Bank mark on wireless adapter every reboot

Hi All,

I have a customer with a wireless calibration device.
It is based on XP. Buried inside it (you have to disassemble
the unit) is a "Via Network Technologies USB Wireless Lan adapter"

Problem: the wireless adapter always boots up with a bang
mark on it in the device manager. If I uninstall it and
scan for new hardware, it comes back perfectly. That is,
until you shut down and reboot. Then the bang mark is back.

Anyone know how to fix this?

Many thanks,
-T

On Fri, 13 Feb 2009 16:32:45 -0800, Todd <todd@invalid.com> wrote:

> I have a customer with a wireless calibration device.
>It is based on XP. Buried inside it (you have to disassemble
>the unit) is a "Via Network Technologies USB Wireless Lan adapter"
>
> Problem: the wireless adapter always boots up with a bang
>mark on it in the device manager. If I uninstall it and
>scan for new hardware, it comes back perfectly. That is,
>until you shut down and reboot. Then the bang mark is back.
>
> Anyone know how to fix this?

Not exactly. I've seen a similar problem when there is more than one
device driver loaded for the same device. Also, on some buggish USB
devices that can't tolerate being moved between different USB ports on
the same machine. There are also all too many buggy USB device
drivers. Check for updates.

Before I dive into the drivers, check for enable/disable problems.
1. Is the USB adapter set to be enabled in the BIOS? Some computahs
have this setup. Also check the bios to make sure it doesn't turn off
the power to USB to save energy.
2. If the computah is a laptop, check if the <alt><Fsomething> is set
to enable the wireless.
3. Desktop -> Right click on My Network Places ->
Right click on the USB device and make sure it's set to enable.
4. Also right click on the USB device and select Properties. Look
through the various setting and make sure that power management is
disabled for the device.
5. There might also be a setting for "allow Windoze to turn off this
device to save power". Disable that.

Now for the duplicated duplicated drivers:
1. Start -> run -> cmd <enter>
SET DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES=1
DEVMGMT.MSC
The device manager should appear in a window
2. View -> Show Hidden Devices
You should now see lots more devices than the device manager usually
shows. Go down the list of Wireless devices and see if you can find
more than one USB wireless driver. Uninstall the surplus driver.

Incidentally, on my computah, the device manager now shows drivers for
hardware that I haven't used for perhaps 5 years. Time for some major
house cleaning.


--
# Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
# 831-336-2558 jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
# http://802.11junk.com jeffl@cruzio.com
# http://www.LearnByDestroying.com AE6KS

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
....

Thank you!

On Fri, 13 Feb 2009 18:16:41 -0800, Todd <todd@invalid.com> wrote:

>Jeff Liebermann wrote:
>...
>
>Thank you!

Ummmm..... did it fix the problem?


--
# Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
# 831-336-2558 jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
# http://802.11junk.com jeffl@cruzio.com
# http://www.LearnByDestroying.com AE6KS

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
> On Fri, 13 Feb 2009 18:16:41 -0800, Todd <todd@invalid.com> wrote:
>
>> Jeff Liebermann wrote:
>> ...
>>
>> Thank you!
>
> Ummmm..... did it fix the problem?
>
>
Don't go out to the customer till next week.