WLAN problem in Vista, hardware?

I'm trying to find out if I have a hardware or a software problem with my laptop's WLAN. Does anyone have any experience of the following problem:

The WLAN adapter goes somehow broken after the computer has been on for some time (3-8 h). The network connection is broken and all network management operations start to lag: if I try to open Network and Sharing Center it takes a few minutes for the display to show up. The following messages start to appear continuosly to the Vista eventlog (System log, Error event, source NETw4v32, ID 5002):
"\DEVICE\{A6AD37E7-AF08-4B60-9E3F-D2AD77F7A06B} : Has determined that the network adapter is not functioning properly."
"Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection : Has determined that the network adapter is not functioning properly."
"\DEVICE\{A6AD37E7-AF08-4B60-9E3F-D2AD77F7A06B} : Has encountered an internal error and has failed."
The number code in the above message refers to the Intel wlan device.

Enabling or disabling the adapter from Vista does no longer work after this. The Fn-F2 hotkey combo does probably shut down something related to the adapter because the led-light on the front panel turns off. The same hotkey won't turn the adapter back on anymore. There's also a Realtek ethernet adapter and it doesn't suffer from this problem: I can keep the computer connected to network 24/7. If I use the net through the ethernet the WLAN adapter won't break down even if it was turned on and has an IP address at the same time.

My setup is the following: Windows Vista Home Premium, Asus F3Jp, Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG-wlan and newest drivers: Device Manager reports the version number 11.1.0.86. "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" is NOT checked. The WLAN router is an A-Link RR24AP ADSL modem.

edit: The wlan is fixed by rebooting Vista. Hibernate and resume does not fix it. I also updated the driver to version 11.1.1.0 but it did not help this. The network usage is not a factor either.

 

I have this exact same problem and it started when I downloaded the lastest drivers for it from Dell (its a Dell laptop). I am running Vista Enterprise with all the latest MS updates. I tried rolling back to the previous driver but it just made the machine very unstable. To make matters worse some of wireless access points out there have major issues with this driver and/or hardware. Between Vista's different DHCP paradigm (as compared to XP) and the general instability of this driver - wow - what a mess.

The current/latest driver version installed is 11.1.0.86 with a date of 2/25/2007. The funny thing about the driver installation - it may just be Dell's "version" of it - but, it just launches and installs itself giving no feedback on status/success/options/etc. so if you walk away and come back you kinda forget if you actually ran the darn thing in the first place...lol.

 

Ok, I just got email from Asus support: "For this issue intel is working on a new driver that soon can be found on support.asus.com"

So Asus seems to think that this is driver issue (good, not hardware). If you have the same problem on Dell then they might be right.

 

Hello apa64,

I can confirm I'm having the exact same issues you're describing.

The behavior is absolutely identical, except for that my WLAN breakdowns appear to be more frequent: it sometimes fails immediately after restart, and in most cases the disconnect occurs within less than an hour, but only while being active. If I leave the laptop on over night without working on it, the connection is most likely (though not always) still alive.

The fact that your post was one out of two results when googling for "NETw4v32 5002" (the other one being in finish, but apparently about the same issue), makes me believe this might be a hardware issue.

The fact that the same hardware works just fine when booting into a different operating system makes me believe that it isn't.

I'm having this issue only when booting into Windows Vista (Ultimate 32-bit, I do not have another edition to test against I'm afraid). I've reinstalled both drivers (currently on 11.1.0.86) and operating system several times to no avail. I'm always ending up with the same result.

My computer too is a Dell (Latitude D620, T7200, 2GB mem, 120 GB HD, Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG, Dell 350 Bluetooth).

Is anybody else having this issue?

Did somebody manage to resolve this?

Cheers,
-oli

 

Umm... why would it be a hardware thing if it works fine under XP? It's not like the 3945ABG is a relatively new card...

I'm more inclined to think that something Vista did as far as extra security features probably broke something in the drivers that used to work.

 

I actually have the exact same problem. I have a gateway cx210x notebook, and have experienced the same problem with the wireless network adapter (Intel Pro Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection). I already tried updating the driver to 11.1.1.11, but still have the same problem. I read on a microsoft tech net forum it was an issue with vista and wireless routers configured with WEP or WAP security, so I changed to mac filter, but still get the problem with my network shutting down and having to restart to get it working again.

I have a linksys router and my laptop comes with vista premium. I still hope it is a vista issue and not a hardware issue. The thing is that it is annoying because it happens too often, and neither microsoft or intel have an answer on this yet.

Anyone with a solution yet?

 

Problems with the intel 3945ABG are well documented in the HP section of this forum and in other forums. I had similar problems with my dv9000t and did a pretty through web search - tried lots of things but nothing helped. I think your best hope is for updated drivers to be released soon.
This was about two months ago and my solution was to return the dv9000t and get the G1S which has a different wireless card.

 

The problem really seems to be the Intel's Vista driver. I found this from ASUS' official forum: http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx...&board_id=3&model=F3Sv&page=1&SLanguage=en-us

I can't confirm that this would work in Vista because there's no slider to set on my wlan adapter properties page. If anyone can tell me where to find it I would appreciate!

 

Update to this! It seems that Intel has released new Vista wifi drivers ( http://downloadcenter.intel.com/filter_results.aspx?strTypes=all&ProductID=2259&OSFullName=Windows+Vista*+Home+Premium%2C+32-bit+version&lang=eng&strOSs=153&submit=Go!). I updated a minute ago. I'll let you know if this driver update fixes the problem.

 

Have you tried the official drivers off Intel.com? It may fix the problem.

 

Indeed, I can confirm the new drivers did fix this problem for me!
Thanks everybody for your help.
-oli