NEW WIFI Atheros Driver(7.6.1.149)

Does this work any better then if I was to just rely on Windows Update in Vista to get a driver?

(I'll have my AAO tomorrow, and Im getting all the drivers collected that I will need for Vista.)

 

I'm not sure quite how to install the driver, either. I get as far as "update driver" in the device manager, but then I don't know what to select when I get an option.

Could someone provide a step-by-step for us Mac users whose last experience with Windows was '98?

 

If you right click on "My Computer" and click manage, you'll be brought to a screen that lists various "advanced" options. Click on "Device Manager". Find the Atheros entry under Network adapters. Right click on it and choose "Update driver". Then choose either "Browse my computer for driver software" or "Advanced". I think these are the two options for Vista and XP. From there, just browse to wherever you extracted the drivers. Dig down until you reach either ndis6x (Vista) or ndis5x (XP). That should do it.

 

OK. Did that. When I select the location of the new drivers, I get a bunch of stuff in a list that I don't know what to do with. And when I click on through, I wind up with a wifi driver that doesn't work and a new item in my device manager that a) doesn't work, b) won't let me uninstall it, and c) won't let me update the driver. I wound up uninstalling the atheros item in the DM and letting windows find it again. I've managed to get wifi working again, but now I have this new thing in the manager.

Any idea what "packet scheduler miniport #3" is and how I can either make it work or get rid of it?

This is incredibly, incredibly, frustrating.

 

That's odd. When I do it, it simply updates the current driver with the new one. It's not like you're adding a new device. You are simply updating the currently listed device. Make sure you specify the exact folder you want it to install from, otherwise it might be searching in all three sub-folders. Not sure why this process would have installed any new devices (packet scheduler miniport #3). To uninstall devices, just highlight the entry and click on the uninstall icon in the menu bar or right click on it and choose "uninstall".

 

Part of the issue (and I'm sorry, but I'd post screenshots if I could find a simple way to do it) is that I get to a certain point where I select the driver I want it to install, and then it comes back with a list of hardware and I don't know what to select.

At any rate, it's working now with the old drivers.

 

I for one am very excited about the new drivers. Others have noted that the old drivers had the tendency to drop the signal or even lose the device altogether from time to time... particularly after resuming from standby or hibernation.

viewtopic.php?f=34&t=1477&p=37287#p37287

So, I'm sticking to the new drivers for sure.

Oh, and to do a basic screen capture, just hit the "print screen" (PrtScn) button on the keyboard. You can then paste what it copies into any image editor.

 

I'm aware that that's how to do a screencap. Is there no way to capture only a portion of the screen?

 

There's no way to do this using built-in tools, but you can paste the image and then just crop out what you want to keep. I use Paint.NET (free). Or... for a real screen capture tool, I use Zscreen (also free). It's not fancy by any means, but it works.

http://www.getpaint.net/download.html

http://www.brandonz.net/projects/zscreen/

 

OK. In the device manager, I select the Atheros device, right click, and select "update driver."

Next, I select "Install from a specific location (advanced)."

Then this:



After it searches for the driver, I get this:



PS

Thanks for the help on screenshots.

 

Go back to Device Manager. [+] 'Network Adapters' > Right click 'Atheros Wireless Network Adapter' > 'Properties' > 'Driver' TAB > What version do you have? Is it the correct one? > Click 'Roll Back Driver'

When it is done reverting to a previous driver, REBOOT, go back to the same Properties menu, click Update/Install driver and select the new driver from the updated driver package. If that still doesn't work, Uninstall the driver (there is a button for it under the same Properties menu), reboot the computer, and retry the above steps.

 

WTF?! Now I have the latest driver (260)?! Someone is clearly working some kind of magic on my lappy! Yesterday, I uninstalled the network adapters and let XP reinstall. Somehow it managed to get the new ones.

Insane.

 

Ok, it looks like you're pointing the driver wizard at the 7.6.0.224 setup files. Two things: 7.6.0.224 is older than 7.6.1.149 (take note of the 0 in there...I made the same mistake initially) and two... the driver wizard needs to be pointed at the actual drivers, not a Setup.exe file (which is what is found in the 7.6.0.224 folder.

If you wanted to install the 7.6.0.xxx drivers using the wizard, you'd point it to c:\WLAN_Atheros_v7.6.0.224\Drivers\XP-x32

Now if you want to install the newer 7.6.1.xxx drivers you'd point it to C:\Atheros_7.6.1.149\ndis5x

I think this will probably clear things up for you! Good luck!

 

Hold the <Alt> key and press <Prt Scrn> and you'll capture only the active window. Hope that helps!

 

Oooh! That's useful! Thanks!

 

Don't let the wizard search for the driver. Choose the other option of letting yourself locate it. Then, select Have Disk and browse to where you've saved the driver file.

 

I did that, originally, and came up with problems, as well. But it's all working now, and the new Wifi is much much faster.

 

Beautiful! Thanks for the tip!

 

If someone wants to email me 7.6.1.140 then I can host it for everyone to download.

[email protected]

 

I currently have this driver: 7.6.0.260

I went to Device Manager, hit update driver, and connect via Windows Update. I watched it located a file, and the status bar showed it was updating a driver. Should I still go even further and use the driver you guys have?

Up until today, my wifi was spotty at times, many times I had to disable and re-enable the Atheros adapter. As of today, I just updated the driver so I'll see how it performs and see what you guys suggest me to do from here (regarding staying with mine or using this new one).