Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Resolved Question

Could my usb wifi adaptor be defective

Jun 24, 2018 11:58PM PDT

I have a usb wifi dongle/adaptor (wifi 'n') and I have installed the utility (REALTEK USB Wireless LAN Utility) and driver using the CD which came with the device. I have also downloaded the Windows 7 64 bit driver from Realtek and installed it (in case the driver which came on the CD was old and not suitable). I have Windows 7 64 bit installed.
When I run the utility it recognises the usb adaptor BUT does not establish an 'association'.
When the utility starts up the 'general' tab displays-
Status Not Associated
Speed N/A
Type N/A
Signal Strength nil
Link Quality nil etc and no IP address
Could it be that the adaptor is faulty or is there something else (the instructions do not state) that needs to be set up?

Thanks
John

Discussion is locked

jgplarnold has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer

Best Answer

- Collapse -
To the question. Yes.
Jun 25, 2018 10:02AM PDT

I have to test such on another PC to be sure. But there's no story here. For example a clean install of W7 and just your drivers could have a working adapter fail to connect.

I won't list all the reasons but some are motherboard drivers, they used the front USB case port, the date and time are too far off and more.

- Collapse -
Defective usb wifi adaptor
Jun 29, 2018 4:30PM PDT

Thanks
I have come to the conclusion that it is defective and I have ordered a new one.
I tried it in many different usb ports (all of which work ok with other usb devices) and have tried it in another different PC and no success.
Thanks