Comments on: Installing Vista (AKA More Netgear WG311 Misery)

By: Serosis

Serosis — Tue, 05 May 2009 10:35:39 +0000

Well it might seem I have the only working WG311v3 card, never had a problem ever since I got it.
Picks up just about every signal on my block and never drops connections.

I have it in an old Dell Optiplex GX260 running XP.
Maybe it only works with legacy hardware lol

By: Jagtesh Chadha

Jagtesh Chadha — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 10:46:33 +0000

As I learned the hard way, for 4GB+ 32bit machines, you need PAE (Physical Address Extension) enabled for Netgear WG311 drivers to work (and the Code 10 to go away).

Here’s how:

*Got IT !!! Working On 4GB Happily !!!*

I got it working on my machine which has 4GB of ram and 32-bit Windows
Vista.

The idea is to use PAE (Physical Address Extension) so that 32 Bit
Windows can address addresses above 4Gigs of RAM.

To do it on Windows Vista 32

1) Open Command Prompt As Administrator

2) Type this line and hit Enter

BCDEdit /set PAE forceenable

To do it on Windows Xp 32

1) Open “boot.ini” file from your c: (Its Hidden By Default, So, You
Need To “Show OS Files” In Folder Options.

2) Add “/PAE” At The End.

Eg.

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS=”Windo ws Xp Professional”
/fastdetect /PAE

Thats All, And I Hope Yours Can Work Just As Mine Did.

***********************************************

If You Happen To Screw Up Something You Can Restore Things By:

Vista 32:

1) Open Command Prompt As Administrator

2) Type this line and hit Enter

BCDEdit /deletevalue PAE

Windows Xp 32:

1) Open “boot.ini” file from your c: (Its Hidden By Default, So, You
Need To “Show OS Files” In Folder Options.

2) Remove “/PAE” At The End.

***********************************************

(via http://www.vistax64.com/vista-hardware-devices/82317-netgear-wg311v3-dell-system-device-cannot-start-code.html)

By: RIZ

RIZ — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 14:52:59 +0000

A little outdated but…

I’ve been using this card for 3 months now and I don’t understand it when one night, it just stopped working. Did the whole she-bang. Uninstalled, re-installed, rebooted EVERYTHING. It works, sees my router but cant get a connection. Stuck at “scanning…” This is weird since two laptops are working now. But my goddamn pc isnt.

This sucks. I’m no nerd (aspiring to be one though ) but this is just fucked up…

Would appreciate any help other than “buy a new wireless card…”

By: wil

wil — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 14:01:55 +0000

IT DOENS”T FUCKING WORK. I swear this I hate this stup;id netgear piece of crap and I want to go and kill those netgear fuckers now. where are thehy hiding from.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 20:44:02 +0000

Brand new Dell Optiplex 330s – one running Vista Business and the other XP. All Vista and XP patches current and installed.

Picked up two nice little Netgear WG311v3. Followed the instructions and installed one on my the XP box first. Perfect, except I don’t really like the Netgear wifi interface program.

Next I did exactly the same install on the Vista box. Nope. No way. Sorry. Thanks for playing. Drive home safely now.

Grrr. WTFO? Searched the net.

I uninstalled all the Netgear items. Pulled the card. Restarted and reinstalled the software only as described in the instructions. Shutdown. Restart. I then ran Windows Update and it found a new Netgear driver from Marvel with release date May, 2007 – V1.0.0.52. Installed the update.

Shutdown. Install the Netgear card. Restart.

Same result: Nope. No way. Sorry. Thanks for playing. Drive home safely now.

The Netgear box clearly says “Works with Windows Vista”. Must be some other version because the card clearly does not work with my version.

‘Nuff said.

By: » Review: Why the Netgear WG311 v3 Sucks @ nerd.

» Review: Why the Netgear WG311 v3 Sucks @ nerd. — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:41:20 +0000

[...] see this follow-up for the next chapter of my battle with the Netgear [...]

By: Garfish

Garfish — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 22:52:20 +0000

I run XP and Vista on my computer, the Netgear WG311v3 works well on XP but when I switch to Vista you guessed it no network. Like many of you I kept on trying and I found a way of getting the stupid thing to work, this is not a fix, it’s only a bandage solution. I installed the netgear software and drivers, re booted then uninstalled the smart wizard, rebooted again but this time I left the CD in the drive, After Vista started I used vista network and sharing wizard in the control panel to connect. This has worked every time, the only hassel is you have to insert the netgear disk in your driver when starting windows every time.

Let me know how you all go.

By: IanMc

IanMc — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 07:22:11 +0000

Finally, Netgear seem to have produced drivers that work for their WG311v3 with (a) vista 32-bit and (b) more than 2gb RAM. Installed new drivers, and extra 1gb of memory today and after a mere six months of waiting, everything seems to be fine. Fantastic customer service Netgear – and thanks for the emails and phone calls you never returned, or for telling me the new drivers were available.

By: Ian

Ian — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:18:51 +0000

Hi – just to update everyone – the card is still working fine since I installed the 8335 drivers.

By: Ian

Ian — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 17:18:50 +0000

I installed the 8335 drivers (without uninstalling the existing netgear software) yesterday. So far, the card has worked each time I switched on or re-booted. It might be too early to say for sure, but I’d have normally had to mess around in device manager by now. The card is now listed as a Marvell Libertas … 8335 but the netgear manager continues to load. Weird combination, but seems to work on Vista Home Premium – if you don’t hear from me again you can assume it’s continued working!
Ian