicate that it is working) and rebooting but it doesn't seem to have any effect. When I check the device driver in Device Manager it always says 'this device is working properly' and the Device Driver tab seems OK.

I don't think it is a hardware problem as the wi-fi was working correctly prior to the reinstallation. Another thing that I noticed is that when I tried to use a wi-fi dongle that is working on another machine - it doesn't seem to like that either. Everything else is fine.

Has anyone encountered a similar problem and been able to resolve it? I am sure it is something straightforward that I have missed.

Many thanks
 
Solution
A
I also had this problem which I have now fixed!

The problem: When Windows 7 is re-installed, it automatically searches for and installs the drivers for all your devices including your wireless adapter. The issue is that this automatic feature doesn't always get it right and sometimes installs the wrong driver for your wireless adapter.

How To Fix this:
1 - Find you wireless adapter name: "Device Manager" -> "Network Adapter" -> (Name of your Wireless Adapter e.g. Atheros AR5B95)
2 - Google for the driver of your Wireless adapter name (e.g. Atheros AR5B95 Wireless Adapter Drivers)
3- Once downloaded make sure the file is extracted (if it is a .zip file) then return to "Device Manager" locate your driver again, double-click to open it...
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A

Appin

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Jun 4, 2013
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Hi,
I called my ISP and they weren't much use. Just took me through the stuff that I had done myself already.
I also called Samsung. They walked me through installing each of the 3 Wi-Fi device drivers that put on their website: http://www.samsung.com/uk/support/model/NP-R530-JA0JUK-downloads
No luck with that either.
I tried uninstalling the device driver and allowing Windows Update to find the right one, but that one didn't work either.
I have had a look at the Wi-Fi adaptor page: http://www.qca.qualcomm.com/technology/technology.php?nav1=47&product=79
but that doesn't seem to offer any clues.
I was wondering if it might have something to do with moving from the 32 bit version of Win7 to the 64 bit version - but I can't find anything that would suggest a problem with that.
Given that this is a completely clean build (from a reformatted disk) I assumed that when the device driver was installed, it should just work (as long as the Wi-Fi is physically switched on). I would have expected to wireless network to simply pick up the available signals and allow to connect to the one that I wanted. Am I missing something obvious here? The annoying thing is that it worked fine before reinstalling Win7.
I am at my wit's end with this - if anyone can think of something that might help I would be extremely grateful.
Many thanks.
 
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TenPc

TenPc

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Jul 11, 2012
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I reckon that considering the maximum ram is 4gb and the highest hdd volume is 320 gb, it's really only a Vista or Windows 7 x32 type of laptop rather than anything x64. It might be okay for Windows 8 as suggested by Samusng but I'd rather think they mean the 32 bit version.

Is there any good reason for you have a 64 bit verison of Windws? If not then go back to the 32 bit version, you will get better service and relability from the laptop. Use the same install DVD disk, just choose 32 bit option. You might need to check the bios if there is an option for 32/64, usually it is dual but some times it is an actual option to enable or disable.

The AR9285 - •Qualcomm / Atheros driver for Microsoft Windows 7 (32/64bit)
http://www.atheros.cz/atheros-wireless-download.php?chipset=37&system=5

http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/apple-tv/apple-tv-faq/what-is-802.11n-differences-between-802.11n-802.11a-802.11b-802.11g.html
 
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A

Appin

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Jun 4, 2013
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Hi,

I have tried the Atheros drivers from the link you provided (and thanks for that). Unfortunately, I still get the same effect. I think it is unlikely that it is a hardware fault. My best guess is that it is some driver problem. I have been reading around the internet and there does seem to be plenty of problems associated with the Atheros device. Unfortunately I can't find a solution - but plenty of problems.

To answer an earlier question, I can't find anything in the spec of the laptop that suggests it is incompatible with Win7 x64. Samsung's website for this machine offers its wi-fi drivers as being suitable for 32 and 64 bit. I chose the 64 bit version to access more memory - that was all. The disk that I have doesn't seem to have a 32 bit option, so I'd have to get a completely new 32 bit disk to try that. I did check the BIOS and there aren't any settings for this.

Any thoughts?

Thanks
 
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TenPc

TenPc

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Jul 11, 2012
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Why was it necessasry to re-install the OS?

There might be switch on the laptop to enable wi fi, you might also need to check the Wi-Fi settings and options in Control Panel, and you might also need a modem to connect to the internet.

Wi-Fi is usually just an aerial to a modem located elsewhere in the room but most people assume it to infer it's its own modem, it could be if the modem is actually built-in to the laptop.

 
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Appin

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Jun 4, 2013
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Hi,
Important update! I ran a Linux Mint Live Disk (32 bit) and the Wi-Fi worked perfectly. Just in case, I burned a 64 bit version and it worked perfectly as well. It doesn't appear to be a hardware problem or a 64 bit problem, it all seems to point to the device driver. At least according to my logic anyway. Any ideas?
Thanks
 
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kagebe

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Oct 10, 2011
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I had a similar problem with a friend laptop recently as well. These are the following steps that I did to bring back the wifi.

Start > Right click My computer > Manage > Device Manager
Under Other device it should state what devices are currently missing or unable to find certain drives.

For me it was missing Intel Wifi something 6150, So I googled that w/ driver at the end, and the first link was intel's website with the download page to the drive.

Assuming for you it should state " Qualcomm Atheros Wlan Model" or something similar to it. Google that it should give you a direct link to the download page.


 
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Appin

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Hi,

Hold on, I'm afraid that this is far from solved. If you check the first item in the thread you will see that I have the drivers already, the problem is getting them to work with the hardware. I have verified that it works with both 32 and 64 bit Linux.

I have drivers from Samsung (the laptop manufacturer) through their website for this model (NP-R530-JA0JUK to be precise). I have also uninstalled the driver and allowed Windows Update to select what it thinks is the correct driver. I have also used BIOS Agent Plus to locate a suitable driver. In each case the Device Manager is happy with installation of the driver.

From other internet sources it seems that many other people are having a similar problem. This is not a simple case of user error.

I am asking if anyone has knowledge of how to solve a problem like this. Can someone on the staff remove the 'solved' tag please?

Many thanks
 
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Appin

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Jun 4, 2013
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Hi again,

Having almost lost the will to live over this problem - and having run out of ideas - I decided as a last-ditch attempt that I would just reinstall everything again from the metal up. This time however, before installing any software or Windows Updates or anything like that - I installed the device driver for the Atheros Wi-fi. And it worked! I subsequently installed all of the Windows Updates and it didn't affect it. I have now completely reinstalled everything and it all seems to work fine.

Thank you everyone for your help in trying to resolve this problem.
 
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kiliwal

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Oct 24, 2013
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Hi you mentioned you have installed drivers for Atheros and it worked fine?
Sorry i have the same problem, for last few days my wifi wont connect to Windows 7. I am using IMAC with dual boot MAC OS and Windows 7. MAC works just fine,when i use windows 7, i cant connect to WIFI. i can connect to my Iphone hotspot,i can use Ethernet and it works just fine, but i cant connect to my Wifi.
I have tried several options but failed to connect to my wireless network.
Any idea will be much appreciated..

 
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artaqaf

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i just wanted to say that this worked for me! just bought a new Fujitsu Tablet PC, plugged it in and entered my wifi password. everything worked great. began Windows updates and suddenly the wifi wouldn't work. Speccy showed a network driver but my Device manager didn't recognize it. went to the Atheros site and d/l'ed the 64 bit driver then installed it manually though the Device Manager and voila, it works! thanx so much kagebe :D
 
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tekk9

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Dec 25, 2013
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You need to instal drivers in specific order... and for that you should prepare drivers before instalation or download them on other pc and then instal them. FIRST you should instal chipset, then wifi, then rest of them...
 
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andrecook

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Jan 8, 2014
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I also had this problem which I have now fixed!

The problem: When Windows 7 is re-installed, it automatically searches for and installs the drivers for all your devices including your wireless adapter. The issue is that this automatic feature doesn't always get it right and sometimes installs the wrong driver for your wireless adapter.

How To Fix this:
1 - Find you wireless adapter name: "Device Manager" -> "Network Adapter" -> (Name of your Wireless Adapter e.g. Atheros AR5B95)
2 - Google for the driver of your Wireless adapter name (e.g. Atheros AR5B95 Wireless Adapter Drivers)
3- Once downloaded make sure the file is extracted (if it is a .zip file) then return to "Device Manager" locate your driver again, double-click to open it and in the "Driver" section you will find "Update Driver". Double-click to open this then select "Browse my computer for driver software", it will then ask you to locate the driver folder, once you have selected this your driver will be updated! Re-boot your laptop and when it turns back on it should be FIXED!!

Hope this helps! =)
 
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Solution
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ballypc

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Jan 26, 2014
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don't know if this helps I reinstalled win 7 on Samsung laptop using a sort of recovery disk, it also could not run wifi, I had 3 yellow triangles in device manager, I found a folder called DriverStore in the winold folder, I loaded driver by stating I had disc and it loaded drivers to remove 3 triangles wifi now works, you have done clean install over formatted disc so you will not have win old, I did this on Samsung rv511, if you can ask on forum for driver folder from your laptop maybe you will have luck
 
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9thDoctorWhooves

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Jul 21, 2014
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Thank you! This is the most helpful post on this thread.

 
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jepakos

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Dec 16, 2014
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