[HELP] Can't Install Wifi Driver For Presario CQ50 108NR

I have a Compaq Presario CQ50-108NR and my computer needed a recovery, but I had accidentally formatted that part of the hard drive. So I used my Vista Ultimate disk and fresh installed it on my laptop. Because of this, I have to reinstall all of my drivers on my Laptop.

So, I went to HP's site for the drivers which was here. My priority is to get my wifi/internet working as soon as possible because I can download the rest of the drivers later. So, I download both the Atheros and Broadcom drivers for my laptop. I've installed both of them, but my Laptop still doesn't detect any wifi spots despite there being plenty around me. Also, I keep getting a notification that windows must now install drivers for hardware, yet it when I click auto detect and folder detect (folder where my drivers are), it says unable to find any. Also, here is my wifi card.

Help please. I'm pretty much lost at this point.

 

Try installing the chipset drivers first. I'm not positive, but I think the included drivers may be required for bus communications. If that doesn't work, look for another Broadcom driver. The wireless driver from HP is for internal Broadcom wireless cards and may or may not be compatible with your card.

 

Ok, I installed the chipset driver and now I am able to get Lan (yay interwebs), but it still shows nothing on the wifi scanner.

 

Good the chipset install helped but I’m a bit confused.

1. According to what I’m reading, your notebook came configured with internal wireless. If that’s true, why are you using an additional external wireless adapter?
2. Unless you know the internal wireless is dead, has been removed, or didn’t come with that configuration, remove the external wireless card from the notebook and uninstall any and all wireless drivers you’ve installed.
3. Next, install the Quick Launch Buttons. This is required to turn the wireless on and off via the button next to the power button (except through device manager).
4. I don’t know which onboard type wireless card came in your unit (if equipped) but either way, reboot and install the Broadcom driver from HP. If that doesn’t fix the onboard wireless, uninstall the Broadcom driver, reboot, and install the Atheros driver. Confirm operation through device manager.
5. If you have no internal wireless card. Uninstall all previously installed wireless drivers, shut down, reinstall the external wireless card, start the computer, and install the Broadcom driver only (It is not Atheros). If none of that works, you may need a different Broadcom driver for the Compaq external wireless card.

 

When I install the Broadcom and restart, Windows tells me that they found the hardware but needs to install the driver, so I direct it to the broadcom folder that was install in my program files but it says that it can't find the driver.... I did the same with destination of the original driver setup but still no go. I've also tried the option to searched automatically/online for the driver but still no go.

So as of now, my it says in Device Manager that my Ethernet Controller has no driver.

 

Afro…… sorry…… but could you please answer the question. Are you using an internal or external (Cardbus/Express Card) WiFi controller? The reason I ask is because the link you provided shows an image of an external WiFi card and some CQ models did not come equipped with internal WiFi (hence the misunderstanding). When I check the part number provided in your link however, I come up with an internal Atheros mini-pci WiFi card. Check here: http://www.getpartsonline.com/459339-001.html . This part number also matches the part in the Users manual on page 20:
http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c01572022.pdf

“If” the part number you provided is correct, and you are in fact using an internal wifi card, then according to the manual it is manufactured by Atheros.

1. Uninstall all wireless drivers you’ve previously installed. Re-BOOT.
2. Install the QuickLaunch buttons.
3. Run the installer for the Atheros card from HP.
4. If, for whatever reason, that doesn’t install the driver, do a manual install. To do this: Using 7zip or something similar, right click and extract the contents of the .exe file provided by HP to a temporary location. Open the folder. This is where the .inf files reside and are what is required to install the driver. Through device manager, select the device and select update driver and then point it manually to the driver folder you extracted containing the driver .inf files.

If you’ve installed the drivers for the chipset, the QuickLaunch buttons, and the Atheros card . It should work. Check function through device manager.

 

Much Thanks, that did the trick.

 

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