[SOLVED] Device Manager does not detect my PCIe Wifi adapter

[jonathanni1031]

Hi, I recently bought an ASUS PCIe Wifi adapter and installed it. Status light is on in the back. But when I run the setup program, it says "please plug in the ASUS adapter before installing drivers". Device Manager does not detect it.

My motherboard (Gigabyte GA-287 HD3) has an onboard wifi adapter that shows up as a USB stick in Devices and Printers. It is called: "Realtek RTL8723AU Wireless LAN 802.11n USB 2.0 Network Adapter" I tried uninstalling it but every-time I restart my computer, it reinstalls itself.

Can someone please help me with this issue? I just want Windows to switch to the ASUS Wifi card. Is there a way to remove the onboard LAN permanently? Thanks alot!

 

[WindowsVista64]

Access your BIOS, there you can enable and disable pcie devices, check if the wifi adapter is enable, if it isnt, enable it.

 

[jonathanni1031]

Access your BIOS, there you can enable and disable pcie devices, check if the wifi adapter is enable, if it isnt, enable it.

I accessed BIOS, I disabled "Onboard LAN controller", saved and exit, but the onboard LAN still shows up in device manager. In BIOS, Peripherals> Device Config> for "Init Display First", i put "PCIe 2 slot" (Where I plugged in the ASUS wifi card) and "PCIE Slot Configuration"to x1

Still not working

 

[Sarscarix041]

I think "Init Display First" is about which graphics card (incl. onboard) is your primary screen when booting. I do not know if that would cause problems for the wifi card, but I would suggest you change it regardless. (That might fix your problem.) Be careful with this; it is annoying to have to fool around with where to plug in your monitor, if you get it wrong.

Not certain here, but... I believe an "Onboard LAN controller" is an EtherNet port at the back of the motherboard. In the BIOS, I would expect either * no mention of the built-in wifi card or * some label that mentions "wifi".

Re Device Manager: To work, a device has to be * installed -- i.e. software for it is installed -- and also * enabled. Conversely, you can disable a device without having to software-wise or physically uninstall it -- that is the point of that feature. So... don't worry about uninstalling (the driver for) the onboard wifi; disabling it should be fine.

Re running Device Manager. Open Control Panel. Right-click on the Device Manager and select "Run as Administrator". That way, you can right-click on a device category and "Scan for hardware changes".

Then, you should be able to install the software for the new card (hopefully!).

((I trust you are turning the computer off before plugging and unplugging PCI devices?))