[SOLVED] Replacement/upgrade for Ralink RT3090?

[Frooby]

My Packard Bell all in one (OneTwo L 5800) has developed WiFi connection issues - ie WiFi has disappeared - seemingly from the recent Win 10 update. The device is returned as 'not found error 45', and trying to install drivers manually, running 'Troubleshoot and carrying out an SFC scan have not worked.

Obviously the next step is to check that the mini-card hasn't become detached (which it really couldn't have) but I would like to replace it in any case as it's an old card with equally old drivers, and I suspect it's struggling with running on Win10.

Could anyone suggest a straight upgrade for this card, please? Or what factors to look for when choosing one?

Current card: Ralink RT3090 VQF-RT3090-1T1R

PC: PBell OneTwo L L7623UK (L5800) i3 540 3.07GHz

Win10 2004 Build 19041.508

Many thanks 🙂

 

[bill001g]

First make sure win10 is set to not update drivers automatically. It did that to me years ago to a video driver on a one machine years ago. Booted to a black screen that took a long time to get fixed.

You could try to see if there are drivers on mediatek site. They purchased ralink about 10yrs ago. Drivers have not been updated much so you may not find win10 but win8 drivers work for many people.

It appears to use the standard half size mini pcie card. You only have 1 antenna. I did not check if the card also does bluetooth. These cards are getting harder to find since new equipment has gone to the smaller m2 cards but pretty much anythings that will fit will work. I do not think packard bell has white list bios limits.

 

[Frooby]

Thanks Bill - that's all very helpful.

Ah, not set to update automatically? Why is this preferred?

As part of my attempted fix I did get drivers from Mediatek, and I downloaded and 'extracted' some .cab files from this. I couldn't get any further, tho', as the 'Network Adaptor' had disappeared completely from Device Manager so couldn't install them manually, and clicking on the extracted files had no effect either (can't say I fully understood what I was doing, tho'...).

Since I'm going to have to open my PC to see if there's a physical issue, I was hoping to have a more modern card to slot in while I was at it. I've read on here (might have been you!) that Intel cards are well regarded?

I can't recall if Bluetooth was on my machine - good chance not - but would there be issues if the new WiFi card I fitted had Bluetooth included; would that just be ignored? Or, better still, would BT be enabled?

Cheers.

 

[bill001g]

Since they recently allowed it I have not allowed even windows itself to update. Microsoft messed it up multiple times in a row. It was surprising they actually admitted it when they changed the option to let you manually take updates when you want.

The one for the driver has always been there but hidden. I came close to a reinstall because they updated video drivers and killed the machine.

I did not spend time to look at the specs of the card you had. I know it is half size pcie. You should be able to lookup if it has bluetooth on the current card. Most machines run the bluetooth off the wifi card but if you laptop has another adapter I suspect you could have both if you really worked at it.

I would if it is not too much trouble take the wifi card out so you can make sure it looks like the new one. Mostly you want to see how many antenna connections it needs. Even 1x1 cards many times have 2 antenna. Sometimes the second antenna is bluetooth but on others I am not sure why they have 2 antenna. You could upgrade to a 2x2 card if there are 2 antenna.

 

[Frooby]

Thanks Bill - I'll remove the current card and go from there.

 

[Frooby]

Update: Got myself a second hand card a few years younger on t'Bay - a Qualcomm/Anatel Atheros AR5B225. Set me back a whopping £3.

It worked instantly on switch on - phew. What's more, when I checked the drivers, it had a 2016 version installed - much more recent that the one on the old card. How on earth did it install this so quickly?!

WiFi speeds and ping are only fractionally less than Ethernet - a result.

I'm assuming, then, that the old card had simply failed rather than being made redundant by Win10.