stubborn blue screen netr28x.sys error

[royale1]

HP envy 23 TS PC.  Reinstalling Railink WF driver (8.11?) didn't fix blue screen netr28x.sys error

[Nirvana_95]

Hi @royale1 

Welcome to the HP Support Community. Thanks for bringing this to our notice.

I see that you are facing issues with your HP envy system. please be assured that we are here to help you fix the issue.

• May I know from when are you facing this issue?
• Are you able to boot into Windows?
• Are you able to use Internet on your system?
• May I know if you have made any other hardware or software related changes to your system apart from updating the driver?

This is caused by your Ralink 802.11 Wireless Adapter Driver

Open Device Manager - Accessible by right clicking your Start Button
Expand the Network Adapters section
Right click your Ralink 802.11 Wireless Adapter Driver and choose properties
On the driver tab, choose 'Roll Back Driver'
If the Roll back option is grayed out, right click the device and choose Uninstall
Confirm deletion of the driver files

Either way, restart your PC and check if the issue persists.

If the above does not work, go to the Railink website and download the latest driver

Hope this helps! Keep me posted. 

Please click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution. 

Click the “Yes" on the bottom right to say “Thanks” for helping. 

[royale1]

It's been a problem for the last couple of weeks, not sure if it is tied to the last MS windows update but could be.  My desktop works well between blues screen-triggered restarts and I have not made any changes to my software or hardware that I can recall.  As I said, I re-installed the latest Ralink driver per your advice and the problem persisted.  I was also able to verify by right-clicking on the driver that this is the current version of the driver according to MS, so I'm skeptical that downloading the driver from Ralink is going to solve the problem but I'll keep it mind.  I'm beginning to wonder if a future update from windows might solve this problem as every blue screen error gets reported to MS so they are aware of this problem.  I also see that this problem has been chronic (forums) for many years, which suggests a permanent remedy has been elusive.   And it's also possible that my older (9 years) desktop is becoming incompatible with Ralink 3rd party driver updates.  These are just my thoughts, searching for your insights.

[royale1]

How to fix your network adapter after installing update KB4515384 on Windows 10 | Windows Central

Aha, this issue may be update-related ...

[royale1]

Although these were different drivers, it's possible that Ralink is now having incompatibility problems due to an update.  According to the article, simply disabling the (Ralink) adapter, then enabling it, and restarting computer may be the fix.  For now, I'll wait until the next quality update and see if the problem resolves.  If it doesn't, I'll try this fix and report back.

[Nirvana_95]

Sure.

Please keep us posted on that.

Till then have a wonderful day. 

[royale1 · Accepted solution]

Yes, the link above appears to provide a simple SOLUTION (2 options) to blue screen restarts due to (ANY) network adapter errors, such as netr28x.sys due to Ralink wifi malfunction.  Per link, the adapter malfunctions are likely due to an intermittent bug in MS updates. 

I chose the first option (disable, enable, restart) and have had no further issues.  I might even recommend this option before doing an adapter re-installation.  After all, MS automatically updates adapters with every restart.  Your choice, it’s easy enough to try a reinstallation first. 

This bug has been around for a number of years effecting a variety of network adapters, so I’m surprised that this simple solution is still an apparent mystery to “experts” on forums.  I suspect that somewhere in the archives of this very forum is this very solution, but I’m not going to waste anymore of my time looking for it.  MS also deserves some criticism for allowing this bug to persist in any update.  So yeah, I had to find the solution myself, but at least it (thank you Mauro Huculak) has once again been brought to light.  Try this fix FIRST before jumping through countless hoops for a solution to blue screen restarts due to malfunctioning network adapters.