I don’t even know why I called Linksys’ “tech support” in the first place. I guess I was pretty desperate. Have I not learned nothing over the years? After finding nothing but people who are having the same problems as me and not getting any answers from Linksys, I decided to try to figure it out.
The issue that I was having (as well as all those other people) was that the WUSB54GC would drop connection. For some people it was random. For me, it was when I downloaded large amounts of data. I couldn’t visit Google Maps or Google Images. If I’d open a few websites in seperate tabs, depending on how much content each site had, I’d dropped connection. Of course going to Linksys was a waste of time. They haven’t updated the drivers since 1/2007. Don’t even get me started with the phone support.
I did some digging around and I must have overlooked this before. The WUSB54GC uses the chipset created by Ralink Technology. Using this site I found out the WUSB54GC uses the Ralink RT2501USB chipset.
- Go here and download the USB (RT257x/RT2671) drivers
- Run the executable which will install everything to C:\Program Files\RALINK
- Open up the Device Manager, expand Network Adapters and double-click to open the properties of your Linksys WUSB54GC
- Click on the “Driver” tab and “Update Driver”
- Select “Browse my computer for driver software”
- Select “Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer”
- Click “Have Disk” and browse to “C:\Program Files\RALINK\RT7x Wireless LAN Card” and select netr73.inf and click “OK”
- Pick 2L (Conceptronic) and install the version you want. I installed 3.1.1.0.
- You will get a warning saying that he driver isn’t signed or recognized, but install it anyway.
- You should drop your connection and get it back.
The latest version on the Linksys site is 3.0.1.0 and now you’re running 3.1.1.0. So far I haven’t had a single drop or any issues.
Update (4/15/08): I recently upgraded my PC and installed Vista Business x64 Edition. I went through the steps here as listed, and was able to get the device connected again with no problems.
Caution: Oh, if you destroy any hardware and/or software on your computer, I’m not responsible. Do this at your own caution. I had no issues, but that doesn’t mean you won’t.
Thanks, it did work. I couldn’t download more than about 6MB quickly with the Linksys drivers. Doing exactly what you said to allowed me to download large files again!
Glad it worked for you.
I don’t get why Linksys won’t release an update, but oh well.
Actually, this might not be the best solution. I’ve been encoding some videos in x264 today, and it crashed 3 times — BSOD, reboot, and then Intel Matrix controller wants to check my array each time (a BSOD is best to be avoided).
So, I noticed that each time in the event viewer before there was a ‘The last shutdown was unexpected’ entry there was an ‘Application fault in RaUI.exe’ entry. RaUI is of course part of the RaLink drivers.
Doing what you did, I tried to find another solution. My solution was the Belkin F5D7050 v3xxx drivers. I’ve downloaded >350MB since I started typing this post, so it seems to be working. No idea if it crashes less, or if the crashing was an x264 - Vista problem — I doubt it’s my overclock since that’s been stable since July @ 2.93GHz [8×367] (Core2 E4300, 1.8GHz stock) and 975MHz RAM (DDR2-1066 spec).
Here’s what I did:
Downloaded http://www.belkin.com/support/article/?lid=en&pid=f5d7050&aid=5381&scid=223&fid=2772&fn=f5d7050v3_vista_1.0.0.2_02052007.exe these drivers (belkin -> support -> networking products -> client adapters -> F5D7050 -> Software & Updates -> Drivers -> v3xxx Vista Beta driver from 2/19/07)
from device manager, uninstall the driver you have (select device, uninstall, select delete drivers).
run the belkin setup exe, accept the uncertified driver box, plugin the adapter. it will try to find a driver, probably can’t.
device manager, select the device, click update driver. do like above from this point, except you want to go to c:\program files\belkin\f5d7050\vista driver; I selected the Belkin Wireless G USB Adapter (Ralink). There were 2 of them with the same name, which is odd, but I chose the top one, whatever difference it makes.
BTW, at 730MB downloaded.
Either solution works. All you need to do is remove the RaUI.exe from loading at startup.
Though, I haven’t had a single crash and/or problem since I installed the drivers outlined in this article.
It’s just a matter of finding the drivers for the chip, so however you go about that is fine.
Agreed, though the Belkin drivers do not install RaUI.exe, whereas the RaLink drivers would.
Should probably add if anyone were to try going from the Linksys to the RaLink drivers and then try Belkin, please uninstall the RaLink and Linksys drivers and reboot, unplug the adapter and install the Belkin drivers. You’ll probably have to force the driver install (Have Disk… type of install), though.
Thanx for the info
Last week I was really struggling with this problem, especially with bittorent, and almost returned it as defect (bought it last week as “vista compatible”). after installing the ralink driver i’ve been downloading 2 gig aprox and no issues arised anymore.
Thx again!
Bundy
Holland
I have a Atheros AR5005G adapter
so i just went to device manager and went to properties on my wireless adapter after that i just asked it to update the driver and search for it over the internet.
it did that and installed it
after that i am having no more problems (at least for now)
Thank you for that information. I have the same issue for several time and linksys driver dont resolve the problem.
It was strange because my lantop worked well with the wifi. Is a WUSB54 problem i vista but after many search i couldnt resolve it. I was giving up…
I found ur usefull article. Many thxs!!
Luis
I was wondering why I kept losing connection, even with my static settings.
trying these out now.
and a little tip for some that don’t know: setting up your connection to use a static ip will reduce your number of drop outs as well, as you’re no longer needing to renew your ip lease.
I solve my problem.
Found a little program that fix the auto search wired lans in vista.
It works for me.
http://www.martin-majowski.de/wlanoptimizer/
Hope it helps.
Luis
Above Not wired
Wireless!!
back with a minor review.
they work. much better than linksys’ version. if you have this adapter, are running vista, and have this problem, then this is your fix
I just bought one of these and I can’t get the other computer to connect to the internet at all. I’ve tried everything that I can think of. You are right… Linksys telephone support was no help. I’ve installed and uninstalled and reinstalled and upgraded the firmware for the router. I can’t ping the router either. I’d try your fix if I could get on line in there.
maybe you can uninstall the hardware through device manager and restart the computer. The computer will automatically install the hardware and download the latest driver to run the program.
I was having trouble with my sound card and i uninstalled and installed back again and it is working fine. My wireless problem was solved by manually updating the driver through the properties.
I am having no problems with my internet connection after i updated the driver issue.
hope this helps!
how do you connect with no nic… why offer advice on a sound card driver issue. and for the record, ms drivers are normally severely out-dated. maybe that’s improved, but I don’t think so…
hey tracy, just burn the driver to cd or put it on a flash drive with the pc you used to make that post. if you need, copy the instructions to a txt file and take it with you.
“make life simple, not simpler.”
-albert einstein
DO you know a driver that can run on linux?
I am having the same problem but i am using Windows XP with the service pack 2. I set the Linksys WUSB54GC up through the linksys setup and then installing it through windows and using the WZO config and i keep geting kicked off every 10 to 20 mins, which if you were searching the web it wouldnt be a problem but i play war craft and it is a pain in the ass if you play an online game that need a constant connection. I have tried downloading allot of different drivers but nothing seems to work. If someone has a solution i would greatly appreciate it, thank you.
i ment WZC as in Windows Zero Configuration
I also tried to follow your instruction but I am not quite sure what to do here:
“Pick 2L (Conceptronic) and install the version you want. I installed 3.1.1.0.”
Where do I find this 2L (Conceptonic)? I googled and googled without any helpful result.
There is even another problem…in case of installing the Ralink Driver I always get the message that no Ralink WLAN Device was found
.
Even after the reboot.
Maybe someone could help me
?
Thx and greatz from Austria
SUPERB! Genius!
Thanks alot.. i’ve been strugling with this problem for a long time…
I am having the same problems on Windows XP - dropped connections, low signal strength, slowdowns etc when other wireless access cards on laptops in the same room have no problem.
the current XP driver information from Linksys is:
Product: WUSB54GC
Classification: Driver Release History
————————————————————————–
Last Released Date: 12 / 28 / 05
————————————————————————-
Last Driver version: 1.0.2.0 (Windows XP, 2K, Me and 98SE)
Last Setup Wizard version: 1.1
Last WLAN Monitor version: 1.1
—————–
Can I download the RaLink driver dated 10/26/2007 (USB RT257xRT2671) and use this on Win XP?
Julian: if you’re using ubuntu, google “ndiswrapper ubuntu”. there are a few guides out there. if you use any other flavor of linux just replace the name in the search.
Jay: I will say yes, as it says so on their site.
At Last Thanks to u , now i got the cursed pen working.
Hey Guys,
I’ve been having the same disconnect issue on Vista Home Basic…it looks like you tracked down a fix here, but I do not have the “Have Disk” option at any point as the original post dictates. All I get is a path directory to put in, and when I do, Vista Home Basic doesn’t recognize the Belkin or the RALINK driver in the folder as legit.
Anyone run into this? Any ideas?
Hey guys , tried the link to the belkin driver, dl it then installed, tried to update driver and thats when things looked different.
joex444 said,
“c:\program files\belkin\f5d7050\vista driver; I selected the Belkin Wireless G USB Adapter (Ralink). There were 2 of them with the same name, which is odd, but I chose the top one, whatever difference it makes.”
when i pointed to that folder there was only 1 driver in there that was not compatable with my devise.
i had a similar problem with the ralink driver in the first reply, am i doing something wrong?
It works perfectly for me in Vista Home Premium (x86) using the driver from Linksys.
But in XP (both SP2 and SP3, on the same computer as Vista), it is a b*tch. It won’t let my computer go into standby or hibernation mode (freezes at the “Preparing to stand by…” screen). It randomly drops connections, or doesn’t connect at all. When I try to repair the connection, it freezes at “Disabling the network adapter…” and when I try to connect (if it finds my network) it freezes on “Waiting for the network…”
Now this is a fully updated XP SP3 and a never-updated XP SP2. And the same problem happens in both.
The 33 MB download from Ralink is taking an hour to download.. I took the driverpart out of the package, which is available for download at http://www.cleaninstall.nl/drivers
Grtz,
Mark
Tried your steps and was successful. It’s very had to find Vista x64 support for wireless adapters but your route of measure definitely did the trick, thanks.