Windows 10 BSOD with wireless USB adapter

Yup I'd love to know the answer too, didn't you say the bsod's started after receiving a Windows update ?

Some updates can be removed (although they get installed again pretty quickly unless you make changes for it to install later)

I only mention this in case you feel like trying again at some point. We never close threads so you can always come back and post again.

Hope all goes well..

kemical said:

Yup I'd love to know the answer too, didn't you say the bsod's started after receiving a Windows update ?

Some updates can be removed (although they get installed again pretty quickly unless you make changes for it to install later)

I only mention this in case you feel like trying again at some point. We never close threads so you can always come back and post again.

Hope all goes well..

Click to expand...

Yeah, I know, curiosity, I'd like to know why it's doing that but if it's working with another dongle, let's not bother too much! Really as I already said no windows updates or software / hardware changes before the BSOD for 5 days. I just see that the drivers for the Realtek device were updated 2 days (17/02/18) before the crash (19/02/18). Do you think it'd have taken 2 days before creating bsod? Could I reverse this/ undo the driver update?

Looking at that full driver update history I see that 4 since the 17/01/18 for the Realtek network adapter. No wonder there are so many different folders with the rtwlanu.sys file! Wondering how I could cancel all of that; deleting the folders in the registry maybe? And then perform the installation of the previous driver version?

StephDragon said:

Wondering how I could cancel all of that; deleting the folders in the registry maybe?

Click to expand...

I'd leave the registry well alone unless you really know what your doing.

Looking at the screenshot you can see different version numbers and it looks like drivers have been installed more than once.

StephDragon said:

Could I reverse this/ undo the driver update?

Click to expand...

Pop along to your Device manager, look for the realtek device, right click on it and choose properties. Look under the driver tab for 'roll back driver' and your driver should go back to the previous version.

kemical said:

I'd leave the registry well alone unless you really know what your doing.

Looking at the screenshot you can see different version numbers and it looks like drivers have been installed more than once.

Pop along to your Device manager, look for the realtek device, right click on it and choose properties. Look under the driver tab for 'roll back driver' and your driver should go back to the previous version.

Click to expand...

Yes I did that, but it yielded no results. My dear old friend the BSOD immediately appeared with the TPLink dongle. We shall probably never get to the bottom of the problem event though I am quite sure it could stems from these multiple driver folders.

StephDragon said:

We shall probably never get to the bottom of the problem event though I am quite sure it could stems from these multiple driver folders.

Click to expand...

Hence our suggestion on trying a clean install but no matter. I hope all goes well with the new dongle.

I am running W7Pro on a mini-ITX platform, with 2x front (MOBO mounted) USB 2.0 and many rear USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports.

I have been using a variety of USB dongle types, in an attempt to solve the same issue. I had been using a Realtek RTL8188CU type successfully for some time. Suddenly, the receptivity got poorer and poorer, and then disappeared. As I'd ordered 5 different dongles when changing from an external adapter (such as alfa, e.g.), to see which was best, I had some backups. The particular dongle had a light; it then went out and I went dark, in terms of any reception. Maybe it died???

I inserted another. It worked - but VERY briefly. And another - for a total of 4 dongles. None worked (or at least came up). I have two different types of controllers, realtek and ralink, in addition to the standard windoze. None saw any of the dongles.

Off I go to device manager. Each, in turn, was found to be disabled. Each, in turn, when enabled, instantly generated a BSOD.

Mucking around in the drivers and properties, updating (all showing as updated already), changing some of the properties, all had no effect.

WTF??? So I dig out my laptop and disable (not just airplane mode, I disabled the internal WiFi card) WiFi, and stick each dongle in a USB. Each loads drivers from the W10 (current, updated) package, and does its thing properly - down and up work just fine with each of the 4 dongles which crash my W7P machine in two different pin (Mobo sources) locations - and any of them had worked previously.

I live on a boat, and, fortunately, I have installed, on the top of the mast, from the time when it was critical (before cell phone data plans) for internet access, a POE Infiniti Bullet and, inside the boat, a Linksys router; it's what is allowing me to communicate at this moment, but it's not nearly as fast, with the local sources I have available to me, as my hotspot phone through my dongle. So, I want to regain the ability to "see" my phone (the antenna/adapter 65' away, straight up, doesn't "see" my hotspot) - which requires a local dongle.

I'm most reluctant to reload my W7Pro, as there are many navigation programs I'd have to reinstall as well, and this computer is in relatively constant use.

I think I know from reading all 4 pages that the OP had a W10 laptop. This is different in circumstance (not a laptop, no internal card, different OS), but identical in problem. Is there any hope that W7P has different and more easily solved issues presenting? And why, now, after more than a year of success?

Thanks.

Well, well.

I - out of frustration - just plugged in my Alfa AWUS036H. Even though I had uninstalled it some time ago, it was recognized immediately, and the Windoze utility happily saw it as a WiFi (vs my other, ethernet) device, and connected to my hotspot without argument - or, even, an external antenna, with a 5-bar connectivity.

That despite my Realtek and Ralink controllers not seeing it.

And at the moment, it's working.

WTF?

Hi Skip,
just read your post and perhaps win 7 carries a Alfa driver by default or something from the last install was still around? The realtek and railink might need a driver or a later version?

This is only a guess on my part so apologies if you've already considered this but hey at least your up and running.

kemical said:

Hi Skip,
just read your post and perhaps win 7 carries a Alfa driver by default or something from the last install was still around? The realtek and railink might need a driver or a later version?

This is only a guess on my part so apologies if you've already considered this but hey at least your up and running.

Click to expand...

Hi, and thanks for the bounce.

I did, indeed, attempt updating drivers, as well as uninstalling and removing drivers, and the devices themselves, on all the dongles (self-contained adapters common to USB transmit/receive devices today), to no effect.

So, I was gobsmacked to find that I had no issues with the corded Alfa. The only reason I stopped using it long ago was that its cord mount stuck out further than the dongles did, making my keyboard an inch or so closer to my 38" arms at my nav station (I live on a boat).

I may well do a fresh install on the W7Pro just to see if that has any bearing on anything, but this and other threads that I found in the course of attempting a solution suggest that this is not an uncommon problem, and, further, there seems to be no simple cure (other threads have had reams of screenshots showing all the suggestions which didn't work) for the disease.

Very strange, but I agree, it's great to be up and running again. How and why this works when literally all of the others don't remains a mystery.