# Ralink 802.11n wireless LAN card disconnected, enabled but no networks found



## Avoidies (Jul 17, 2015)

I have been having internet problems the past few months and yesterday seemed to affected my internal LAN card that I use.

Yesterday I was playing a multiplayer game, beforehand I had restarted my router a few times to make sure I have a smooth connection to the server because I was having connection issues. It was reasonably playable for five or ten minutes, untill a long series of lag spikes/interruptions after that, even though I was the only person in the house using the internet at that time and had no other programs running.

I restarted my router and all was good for ten minutes until my wifi completely disconnected, my Ralink LAN card disabled itself and won't enable itself to automatically connect on start up.

I have checked the device manager and changed the network settings to use my LAN card, both say enabled and running. I have tried updating the drivers it but it says its the most recent update.
The only thing I haven't done is unistalled the driver, which i am paranoid about.

Im running Windows 8.1 and have been using the same internet/router for ten years (which might be the problem).
I have noticed on the laptop I am using now shows the radio type as 802.11g where my wireless card is 802.11n. Could that be the problem or something to be concerned about?.

I have not read the radiotype on my PC but before this I was able to browse the internet, a few problems would occur though like random disconnecting.


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## etaf (Dec 28, 2008)

a 10 year old router is likely to be "G" rated for wireless 
max speed 54Mbps

you have both issues when you connect with the wireless connection
and also when you disable wireless and connect with a cable LAN connection

is that correct ?


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## Avoidies (Jul 17, 2015)

I have had a few issues connecting to the wireless network on start up, but a quick restart of the router solved it. It soon stopped and began to automatically connect when I booted up my computer.

The only problem I have now is that if there is too much data being sent through or a lot of stress is being put on the network, it would just flatline and reconnect only when I go to check the available connections. Few family members have said they have trouble connecting sometimes.

For the second option, if you mean plugging in an ethernet cable and disabling my LAN card to see if a connection pops up then I havent tried that, but it might work although I am unable to test that out.

I looked into the types of ratings and I assume that I need an internet upgrade if im running with "G", however I am unsure if my card would detect the new network if it cannot detect the current one.


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## etaf (Dec 28, 2008)

"G" is an older network type 
and most wireless adapters are backward compatible
so "N" will work with "G" 
if the router is set to allow mixed 



> For the second option, if you mean plugging in an ethernet cable and *disabling my LAN card *to see if a connection pops up then I havent tried that, but it might work although I am unable to test that out.


You disable the wireless card , known as a WLAN 
the LAN is the cable connection


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## Avoidies (Jul 17, 2015)

ah okay. I was confused at first, my knowledge about this is pretty new to me, sorry.
I will try the second method tomorrow to see if there is a connection.


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## etaf (Dec 28, 2008)

> I was confused at first, my knowledge about this is pretty new to me, sorry.


 no apology needed, i'm just explaining any terms as we go - so you dont do the wrong thing


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## Avoidies (Jul 17, 2015)

Unfortunately I am unable to test a wired connection because I do not have the right cables available.

I've uninstalled the driver and it has sucessfully reinstalled itself and ran a trouble shoot.
I can't recall what happend but it managed to detect one network that isn't mine (about two-three bars out of five signal) before disappearing and never showing up again.

I have tried swapping the ariel between the two plugs it can screw into, and it managed to detect the same network before doing the same thing again. I swapped the ariel back to the original place and nothing happened.


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## etaf (Dec 28, 2008)

*------------------------------------------------------------------------*
* Run Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector  
Download and install*
If you cannot access the internet with this PC, then you will need to copy the program across to the faulty PC
Save the file to a USB flash drive or other removable media. Plug it into the working computer with internet access and copy the file to the faulty PC and install the program. 
You will now need to take a screen shot and copy that back to the working PC and attach the screen shot in a reply on the forum here.

If you do not have another PC - do you have a phone connected to the internet - can you photograph the result and post the image in a reply 

http://go.pardot.com/l/66982/2015-01-26/2361i
enter you details
Download this file *"DOWNLOAD WI-FI INSPECTOR Vx.xx "*
( the site now appears to allow webbased emails like gmail, hotmail, outlook and yahoo now )

There is also a xirrus gadget, But that does not have all the fuctionality *"DOWNLOAD GADGET Vx.xx *

Alternative links - Use the links below
Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector Download - Softpedia
Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector - Free download and software reviews - CNET Download.com


Then run and install the program - on a wireless enabled PC/Laptop
*if you get an error *- You will need to have NET Framework installed for the WiFi Inspector to function.
On windows 8 - (i do not have windows 8) but, it would appear that, When you first try to run, you may get a message that .net framework is needed, and included in that message is a link to download/install.

Run the program 

A user guide is available here 
http://www.xirrus.com/cdn/pdf/xirruswifiinspectorguide1-2-0

post a screen shot of the program running.
if there are a lot of networks showing can you click on *"networks"* top lefthand area - so we can see all the network information.

*post which SSID name is yours, its located in the list, under network "Adapter Name" (1st column) 
*

Note:
For a reliable (or robust as the Xirrus user guide says) wireless connection you need a signal of about -70 dBm or better. "A desirable signal level for a robust Wi-Fi connection will be green".
note: the signal level is a negative number, so for example -88 is worst and -40 is better

To post a screen shot of the active window.

*Windows XP*
Hold the Alt key and press the PrtScn key. Open the Windows PAINT application (Start> All Programs> Accessories> Paint) and Paste the screen shot. You can then use PAINT to trim to suit, and save it as a JPG format file. 

*Vista or Windows 7*
you can use the "snipping tool" which is found in Start> All programs> Accessories> Snipping Tool
How to use the Windows Snipping Tool

*Windows 8*
you can use the snipping tool > Open Snipping Tool (From the Windows 8 Start Screen, type "snip" and press enter.
>Press the Esc. key.
>go back to your Windows 8 start screen - Swipe from left or press Window Button
>Press Ctrl+PrntScr button to use Snipping Tool
see here
How to take a screenshot in Windows 8 - Opinion - PC Advisor
How to take a screenshot in Windows 8 - How-To - PC Advisor


To upload the screen shot to the forum, open the full reply window ("Go Advanced" button) and use the Manage Attachments button to upload it here.


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## Avoidies (Jul 17, 2015)

Just to clarify, should I run Xirrus on a Wireless eneabled PC/Laptop?
I have installed both on my pc and laptop(the one im using now). but my pc is the one with the connection issues.

It has pick up a network the keeps disappearing and showing up every 5 minutes, but it is not mine.

also my mcafee antivirus picked up a trojan (Artemis!2B7DA7778033) when downloading with the cnet installer. Every email I had entered in the buisness section of the site wasn't being accepted, even though I have no buisness..


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## Avoidies (Jul 17, 2015)

Just to add, when posting the screenshot, can I cover my IP address?


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## etaf (Dec 28, 2008)

run on the problem PC



> also my mcafee antivirus picked up a trojan (Artemis!2B7DA7778033) when downloading with the cnet installer. Every email I had entered in the buisness section of the site wasn't being accepted, even though I have no buisness..


 did the problem start after this virus issue ?


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## Avoidies (Jul 17, 2015)

etaf said:


> run on the problem PC
> 
> did the problem start after this virus issue ?


Oh no, this is on my laptop that has a connection.
I had to download Xirrus from CNet since my email was being declined from the offical page and you need to register to get a download (from the links you posted/recommended) I had to download the cnet download installer to get an install for the xirrus program, I was hit with the trojan then while downloading.
Im running a malwarebyte scan now and its picked up the 4 PUP's from installing it.

*The program is running on my problem PC, but my network isnt being detected and it keep picking up the same one network.*

I also have it running on my laptop now and it has picked up 8 networks, including mine and the one that is being picked up by the PC.


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## etaf (Dec 28, 2008)

Thats not good - I checked the download a few months back to make sure it was clean and did not install PUP , so maybe that has changed now - I will recheck out later on a Windows 10 PC thats just loading up 

can we see the screen shot please 
from the problem laptop


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## etaf (Dec 28, 2008)

I have just downloaded Xirrus from the cnet link i posted and it has downloaded a clean install file 
no PUPs or virus/malware included 

so not sure why you had the issue

EDIT 
the link i posted has a direct link 
Download to the program and downloads the setup program 

I did not suggest using the 


> I had to download the cnet download installer to get an install for the xirrus program


cnet download installer 
thats probably the issue 
why did you use that ?
I dont see it on the page from my link ?????


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## Avoidies (Jul 17, 2015)

Here is a screen shot from my *laptop*,* it doesnt have any network issues*.

I can't show a screenshot from my PC because it does not pick up my network and cannot connect to the internet.

my SSID is *SKY92509*. I have hid my IP.


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## etaf (Dec 28, 2008)

no need to blank out the IP address - they are not unique to you , pretty much every router would have the same IP address range 

I updated my last post re - issues on download - can you have a look 

Also I needed to see the xirrus from the faulty PC please 
can you copy across to that machine 
BUT download the correct file as posted above please - as i know that file is clean now


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## Avoidies (Jul 17, 2015)

etaf said:


> cnet download installer
> thats probably the issue
> why did you use that ?
> I dont see it on the page from my link ?????


I must have downloaded using the download installer that is at the top of the page, I didnt notice the direct link download.... huh :ermm:
My apologies, the malwarebytes scan finished and picked up 9 threats, mostly PUPs. I guess in the future to reccomend people to no download via the cnet installer.

Here is a screenshot of the program on the faulty PC.

at this point, im thinking it may be a faulty antenna, or the router settings have been changed somehow.


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## etaf (Dec 28, 2008)

its picking up the same network VM73..... at the same strength 
so it may not be an adapter 
The wireless is on channel 11 - so that should be OK

But you could try changing the wireless channel used in the router configuration page 
use channel 1

I have seen this issue before But it was on channel 1 , and interference from a cordless phone 
Also channel 12 and 13 is not allowed in US - and seen that as an issue 



> at this point, im thinking it may be a faulty antenna, or the router settings have been changed somehow.


If the antenna was an issue - I would not expect to see the same SSID at the same strength 
But its not picking up the other 2 wireless signals , which are also "N"


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## Avoidies (Jul 17, 2015)

I am able to have a wired connection now, no drops or random disconnects from this.
I will have to look into changing the settings for my router, since its not something i have done before.


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