Windows 7 Network Adapters Not Working in Windows 7

[jayturn]

I am having problems with any type of Network Card or Network USB adapter working with my PC running Windows 7. I had a LinkSys WMP54G PCI card working on this computer about a year ago as I was needing to use a wireless connection but then I didn't use it for 6 months. When I went to use it again, it wouldn't pick up connections at all.

Thinking it was an issue with the card, I picked up a Edimax 7612UAn USB adapter thinking it should work out of the box. When I plug the USB adapter in, the standard Windows driver installation tries to run but an error message occurs stating "Device driver software was not successfully installed" accompanied by "Realtek RTL8191SU Wireless LAN 802.11n USB Failed". If I try to install the drivers manually, nothing changes and in Device Manager the following error message is displayed under Device Status "This device is not working properly because Windows cannot load the drivers required for this device. (Code 31)".

I am at a loss as to why this issue is occurring. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated because I only have so much hair left that can be torn out.

 

[Trouble]

jayturn:
Hello and welcome to the forums.
Connect the Realteck RTL8191SU download the driver from here and see if that doesn't resolve your issue. ONce you have the driver issue remedied you might want to try looking at your router.
Change the channel, or temporarily drop all encryption and try running it open to test, or check with the manufacturer for a firmware update.
Regards
Randy

 

[jayturn]

Thanks for the warm welcome and advice Randy.

I downloaded and installed the driver but it doesn't seem to solve the issue. With the new driver installed, I hover over the icon in the system tray and it reads "no Realtek 11n USB Wireless LAN". The router is working fine because I have two laptops connected to it and various phones.

In Device Manager, if I uninstall the device and reinstall it, I get a "Device Driver Software cannot be found", even though the new drivers are installed.

It seems the PC recognizes there is a networking device installed but doesn't connect the driver with the device for some reason. I suspect there is a broken link somewhere with the communication. Is it possible to revert the system back to default network settings without having to do a complete wipe and reinstall of Windows 7?

 

[Trouble]

Is it possible to revert the system back to default network settings without having to do a complete wipe and reinstall of Windows 7?

Sure... or at least pretty much.
You may want to try resetting the Winsock Catalog as well as the TCP/IP Stack, try this;
To reset Winsock for Windows Vista, follow these steps:
Click the start orb, type cmd in the Start Search box, right-click cmd.exe, click Run as administrator, and then press Continue.
Type netsh winsock reset at the command prompt, and then press ENTER.
Note If the command is typed incorrectly, you will receive an error message. Type the command again. When the command is completed successfully, a confirmation appears, followed by a new command prompt. Then, go to step 3.
Type exit, and then press ENTER.
SOURCE: How to determine and to recover from Winsock2 corruption in Windows Server 2003, in Windows XP, and in Windows Vista
The reset command is available in the IP context of the NetShell utility. Follow these steps to use the reset command to reset TCP/IP manually:
Click the start orb, type cmd in the Start Search box, right-click cmd.exe, click Run as administrator, and then press Continue.
At the command prompt, copy and paste (or type) the following command and then press ENTER:
netsh int ip reset c:\resetlog.txt
Note If you do not want to specify a directory path for the log file, use the following command:
netsh int ip reset resetlog.txt
Reboot the computer.
When you run the reset command, it rewrites two registry keys that are used by TCP/IP. This has the same result as removing and reinstalling the protocol.
SOURCE: How to reset Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)