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. Here’s the direct link.
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.
tryed all that and still didn’t work ..
tried version 4 and 4v1 since it said 4.5 … :S :/
PLZ HELP!
Does anyone know the solution for the problem when the device doesn’t start (code 10)??
Thanks for the informative page, although I got mine to work with the “802.11b/g MiniPCI Wireless Adapter” driver under the RaLink device driver section.
For info I did try some of the other drivers under RaLink, some dont work at all, whereas I was testing one of the others last night which worked but very slowly.
My advice to anyone having problems with the drivers try some of the others, I think any of the b/g PCI ones should be generic enough to work with this card. I’m not sure what version I have but its a newish card so probably the latest version.
Thanks again everyone for some helpful posts :)
[...] case no need to manually navigate to the install folder. The new driver was already in the list. http://www.phishthis.com/2009/01/16/…-vista-64-bit/ System: [...]
If someone happens to have a WMP54GS <—–notice the S…do the same thing above, but use "Broadcom" instead of "RALink".
Hi, thanks for this article but at this time Ralink’s website doesn’t have any of the files on their server. Anyone has an alternate link or a specific driver for the WMP54GS. I managed to find the RT2500 installer but not the PCI/mPCI/CB (RT2860/RT2760/RT2790/RT2890/RT309X) that seems to be working for the Speedbooster model.
I’m using XP 64 on a media machine and am having the same problem with the Linksys WMP54G v4.
Installed manual driver from Ralink RT2500 and can’t get the adaptor to start.
Any info would be appreciated.
i have the same problem as Joe, i have the v1 and its not working please help
EDIT! i have the WMP54G (which is v1 i suppose) and i installed the RT2860…etc and looked under “Broadcom” its working perfectly
good luck
This worked great in Windows 7 RTM 64-bit. Thanks!
I would like to says that my card (wmp54g) seems to work very wel with win7 32bit (evaluate version 7100) and the drivers i received when i bought the card!
Thank to all, Like anthony, I have a WMP54G versión 1, and using RT2860 and locked under “Broadcom” I find a Linksys 54G driver. Work Fine under Windows 7 RTM x32.
Thank again!!!
After lot of tries, this one worked for me. Win 7 Ultimate RTM x64 on WMP54G 4.1
__________________________________________
jdog
June 19th, 2009 at 2:32 am
I got mine to work with the “802.11G Wireless PCI Adapter” driver. My card is a version 4.1
Thanks for posting this :)
I have Windows 7 64 bit, and the v4.1 WMP54G and used the RT256x/RT266x chipset drivers found on ralink’s website and followed the directions used above and the wireless adapter worked great….
Drivers found here..
http://www.ralinktech.com/download.php?t=U0wyRnpjMlYwY3k4eU1EQTVMekE1THpFeEwyUnZkMjVzYjJGa05Ea3dOak16TXpFM01pNWxlR1U5UFQxSlUxOUJVRjlUVkVGZlVsUTJlRjlFTFRFdU1pNDRMakJmVmtFdE1pNHhMall1TUY5WE55MHpMakF1TVM0d1gxSlZMVE11TVM0eUxqQmZRVlV0TXk0d0xqTXVNRjh3T0RJME1EbGZNUzQxTGpRdU1GOUdjbVZsQw%3D%3D
For most of the folks on this forum, I’d suggest looking at the 32-bit Linksys driver. The people that are going to have the most issues are those that are 64-bit users. Just calling that out in case you are wondering. If you are not sure, look in your System Control Panel to see which version of Windows you are running.
I ran into the same problem regarding the driver “cannot start error” for the WMPT54G. I should have expected this because I reformatted from a Windows XP 64-bit version to Windows 7 64-bit. I was having problems getting it to work, and thankfully had an archived version of the file. The driver that ended up working was WMP54Gv41×64.sys.
You can download that file here: http://www.barinteractive.com/RaLINKRT2500.exe
(this one is slightly older than the one on the RAlink site, which did not work for me).
You can download the .sys file here:
http://www.barinteractive.com/WMP54Gv41×64.sys
Thanks for all of the helpful posts. I might add that I can actually get the 10-megabits per second now versus about ~3-megabits I was seeing in XP 64-bit.
Good luck-
Marty
Thanks Marty I thought i was going to have to purchase a new adapter. I tried a couple others on this page with no success but your suggestion works perfectly. Once set up i was downloading in excess of 650 kb/sec. on wireless.. sweet. Once again thank you for your help.
I just used the RT2500 for the WMP54Gv4 and it worked perfectly.
Thanks Mike, I’ll give that a shot
Cheers
Does anyone know at what stage when doing all this the adapter should be plugged in? Like I have WMP54G 4.1 and Windows 7 64bit.
During normal install with the linksys software you are not supposed to have the adapter connected to your computer until after a certain time during installation.
Can you have it plugged in the entire time using these drivers?
Yep, you can leave it plugged in the entire time. That’s what I did when I installed the drivers.
At what stage during these installations do you plug in the adapter? When installing with regular linksys softare you start the installation then plug the adapter in after being about half way through. How does it go with this stuff? Do i plug it in before installing the adapter or after?
I have WMP54G 4.1 and windows 7 64bit.
In my “other” devices section on device manager it says unknown device. Iinstead of like “network adpater/controller.” Is that normal?
Marty: Thanks worked for me too RT500 tranlates as Conceptronic 54G Wireless PCI Card
Full 54mps speed with Linksys router
THANK YOU, seriously. This was the only hardware hitch in my attempt to upgrade from XP to Windows 7 64-bit. I thought I would need a new card, since mine was so old, but you’ve showed me how to make it work, with great step-by-step instructions. You’re awesome, and you’ve saved me money. :)
No problem :) I’m happy to help.
i had this old wireless card. thought it wouldnt work. but……….. you beat microsoft. even though not to hard. i wouldnt even try windows update.
any who. thanks
Thank You, it is working now :)
Having trouble getting to: http://www.ralinktech.com/ralink/Home/Support/Windows.html
I’ve tried everything to no avail. I have a WMP54GX PCI Adapter that’s worked flawlessly under Vista 32 – I now have Win7, 64 bit, and it’s useless. ANY more ideas how I can get this rascal to work?
Your thoughts and help would be most appreciated.
Tom H
Link no longer works. I’ve yet to find anything on google that works. Time for a new wifi card I guess for windows 7 64bit
Thank you so much!! This worked like a charm!! I thought I was going to have to buy a new card, but you’ve saved me the time and money. Thanks again!!
It really worked for me with the v2 driver. I’m under 7 64bits. Thanks
well, none of the ‘ralink ideas’ helped me but finaly i managed to get this card to wok under windows 7 ultimate x64
what i did :
1.instaled (by runing setup.exe) the drivers from linksys site, but theese were the v2.0 drivers (despite having v4.1 hardware)
2. ran windows update and there apeared a microsoft update for linksys wmp54g withe speedbooster driver;
3.rebooted
4. hmm….thats all – it is working.
i keep getting code 10 does anyone know how to fix this?
Too lazy to check the version of my card, but I got it working with the 2860 drivers, I looked in the “Ralink Technology Inc.” list, and selected the MiniPCI Wireless Network Adapter. Thanks for all the help.
The RT256/266 kit worked with my WMP54G on Win 7 x64. Going thru this also helped me get the right drivers for an old HP laser printer. Same concept. Thanks for sharing.
FINALLY a forum that’s still active. Linksys support is completely useless.
Okay, so I’m trying to get my WMP54G v.1 to work on a homemade computer (running Vista Ultimate SP2 32bit). I had to replace my hard drive and the card worked just fine on the old drive, and it ran the same OS. My PC recognizes the card’s existence. “Network Controller” comes up in the device manager whenever I physically install the card. I’m pretty sure that at this point, it’s a driver problem.
So I tried to update the driver software by using the “broadcom” option that comes up when you choose to do it manually. No luck. I think the error was a code 35? Doesn’t make much sense since the thing was working just fine until the new HD was installed yesterday. I also tried various Ralink drivers none have worked yet.
Any ideas?
I’m using Windows 7 Ultimate (x64) and v4.1 of the WMP54G PCI-card. I tried the solutions above, some of them worked but they just made the connection unstable while playing games etc.
Here’s another solution you can try, It worked for me and it’s really stable.
1. Download the PCI/mPCI/CB(RT256x/RT266x) package from: http://www.ralinktech.com/support.php?s=1
2. Run the package and install the drivers only.
3. Now go to the “device manager” and do as shown in Toms guide above.
4. In the “Manufacturer”-list (left plane) there should be 2-3 Ralink-related manufacturers (just check each for the driver).
5. Select the “Ralink RT61 Wireless Lan Card V2″ and install.
Hopefully this will solve your problems.
WOW THANK YOU!!! I’ve been searching forever and trying different tutorials and drivers from everywhere and yours was the only one that came close to working (and yes it worked). I now don’t have to run a 30 foot ethernet cable to my desktop! I am forever grateful :-)
HUGE THANX! I have the original WMP54G v.1 and a fresh install of Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit. Thought I was going to need to buy a new card… Using the “Let me pick from a list of drivers on my computer” RALINK CORP – 802.11b/g wireless adapter – a driver supplied WITH win7 worked like a charm! Thx Phishes!
Try this for Win7 x64 with v1 card:
After almost giving up I decided to try a random Broadcom driver for my v1 card. Then I picked the U.S. Robotics Wireless 802.11g PCI Adapter and it worked. Its working great!
Hey guys,
could anyone help me?
I have the WMP54GX and I don’t get it to work using Windows 7 (32bit)!
Windows installs the drivers from the Linksys-CD but I can’t install the WLAN-client.
I tried to use the windows integrated wlan client, but I don’t know how to configure it. I couldn’t connect to my router (without key or with wpa/wpa2 psk).
Do I have to install the drivers mentioned above (Ralink)? But how? I can’t!
Using the setup.exe works. But afterwards trying to install the drivers via device manager does not work at all. It says “no driver found” when I tell him to install the drivers from Ralink.
Any ideas?
Just bought a desktop with amd sempron processor and windows 7 home premium on it. Tried to use old Belkin PCI wireless network card and it wouldn’t work. Went to Belkin website and saw 3 versions of updated drivers all of which didn’t work. (not sure if you were supposed to remove each version before attempting the next version-we didn’t though).
Best Buy suggested buying a new linksys wireless g pci adapter for 50 dollars.
Hoping to find a fix without added expense. Have Verizon Fios if that make a difference. Please help.
After hours of uninstalling and reinstalling and following all of the above suggestions. STILL NOTHING!!!!!
After excuting the PCI/mPCI/CB(RT256x/RT266x) file my pc the directory RAlink do not list under c:/program Files(x86)
Now what?
FINALLY!!!! Making progress! Got the list to show the Ralink drivers. Picked the driver (varius ones) and now i’m getting the Code 10 This device cannot start.
Any help here?
WooHoo! the broadcom USRobotics wireless 802.11g PCI Adapter worked for me!!
[...] issue is solved thanks to this guy How to install WMP54G Drivers on Windows 7 Beta 64 bit (or Vista 64 bit) | PhishThis! and this matter confirms my thoughts: Linksys has a site and possibly equally good customer [...]
Awesome! Thank you! Worked like a charm! It did not display this particular list, but I selected a Wireless G PCI card. Just make sure it is not a MiniPCI or Turbo PCI
I finally found something that got mine to work:
http://icrontic.com/forum/showpost.php?p=679946&postcount=1
hope this helps
Followed this exactly, worked like a champ!
Network even seems musch faster than with Vista 32bit.
(could it be the driver?)
Thanks All!
I also had this problem and after installing the drivers from Rlink, I got it to work more or less.
The, Windows 7 update driver actually finds and installs “correct” driver.
Everything seemed fine until I tried to play Counter Strike Source. Horrible packet lose!
Unplayable.
I am checking on the link provided by Nethaniel and see if that fixes problem.
I also get like 3 BSOD every time I turn on my pc for a first time after switching it off for a day or so. 2-3 BSOD and then more or less ok after that. Also have hard time connecting to the wireless network. Possibly connected BSOD issue related to the driver.
Like another poster mentioned, this link works: http://icrontic.com/forum/showpost.php?p=679946&postcount=1
Before using it I updated the router version to the most recent through the Linksys site and then forced the driver through the device manager in Windows 7. It’s working great without any lag. Thanks for the help everyone!
It worked for me
perfect ! (Y)
Any ideas for the “Code 10″. I tried every driver in the Ralink list and nothing….
Can anyone help with the “Code 10″? I tried every driver on the RALink list and nothing.