There aren't any new/different drivers with the potential exception of 9.2.0.19 on Win7 (do a search). Qualcomm don't seem interested in the 9271 anymore. Fortunately you don't have to change OS to try and workaround the bug. You could always try using the Vista, or even the XP drivers as indicated above as long as you delete the "athur" from service section of the registry before rebooting and installing XP ones or they won't install (service name in use error), as it seems the Win7 drivers didn't nearly get as much "development" and are flaky including the prior versions down from 2.0.0.64 like 2.0.0.57, 2.0.0.49, 2.0.0.32 etc. 7.7.0.102 for XP is also decent (forced on Win7) as is 7.7.0.105 and vista 8.0.0.87 (both uploaded). You won't get Virtual Wifi with those since XP or Vista doesn't have it, but at least they might just work adequately.
Hm, thanks for replay. But, if I can't use the AP mode the adapter is useless for me. So, probably I need new adapter then Btw, I already installed the XP drivers prior reading your post to check them and saw that the AP mode is unavailable. I will try the 9.2.0.19, if I still see random driver locks will change the adapter. Thnx again.
Hi guys, I'm buying an NHA next week and am going to look at EEPROM programming using my Teensy++2.0 board using the info from the following page - ( https://xiaopan.co/forums/threads/unlocked-channels-tx-power-other-mods-for-atheros-intel-realtek.5359/ ) but before doing so I was wondering if any of you that own this card could look on the board and let me know what the EEPROM chip is please so that I can see if it might be possible with the programs I have already or if new ones need to be found/made/modified. I'm specifically going to be interested with changing the area bit & possibly the TX power output and if I manage it, get anywhere then I will let everyone know my findings. Thanks in advance to anyone that replies.
Oh this thread is gold, thank you! I bought this device when seeing how sought after it was for backtrack not realizing it had driver issues on the proprietary windows 8 / 8.1 os. Have been trying to stream and can't maintain anything stable with the 2 adapters I have. I sold a really crappy 8$ chinese ralink that used to get hot but it would have given me my solid 3 hours that I require compared to this alfa which is supposed to be stable and I know doesn't get hot like my other 2 adapters. I went with the alfa because it seemed to be the price that a wifi card should be, Kind of wish I would have went with ubiquiti or mikrotek. Wow I actually had the client installed on 8 at one point but it locked me out of my OS with consistent blue screens scary stuff difficult to uninstall too. Imagine trying to get into safe mode with no windows usb on you . I guess I could have put it on a usb but that was annoying managed to get a restore point couldn't get into safe mode didn't think I needed to make a disc. Restore point worked fine though just takes awhile. Here's a screen shot of the stuff I have been spending hours on installing in different compatibility and enforcement modes; http://imgur.com/jjiC82M Going to give 10.0.0.25 a sure try I hope it fixes it. I think it should I'm apparently typing this on 10.0.0.20
There is a 10.0.0.23 floating around on thread to try as well, just so you know... I also have some much older drivers backed up (signed too) for anyone having problems, or brave enough to try them. --- Double Post Merged, 16 Jun 2014 --- NEW !!!!!! Atheros AR9271 10.0.0.28 - Windows 8.1 x86/x64 from 20/11/2013. Yes this is the latest driver for Windows 8.1 since I know where to look. ;-) Uploaded 16/06/2014. Nobody has these yet... https://www.mediafire.com/?6f6lh0pxff36ad2 Don't forget to press the "like" button if they work for you.
Hi Kevsamiga, I have been trying to get the win xp drivers installed on win 7 x64 using your guide but so far am having no luck at all and keep coming up against the 'this name is already in use' error no matter what I try! I have tried deleting the stuff in registry after uninstalling the driver with no luck, i've even tried putting the win xp drivers in the drivers section of the system32 folder with no luck. At the moment it's doing my head in and i'm coming to the conclusion that the card itself is junk anyway 'cos using the standard drivers it won't pick up the 2 strongest signals in my area that I have the keys for so I can't even test to see if the signal/connection is any better 'cos I can't see the damn things to connect to which is strange as all my other cards will connect no problems and at 4-5 bars! Any ideas what to try next or have you any other guides including all registry entries to look for and remove so that I can try and get a decent set of drivers installed please? I forgot to mention that I have rebooted after messing with the registry and every time i've done that and get back into windows it goes and finds the same damn drivers again so am left back at square 1! EDIT: One last thing, is there supposed to be a atheros utility like the ralink or realtek utilities that come with the Alfa drivers etc? I'm sure that the disk it came with would have installed more than just drivers due to it's size but I can't find any kind of utility anywhere so I can only see the wifi connections using the standard windows application!
If you can't get it to work that way, there must be something else wrong. If it's finding the same driver again after reboot you also need to tick delete driver software. You want nothing on the system and just showing UB91 in device manager and all athur/athuw entries in the service section of the registry gone. Delete the driver and tick uninstall driver software/ device manager update scan/ should be showing UB91, then delete all service section Atheros entries, reboot, and install XP driver. If it's still no go, it will work (installing the XP driver) from a fresh install of Windows 7 guaranteed as I have tested this out personally. Other drivers create various entries, which unless all found and deleted will prevent the XP driver from installing. Now...There is a utility with ALFA's drivers. but it will only install and work on Windows XP. Atheros doesn't have a utility for Windows 7.
Hi, I tried most of your suggestions before including the ticking of the box and have had it show up briefly as UB91 but then it quickly reverts back to it's old ways/drivers! I've also tried from a fresh win 7 x64 ultimate install and straight away when plugging in the adapter it will load up the default drivers leaving no option to install the XP ones. The only thing i've missed off of your list so far is to find the athuw entry as you only mentioned to find any atheros or athur entries so I will try that next although i'm not hopeful as I've tried to get the right driver installed on a fresh install with no luck. Currently i've managed to find 9.2.0.19 win 7 drivers which managed to pick up 1 of the strong signals but it won't connect to it no matter how hard I try! Shame it's missing the utility in win 7 though, I rather like having utilities as opposed to the generic win 7 app. Anyway, if all else fails and I can't get it working i'm gonna end up sending it back and just getting a yagi antenna to go with my 24dbi dish just so I can narrow down the signal more and hopefully get a little more reach! EDIT: I tried all the above that you mentined but could only find the athur and no athuw in the services section. I then uninstalled the driver from system and then rescanned, it showed very quickly as UB91 and then reverted back to it's normal driver and showing Atheros AR9271 so that hasn't worked! Dunno what to try next apart from hitting it with a hammer and sending it back to them citing post office must have damaged it in transit lol!
Take ownership of the win7 Atheros driver it's auto loading from : C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\netathurxXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX To get full rights for deletion. Delete the folder, then uninstall the driver+remove driver with uninstall from device manager and it should be gone on reboot. before you reboot, delete the service section registry entries. Then try loading the XP driver when no device is found automatically on restart and it should stick when found as UB91 without auto-loading the Windows 7 driver screwing up the reg entries again. This is why it isn't working... You need to prevent that driver from auto-loading and creating the reg entries, which means you can never install the XP one because the entries will always be created when that driver automatically reloads on restart unless you kill it altogether from the repository.
Thanks for that info Kevsamiga, that did the trick and now rocking the win xp drivers although to be honest the damn adapter is still refusing to connect to ANY wifi connection. Damn thing's going back as not fully working and i'm gonna use the money to pick up a yagi antenna to play around with as that's 1 of the only antenna's i've never had to play with. Apart from that I think i'm just gonna stick with my alfa 036H & NH as I now think that i'm not going to find anything better in my price range and that the next best thing towards improvement would be a yagi due to the directionality that it has. Thanks for helping anyway, it's much appreciated, unfortunately though I think this NHA might just have been junk to start with as it refuses to connect to any signal even though they show as 40ish dbm in both ralink & realtek utilities with my other cards.
You might just have a dodgy antenna. I did with my 036NHR v2 as new. Showed the networks, just wouldn't connect to anything as the antenna was out of tune or something. Yet the same "dodgy" antenna worked fine on the others just not the NHR it came with. Alfa quality is going down the pan of late... Have you tried swapping it for the NH's ? I don't have a problem with NHA connectivity, and it finds around the same networks as 036H, 036NH. My 036NHRv2 shows the most networks, but it's very picky about placement. A yagi is only any good if installed outdoors as it needs a clear signal path (I have 2) and is useless for indoors over a panel.
I've got my adapter connected to my TP-link 24dbi dish and have never had any issues with it whichever adapter I connect to it, that is until now of course! Both my 036H & NH work flawlessly with the dish which is why I am drawing the conclusion that the adapter itself is at fault. I tend not to use the weak, crappy antennas that come with the adapters, the only 1 that I do use from time to time is the 7dbi panel that comes with some of the Alfa's. I've had both the NH & NHA running on both the grid & panel and have swapped them round to test but the NHA won't connect. When I use the H & NH on the panel and dish they both work no issues and both show in windows no problem either. I have noticed that when trying to connect with the NHA that it will take ages to come back and tell me it's unsuccessful and if I try again once or twice more the adapter itself will crap out, show only 1 signal and then cut off completely needing me to pull the USB cable to reset it. When it 1st connects with the XP drivers it will show more signals now including the 2 that I have access to but it just won't connect, also it only shows about 26 AP's in the area using it wheras the H & NH both show 39+ so I can only draw the conclusion that the NHA is DOA as such. The 2 connections I want to access a littel better are just across the road from me as I live in an area surrounded by flats and from my bedroom window I have clear LOS to them therefore i'm thinking about setting up a yagi similar to how my dish is and have it supported on a tripod on a table so that I have a flat surface and plenty of directionality and no movement of the antennas. I'm hoping that the narrow beam of the yagi will help to reach the signals a little better and maybe help me pinpoint a few others and make some AP's a little stronger than they are now. Thanks for all your input though, it's appreciated, especially so that I could diagnose that the NHA was problematic.
Re NHA problem and request for feedback on which other AWUS to try: I have a similar experience with the NHA now - I use it for 20 meters through the air and 50-100cm concrete, in a humid environment, before with a 5dBi omni and now with a 17dBi panel. The NHA has been doing USB resets a lot, and you can't regulate the bandwidth nor force on RTS or set fragmentation size or increase TX POWER in Windows 8 and XP, and when I've tried on Linux there's been the same USB resets and neither RTS nor fragment size made a different, and I question if increasing the TX POWER in Linux was actually of any use. So it's kiind-of working but I cannot rely on it to deliver Voice over IP or a TCP connection such as for IRC chat ever, for that it's fairly frequent that it disconnects every 2 minutes, and I cannot rely on it to work at a particular time of day. The remote AP I use is 54Mbps, and the actual speed delivered is 5Mbps down and 0.35Mbps up, so I really don't need a speedy adapter, so even 11Mbps mode or Lots of handshakes (as in 100% RTS and 256 byte fragments) would deliver I guess. Hearsay seems to say that the AWUS036H allows you to set TXPOWER, RTS, frag size and does not suffer from the USB resets, at least in the Windows XP/7 drivers? I'm in a really humid unusual place where 3G/GSM signals frequently wash away. Apparently the NHA has excellent "listening" abilities that perhaps are of use and the AWUS036H doesn't match up to?? However it seems that apart from getting hold of Kevsamiga's updated patched Windows 8 NHA drivers next week, the natural step would be to get hold of an AWUS036H. Apparently the AWUS036H here has the chip in the "L" (8187L) variant, I hope that's OK. If you think any of the other AWUS:es would be even better than the AWUS036H for my purposes feel free to let me know.
If you have signal problems that are to do with reflected signals arriving out of phase, then maybe MIMO would work in cases where the other adapters wouldn't being SISO. Just a thought... MIMO takes adavantage of reflected signals and NLOS, in fact it needs it to work as intended. Only the 051NH is MIMO, well actually MISO (2RX1TX chains), along with the new AC model (2TXx2RX) which is true MIMO. For the strongest reception, my 036NHR v2 gets 70 networks with the ALFA 9.3dbi Omni where in the same place with the 036H or NH I get around 50-55 networks with same 9.3dbi Omni. The NHA gets slightly less networks than the 036H or 036NH does, but if the signal is strong enough it offers the best speeds. That and the only adapter to offer all 6 wireless modes in Linux, with good Linux drivers is a plus for me. And Atheros drivers are the only ones to support monitor mode in Windows properly. The 036H is way too overhyped, fakes it's signal strength and bars, is old and slow and useless for media streaming without buffering as no 11n capability. Your going to get 15dbm out of it at most from eeprom edits, not 1000mw as claimed, there is no way on earth you can do 30dbm in Linux as the Skyworks PA is only specced for +26dbm. And the 036H has a disconnection bug on Windows 7 x64 using the only driver ever written for Windows 7 all of it's own. So no, I wouldn't get an 036H. Reception and sensitivity matters more than power when your playing the ETSI game since the other end is still handicapped even if your not. Absolutely no point shouting even louder if they can't shout back enough to cut through the noise. The 036NH is a good all rounder and the drivers give no problems. But if I were you, I'd wait till the verdict is in on the 036NHV. And if you want to use big badass antenna's consider an NHR as it loves higher dbi stuff, just don't use the "newer" drivers for it because they suck in connectivity and output power. Sometimes problems come from humidity that can chop your range down, other times the problems can be at the other end or some other unknown external source of noise including other AP's, and also the amount of people connected to an AP can kill the speeds. In all of these cases having the best adapter in the world won't help you at all. In most cases the manufacturers set the driver params like RTS and frag for optimal ideal conditions that don't work in most cases in areas with high AP density. It shows that in the US crazy ranges can be achieved, that's because all the AP's are transmitting more strongly, where as us poor buggers in Europe are trying to hit a peanut whistle of an antenna through several concrete walls at ranges the power will not allow except in the most ideal of conditions, so constant breakup is the status quo. There are even some adapters out there that claim to go as low as -105dbm in sensitivity levels but you won't find any of them at the ALFA site.
I agree with Kevsamiga in that the NH has been by far the better of the bunch so far for me also. The 036H has it's good points like being compatible for injection etc in linux and it does come back with a lot of AP's but the limiting factor is that it can only get the speed of the b&g networks so no n network speeds! The NH although not as good in linux is still my card of choice at the moment and i've never had any drop outs so far with either cards (touch wood!) but for cracking the H does it's job well. I haven't tried the NHRv2 yet but it is on my list of to do's unless something else comes along that beats it. Best bet overall in my opinion (based on what i've used) is to get the NH if all you need is a stable connection.
Kevsamiga, Aha thank you for your warnings regarding the AWUS036H. The awus036AC has *two* antenna connectors, I guess for that you'd need two external antennas? Could be big, clunky, expensive - so then You get the double sensitivity in reception on the AWUS051NH then? Can you force RTS on, frag to 256, and set TXPOWER to anything you want up to 1000mW and it's really applied, with Windows 8/XP drivers? I guess if listening sensitivity is that high and you just blast all you got on the TX, then that it's 2RX1TX should be fine. Last, you mention that "where as us poor buggers in Europe are trying to hit a peanut whistle of an antenna through several concrete walls at ranges the power will not allow except in the most ideal of conditions, so constant breakup is the status quo." - Do you believe this is final or can I work around it (e.g. by getting an 051NH)? Also, where would you get hold of an adapter with -105dbm sensitivity (I guess for the RX that could be of use)? Thanks! --- Double Post Merged, 18 Jun 2014 --- Ah right, in Windows, could you control the mbps setting on this adapter too? At least on Win8 with NHA I can't find any way to control this, so any benefit of switching down to 11Mbps etc. cannot be made use of.
Double the reception, no it doesn't work that way because it's not 20dbm TX on each antenna when you go MIMO as that would break the legal limits, instead power get's split in half to each antenna. Yes, it's a bit of a con... It's more about robustness and stability of signal because you have diversity, not increase of power. People are so obsessed with power output...if everybody had the same idea, nobody would get a signal for noise and interference. Power is low for a reason, it's microwave frequencies that can heat the water in your head and lower anatomy. It depends on your signal quality and noise. Remember that you can probably get a better link with low output power setting, and a good antenna. Any external amplifier increases the noise and will only cause problems with the link. Any amplifier gets a boost on both the transmitted and received signal. Thus, in "silent" areas, where you are alone or with very few "noise" or "competition", you might get excellent results. On the other side, in crowded areas, with lots of wireless activity, you will also increase signal received from every other competitor or noise source, which may dramatically lower the overall quality of the link. ---- I'm very close to releasing for NHA and NH driver mods to control those kinds of things along with other various options which include : MAC Address, Frag, RTS, WirelessMode Select for both adapters, I've also been busy filling in parameters also for future expansion across several OS drivers for 2 adapters. Busy, busy, and checking there are no mistakes. Switching of Wireless modes down to 11b and back already works on Ralink and Atheros across all the OS flavours. But you don't get them in your hands just yet... I'll upload them both for several OS's this week. It's practically all done (for all OS's) but I won't be upping it yet as I found some more features I need to research up on and edit, and I won't be putting it out until completely happy, but I plan to up them both sometime this week as a kind of WIP because to add new features across several OS's of x86 and x64 is very time consuming.
Will be very interesting to see those drivers/utilities Kevsamiga, especially the NH ones if it's got extra features added to the utility! Is it going to include some kind of utility for win 7 NHA too? I'll be keeping my eyes open this week specifically in this section then! Anyway, i'm just about to PM you on another matter not related so will just keep my eyes open!
They will both be driver's only, but the latest ones (that work, modded) for all flavours of OS. You can take the utility from elsewhere. On Win8 64 you will have to enable test mode, as Win8 doesn't like any .inf edits *at all*. All other OS's from Win7 backwards should be fine. Stay away from 9.2.0.19 driver for Atheros and Win7. I've tested it extensively and it's total crap that can't hardly connect to anything. Sampler : I've turned all these on in the Atheros modded driver today : http://madwifi-project.org/users-guide/node90.html I've also been investigating the usage of this : https://wiki.freebsd.org/dev/ath_hal(4)/AutomaticNoiseImmunity I should be releasing both sets of drivers within the next 48 hours baring any new "discoveries". The Atheros has had way more modding than the Ralinks, but having the ability to set frag and RTS helps Ralink a lot, especially in 802.11N mode.
