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Centrino Advanced-N 6230: advice for clean install Win10. re. drivers, ProSet software

salter
New Contributor I
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Windows 10 Home 21H2 19044.1526, 64-bit
11-year-old Dell XPS L502x laptop
Intel Core i7-2760QM CPU @ 2.40GHz (2nd-Gen quad core mobile CPU)
Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6230
Intel Centrino Wireless Bluetooth 3.0 + High Speed Virtual Adapter

Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6230 card provides Bluetooth and WiFi.
Originally I had Dell-provided driver packages, but later when I clean-installed Win7 I installed newer Bluetooth and WiFi packages from Intel. Intel said that Bluetooth must be installed first before installing WiFi, that's what I did.

I did an "in place" upgrade from Win7 to Win10. Bluetooth and WiFi have both worked since then and still work.

Currently installed:
"Apps & features" shows:

  • Intel PROSet/Wireless WiFi Software for Bluetooth Technology 2.2.0.0266.
  • Intel PROSet/Wireless WiFi Software 15.01.1500.1034.

Device Manager shows:

  • Bluetooth | Intel Wireless Bluetooth, 3.0.1310.386 from provider Intel.
  • Network adapters | Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6230, 15.4.1.1 from provider Microsoft.

Settings | Apps & features: I cannot uninstall either PROSet/Wireless software, as both "uninstall" and "modify" buttons are greyed out. I wonder if that happened when I did the in-place upgrade from Win7 to Win10.
I'd like to uninstall those apps and the drivers, so I can try to install newer packages to test on my current system before clean install.

I want to clean install Win10 to a new drive, so I need to know that I have the right drivers to install.
Intel site has removed downloads for this old card.

Intel web site says: Your wireless adapter doesn't require the PROSet/Wireless Software on Windows 10. As such, we don't recommend installing the PROSet/Wireless Software on Windows 10 unless... your system manufacturer pre-installed the PROSet/Wireless Software on your system.
But, another Intel page says the issue is only with DCH-compliant PROSet/Wireless Software, and according to the identification steps mine is not DCH-compliant but is Legacy and should be able to be uninstalled.

(I do have some old .exe packages various versions for Bluetooth with ProSet software and Wifi with ProSet software.)

Questions:

  1. When I clean install Win10, will I need any specific drivers to install or will both Bluetooth and WiFi work with Windows generic drivers? 
  2. If I need Intel drivers, will I need both PROSet software packages?
  3. If I need Intel drivers but not PROSet software, where can I obtain just drivers?
  4. On my current installation, is there a way to uninstall both PROSet software apps so that I can test installing new drivers?
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n_scott_pearson
Super User
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To my knowledge, there are no packages supporting the Centrino Advanced-N 6230 adapter on Windows 10. The legacy drivers are all there is. I do not know whether the compatibility drivers that Microsoft provides will support this adapter. Since there are no packages (unless you want to attempt the hack of the Windows 8.1 packages) for Windows 10, I would say that you should try doing the clean install of Windows 10 and see what happens.

Sorry I don't have a better response. You are using an 11-year-old laptop, after all.

...S

salter
New Contributor I
2,127 Views

n_scott_pearson, thanks for the reply. I appreciate it.

Indeed, 11-years-old is a long time. Surprisingly, it runs well with Win10. Many Win7 and Win8.1 drivers run fine on it, while some components now use Microsoft's own drivers.

In fact, the WiFi portion of the card appears to have had its Intel driver replaced with a Microsoft driver at some point, perhaps during the upgrade to Win10 or maybe via Windows Update. In Device Manager it appears as:

  • Network adapters | Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6230, driver 15.4.1.1 from provider Microsoft.

The Bluetooth portion of the card still uses an Intel driver:

  • Bluetooth | Intel Wireless Bluetooth, driver 3.0.1310.386 from provider Intel.

Any idea where I might obtain Administrator drivers-only download, without PROSet software, for Bluetooth for this card? Win7 or Win8.1 driver would be fine, as it would likely work.

Failing that, is there a way that I can save the currently-installed Bluetooth driver in such a way that I could install it after clean installing Win10? That would be a good safety cushion in case the generic Microsoft Bluetooth driver doesn't work well.

 

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n_scott_pearson
Super User
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I am sending you a private message (PM), so check your inbox. Click on your avatar in top right corner of Communities screen and select Messages.

...S

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