WinXP Pro SP2 Auto Update has Destroyed My D-Link Wireless Driver

[AA Smith]

Recent changes to the way WindowsXP Pro deals with drivers has created a
very annoying problem for network communication for my Dell Inspiron
notebook, which has a D-Link DWL 650 PCMCIA NIC. I have had this notebook
and D-Link NIC for 2-1/2 years. And it has always worked flawlessly
communication-wise until recently.

For reasons I can't explain, WinXP Pro now refuses to install the D-Link DWL
650 driver that is on my D-Link drivers CD--the same driver that has worked
fine for 2-1/2 years. I don't off-hand recall exactly what the WinXP Pro
message states when I try to install that driver, but it's something to the
effect that WinXP cannot install that driver--the same one WinXP Pro has
successfully installed several times over the past 2-1/2 years.

To get around the problem, I wound up using the Wireless Network Setup
Wizard, which I was not aware of until recently. Perhaps it's new.
Whatever the case, the result is a driver that is incredibly and
unacceptably slow and causes IE 6.0 to frequently stall while trying to open
a given web page. And this has nothing to do with the web site. It happen
on most, if not all, web sites.

Is there some way that I can MAKE WinXP Pro install the D-Link original
drivers (the ones that worked fine for 2-1/2 years) for my NIC? If so, I
shall greatly appreciate your letting me know how I might do this.

 

[Malke]

Recent changes to the way WindowsXP Pro deals with drivers has created
a very annoying problem for network communication for my Dell Inspiron
notebook, which has a D-Link DWL 650 PCMCIA NIC. I have had this
notebook
and D-Link NIC for 2-1/2 years. And it has always worked flawlessly
communication-wise until recently.

For reasons I can't explain, WinXP Pro now refuses to install the
D-Link DWL 650 driver that is on my D-Link drivers CD--the same driver
that has worked
fine for 2-1/2 years. I don't off-hand recall exactly what the WinXP
Pro message states when I try to install that driver, but it's
something to the effect that WinXP cannot install that driver--the
same one WinXP Pro has successfully installed several times over the
past 2-1/2 years.

To get around the problem, I wound up using the Wireless Network Setup
Wizard, which I was not aware of until recently. Perhaps it's new.
Whatever the case, the result is a driver that is incredibly and
unacceptably slow and causes IE 6.0 to frequently stall while trying
to open
a given web page. And this has nothing to do with the web site. It
happen on most, if not all, web sites.

Is there some way that I can MAKE WinXP Pro install the D-Link
original
drivers (the ones that worked fine for 2-1/2 years) for my NIC? If
so, I shall greatly appreciate your letting me know how I might do
this.

You would be better off to get current drivers from the mftr.'s website.
It's unclear to me from your post whether or not the NIC is built into
the laptop or is a separate pc card. If it is the former, get the
drivers from Dell's website for your exact model laptop for the NIC. If
it is a pc card, get the drivers from the NIC mftr.'s website. See if
that helps.

Malke

 

[AA Smith]

Hi, Malke;

Thanks for your feedback. My NIC was not supplied by Dell. I bought the
D-Link DWL 650 and the D-Link AP1000 wireless access point separately and
installed them under WinXP Pro. I'm not absolutely positive, but I don't
think D-Link has released any driver updates for the DWL 650 since I first
installed it. But, I'll check.

Thanks for your feedback.