Atheros AR5007 problem with Windows 7 32 bit

[colinbowles]

I have a dv6810us laptop with an Atheros AR5007 802.11 b/g wifi adpater. The driver is 9.1.0.328 and the driver files are athr.sys and vwifibus.sys. I upgraded from vista to Windows 7 32 bit and everything is fine. The wifi connection works OK but the problem is that even when it is working it shows the signal strength bars dimmed out with an orange asterisk over them in the notification area. This is even when the wifi connection is working and in use.

I have tried:

- disabling and re-enabling the wifi adapter through the device manager

- removing the wifi adapter in the device manager and letting windows add it again on reboot

- loading new drivers (with the file sp50498.exe I got off the HP site).

All of this has had no effect, so would appreciate suggestions as to what else to do. Even when I use an RJ45 connection the icon stays as the dimmed out signal strength bars with the orange icon, not the expected little VDU icon in the notification area. I have set the notification area to show all available icons.

Tks in advance,

Colin Bowles.

[Daniel_Potyrala]

Hi,

Uninstall your current driver and try this one (version 9.2.0.412).

[colinbowles]

Daniel,

Tks. However, when I went to this page ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp53001-53500/sp53261.html (for the 53261 driver you recommend) it doesn't include the dv6xxx notebooks among the list of PCs supported. Do you still recommend installing this driver?

Colin.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, Colin:

The driver will be fine, because your network adapter is one of the adapters listed as supported by the driver.

Atheros AR5006 802.11a/b/g WiFi Adapter
Atheros AR5007 802.11b/g WiFi Adapter
Atheros AR5009 802.11a/g/n WiFi Adapter
Atheros AR9285 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter
Atheros AR9380 802.11a/g/n WiFi Adapter
Atheros AR9382 802.11a/g/n WiFi Adapter
Atheros AR9485 802.11 b/g/n WiFi Adapter

Paul

[colinbowles]

Thanks Paul. I am still curious though as to why it doesn't list the dv6810us among the products supported???

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, Colin:

It appears most of the models listed except the dv4's, are business notebooks. I imagine yours (and many others) aren't listed because they are older models.

The specific component hardware drivers are not model-specific normally. In other words if you have the same model wireless card in your notebook, the driver goes to run that device in any notebook that has it.

I'd venture to guess that I could install that driver in a Dell notebook with that wireless card and it would work just fine.

I have installed Dell drivers in HP notebooks/desktops for common hardware, and visa versa.

I had recently installed a Windows Vista Business graphics driver from an HP nc6220 in a Dell XPS 140 which had the same GMA 900 integrated video and it worked just fine.

Paul

[colinbowles]

Daniel,

I uninstalled the wifi card in the Device Manager and then ran the sp53261.exe file and rebooted but the situation is exactly the same. I am connected fine through the wifi (as I write) but the signal strength icon in the notification area still has an orange asterisk through it.

When I look at the AR5007 in the device Manager the Driver tab shows 9.2.0.412 and the Driver details button shows the same two files as before I ran sp53261.exe (athr.sys and vwifibus.sys). Is that correct?

Tks,

Colin.

[colinbowles]

Would appreciate any other suggestions.

Is there anything else I can de-install/re-install? Could it be a Windows update? (One of the many updates that downloaded after I upgraded to Windows 7 was one for the Atheros card).

Tks,

Colin.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, Colin:

Did you look in the advanced tab in the device manager for the adapter and make sure the channel being reported is the same as the one being transmitted by the router?  Sometimes it doesn't automatically switch and you will need to match it with the router's.

One other person I was reading changed one of the settings ain the Advanced drop down list from Auto to 54G, and that fixed his problems.

Paul

[colinbowles]

Paul,

The wifi connection is actually working fine. The problem is just that the icon in the notification area has the orange asterisk as though the connection were not working, so presumably it can't be on the wrong channel or it would not work at all...

Colin.