# Wireless Adapter not detecting



## patric20878 (Feb 22, 2010)

Hmm, description:

I just fresh installed Windows XP Pro on a new hard disk, after my previous one crashed hard. I use an eMachines D620, which by default comes with Windows Vista and this Atheros wireless card. Not sure which one it is, but the (crappy) eMachines support chat said it is called Atheros 802.11b.

So I tried installing some drivers for it. Restarted, and pressed that switch thing that enables/disables the wireless adapter. Did not work.

Not sure if it's because of those drivers I installed, but when I went to the device manager, where I found Network adapters, which apparently is a hidden device, I clicked the +, and found:

Direct Parallel
WAN Miniport (IP)
WAN Miniport (IP) - Packet Scheduler Miniport
WAN Miniport (L2TP)
WAN Miniport (PPPOE)
WAN Miniport (PPTP)

Which I don't believe lists the the WiFi card I have.

When I type ipconfig /all in the command prompt, all I get is: 

"Windows IP Configuration"

Currently, I'm using a friend's computer, and my computer has no internet access, making it difficult to diagnose the problem. eMachines Support said that the driver listed on their site is compatible with XP. Not sure if I'm installing the wrong driver, the wifi chip doesn't work with XP, the wifi switch broke, or something. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

Hold the *Windows* key and press *R*, then type *devmgmt.msc*

Please respond to *all* the following steps.


Under *Network adapters*, please tell me all the devices listed. 
Are there any devices under *Network adapters* that have a red x displayed?
Also, are there any devices anywhere in the *Device Manager* display with yellow *?* or *!* displayed?


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## patric20878 (Feb 22, 2010)

1. Already mentioned in the original post:


> Direct Parallel
> WAN Miniport (IP)
> WAN Miniport (IP) - Packet Scheduler Miniport
> WAN Miniport (L2TP)
> ...


2. None.

3. Elsewhere, the following have a ? next to it:
+/- Other Devices:
Audio Device on High Definition Audio Bus
Ethernet Controller
Ethernet Controller
SM Bus Controller
Video Controller (VGA Compatible)


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

You're missing a bunch of drivers, which is probably the basic issue. Try downloading all the drivers for your machine from the eMachines support site.


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## patric20878 (Feb 22, 2010)

Already tried downloading the WiFi driver, which did not work.

I installed the driver, and then restarted the PC. Did not work.

It might have to do with the fact that Windows XP is now my OS, instead of Vista, which is what the driver is for. Support chat said it is compatible with XP, but it doesn't work for some reason, and interestingly, the file name for that driver indicates rather strongly that it's a Vista driver. Don't know.


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

You certainly need the XP versions of the drivers. You have to get past the issue of those missing drivers. You may be stuck with Vista...


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## patric20878 (Feb 22, 2010)

I definitely recall that there are XP versions of the driver also. I just don't remember which one it is.


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

Well, they should be identified as XP drivers...


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## patric20878 (Feb 22, 2010)

Yeah, but that's not on the eMachines site. I did find a site with a lot of drivers, but I have no clue which one it is.

http://www.atheros.cz/


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

You need to get them from eMachines, they may have modified the generic drivers.


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## patric20878 (Feb 22, 2010)

So far, eMachines support has been nothing but crap to me. They'll guess at solutions, refer me to completely irrelevant links, and if they don't work, either thank me for contacting them and leave rudely (Pretty much a big "f" you), or repeatedly recommend me to their paid service of like 60$ for 30 minutes of support. And this other guy just some minutes ago, after having absolutely no clue what he was talking about, just told me to do a system restore, after I just told him that there is nothing to restore it to, being a completely new fresh install. And then he thanks me for contacting support, and leaves. Hopeless.

Well, anyways, I've got a new problem.

When I try to install the VGA driver for eMachines D620 listed on their site, it says, "Catalyst Install Manager failed to initialize." Then it says, "Catalyst Install Manager failed to initialize Package Manager."

Man, I am so frustrated right now. 

Oh, and of course, IF I get the VGA and wireless to work, my XP still isn't activated yet. And I don't have any OS, since I never got a OS CD when I bought my laptop. So frankly, damn it.


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

Well, you can get a restore disk for the original shipping version of Windows from eMachines. Many times, laptops that come with one version of Windows don't have drivers available for other versions, this is not a new issue, happens all the time.


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## patric20878 (Feb 22, 2010)

Well, I refuse to believe that there isn't drivers for XP.

Refuse, because I just went found a place called supportspace.com, and they linked me to the XP drivers! Everything works now! Hooray.

So yeah, problem solved. Thanks for your help here.


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

Glad to see you found the drivers. :smile:


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