Notebooks & Netbooks

[DarrenHill]

OK an update. I've used the eRecovery software to factory-default reset the Windows 7 installation. Interestingly initially I tried to do the option keeping the user settings, but when it got to starting services in the rebuild it came up with an error that Windows couldn't be installed on the machine and rebooted after a click on "OK" (I repeated this loop three times, it would not progress past that error).

Then I did a full restore (the first option - I already have a full back-up of the machine on my NAS box) and Windows proceeded to install itself. But this has made me wonder somewhat if there is something more underlying everything here ( a virus or something, even though I had a fully updated Zonealarm AV/Firewall and Malwarebyte anti-malware set-up on the PC). That said I do a full scan including archives roughly once a week, and nothing was found last time-out (although there was a hit a couple of weeks ago around the time that I was downloading the Broadcom replacement drivers).

So now the good news and the bad. The first (and only) thing I did was install the Intel software, and the machine can now see the PCIe card (the good news). However the card itself cannot see any networks (the bad news), even though the machine is literally sitting on the same desk as the wireless router (as I had them cable-connected to take a few extra bits off the hard drive before I reset things - the cable is currently disconnected - the router is literally about 4 inches from the back of the screen).

Again I'm now not sure what to do for the best. The manual diagnostics program passes the first three or so tests (hardware, radio and something else) but fails on the scan test with nothing found. The network is definitely there as all my other machines in the house are on it, and the antennae are connected correctly based on the Linux test earlier. 

Any recommendations on how to proceed with this next roadblock? Or is it time to give up, reinstall the Broadcom card and hopefully get working wifi back again so I can proceed with the rebuild-proper as I'm away on business next week and would like to either take the machine with me in a functional state, or at least leave it here in one...

[code65536]

So it's basically the status quo still: Intel card installs fine, but can't connect to anything.

If your problem is indeed the same as what I had seen in the past (and it seems increasingly likely that this is the case), then there's nothing you could do. Aside from switching to Linux, apparently. Or complaining to Intel. Because it does seem like a problem with their Windows drivers (I never did contact them, but given how many months it took them to fix a fairly common BSoD problem that people were complaining about in late 2012, I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for them to fix this far more obscure problem; Intel may have the best hardware manufacturing around, but boy, do they suck at software and drivers.)

[DarrenHill]

Yup. I've now put the Broadcom 802.11n card back in, and instantly it's working fine and it even has its miniport adapter back too. So I think the Intel card is going to go back if I can arrange it, and I'll stick with 802.11n for now. Going to Linux would be a possibility, but not one I really want to do at the moment.

So it's time to clear out the install dead-wood from the factory set-up, put back everything that I had on it before and get it up and running again in a more sleek fashion (looking through the folders and seeing all the cruft from old programs etc wasn't pleasant). I might look at an 802.11ac card again in the near future, but it'll be a Broadcom or a Qualcomm/Atheros, won't be an Intel...

[DearOldDad]

I have had the same experience with this card as you did.  I contacted Intel and they basically referred me back to Acer as they don't support this card except for providing drivers (which don't seem to work on many machines).  I believe Acer monitors this Forum so I wonder if they have any thoughts/comments.  I would like to upgrade all the notebooks in my family to ac so I was wondering if anyone had any experience with the cards from other manufactiurers. 

[code65536]

I wouldn't count on Acer providing a solution. I first encountered this back in 2011 with an Intel 5xxx card on an Acer Revo nettop with NVIDIA ION and Atom, and I next encountered it three years later with an Intel 6xxx caard (and 5xxx card too) on an Ivy Bridge Dell with discrete NVIDIA graphics. (But it doesn't happen on a number of other NVIDIA-equipped systems). And now I've discovered from prowling on this forum that it happens with an Intel 7xxx card on one particular AMD-based netbook.

In other words, this is an issue that's been around for a while and spans a pretty diverse variety of hardware (and is not Acer-specific). My educated guess for a culprit still points to Intel's Windows driver.