Broadcom Driver Fix for HP W10Pro 64-bit Installs

[SDH]

A number of us have had problems with the W10Pro64 network driver failing after W10 clean installs or upgrades on HP workstations that use the Broadcom chips on the motherboard, or Broadcom based NICs.  I have input that may be helpful, for both getting the recent Broadcom 17.2.1.0 drivers to work and also a mainstream HP source of the Broadcom 14.2.0.5 drivers.  It turns out that others on the web have found that downgrading to older Broadcom 64-bit drivers have allowed their new W10 install to connect to the net also.  These specifically have been stated to be the 14.2.0.5 version, and the 16.8.1.0 version, and I have tested those to in fact work on HP workstations with Broadcom network chips.

We use quite a number of HP workstations that have the Broadcom NetXtreme 57xx gigabit LOM (Local area network On Motherboard) chips.  These include the xw6400, xw6600, xw8400, xw8600, xw4600 and Z620 workstations that have a Broadcom based NIC.  I have gotten all of these working on W10Pro64 with our medical software, and I've gone through many clean W10Pro64 installs and network connectivity failures.  Here is an important pattern, and two fixes:

Both with clean installs and with Acronis TrueImage clone installs I have seen the 17.2.1.0 drivers fire up and fail with W10Pro64.  This incudes up to and including Anniversary Update.  Downgrading drivers has worked, as noted above, but I like to use more recent drivers if possible.  I have seen connectivity behavior that suggests the 17.2.1.0 driver has somehow gotten corrupted, such as intermittent connection to the internet by HP workstations that have received a clone install from another same or similar workstation that had 17.2.1.0 drivers working perfectly under that same build.  Here is what has worked to fix that.... go into W10 Device Manager and navigate to the Network controller, and go to its properties, driver tab, and choose uninstall.  That will take the device out of your Device Manager list.  Shut down, cold boot up, and automatically the Device Manager list will be repopulated with the device and a fresh 17.2.1.0 driver install.  That then has worked perfectly for me, and it ensures I get a more recent driver than downgrading does.

If you want downgrade your Broadcom driver with what I consider a "mainstream" source of the 14.2.0.5 driver installer you can go to HERE and download the HP installer.  Launch that SP55013 and let it run a bit and then cancel out of it.  You may need to click on cancel twice.  This method of harvesting the drivers will work on any PC, not just a HP workstation.  Windows may ask you if it installed correctly and answer yes even though you did not let it fully install.  On the root level of your C drive you'll find a new folder SWSETUP, in which will be SP55013.  In that will be a folder Vista_Win7, and in there will be an x64 folder.  Use the W10 equivalent of W7 Folder Options control panel to show hidden files and folders and to show extensions of known type, and you can browse to that "x64" folder via the Device Manager driver installer method for your Network Controller device.  Target the b57n60a.inf file for the 14.2.0.5 driver install.  That is an initialization file that then uses the items in the .cat and .sys files to correctly install the downgraded driver.

Personally I like the uninstall/auto-reinstall of the 17.2.1.0 driver approach.  You need to learn how to use Device Manager a bit.......  Hopefully the W10Pro64 Creators Update coming in a few days (4/11) will have this issue fixed.  I've just loaded the new W10 Creators Update on the W10Pro64 workstation I'm typing on.... it is using the same 17.2.1.0 driver.