[SOLVED] Strange wireless networking problem.

[usually_quiet]

I am experiencing an odd problem with my PCI-e wireless card (Rosewill RNWD-N9003PCE) which is a TP-LINK TL-WDN4800 clone, and works better with TP-LINK's drivers than Rosewill's. I bought it 3 months ago and has been working well up until today. When I turned on my PC today I was unable to connect to my wireless home network. Windows 7 showed a strong signal, but the card wouldn't connect, not even manually.

Windows 7 built-in troubleshooting was ineffective. Device Manager says the card is fine. I tried rebooting my cable modem and router, but it made no difference. I tried turning off my software firewall, but that didn't help. I saw power management was enbled for the card and turned it off, but that changed nothing. I uninstalled the wireless card, deleted the drivers, and re-installed, but that didn't solve the problem either.

Finally, I plugged in a USB wireless adapter that I keep around for emergencies, and that connected to the Internet without issue. I clicked on the Wireless icon on the taskbar, and noticed both wireless adapters were shown in the popup window. I disconnected the USB adapter from my wireless network, and tried connecting the PCI-e adapter to my wireless network, and succeeded! I ejected and unplugged the USB adapter, and the PCI-e card kept working. However, if I reboot my computer, the PCI-e card won't connect to the network. I have to plug in the USB wireless adapter and connect to my wireless network using that to make the PCI-e card function again.

Does anybody have any idea what is causing this strange behavior? Before I replace my PCI-e wireless card, is there anything else I should try?

[Nelson37]

Just for grins, power off the router and determine if the simple insertion of the USB stick enables the PCI-E card. Betcha it will.

Uninstall both, power down and physically remove card, reboot, scrub registry and temp files with CCleaner, reboot, verify files and directories for both cards are gone, check Device Manager for card, maybe remove device from here first. Make sure all is gone. Eliminate software firewall, remove totally, also examine antivirus software for similar function.

Re-install software, power down and re-install card, test.

Gotta start with a clean slate. Reason? Corrupted file, update, firewall issue, sunspots, some combination of these, maybe something else entirely. One key is to physically remove the card and boot with it gone, after software un-install, also many software firewall are prone to odd malfunctions.

[usually_quiet]

Just for grins, power off the router and determine if the simple insertion of the USB stick enables the PCI-E card. Betcha it will.

Nope, I don't want to waste any time on anything that won't fix my problem. LOL

Uninstall both, power down and physically remove card, reboot, scrub registry and temp files with CCleaner, reboot, verify files and directories for both cards are gone, check Device Manager for card, maybe remove device from here first. Make sure all is gone. Eliminate software firewall, remove totally, also examine antivirus software for similar function.

Re-install software, power down and re-install card, test.

Gotta start with a clean slate. Reason? Corrupted file, update, firewall issue, sunspots, some combination of these, maybe something else entirely. One key is to physically remove the card and boot with it gone, after software un-install, also many software firewall are prone to odd malfunctions.

Ugh. I just had the PC open on Saturday, so I was hoping to avoid doing that again, but it seems to have worked. Thanks.

I will try re-installing the firewall tomorrow. ZoneAlarm Free Firewall doesn't update often, unlike Bitdefender's free AV which updates daily, so I doubt that it was the problem.