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[SOLVED] Wireless Card Detected, But No Internet in 2nd PCI Slot

15K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  cleanse 
#1 ·
Hello there,

Hope this is the right forum. I have an interesting problem, though quite frustrating. I've found that my wireless card does not access internet in the "2nd" pci slot. After much perusing of forum threads, I've tried many things before posting and will list all my attempts below.

System:
E Machine T5086
Vista Home Premium 32bit SP2 (should be fully updated as of this date)
Intel Pentium 4 3Ghz
2Gigs RAM
(I'm not sure of the MOBO model, all I see is "Intel Desktop Board" on it.)
Wireless Card: Hawking HWPG1 802.11g PCI Wireless Card. Device name: Ralink RT61 Turbo Wireless LAN Card

Background:
I recently installed a PCI-E ATI Radeon HD4650 1gig gfx card. Unfortunately, with the attached fan, it is a bit too thick to sit safely away from my wireless card in the top PCI slot. Thus, I took it out and moved it down one slot. (I only have 2 pci slots, one pci-e). The card is recognized, the drivers are installed, it registers as working, there are no conflicts, no exclamation points, nothing in device manager. However, the internet does not work, and it registers as "disconnected" or "disabled" in the Network and Sharing Center. Thus, when I look for networks to connect to, none ever show up. I do have other computers in the house. Wireless is working fine on all others, showing our network fine. The card worked previously in above slot with no issues and still does if I put it back in there. --I do understand that the pci card is a bit old, however, seeing as how it worked fine in first slot, I do not wish to buy a new wireless card, only to have it also not work in the 2nd slot. It is very possible there's just an issue with that slot, not sure how to determine that.

Also: No. I am not returning my gfx card for a "slimmer" one (which also means diminished gfx capabilities). :p If there really is no workable solution, I will however look for a cheap USB wireless adapter, if any of you recommend that.

Troubleshooting based on other's threads:
*. Tried changing any pci settings in bios. There are none to set. My particular bios doesn't give very many parameters to define except the enabling or disabling of general devices.

1. I've uninstalled the drivers and any related wireless software (via both uninstall/change programs & device manager), then allowed the system to detect and ask to install it again in the same session. (I have a setup saved in my download folder from the hawking website.)


2. Uninstalled wireless again. Restarted. Reinstalled.


3. Uninstalled. Shut down. Took out the wireless card. Booted without card. (idk what for) Shut down. Put card back. Booted & reinstalled.


4. Uninstalled. Booted into Safe Mode. Reinstalled.


5. Researched IRQ settings. IRQ 22 is being used by both my Wireless Card and "High Definition Audio." Thus, tried combinations of uninstalling/disabling the audio through device manager & bios settings, uninstalled audio software, then installed Wireless Card. (Eitherway, both devices specify "no conflicts" while both enabled.)


6. Checked my event log for any seemingly pertinent errors. Not sure what a bunch of the other stuff is but found "Warning: WLAN AutoConfig Service has successfully stopped." Thus, researched that and tried a few fixes: cmd>netsh>wlan>set autoconfig enabled=yes interface="wireless network adapter" To which i get "no such wireless device found." I also tried with "wireless network connection" to which i got the same error.


7. In relation to above, tried cmd in admin mode>sfc/scannow>went into services to start wlan. But those instructions fail because its already started/auto in services.


8. Finally uninstalled all my ATI software and took out the gfx card. Also uninstalled the wireless. Rebooted. Re-installed the wireless.


9. Tested wireless back in first Pci. Works. Put back in 2nd, doesn't work. Gfx is still out atm. Plugged in a LAN to have internet for the time being. I was surprised that winupdate found an update for my wireless card, but then remembered that the driver I installed was the one I used when first installing the card waaay back when. Eitherway. Updated. Still not working.


10. Tried going through Hawkings own connection utility: "Zero Configuration Utility." "switching" over to zeroconfig fails or appears to do nothing. Zeroconfig also registers my wireless card as "disconnected."


About ready to give up because I'm not sure of what else I can try. I've read up on attempting to switch from ACPI to Standard but I don't have the windows cd. Other methods to do this without the CD and through device manager were futile because not all the options were there to do so. The purpose of switching to standard was to attempt to bypass the auto assigning of IRQs in the case that that is the issue i'm having.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can give any insight. Any clues or comments are appreciated just to help me work it along, even if we don't find straight solutions. There are quite a few other "bumped my wireless to 2nd slot, no internet" sufferers out there. Hope this will eventually help you all out.
~Saigo
 
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#2 ·
Re: Wireless Card Detected, But No Internet in 2nd PCI Slot

-I wasn't sure how to edit. Forgot to mention: I do not know much about these things so I'm unaware of any of these possibilities- 1. Could the lower PCI slot have a different "speed?" or 2. Do I need something actually in the upper PCI for the lower to work properly? (i can't think of why). 3. The reason for this is because I do not intend to purchase a very long ethernet cable and have to staple it up walls and across the ceiling to get to this comp from the room our router is in. The cable i'm using now is a temporary one.
 
#3 ·
Re: Wireless Card Detected, But No Internet in 2nd PCI Slot

1. Could the lower PCI slot have a different "speed?"
Slots are specific and can range in PCI levels as well as mHz and voltage ratings. It, I suspect is why you aren't getting wireless working. This would be clear if you compared the mainboard slot stats with the specs for the card.

2. Do I need something actually in the upper PCI for the lower to work properly?
No you don't need one slot filled to have another work

Life might be easier for you to just get a wireless usb dongle.
 
#4 ·
Re: Wireless Card Detected, But No Internet in 2nd PCI Slot

Seems to be the way to go. I didn't know that, and thank you for clarifying. It was just so frustrating when I thought "it should work" even if it's a slot down.

Good news is that I've found my mobo model. Unfortunately there are no specs off the emachines site, and the specs coming from the same model used in gateway machines do not clarify any differences between the two PCI slots. http://support.gateway.com/s/MOTHERBD/Intel2/4006173R/4006173Rsp2.shtml . I'll just pull the card out later or look it up later to see the difference between it and the slots.

And while I'm in the forum for network cards, does anyone suggest a "good" brand/model for usb adapter? I have a linksys G router. (and though that may make life easier, if anyone has any other thoughts on software issues etc, I'm still open to hearing :))

Thanks Wand3r3r
 
#5 · (Edited)
Re: Wireless Card Detected, But No Internet in 2nd PCI Slot

Update on the situation: fixed (for now).

I cannot determine for sure what "fixed" the situation because there were quite a few things I did. Desperate for a "try-any-stupid-configuration fix" I perused through the device manager and disabled both the "programmable interrupt controller" and "advanced programmable interrupt controller" under system devices. I uninstalled all of my sound drivers and devices once again in the hopes to resolve the possible IRQ conflict. Reinstalled my drivers and restarted. Still no internet.

Then I stuck in a vista oem cd that I borrowed, restarted the computer and booted from the cd. Ran a start-up repair (I originally was going to re-install windows, but upon not letting me keep my files, I cancelled and opted for the repair.)

Upon restarting after repair was done, my comp booted with the wireless card working again. All networks in range show up. Dunno exactly what happened. Dunno exactly what fixed it. For anyone else having this issue and googling, I don't recommend you mess around and disable system devices, but those are the only things I did different this time around aside from repairing windows. My interrupt controllers are still disabled atm. I plan to re-enable them and hope my wireless stays on. But for now, consider the issue fixed.

thanks tsf for being here :)
 
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