TP-Link TL-WN851N Wireless Card

[paul1224]

Hi

I have updated from Windows Vista to Windows 7 Ultimate and the above wireless card is not recognised in the Device Manager.

I don't use the card as always have Ethernet connection so rather than mess about downloading new drivers for it I was considering just physically removing it but when removed it leaves a hole in the back of my desktop tower so best left in!

Due to this can I just disable the wireless card via Device Manager - Network Adapters and then right clicking on the wireless card and clicking 'disable' (or would it be 'uninstall')? Would this method enable the yellow exclamation mark in Device Manager to go and would then just mean I couldn't use the wireless card?

Any thoughts would be appreciated, I could just download the drivers but as I don't use it thought would just be easy to consider above.

Thanks

 

[ubuysa]

I think you have two choices:

1. Download the right driver and install that. This would be my preferred choice, even though you don't use the card it would be wise to ensure that all devices function properly.

2. Disable the device in device manager. That should remove the yellow exclamation mark and it will mean that Windows will never attempt to use the device.

 

[paul1224]

Many thanks for the reply, I'll maybe try the driver then and see if that sorts the issue out and as a back up disable if required.

Thanks

 

[paul1224]

Just an update in case it helps anyone else.

I checked the TP-Link website for updated drivers and for my card there were no W7 drivers (probably due to how old it was) so I emailed TP-Link and they stated that I would either have to revert back to Windows Vista or get a new card.

Instead (and rather than disable the card as I don't use it anyway) I downloaded the most recent driver (even though they said it wasn't W7 compatible) and it resolved the issue.

Thanks

 

[ubuysa]

Just an update in case it helps anyone else.

I checked the TP-Link website for updated drivers and for my card there were no W7 drivers (probably due to how old it was) so I emailed TP-Link and they stated that I would either have to revert back to Windows Vista or get a new card.

Instead (and rather than disable the card as I don't use it anyway) I downloaded the most recent driver (even though they said it wasn't W7 compatible) and it resolved the issue.

Thanks

Glad it's sorted. However, for others reading this, you might find that some of the wifi card's features don't work properly, or at all. If TP-Link say there is no Windows 7 driver then it's unlikely the driver you downloaded (a Vista one presumably?) will enable the card to work fully or correctly.

Still, it sorted your problem.

 

[rzolv]

For revision 2 of the card, there are Windows 7 drivers.

Revision 1 (no 7 drivers listed): http://www.tp-link.com/en/support/download/?model=TL-WN851N&version=V1#tbl_a
Revision 2 (7 drivers listed): http://www.tp-link.com/en/support/download/?model=TL-WN851N&version=V2#tbl_a

You can check your card by looking at the PCB to see if Rev2 is silk screened on it like in the following image: https://wikidevi.com/w/images/b/bb/TL-WN851N-01.jpg (and you can see here: http://i.imgur.com/zultm5x.png what you'd be looking for).

On Linux at least, both revisions are supported by the ath9k driver in the kernel. Though Rev 1 uses the AR5008 chipset which is legacy, it's still in there. As far as I know, the Windows drivers will support legacy products and chipsets too (there's no reason for them not to). In fact it might just be the Linux driver ported to Windows, or vice versa (which is not actually that uncommon).

 

[paul1224]

Hi Ubuysa, yeah I'm aware some features may not work, seems ok so far but I don't really need to use it so what I have done will suffice for me but good advice for others as it may not be a workable solution for them if they use it regularly.

Hi rzolv, my version is v1 so no W7 drivers unfortunately, my understanding is that the v1 card that I have is so old that the last drivers were 2009 and since then the v2 is the only version they have kept up to date with windows drivers. It appears so far that the drivers that I did download (which covered W98, W2000, WME, and Vista) are working ok so far.

To be honest these cards are so cheap nowadays that if I used it regularly and the drivers I can download didn't work getting a new one probably would be best but to be honest I just wanted to avoid windows having a conflict or not recognising the card and so far these drivers I downloaded have resolved that.

Thanks for all the help.