Question I can't get my USB wifi adapter to work properly

[matidass]

I have a Netgear WNDA3100v3. This is something an old roommate of mine deemed no longer useful to him and so he gave it to me. I thought I'd try it out - I installed the latest driver (Tried both the Standalone and the other version) and at first, with the Standalone version, it worked great, the occational ping-spike, but that's fine. A few hours later that same day, the light went from blue to Amber which is when it started acting up - It kept turning on and off, something it would continue doing until I got to the end of the day, at which point my computer wouldn't even recognise the fact that I plugged it into my computer. That said, I tried holding the button on the actual adapter, and that got the adapter to start blinking, the screen that now popped up on my PC asked me to hold a button on my router, but it was far too late for me to keep trying to mend it. Am I the idiot here? Is it the adapter itself? Is it my PC? Thanks in advance.

 

[Lutfij]

What OS are you on? You might want to see if the same issue crops up on a donor system. For my Netgear WNDA4100, I used to have the same issue if the adapter overheated. I made sure to orient the adapter in a vertical position on the back of my monitor and I haven't had an issue since.

Perhaps you're right to assume that the adapter is on it's way out. Perhaps it could be that your platform might need a BIOS update(motherboard) and that your drivers for the chipset(not the adapter) may be needed.

 

[matidass]

What OS are you on? You might want to see if the same issue crops up on a donor system. For my Netgear WNDA4100, I used to have the same issue if the adapter overheated. I made sure to orient the adapter in a vertical position on the back of my monitor and I haven't had an issue since.

Perhaps you're right to assume that the adapter is on it's way out. Perhaps it could be that your platform might need a BIOS update(motherboard) and that your drivers for the chipset(not the adapter) may be needed.

Windows 10
I tried it on my laptop, didn't work there either (Windows 10 on that too)
I will attempt that vertical trick - if overheating was the issue it should be ready for a new attempt now.

Could be the case, it just seems weird how it responds perfectly to one action but won't respond to another.
I'll update what I can, but I'm relying on the adapter for internet. I guess I could just download the updates on my laptop and move them with a flash drive?