wireless works with USB, but not the built in centrino wireless-N 1000 card.

[bobdobbs23]

Hi.

I have a hp Pavilion dv7 laptop.  The built in wireless card (an Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1000) stopped working one day mysteriously.  HOWEVER, if I pop in a USB wireless device, I get the internet etc. just fine, so this isn't about the router, or me being a newbie, or where I need to push the "wireless ON" button on my laptop keyboard, etc.  Something weird is going on.  The OS says that the wireless card is fine under the device manager.

So to repeat, everything works fine with a 5 year old USB wireless adapter but not with the built in Centrino wireless and no matter what I try to do to fix it (and I have tried EVERYTHING I can find on the web), nothing works!  It is driving me crazy!  Please help!  My next stop seems to be a full system restore but I really don't want to do that.

Things I have tried:

I have updated the drivers.
I have updated the bios.
Rolling back to previous restore points.
I have tried all sorts of archane cmd.exe command line stuff like:
ipconfig /flush etc... or TCP/IP stack repair options for use with Vista or Windows 7 such as the following:
1) Start, All Programs\Accessories and right click on Command Prompt, select "Run as Administrator" to open a command prompt.
2) In the command prompt window that opens, type type the following commands, each followed by the Enter key:
    Reset WINSOCK entries to installation defaults: netsh winsock reset catalog
    Reset IPv4 TCP/IP stack to installation defaults. netsh int ipv4 reset reset.log
    Reset IPv6 TCP/IP stack to installation defaults. netsh int ipv6 reset reset.log

Nothing I do seems to work.  The relevant wireless card shows up as disconnected in both the ipconfig (see below) and also in the normal OS "Wireless Network Connection" Graphic where it is called an "Intel WiFi Link 1000 BGN" and has a red X and also says "Not Connected".


OS:
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit

Make and model:
HP Pavilion dv7 Notebook PC WQ637UA /
HP Pavilion dv7-4087cl Entertainment Notebook PC

Here are the "ipconfig /all results" (please note that the wireless adapter #2 that is working is the cheap USB one and NOT the built in Intel(R) WiFi Link 1000 BGN/Centrino one.):

Windows IP Configuration

   Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : MyPC
   Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . :
   Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
   IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
   WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
   DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : home

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection 4:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport Adapter #2
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-26-C7-68-88-A1
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection 3:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport Adapter
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-26-C7-68-88-A1
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) WiFi Link 1000 BGN
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-26-C7-68-88-A0
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection 2:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : home
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8187B Wireless 802.11b/g 54Mbps USB 2.0 Network Adapter
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-14-D1-3D-65-D8
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::3c1d:f149:bc02:d7c4%14(Preferred)
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.2(Preferred)
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, April 20, 2011 1:25:06 PM
   Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, April 21, 2011 1:25:06 PM
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
   DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
   DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 436212945
   DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-13-FE-B3-D3-60-EB-69-2F-6A-AD
   DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
                                       171.345.0.12
   NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : home
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 60-EB-69-2F-6A-AD
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

[pepe999]

Hi,

It's hard to say what's wrong with the card but it's a single channel 1x1 802.11b/g/n card up to 72Mbps!!

I suggest to replace it by Broadcom 4322 2x2 802.11a/b/g/n pn: 582564-001

http://fullpcservice.com/products/582564%252d001-%252d-Sps%252dWlan-802.11Abgn-Clrt2-Hlgn-Fr-Mow.htm...

[bobdobbs23]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply... but the card that isn't working, the built-in centrino wireless-N 1000, is 2x2 and does up to 300 Mbs. I think you are looking at the specs of my USB wireless dongle.

Thanks for the suggestion, but I would rather try to solve the problem than buy another wireless card.  Keep in mind that I already have the USB dongle which works for getting a wireless connection - the problem is the built in card doesn't work even though it seemingly should.

Anyone have any trouble shooting tips or ideas?

[pepe999]

Hi,

My mistake, the card is 1x2 up to 150Mbps..

http://h20141.www2.hp.com/hpparts/Search_Results.aspx?mscssid=42740D85F0A346CBB3360AB6F1416369&Searc...

Some people solved the same problem by entering the wireless card MAC address directly to a router to allow the wireless connection and I would even assign an IP address in the DHCP pool table for the card..

http://www.anetforums.com/posts.aspx?ThreadIndex=29913