Dell XPS 7100 - Can't Install Wireless Drivers

[at1105]

I have a Dell XPS 7100 running 64-bit Win 7 Home Premium. It was blue screening because of an Atheros wireless driver issue. From what I could tell, a 3rd party driver update utility installed the incorrect driver for it causing it to blue screen every time it booted up. I booted into safe mode and removed all network drivers as well as 3rd part driver update utility. Upon restart The devices needing drivers were Ethernet Controller and Network Controller.

I downloaded and attempted installation of the correct drivers from Dell based on the service tag...

• Ethernet Controller: Broadcom BCM57788 LOM, v.12.4.4.6, A00 Broadcom BCM57788 LOM, v.12.4.4.6, A00 R257460.exe

• Network Controller: Atheros Wireless 1525 WLAN Mini Card Desktops, v.8.0.0.376, A02 Atheros Wireless 1525 WLAN Mini Card Desktops, v.8.0.0.376, A02 R290807.exe

The Broadcom (ethernet controller) driver installed perfectly and shows Broadcom NetLink (TM) Gigabit Ethernet in device manager. The Atheros (network controller/wifi) driver installation stops and says "The installation can not run on this platform. Please select package for your operating system."

Not sure what to do here. Details of the driver from Dell show it's compatible with 64-bit Window 7 Home Prem and this specific model of Dell. I have uninstalled all old software associated with the old drivers. I have tested the hardware with Parted Magic and was able to access the internet both wired and wireless. Any ideas?

 

[Bootman 650]

Snappy Drivers?

 

[at1105]

Snappy Drivers?

Downloaded Snappy Drivers and it detected that it needed the wifi driver but was unable to connect to the internet. I went into the network and sharing center but there is nothing listed under network connections. There are literally no internet connections at all. When I click to add a network connection is says "Windows did not detect any network hardware."

 

[at1105]

I also noticed that when I uninstalled both controllers in device manager and restarted, the found new hardware wizard didn't come up but they showed no driver installed in device manager. In fact, before I could install the Broadcom drivers, I had to fix the windows installer and manually start it. Is it possible there is another service related to hardware that may not be running preventing it from creating the network connections when I install the Broadcom driver?

 

[glricht]

Have you tried 3dpchip.net? (http://www.3dpchip.com/3dpchip/index_eng.html)

I'll use this when rebuilding a PC and none of the network drivers are there. It usually gets things going by installing both the wired and wireless drivers. Maybe it will help here?

 

[JustInspired]

I had to fix the windows installer and manually start it.

Hmm. Sounds as if there is a bit more to this than just a bad/wrong driver...
Have you run the Tweaking.com AIO Windows Repair tool?

Also for Atheros drivers I always go to the Czech site: https://www.atheros.cz
Has always had the correct and most up-to-date ones.

 

[BadPointer]

Can you post the content of "logs" folder of Snappy Driver Installer.

 

[glennd]

i had a similar situation recently where the "latest" driver for the wifi crashed windows with BSOD. Had to revert to an older version.

 

[BadPointer]

i had a similar situation recently where the "latest" driver for the wifi crashed windows with BSOD. Had to revert to an older version.

When it happens and you have the time, it's advised to try installing alternative drivers from the dropdown list to find out which driver works and report the problem(include logs).

 

[at1105]

Hmm. Sounds as if there is a bit more to this than just a bad/wrong driver...
Have you run the Tweaking.com AIO Windows Repair tool?

Also for Atheros drivers I always go to the Czech site: https://www.atheros.cz
Has always had the correct and most up-to-date ones.

I noticed that 95% of the Windows Services were disabled which I felt was a large majority of the problem. Not sure which default services needed to be running I took your advice and ran the Windows Repair Tool and it totally fixed the problem. Immediately after the repair was complete I tried installing the Atheros drivers and it went through perfectly. What an amazing tool. I had no idea it even existed. Thanks for tip!

 

[frase]

now download snappy driver and offline database about 8GB total for future events