My laptop has Broadcom 802.11n Network Adapter AND Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller. Difference?

[Grass-Hopper]

I have a Toshiba laptop running Win 8.1. When I look under Device Manager>>Network Adapters, I see both "Broadcom 802.11n Network Adapter" and "Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller" listed. What's the difference? Do I have two WiFi cards/drivers?. I think Broadcom is the one that is connected/used via WiFi to my router.

If it helps here is some more detail:

Broadcom 802.11n Network Adapter - Location: PCI bus 6, device 0, function 0
Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller - Location: PCI bus 1, device 0, function 0

Before I did clean install from Win 7 to Win 8.1 on the laptop I think (I may be wrong) it used the Realtek for WiFi. I'm having some issues with loosing connections and have to run windows WiFi "troubleshoot problems" frequently to re-establish connection but, that's another topic for now.

Thanks for your help.

 

[RealBeast]

The Realtek is the LAN port (Ethernet adapter) and the Broadcom is the wireless adapter. Be sure to install the correct latest drivers for each device.

 

[Grass-Hopper]

The Realtek is the LAN port (Ethernet adapter) and the Broadcom is the wireless adapter. Be sure to install the correct latest drivers for each device.

Real beast,

Thanks. That makes sense.

As far as getting the latest drivers for Broadcom and Realtek, that is part of my problem. Originally, my Toshiba laptop came with Windows 7. When I upgraded to Windows 8.1, I found out that Toshiba does not support the upgrade for my laptop and therfore no new drivers and custom software were available. Well, I did a clean install of Win 8.1 anyway and everything is actually working fine. Only problem is that the Broadcom and Realtek drivers are now provided and installed by Windows 8.1. I know they are not the latest, but windows says the are! I would prefer to use the ones provided directly by the manufacturer.

I'm not sure how to find the correct latest drivers to make sure they'll work with my laptop. I checked Broadcom website website but didn't see any utility that would scan my system, and couldn't find a driver that I thought was the right one either. I haven't checked Realtek website.

If you think it helps, I can post details of my laptop and network cards/drivers.

 

[RealBeast]

If the adapters are working, I suggest that you not change them. OEMs sometimes customize parts like onboard adapters and unless you have a major issue it is best not to change them. That is a big reason that Realtek and Broadcom do not have drivers up like Intel does.

 

[Grass-Hopper]

If the adapters are working, I suggest that you not change them. OEMs sometimes customize parts like onboard adapters and unless you have a major issue it is best not to change them. That is a big reason that Realtek and Broadcom do not have drivers up like Intel does.

RealBeast,

I agree with you. The only reason I was looking for a possible upgrade is because my laptop drops the router/internet connection via WiFi intermittently a few time a day for no apparent reason. This only occurs while using WiFi. The problem gets fixed if I run the windows network "Troubleshoot Problems" which after scanning the network re-establishes the connection and a message displayed says something to the effect that router/internet/cable connection was lost or unavailable, and gateway connection was re-established. I'm wondering if it might be related to an old Broadcom driver.

A little background: I did not have this problem when my laptop was running on Win 7. It started after a clean install of Win 8.1 on a new SSD drive from scratch to replace the old drive, then each application was re-installed. To the best of my knowledge the Broadcom driver (Broadcom 802.11n Network Adapter, Ver. 6.30.223.102) was installed by Win 8.1 which makes me think that maybe that's the reason for intermittent connection.

It may be unrelated but, ever since the change over to Win 8.1, my MS Outlook prompts me multiple times a day to confirm/enter my email id/password, but only for my Verizon email and not my Gmail and Hotmail accounts. BTW, Verizon is my ISP provider. Coincidence? May, or perhaps not! Also, my cellphone fails to connect to Verizon email intermittently. Again coincidence? I have not changed any settings with the router that was original provided by Verizon.

I also wonder if all of these issues are inter-related and caused by my Verizon ISP provider. Any ideas?

 

[RealBeast]

It certainly could be a Verizon issue.

I've had rare occasional luck contacting technical support at chip companies and having them e-mail me links to drivers that are not generally available. While it is mostly storage firmware stuff, perhaps Realtek or Broadcom will help you out if you give them precise information on the particular chip model and current driver version to see if they have an unpublished beta that you could try.

 

[Grass-Hopper]

It certainly could be a Verizon issue.

I've had rare occasional luck contacting technical support at chip companies and having them e-mail me links to drivers that are not generally available. While it is mostly storage firmware stuff, perhaps Realtek or Broadcom will help you out if you give them precise information on the particular chip model and current driver version to see if they have an unpublished beta that you could try.

RealBeast,

Thanks for all your help. Love the picture of your dog!

 

[jlinton1]

If the adapters are working, I suggest that you not change them. OEMs sometimes customize parts like onboard adapters and unless you have a major issue it is best not to change them. That is a big reason that Realtek and Broadcom do not have drivers up like Intel does.

RealBeast,

I agree with you. The only reason I was looking for a possible upgrade is because my laptop drops the router/internet connection via WiFi intermittently a few time a day for no apparent reason. This only occurs while using WiFi. The problem gets fixed if I run the windows network "Troubleshoot Problems" which after scanning the network re-establishes the connection and a message displayed says something to the effect that router/internet/cable connection was lost or unavailable, and gateway connection was re-established. I'm wondering if it might be related to an old Broadcom driver.

A little background: I did not have this problem when my laptop was running on Win 7. It started after a clean install of Win 8.1 on a new SSD drive from scratch to replace the old drive, then each application was re-installed. To the best of my knowledge the Broadcom driver (Broadcom 802.11n Network Adapter, Ver. 6.30.223.102) was installed by Win 8.1 which makes me think that maybe that's the reason for intermittent connection.

It may be unrelated but, ever since the change over to Win 8.1, my MS Outlook prompts me multiple times a day to confirm/enter my email id/password, but only for my Verizon email and not my Gmail and Hotmail accounts. BTW, Verizon is my ISP provider. Coincidence? May, or perhaps not! Also, my cellphone fails to connect to Verizon email intermittently. Again coincidence? I have not changed any settings with the router that was original provided by Verizon.

I also wonder if all of these issues are inter-related and caused by my Verizon ISP provider. Any ideas?

You are correct in assuming that your issues began with the Windows 8.1 upgrade. Those same intermittent limited connection issues are going to continue with Windows 10 also. I had on occasion the same limited connection issue after upgrading to 8.1 and ended up purchasing two different modems, two new Dual Band Wi-Fi routers, and installing new cable for my Comcast ISP. Nothing seemed to work for long and it was driving me crazy. I finally went to the control panel and opened the Network Adapter section, ignored the latest driver installed message from Microsoft, and rolled back my driver.

Windows 10 announced the free upgrade 2 weeks ago, I again set my computer for Windows automatic updates (A prerequisite for Windows 10 upgrade) and the problem resurfaced. I noticed the Network Adaptor was upgraded again by automatic updates. Windows 10 upgrade requires everything to be up to date on your system before the upgrade is allowed. After the upgrade the ability to turn off Windows automatic updates is no longer an option. This means that Microsoft will continue to update everything on the system on a regular basis. To get around this you will need to purchase Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise Edition. You then will have to roll back your driver periodically unless Windows 10 updates have better options at selecting its drivers.