My media center machine is my guinea pig. It’s relatively old with it’s nForce 440 based motherboard, Athlon 64 3200+ (Socket 989), and 1 whopping gig of memory. It’s also got a Hauppauge MCE500 dual analog tuner and an ATI 4550 with HDMI out to my Samsumg A550 40″ LCD.
I couldn’t be happier with how Windows 7 performs with minimal hardware. This machine is easily 3.5 years old, and it wasn’t exactly top of the line when I bought it. H.264 at 1080P plays flawlessly (thanks to AVIVO), and the Media Center interface is incredibly responsive, even right after bootup (which, I’m sad to say, wasn’t the case with Vista).
Anyway, last night I reinstalled Windows 7 Beta x64. Every single driver installed out of the box…except this damn WMP54G, which also didn’t work on Vista 64. So, here’s how to make it work.
This card is based on a card by RALink…that, or they use the same chip. Either way, they offer a driver that works.
http://www.ralinktech.com/ralink/Home/Support/Windows.html
I downloaded the RT2500 installer. Then I installed it. *EDIT* Here’s the updated link location, thanks to “Heroin” the commenter (had to clarify): http://driverscollection.com/?file_cid=410099446353e5b327a2d97a64c
So, install then, then head over to Device Manager. You should see this:
Double click that device and go to Update Driver.
Select Browse my computer for driver software
At the bottom, select “Let me pick from a list of drivers on my computer”
In the next window, scroll down to Network Adapters and double click. Then click “Have Disk”
In the box that pops up, navigate to/enter this path: C:\Program Files (x86)\RALINK\RT6x Wireless LAN Card\Driver
Hit OK then scroll down to “Ralink Technology Corp” in the box on the left side. On the right side, select “802.11b/g Wireless Adapter.”
Click YES on the warning.
Success! Now try to connect to your wireless network.
So my vista 64 automaticly installs a driver called Broadcom 802.11g for my wmp54g card so when i go to update a driver it wont let me it says the best driver for this device is already installed…. i have tried everything and i dont know what to do. If i try uninstalling the driver it just reinstalls it instantly. HELP
Which version of the WMP54G do you have? It should say on the card. V3, V4, etc. If it doesn’t say anything, it’s a V1. I know this works with a V1, but it may not work with newer versions. I don’t have a card to test it with.
Thank you! I will recommend this to everyone I know with Win7!
I have the v4.1 card, and while I had no luck with the ’802.11b/g Wireless Adapter’, it worked fine when I chose ‘Ralink RT61 Wireless LAN Card V2′.
For anyone else out there with 4.1….
Excellent guide. I just installed the windows 7 beta, and that was indeed the only driver that refused to work. Thanks!
Ryan: Instead of the RT2500 driver, download the RT256/266 one instead.
Thanks for the input!
I got as far as C:\Program Files (x86)\RALINK\RT6x Wireless LAN Card\Driver then I get a message saying that windows is unable to find any drivers although the driver software is there! Any ideas please
Cheers
Thank you so much. I was in one hell of a bind, and this fixed it.
Thanks again!
Hey mtom,
I also had issues with my wireless card. I couldn’t get it to connect to my network. So I tried your drivers, and now it connects but then looses it a few minutes later. I guess I will wait for a more stable version or better drivers. Or maybe I will wire it up.
I like the blog. See you around.
I also have a problem while installing it. Everything is fine, but at the end of installing I receive this message:
“Windows found driver software for your device but encountered an error while attempting to install it.
This deivce cannot start. (Code 10)”
Hmm, sorry for additional post, but when I choose Ralink Technology Corp. and then 802/11b/g Wireless PCI Adapter everything was fine, but hmm… is this a correct way to choose this option instead “802/11b/g Wireless Adapter” from “Ralink Technology Inc.” ?
I’m having the same problem as Richard, says it can’t find any driver.
Which version of the card are you guys using?
Did you try what Matt suggested above?
“Instead of the RT2500 driver, download the RT256/266 one instead.”
Thank you so much for this walkthrough! Worked like a charm. I’m using version 4, by the way.
I’ve got the WMP54Gv2 card and this did not work for me.
I will add the caveat that my card has been beat up quite a bit and it might be my particular case rather than with the model, so you might still want to give it a try.
Hello. I have the 4.1 like Ryan, and i downloaded the RT256/266 as suggested. It doesnt have the 802.11b/g Wireless Adapter in the options though and doesn’t create a driver folder in ralink folder…. What am i supposed to do? The ones ive tried crash my pc after a while D:
http://forums.linksys.com/linksys/board/message?board.id=Wireless_Adapters&message.id=2699
I actually downloaded and installed the v4.1 64 bit XP driver from here and it works perfectly in the latest windows 7.
Thank you so much!!! :3
After some struggling I found it and it couldn’t be easier.
Go to device manager and add manually from list: driver/ Browse my computer for driver software/Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer. From the list select Broadcom and select BROADCOM 802.11g network adapter! My reception is exquisite. In Vista I reached 600kb/s now I download at 1,30MB/s !!! Great surprise of Win7 RC! PS: I have a wmp54g on win7 64bit of course… Cheers
dude, thanks a ton this was the only guide that works for me.
i just followed step by step and bam this piece of shit card finally installed.
thanks again.
epi
Thank you! Worked like a charm.
Man, that works! I have been wrestling with this card for days. I really appreciate your work here! THANKS!
Thanks Ryan, That worked for me too.
Revised comment: This worked on Windows 7 RC 32bit.
I just got to say a big THANKS!
You are the man! You saved me loads of time.
Thanks You!
Oh! It worked on 64bit Windows 7
Thanks again!
I did the BROADCOM 802.11g thing, and then it found my card. Everything works great! Thanks a lot guys!!!
Thank you man! Great Work. I’m probing now.
You write: “Hit OK then scroll down to “Ralink Technology Corp” in the box on the left side. On the right side, select “802.11b/g Wireless Adapter.”
In my case i have to chance “Ralink Technology Corp” for “Ralink Technology, Inc.”
When I looked for Ralink RT61 Wireless LAN Card V2 it wasn’t in the list under ralink :( All of the others that have been on here will not work for me gives me an error saying cannot free up enough resources to start. This is the newest Windows 7 RC1 anyone else have any probs with this version?
Kyle, you are awesome. The XP64 drivers work perfectly for my 4.1 in Windows 7 RC
I have a WMP54G version 4 running with the Windows 7 64 – bit RC, and this worked like a charm. Thank you so much!!!
You sir, are glorious. Got it working :)
I got mine to work with the “802.11G Wireless PCI Adapter” driver. My card is a version 4.1
Thanks for posting this :)
Hey, it worked for me too! I have version 4.0.
I installed the ran the installer provided by the link, searched the driver manually just like instructed, and it installed without a hitch!
Oh, and I forgot to mention I am running Windows 7 RC, build 7100, 64-bit.
Took me quite some time to find the correct setting, but as Matt suggested:
- If you have the 4.1 Version use the Ralink RT256/266 Driver and not the RT2500 (http://www.ralinktech.com.tw/data/drivers/IS_AP_STA_6x_D-1.2.6.0_VA-2.1.3.0_RU-2.2.0.0_VA-2.2.5.0_AU-2.1.0.0_VA-2.1.0.0_120908_1.0.7.0_Free.exe)
- Just install the driver and choose the Ralink RT61 Wireless LAN Card V2 from the list. In my case no need to manually navigate to the install folder. The new driver was already in the list.
Worked for me! Could not get it working with any other of the drivers mentioned here. The RT2500 just got me some freezes. Thanks guys!
Btw: the “Thanks guys!” was not meant ironic! After reading the comment once more I realised it could be taken that way. Thats not the case. Thanks once more for all the hints I found here!
Thanks Tom.
Worked perfect for me using your original instructions (wmp54g version 4.0)
Thank you so much! Worked like a charm and I have ver. 4 and using a 32bit computer.
Thanks!
Well nothing worked for me (I’m using a wmp54g v2) until I was just clicking around and tried one of the drivers that was in Windows 7. I’m running 64-bit and posting now using the Linksys Wireless-G Notebook Adapter WPC54G V3. I can’t explain why this works, but it does. Full bars and no dropped connections.
Just adding my experience:
Using:
- WMP54G v4 (not v4.1)
- Win7 RC1 32Bit
Tried installing:
PCI/mPCI/CB
(RT256x/RT266x) – DIDN’T WORK
Then installed:
PCI/mPCI/CB
(RT2500) – DID WORK
Details:
I selected ‘Ralink Technology Inc’ from the Manufacturer list and ‘Ralink RT2500 Wireless LAN Card’ from the Network Adaptors list.
Thank you very much sir!! it works perfect I belive Im using the version 4.1 with windows 7 64bit
I originally used those Ralink drivers for my v4.1 card and was having system hard locks while doing things like trying log in to WoW and running the SpeakEasy Speet Test.
After figuring out that my wireless card was the culprit. I discovered that I could use the Linksys 64bit XP drivers and they worked just fine with Windows 7. This also stopped my system from hard locking, so I would urge anyone having issues to try this.
You can get them here.
http://forums.linksys.com/linksys/board/message?board.id=Wireless_Adapters&message.id=2699
GENIUS! Thanks for solving my headache =)
Kyle you are an absolute legend… I have a Tenda Wireless-G PCI Adapter.. windows recommends the Ralink drivers and they install, get the internet going, but don’t let you browse! (the internet is actually active as you can ping among other things).
Used your 4.1 tip with XP drivers and voila!!
very happy thank you
I tried and didn’t work, the device could not start, I have WMP54G V4.1, I guess they are not RALINK chipset
I tried and did work!!!! I have WMP54G V4.1 and I chose “802.11a/g Wireless Lan PCI” under “Ralink Technology Corp.” and it worked great, under wireless g off course, I haven’t tried a nor b wireless, it might won’t work, but I don’t think it would be a big difference, also choose (RT256x/RT266x) in http://www.ralinktech.com/ralink/Home/Support/Windows.html
I’ve been attempting to install a new wireless driver now for the past 2 days. Right now I’m running Win7 x64 and I have Linksys WMP54GS (v1 I’m assuming because it says nothing else on the card itself) Wireless-G card. Now before I installed I was happily running Vista x64 with this same wireless card and it worked fine. I actually remember Windows Update downloading x64 Linksys drivers for me in Vista…
Anyway, when I installed Win7, it automatically installed everything for me driver wise. It defaulted to the Broadcom 802.11g Network Adapter v4.176.75.21 driver. Then I ran Windows Update and it updated to v4.176.75.23 of the Broadcom driver. With both of these drivers, my internet runs like ass. It is dead slow and also fluctuates anywhere between 5.5Mbps to 54Mbps.
So, of course I do some research on this and find myself here. I downloaded every Ralink file that was a PCI adapter and had x64 support, went through each one of them, and installed every logical driver. None of them worked. I either received a “Code 10″ error or it just didn’t connect/couldn’t find my network after I installed and rebooted.
I then decided to try and download/install actual Linksys drivers which do not work either. They do give me different results though. One of the Linksys drivers, v3.100.64.0, installed fine and my computer/Windows seemed to think it was a correct driver. However, when I tried connecting to my wireless network, all the network manager said was “No connection available.”
Then I tried to install v4.102.15.53 of the Linksys WMP54GS drivers. This one got as far as the “Installing…” progress bar and then gave me a message saying something like “Cannot verify the digital signature of this driver, so it can’t be installed.”
Yeah, so I think I’ve tried everything. Right now I’m on these shitty Broadcom drivers and they suck. I really do not want to buy a new card just since I do not know if anything will even work with Window 7 anyway, but I would really like to get this card working with its correct drivers so that my internet runs at its normal speed.
For god sakes, if anyone knows how to make this shit work with a WMP54GS v1, please let me know.
Hi Joe,
I am having the exact same problem as you. did you ever solve it?
Alright, honestly, something kinda of works once I begin asking for help.
So I just tried installing drivers from the PCI/mPCI/CB(RT256x/RT266x) package again. Same old thing I was doing before: going to the device, right clicking on it and going to Update Driver even though the Broadcom driver was currently installed, and trying different Ralink drivers.
I tried a few drivers and they didn’t work. However, after I tried one of them (I cannot remember exactly which because I wasn’t expecting anything to happen), I right clicked on the device and actually uninstalled the Ralink driver that didn’t work. I then rebooted my computer expecting it to re-install the same old Broadcom drivers it’s been using.
It did install a Broadcom driver once it booted up, but it said “Installed Broadcom 802.11g Network Adapter #2.” I saw this and was confused as to why it said #2. Never did that before… So I went into the device manager and now there are 3 network adapters: my ethernet controller, the broadcom network adapter #2, and a Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport Adapter.
So, I tested things by downloading a file, and what do ya know, I hit speeds of up to 900k. Not as fast as it was when I was on Vista x64 (I used to get over 1Mbps on this wifi connection), but its a hell of a lot better than a constant 50kbps.
Can anyone explain to me what might have happened because now I am just totally fucking confused.
Hi there, great article by the way, finally I could install the on a Win7 RTM using 802.11a/g Wireless LAN PCI from the PCI/mPCI/CB (RT2860/RT2760/RT2790/RT2890/RT309X) package. I downloaded all PCI packages and that was the only one it worked.
Thanks all of you for your invaluable help
Eugenio