Windows 7 Wifi Drivers 32 Bit
Ayman Hentz
I recently installed a Gigabyte PCIe WiFi and Bluetooth card into my PC. It's based on the Intel AC 8260. Shortly after I installed and configured the new card the Intel Driver Update Utility told me there was updated software, and I downloaded and installed it. The new version was PROSet Wireless Software to 19.1.0.
I almost immediately started seeing my Windows 10 system (anniversary edition) crash (Blue Screen) on a regular basis - like every few minutes, and on every occasion the module causing the crash was the Intel WiFi driver (netwtw04.sys V19.1.0.4 from 7/24/16). The stop code reported in the blue screen data is ATTEMPTED_WRITE_TO_READONLY_MEMORY. I have attached a photo of the blue screen.
I have since manually removed the newer driver and reverted back to an older version (18.50.4.2 built 6/5/2016) which so far (it's been a few hours now) seems to be stable. I am posting this in the hope that Intel can do something about it, and incase others run into the same issue.
I don't believe that Gigabyte support are going to be able to help with this because I am pretty sure that they just ship the original Intel installer for the PROSet Wireless software and driver. I'm a software developer, and one of the first things I did when I encountered the problem was to look at the properties of the netwtw04.sys driver. I found that it was version V19.1.0.4, was built on 7/24/16, and was digitally signed by Intel. So unless Intel builds and digitally signs custom OEM drivers (which I seriously doubt), that would seem to be a strong indication that they are not shipping a custom OEM driver.
New update: No, with 18.40.0 version I had one crash, and it did start to lose the connection more often than before....Possibly because in my setup, I have a primary router three floors up, an extender advertising the same SID for both 2.4 and 5 GHz bands in my den...something about the roaming may not work quite well I think...However v. 18.40 drivers seem in general more stable than v. 19 drivers.
My issue is that I have an AC router, N-extender, 2.4 and 5 GHz bands, and twp mini-PCI-slots in my laptop...plus the different driver versions...many possibilities to test the setup so please give me some time, and I will gladly share the result if I find the solution
I'd like to add that I have installed the 8260 m.2 card in my pc, and was having many blue screens in Windows 10 as well. I downgraded the driver to 18.40. as JackMark suggested, and haven't had a crash yet.
My situation is that this is a PC that I have recently built from components. Everything was running absolutely perfectly after the build, it's running a brand new install of the latest public build of Windows 10 x64, and was originally connected via one of the four gigabit Ethernet ports on the motherboard (an ASRock Rack EP2C602-4L/D16, brand new, latest BIOS, etc.). The motherboard doesn't have on-board Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, so I purchased and installed a Gigabyte GC-WB867D-I REV 4.2, which is basically an Intel AC 8260 mounted on a PCI express board. I installed the drivers provided with the card - frequent crashes. I followed the Intel Driver Update Utility when it suggested a later version - frequent crashes. then I experimented and reverted the older 18.50.4.2 version. Since doing so I have used the system for quite a few hours over last weekend, and have had no issues - not a single crash.
I am not aware of any specific action that causes the crash. I have seen it crash on several occasions before I was even able to complete a Windows login. On other occasions I have been able to use the system (including WiFi and Bluetooth via the card) for a few minutes, but not much longer that that before encountering a crash. Sometimes I have been working in an app, other times I have just been looking at the desktop at the time of a crash. The only constant is that with the later drivers installs, it crashes VERY frequently, so I would expect to be able to reproduce the issue pretty easily if needed.
I can't help wondering if the problem is some edge-case related to multi-threaded code. The reason I say this is that my system isn't exactly what you would call a typical configuration. It has two XEON E5-2670 processors, meaning that it has 16 physical cores and supports 32 concurrent threads. It also has 128GB of RAM. Not sure why that would make a difference, but it's something that is definitely not a "normal" configuration.
Unfortunately I am working out of town for the next two weeks, so I don't currently have access to the system, but I would be more than happy to work with you on this issue when I return. Perhaps you want to try to get some Windows crash dumps or something; a minidump is probably "doable", but trying for a full memory dump probably isn't a good idea due to the amount of RAM present. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help diagnose the issue.
Of course I don't expect you to support custom setups. There are almost infinite permutations of hardware available, and it's not your responsibility to make sure your drivers work on all of them. I've worked in the software industry, and even wrote a few drivers myself! I completely understand.
IMHO, the issue is the combination of card and driver version 19.x. I have same crashes with 7260 HMW card; switching to version 18.40.x helped, although PC would sometimes lose connection. Interestingly, old Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 WIFI card would work Ok with latest drivers (e.g. 19.1.0). But I am not sure at this time what specific driver version for that card is included with v. 19.1.0, as I already took it out of the system and replaced it with Broadcom/AzureWave BCM94352HWB.
I just wanted to weigh in on this issue. I've been having the exact same problem with my Gigabyte Designare x99 motherboard. I spent hours on the phone with their support only for them to eventually tell me that it's a driver issue on Intel's end. I even went so far as to replace the entire motherboard, only to have the problem come right back after Windows 10 automatically updated the driver. I'm about to roll back the driver to an earlier version as recommended by others in this thread. I'll update this post if it works.
I have the same issue with my new build PC with Gigabyte motherboard (X99 Designare Ex LGA 2011-3) with integrated 8260 Intel wifi. I have reinstalled and rolled back various drivers including the most recent but after an hour or less from boot I get the BSOD. Usually it starts with the internet signal dropping out, then all the network tools freeze and then the computer either blue screens or it blue screens or freezes when I reboot.
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But when the screen turned on, there is no wifi connection. When you click on the bottom right corner, you see that globe which means you aren't connected to the internet. When you click on it normally, you see a bunch of wifi connections for you to connect to. Instead it shows
These above appear to be installed? There is no yellow exclamation point or anything like that above. When I right click each one of these WAN, it shows device status this device is working properly for each one of these.
However the devices below do have yellow exclamation points and they show The drivers for this device are not installed (code 28) There are no compatible drivers for this device. To find a driver for this device, click update driver. Of course update driver does not work due to no internet.
Can anyone explain why I have no wifi and apparently no wifi adapter driver if that maybe the case? Note, my BIOS was very old before I did this clean reinstall. I remember it was like over 5+ years old at least and I never did a bios update. I never did an update because the concern of it bricking... made me never do a bios update. Could that be a reason?
I read that I should go to dell site and install all the drivers. I have my service tag and enter it on dell site. I would do this on another computer since I have no wifi on the dell xps. But how do I know which driver to install? Do I only download the network drivers first? I see there are 7 of them but none of these appear to be the wifi card that I had installed? I heard I have to download the drivers to a usb and then install it on this xps laptop?
Hi. Can you tell me specifically which drivers is that? So first type in my service tag into dell site. Then it shows the drivers that are available. Do I click on network and download those? Or do I download the ones already shown on the page?
Are you sure you want to copy this file without its properties? The file ........ has properties that can't be copied to the new location. I clicked yes. Then I connected this usb to my dell xps laptop and I believe I installed both drivers. But there is no wifi nor the dell wireless driver isn't even shown when i search for it on start menu.
Also, you could consider using Support Assist application to install latest Dell drivers / firmware and applications for the computer. Just click on link below and download / install the application onto the computer.
I was able to get the wifi working by downloading those two network drivers. Then opening and extracting the files. I then clicked on check for windows updates and then it updated. So now I have internet. I then went to dell driver site and downloaded all the drivers that were labeled as urgent except the BIOS. That is recommended right?
BCM2045A0
PCI Data Acquisition and Signal Processing Controller
PCI Data Acquisition and Signal Processing Controller
PCI Memory Controler
SM Bus Controller
Unknown Device
Unknown Device
Unknown Device
Unknown Device
Unknown Device
Unknown Device
Unknown Device