Today we connect to the Internet via ethernet cable, Wi-Fi and PLC. However, regardless of this, sometimes we have problems with our Wi-Fi network adapter because it is not well detected. In this case we are going to focus on a failure suffered by some older Wi-Fi cards. Over time, your drivers may become outdated and may cause them to not work. Then comes the time when we have to find the most appropriate way to update these drivers in various ways. In this tutorial we will explain how to solve problems with the 802.11n WLAN Driver, offering several alternatives.
The first thing we are going to do is explain who this ruling can affect. In addition, we will offer the possible causes for which this failure can occur, then we will offer different solutions to fix the problems with 802.11n WLAN Driver.
What are problems with 802.11n WLAN Driver and what can cause them
The problems with 802.11n WLAN Driver could be defined as the failure that occurs when a Wi-Fi network adapter that complies with the 802.11n standard stops working and we cannot connect to any Wi-Fi network. Normally this type of Wi-Fi cards are compatible with the standards 802.11b, 802.11g, and as I mentioned before, 802.11n. It should also be noted that they operate in the 2.4 GHz band and are more exposed to interference with neighbors’ networks because they have few channels. Compared to more modern 5GHz networks, they support distance better, but get much lower speed. Normally in the 2.4 GHz bands an average speed of 60 or 80 Mbps is usually obtained.
The problem is usually related to the 802.11n driver being out of date. In case you don’t know, a controller is a computer program that will allow our operating system to interact with a peripheral that, in this case, will be our Wi-Fi adapter. It should also be noted that the driver is an essential element of the software, without which we would not be able to use our hardware.
Regarding the 802.11n standard, it was approved in September 2009. Its theoretical maximum speed can provide a speed of up to 1,000Mbps with four antennas thanks to the 1024QAM quadrature amplitude modulation. However, as I mentioned before, routers tend to have a lower configuration than this and together with interference from neighboring networks it causes a lot of speed to decrease. Without a doubt, it has been one of the most used regulations and it still is in combination with the 802.11ac standard.
Regarding the failures that can cause us to have problems with the 802.11n WLAN Driver:
- The driver is out of date. Operating systems are being updated and changed little by little. For example, in Windows XP we have had several ServicePacks and in Windows 10 every 6 months there have been important updates.
- When we change the operating system, when migrating, for example, from Windows 7 to 10, or even doing a fresh installation.
- Also because Windows has incorrectly detected our Wi-Fi adapter.
In this article, for security, to obtain improvements and not have problems, we recommend updating the drivers.
Example of failure with 802.11n WLAN Driver
The first sign that something is wrong is when we are going to use our Wi-Fi adapter and verify that it cannot detect nearby networks. Now is the time to try and see if something is failing, so we are going to follow a few steps:
- We go to the Start Menu .
- We write Control Panel and press enter.
- We select Hardware and sound .
- We go to Devices and printers and click on Device Manager .
Then we will go to the Network adapters section and if we have problems with the 802.11n WLAN Driver we will see something similar to this:
The yellow icon on the Wi-Fi card tells us that things are not going well. Then by clicking on it with the right mouse button, we are going to click on properties to obtain more information.
In the General tab it shows us the cause, in this case this device cannot start. (Code 10). One thing we recommend looking at is the driver it is wearing, so if it changes we can contrast the differences. To do this, we are going to go to the Controller screen and we will obtain these results:
Generally, to see the changes more easily, what helps us the most is to look at the date of the driver and version of the driver.
How to troubleshoot 802.11n WLAN Driver in Windows
Obviously, these problems are related to the lack of a suitable driver that allows the operating system to communicate with the Wi-Fi card. Therefore, our goal is to update the driver.
Thus, also from the Device Manager , Network Adapters , we select ours, and with the right button of the mouse we click on Update driver .
The next step we are going to take is to Search for drivers automatically .
In the event that Windows has some drivers available, it will install them and we will fix the problems with the 802.11n WLAN Driver.
If we go back to device manager we will see that the yellow triangle has disappeared and it detects it as a Wi-Fi N adapter. Also if we go back to Properties , General , we see that it already works correctly.
On the other hand, if we also return to Controller , we see that the date and version of the driver have changed, so we no longer have the same one.
And if later, we return to the taskbar and click on the network icon, we will see how we already have Wi-Fi networks available.
As you may have seen, we are connected by Ethernet network cable. This is one thing that, if possible, is best done this way because it will allow you to download drivers from the Internet. If this is not done, I would do it looking only for the basic drivers that it leaves after installing Windows. On the other hand, in Update driver we have another option that we have not seen Examine my PC for drivers :
Then this screen will appear:
Here we will have two options:
- Search for drivers in this location : if you have them on a CD / DVD or downloaded to your hard disk, USB memory or other type of storage by clicking on Browse and placing the path, you will be able to install the drivers.
- Choose from a list of available drivers for your computer . They are the ones that remain after installing Windows.
If we choose the second option we will see the following after deactivating Show compatible hardware .
This is an option that will have very little chance of solving problems with the 802.11n WLAN Driver. It would only be recommended if you do not have an Internet connection at the time, but the chances of success would be very low.
The 802.11n WLAN Driver solution downloading from the manufacturer
Another thing that we should not rule out to solve problems with 802.11n WLAN Driver would be to visit the website of the manufacturer of that Wi-Fi card or laptop. The best known brands of notebooks usually have a support section with the drivers for the network adapters and more. If it is a USB adapter, we could look at its manufacturer to begin with:
On the back you could have a sticker or information that helps us to know the model and then go to your website and download it.
One of the best known manufacturers that also makes Wi-Fi cards is Intel, so if you know the model, you should go to the Intel download center to download the latest versions.
Finally, you have seen how to update the drivers in different ways you can solve problems with 802.11n WLAN Driver.
