Network adapter missing or broken

Hi,

This problem is several years old. I was working on my son's laptop removing an infection and along the way, my wireless adapter stopped working. Got frustrated and put it in the closet. Now, I'd like to fix it again.

The original thread was under Malware removal and titled: "Lost Internet/Network connections after MBAM".

The laptop is a Gateway MX3228 running Windows XP SP2. It has a Broadcom 802.11 network card. I've installed/deinstalled the Broadcom drivers several times, but still won't recognize the adapter.

Under Device Manager, the last entry is "Unknown", with three sub-entries: Broadcom 802.11g Network Adapter with Yellow exclamation point, Broadcom 802.11g Network Adapter - Packet Scheduler Miniport, and VIA Rhine II Fast Ethernet Adapter.

There is one other hidden entry that had a yellow exclamation point: MPFIREWL. Not sure what this is.

Hope this is enough information to get started fixing this again.

Thanks!

 

It sounds like the card itself may be malfunctioning. The good news is you can get a USB WiFi adapter for about $10 (just remove the old card or disable it first).

Here's one I regularly use as a replacement at my shop:

http://www.directron.com/wf2120.html

Hope this helps.

 

Plodr,

I definitely appreciate that advice, thought about it before, but I'd like to keep this laptop at pure SP2 (as much as possible), primarily for running some now vintage pc games that only seem to work on that.

I've got all the drivers for the 3228, 3220, and 3230. None of them seem to get it working. They install fine after deleting, but always with a yellow exclamation.

I'm kind of skeptical about the hardware being bad since the adapter just disappeared after running MBAM. I suspect it might have deleted a registry entry. But, for ten bucks, I might just give a new wireless card a shot.

 

Greetings, Bluznvice.

The referenced MPFIREWL could very well be the McAfee Personal Firewall - are there any McAfee products installed on this machine? If so, you might consider uninstalling (and, as an added step reinstalling, especially if you think a registry key may have been deleted by MBAM) anything McAfee in the off-chance that the uninstall might clear up some connection problems.

 

I can understand keeping an old XP system around (as long as it stays off your network and especially the Internet after April 8) but not the desire to keep it at SP2. XP SP3 incorporates a HUGE list of fixes and improvements over SP2 that involve not only important security issues, but crashes, freezes and shutdowns - as well as I/O connectivity issues (like losing connection with external drives and attached devices - including integrated devices - like network adapters!).

As far as keeping these systems as "stand-alone", not networked systems, remember the problem is not that these XP systems will become infected (they most likely will, sooner or later), the problem is the infected machines will become threats to the rest of us (starting with local computers on the same network) used to distribute spam, malware or as zombies in a DDoS bot-army attack.

It is already widely understood in security circles that badguys have lists of unreported vulnerabilities just waiting to be exploited by already written malicious code after April 8. Plus several of the major anti-malware program makers have already announced they will discontinue XP support when, or shortly after, Microsoft support ends - reporting the effectiveness of their products rely on an "updated" OS.

For right now, and with that system currently at SP2, if no desire to get it current and secure to today's update levels, I recommend making it stand alone now - other wise, at the very least you expose other computers on your network, as well as other Internet users, to unnecessary risks.

Obsolescence = the downside of advances in the state-of-the-art, and maliciousness of the badguys.