Asus USB N53 won't detect the 5 Ghz network

[tezarin]

Hi all,

I have Windows XP 32 bit and bought the ASUS N53 and tried to get it to detect my 5 Ghz network with no luck. I've searched this forum and saw that many have problem with the ASUS USB N53 not being able to detect the 5Ghz network, mine is the same way. Per forum's suggestions I went to their website and downloaded their latest drivers but those drivers were exactly the same as the CD it came with. Still wouldn't detect the 5 Ghz, only seeing 2.4 Ghz.

Can someone please point me to the correct driver that works?

Thanks

 

[M0j0jojo]

Yea apparently 5Gz band doesn't work out of the box, your going to have to download a different driver for it.

The solution to this thread gave a link to the driver http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1693495/asus-usb-n53-detect-5ghz.html

 

[tezarin]

Thanks M0j0jojo,
Actually the above thread was one of the first ones I found yesterday but the link didn't work. I tried the driver from the ASUS website but that didn't help. Searched the above link again a minute ago and came across this updated URL:
http://www.mediatek.com/en/downloads/usb/
Do you think it will help?

Thanks

 

[M0j0jojo]

Thanks M0j0jojo,
Actually the above thread was one of the first ones I found yesterday but the link didn't work. I tried the driver from the ASUS website but that didn't help. Searched the above link again a minute ago and came across this updated URL:
http://www.mediatek.com/en/downloads/usb/
Do you think it will help?

Thanks

Yea try that one out, the other one isnt working

 

[tezarin]

Thanks, I will try that this afternoon after I got home and report back. I have that USB adapter attached to my old laptop at home. Although the adapter cannot detect the 5 Ghz network but the speed is almost the same as the 5 Ghz network if it makes any sense!

By the way, I also upgraded the modem (got a Motorola 6141) and the router (bought an ASUS N66U) so that I can enjoy the full speed of my Comcast blast 105 plan. I experienced some issue with my 5Ghz connection on the iPad.

1) Are we supposed to install the driver from the CD that the router comes with or just do a Genie style (via the browser) quick setup should suffice?

2) Are we supposed to move the antennas to the 90 and 45 direction so that 5Ghz never drops?

Thanks

 

[M0j0jojo]

Thanks, I will try that this afternoon after I got home and report back. I have that USB adapter attached to my old laptop at home. Although the adapter cannot detect the 5 Ghz network but the speed is almost the same as the 5 Ghz network if it makes any sense!

By the way, I also upgraded the modem (got a Motorola 6141) and the router (bought an ASUS N66U) so that I can enjoy the full speed of my Comcast blast 105 plan. I experienced some issue with my 5Ghz connection on the iPad.

1) Are we supposed to install the driver from the CD that the router comes with or just do a Genie style (via the browser) quick setup should suffice?

2) Are we supposed to move the antennas to the 90 and 45 direction so that 5Ghz never drops?

Thanks

For the first question, its best to get the driver from the manufacturers site since they have the latest driver, CD driver are usually out dated.

For the second question, its really up to trial and error, try both ways and which ever one gives the best connection is the one you should set it to. The thing with 5Gz is that its not good for long range, if you have a big house you should set it to 2.4Ghz band.

 

[tezarin]

Thanks! I chose your answer as the best answer. We'll see how that will go with the driver installation... But good to know that 5Ghz is not good for long distances. I had no idea it works like that.

 

[Alabalcho]

@Tezarin, there is something which I cannot understand.
- Asus website cannot give you driver for the router. You need driver for the wireless card in your laptop
- I have this router at home, and have no problems with either 2.4GHz or 5GHz bands. But 5GHz band is usable only on computers and phones supporting it, of course.

So, what I think is happening - your laptop with WinXP is just too old, and its wireless adapter does not support 5Ghz band.

 

[tezarin]

@Tezarin, there is something which I cannot understand.
- Asus website cannot give you driver for the router. You need driver for the wireless card in your laptop
- I have this router at home, and have no problems with either 2.4GHz or 5GHz bands. But 5GHz band is usable only on computers and phones supporting it, of course.

So, what I think is happening - your laptop with WinXP is just too old, and its wireless adapter does not support 5Ghz band.

Alabalcho,

Let me explain the situation again, I have an older XP laptop so had to purchase one of those USB adapters. It's ASUS N53 and came with a driver, installed that driver but the adapter still couldn't see the 5 Ghz network.

I then downloaded the drivers for Win XP, Win 7 and 8 from ASUS website but that didn't help either.

This USB network card should be capable of receiving both 2.4 and 5 Ghz but it only sees the 2.4 Ghz.

My router is an ASUS RT-66U and works fine, I can see the 5 Ghz from my iPad.

to update everyone - The mediatek driver didn't work either. Is there any way we leave this thread open? I installed the

 

[tezarin]

OK before I return this unit, I'll give it another try and see if I can install a different driver from Mediatek. I installed this one with no luck which is weird because it reads that it should work on RT537X:
USB (RT2870/ RT2770/ RT307X/ RT2070 RT357X/ RT3370/ RT8070/ RT5X7X/ MT7610/ MT7601/MT7612U)

The speed I'm getting on 2.4 Ghz is satisfactory but I really like to get connected to the 5Ghz because everyone in my neighborhood is on 2.4 and almost all the channels are congested.

Can someone please point me to the correct driver?

Thanks

 

[Alabalcho]

@Tearzin - my fault, I read this "Asus N53" as "Asus router - RT-N53", not "Asus WiFi adapter".
Can you try that adapter on more modern computer? May be just the XP drivers do not understand 5Ghz band...

 

[tezarin]

@Tearzin - my fault, I read this "Asus N53" as "Asus router - RT-N53", not "Asus WiFi adapter".
Can you try that adapter on more modern computer? May be just the XP drivers do not understand 5Ghz band...

No worries. I should have been more specific i guess.

XP is probably too old to detect that, but wouldn't installing the current driver made for XP fix that problem? I went to this website: http://www.mediatek.com/en/downloads/ and downloaded this latest one: USB (RT2870/ RT2770/ RT307X/ RT2070 RT357X/ RT3370/ RT8070/ RT5X7X/ MT7610/ MT7601/MT7612U) and it should work on XP but it doesn't...I'm confused...

 

[tako714]

I'm in the same boat.

USB-N53 not detecting 5ghz though my HTC cell phone can.
Router- ASUS RT-N56U, updated firmware,
PC - Win 7 64bit

I've tried installing newest driver from Mediatek for the adapter but no luck.

I've submitted a ticket to ASUS support. (I'm Taiwanese requested support in Mandarin)
Maybe I'll get an answer better than "send it in and we'll get you a new one".

Hopefully it's just a configuration issue....

 

[tako714]

I was able to resolve the problem after contacting ASUS.
One of the suggestion was to manually set the channel to one of the following 149、153、157、161、165.
I changed it to 153 and voila, it's fixed.

This makes me suspect that USB-N53 doesn't use the 60, 64 channel...

 

[ChipInNC]

The problem with the USB-N53 is that it doesn't support MOST of the 5Ghz spectrum that we are allowed to use for our channels! Even with the newest Mediatek drivers.

I had this problem with it not seeing my router's 5Ghz signal if it was lower than channel 149 or over channel 54/55. That's where most of the congestion is in my local area. ASUS wouldn't tell me because they are trying to hide the fact that their product has this limitation. It turns out that a lot of the lower end products do. Especially older products.

It wasn't until I loaded a copy if Wireless inSSIDer Home (Version 3.1.2.1) on several different machines, two without the ASUS Wireless adapters, that I saw the ASUS wasn't even picking up the signals on the other channels. I highly recommend getting that software! You can find it for free if you stay with the version 3 like I have.

I have a laptop with an Intel 7260 WiFi card and a Netgear WNDA3100 (older v2) that both pick up N Channels 36-65 and 100-170 without any issues. So I spent two days trying to figure out what other parameter I was using that the N53s wouldn't accept. I never dreamed it was the channel...

I have two machines with the USB-N53 adapters, so I've positioned my channels to be where inSSIDer Home shows them to have the least interference from other N routers in my area. It's giving me 300 M now, and that will work until I can replace these adapters.