Aspire v3-531g Wi-Fi driver issue

Gornot

Hello, everyone,

this is my first post because I figured there's nowhere better to ask for help than the community

 

I recently bought my Aspire v3-531g and I'm very satisfied with the product. But I have a particular problem related to my Wi-Fi drivers.

 

The adapter inside is a Qualcomm Atheros AR9462 (according to the Resource DVD) and under Windows 8.1 it works just fine (I have tried a few leaked builds of Windows 8.1 and encountered no issues).

 

But my problem is that I do not have a genuine version of either Windows 7 or Windows 8, but rather Windows Vista which I bought back when they released Service Pack 1. I've been using Vista ever since then on two older computers and, unfortunately, had no idea that in this OS I cannot install Wi-Fi drivers for this Atheros device.

 

I want to make it perfectly clear that I am using Windows 8.1 in its leaked RTM state, unactivated etc. And I do NOT have money to buy a legit copy of Windows 7, which is what I'd rather use over 8 if I had the money.

 

But the Acer website lists no Wi-Fi drivers for my device for Windows Vista and ALL the other drivers I've installed prior to trying that one worked perfectly - CPU, GPU, sound, etc.

 

Why does Acer not support Vista? It's kind of a silly question since the OS is old, I know, but now I am in a desperate situation where I cannot use a vital part of my laptop because I don't have the money for a more recent operating system.

 

Has anyone actually tried getting Wi-Fi to work under Vista with v3-531g? I couldn't find a topic on it here and all the drivers I downloaded from various sites that stated they are for Vista didn't work, just as the drivers on my Resource DVD. When I run the setup the files would get extracted only to show me a message that the drivers are not supported on this platform or something like that.

 

If anyone has any advise, please do share, because I'm going crazy using Windows 8.1 and frustrated that I cannot afford even Windows 7 and just be happy with my new laptop.

padgett

What did yur V3 come with ? I thought it was too recent for Vista. Is there a license key on the bottom ? If nothing else you should be able to buy the restore disks (got to store.acer.com and select eRecovery).

 

Gornot

The laptop came with some ridiculous and obscure Linux distro which I deleted immediately. I then proceeded to set up Vista and install the needed drivers from the Resource DVD: Chipset, then sound, then Intel HD graphics... And when I came to Atheros' Wi-Fi I received the aforementioned error about drivers not being able to install on this platform and that I should choose a correct package for my system.

 

Manufacturing date is November 2012, that's what it said on the label along with my S/N and SNID. Yeah, the laptop is too recent for Vista, but really, to my knowledge the difference between Vista and 7 is not that great, so I don't see why those drivers don't work or there isn't a version for Vista.

 

I don't really have high hopes of solving this but I have to try because I really don't know what else to do right now. Something tells me I'm not gonna magically be pointed to Vista compatible drivers