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AX500 using wrong drivers and not starting

Azzy
Beginner
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I have a Acer Nitro 5 (AN515-54) and it comes with an Intel WiFI 6 AX200, it has worked fine up to now but it seems that there is some issue with it or Windows. When I boot up my computer, the card works (but device manager reports it as an Intel Wireless-AC 9560). If I put my computer to sleep, turning off the network card, when I open it again device manager says:

This device cannot start. (Code 10)

{Operation Failed}
The requested operation was unsuccessful.

How descriptive.
There are more error messages in the system logs, one of the notable ones being:

Intel(R) Wireless-AC 9560 160MHz : The version number is incorrect for this driver.

I have uninstalled the device and deleted the driver, letting windows find a new driver automatically. This did not help.

I downloaded the drivers for the AX200 and used device manager to update to this driver, it complained but did use the drivers. It still says that it is a 9560 but it works properly and will connect to the internet. Whenever the computer restarts, windows automatically detects that the "wrong" driver is installed and helps me out by switching to the 9560 drivers, breaking everything again.

Why is my network card having an identity crisis?
How can I fix it?

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Khun_Doug
Valued Contributor I
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Azzy,

The more curious thing from the SSU report is that wireless driver is dated 2019, nothing near the current version date.  I do see that there is are two newer versions of BIOS available for that laptop, so I would begin there. It is possible the hardware has some issue detecting between the various wireless adapters.

You mention that the laptop had been working properly. Do you recall if something specific happened that initiated the trouble pattern you are experiencing? A Windows update, or a driver update? Or for no reason at all?

Regarding the drivers for the laptop, it seems Acer has specific versions that are not current with Intel's releases. I would recommend to stay with the Acer specific drivers for the time being. After you update the BIOS, uninstall the current wireless and Bluetooth drivers. Then install the correct wireless and Bluetooth drivers. I strongly encourage you to uninstall and then update both the wireless and Bluetooth at the same time.

The download page that I was able to find for your laptop is here: https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/support-product/7964?b=1

 

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Azzy
Beginner
1,157 Views

Khun,

Thank you for the reply, I don't think there was a windows update when my adapter broke. From eBay, I know that I purchased the computer in January but the system log ends on April first, I don't know why, the log is only half full and I never clear logs. I was originally checking if there was an update immediately before the errors started but it looks like it has been logging the "Intel(R) Wireless-AC 9560 160MHz : Has determined that the network adapter is not functioning properly." error all the way back to April first even though I have not been experiencing this issue for long.

 

On 7/21/21 "The network driver requested that it be reset." 17 times.
At this point I have been looking through the system logs for about an hour, finding error after error relating to my network card. I don't understand. It seems to always have a problem, even when it works. At the moment it seems to be fine. I don't know why. I have the BIOS and drivers downloaded if (when) it breaks again, I will update them. Attached is a copy of my system log, I had to compress it to allow it to upload.

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Khun_Doug
Valued Contributor I
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Azzy,

Since this problem is what might be termed "intermittent", it may be worth having Windows reset itself to a state as though nothing was installed. Doing this there is an option to preserve your personal data, such as pictures, documents, etc. But anything installed that is not Windows 10 will need to be reinstalled. So any picture editors, office suites such as Microsoft Office or Office 365, anything like that, will need to be reinstalled. The advantage here is that any driver confusion, anything from a third party, all that will be reset to a sane state.

If you don't have a lot of extra apps and such to reinstall, this is likely a good route to try right now. And if you get the opportunity to select to download Windows from Internet or reinstall from what is already on the disk, I would choose to download from Internet. Here again, you know best what your Internet speed is.

 

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