WLAN adapter driver MISSING @ HP support page for ENVY 17 3D [ Edited ]

[necrophyte]

after getting the envy 17 3d 1195ea (xe532ea) i formatted the drive and installed a fresh copy of windows 7 ultimate 64bit.

since then, everything works great, except that i absolutely cannot find any driver for the wlan adapter.

the hardware component concerned is a

Broadcom BCM43224 WLAN Adapter, which is part of the Broadcom BCM943224HMB WLAN-Bluetooth combo-mini-card.

on the only HP driver support page available for my specific notebook model (1195ea), which is the one from the UK (although i didnt get the notebook from the UK, but from HP croatia directly; on the croatian HP page theres no support page for this envy model; neither is on any other HP page, except the one from the UK), there is the driver available for the bluetooth adapter, which is part of this combo-mini-card, but there is no driver available for the WLAN adapter. just intel PROSet software, although there is NO intel WiFi card inside this ENVY!

windows update doesnt find any driver for the adatper (hardware id 4353), neither does broadcom provide one. the only driver i have found for this adapter is one meant for an Acer notebook..

i already contacted HP support twice, and the only explanation i got was that my envy model seemed to be "too new", and that the envy support pages would get updated... well, this has been already 3 weeks ago, nothing. meanwhile there is a new envy 17 3d series available, envy 17-2000...

still, after having been using the divine HP BUSINESS notebooks (HP Compaq 8-series & Elitebooks) only until now, i am surprised that this is the only problem i am experiencing with the horrifying HP consumer line so far, except some major design flaws of the envy, but thats another topic.

well, any solution to that issue, except installing a driver not meant for my notebook model, neither brand, and which is probably outdated?

otherwise im gonna forward this post to a HP representative (business notebooks product director) i once talked to on an HP ideas event, and tell him to forward it to the guys responsible for the global HP support pages, especially for a alleged "premium" notebook like the envy 17 3d..

thanks..

[srchip]

It was the same in my dm4t. (Broadcom 4313).

But I noticed before installing and found the driver available in the c:\swsetup folder.

[necrophyte]

sure, on the pre-installed windows home premium, everythings installed and stored inside that folder, but my main aim of this post is to point out the bad HP consumer support which really makes people customizing their notebooks for themselves a hard life..

just take a look at how great they can do with the business line - http://news.techworld.com/mobile-wireless/3262288/hp-elitebook-laptops-to-build-in-home-repair-featu... - the new elitebooks now will be really easily user-repairable, and that on a notebook that really beats every thinkable competition world wide, in every aspect; a look at the consumer line makes one really think it belongs to another company, how much worse it is.

[Daniel_Potyrala · Accepted solution]

Hi necrophyte,

You may download latest Broadcom Wireless Lan driver from here.

Solution posted by srchip is great too.

Ps.

It's nice to see you again.

[necrophyte]

WOW!

THANKS!

i wonder why the official HP support wasnt able to provide me with this softpaq, or at least suggest a way to look for it by myself.. luckily there are people in HP's forums one can really rely on. 

may i ask you how you got to know about it, or if there is a way to search for specific softpaqs by the hardware component concerned?

i remember one HP softpaq software from my 8510p times that searched for updates to the softpaqs for the notebook model it is ran on, but since it was meant for business notebooks only, i dont know whether it would run on the envy, and i actually cannot find it anymore.

really great to finally find a right solution.. this driver is even newer than the one for an acer notebook, and there is already a newer version from jan 20th available.

thanks again, amazing!

ps: yeah, havent been around here for some time, but since i havent experienced ANY issues with the elitebooks ive been using recently, i thought there werent so many with most other HP notebooks either anymore.. ☺

great that a "premium" top consumer product finally led my way back here to ask for help myself 

[Daniel_Potyrala]

---

necrophyte wrote:

i remember one HP softpaq software from my 8510p times that searched for updates to the softpaqs for the notebook model it is ran on, but since it was meant for business notebooks only, i dont know whether it would run on the envy, and i actually cannot find it anymore.

---

On 8510p model you were using HP SoftPaq Download Manager to find updates for drivers and software.

Envy 17 3D is a consumer model and it uses other software for the same thing.

Download and install latest version of HP Support Assistant from here.

Important note:

Reboot your system when you will do this (without this step it will work incorrect).

More information and FAQ about HP SA you will find here.

Warning!

• Do not ever install Bios updates using HP SA. It sometimes wants to install version for different model. Before you will install anything check what kind of updates are proposed by this software.

Useful information:

• If you will have any problem after updating driver then roll it back to older version.

           Resource:

           How To Roll Back a Driver in Windows 7

Ps.

Thank you very much for your very kind words.

[necrophyte]

thanks!

unfortunately, the hp support assistant doesnt feature the options to customize the search for softpaqs the hp softpaq download manager did, so i have to rely on hp to provide me with the right and the most recent ones (not a good idea with consumer support ), but its ok. im installing most drivers from the original manufacturers anyway, so the softpaqs are only necessary for hp's own software an in such rare cases of bad luck as the broadcom wlan driver is.

[theOS_the_one]

,,my envy model seemed to be "too new"  )  this is very funny )

Same problem here , this is not acceptable after we pay a fortune .