Toshiba L355d-S7825 WiFI Driver

Hi PeterReinold:

Do you have 32-bit or 64-bit Vista OS, and is Vista Service Pack 2 installed (check at Control Panel | System and Maintenance | System - see the image below).  Also, let us know if you patched your operating system back to the end of extended support (11-Apr-2017). Microsoft permanently deactivated the Windows Update servers for Win XP and Vista on 03-Aug-2020 (see the 24-Jun-2020 Microsoft support article Windows Update SHA-1 Based Endpoints Discontinued for Older Windows Devices) so if you recently reinstalled your OS and then ran a manual Windows Update [Start button | All Programs | Windows Update | Check for Updates] I would expect you to see an error code 80 244019 (The device cannot connect to Windows Update), even if your WiFi network connection was working properly.

The system specs for the Satellite L355D-S7825 on the Toshiba / Dynabook site at https://support.dynabook.com/support/staticContentDetail?contentId=2165352 list an Atheros 802.11b/g wireless-LAN network adapter but it does not mention of the model number of that network adapter.

Please run Piriform's Speccy utility and post a snapshot of your system so we can see some basic information about the components in your computer. To post a Speccy snapshot:

1. Install Piriform's free Speccy utility (available at https://www.ccleaner.com/speccy).
2. Launch the program and allow it to collect basic information about your system software and hardware.
3. Go to File | Publish Snapshot and copy and paste the URL this generates (e.g., http: // speccy.piriform.com/results/xxx... as shown in the image below) in your next reply.

If you prefer to use a portable version of Speccy that doesn't require installation you can download Speccy Portable (currently spsetup132.zip) from the Softpedia site <here> and save to any location (including a removable USB thumb drive), unzip the .ZIP file, and double-click the appropriate executable to launch the program (Speccy.exe for a 32-bit OS; Speccy64.exe for a 64-bit OS).

I don't have my 32-bit Vista SP2 laptop with me today but a Speccy snapshot of that machine (created 12-Jul-2019) is posted at http://speccy.piriform.com/results/z2qoNAESuxQeYKCK2QGx3or.

32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.9.0 * Malwarebytes Premium v3.5.1-1.0.365

HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS

... It shows up in device manager with a yellow exclamation mark.  Details are as follows

Atheros AR5007EG Wireless Network Adapter

Driver Provider Atheros Communications Inc

Driver Date 1.25.2008

Driver Version 7.4.2.40

... I installed or tried to install Speccy and it brought up a bunch of error messages during installation about lang/(differentnumbers).dll and it showed me some weird language after i finished installation. ...

Hi PeterReinold:

I've asked before if you have a 32-bit or 64-bit OS, the brand and model of your 10/100 Mbps Ethernet/NIC network card shown in Device Manager (which is likely a different device than your Atheros AR5007EG Wireless LAN adapter) and whether you can connect to the internet using a wired Ethernet connection between your router and this NIC (Network Interface Card) adapter.  You still haven't answered those questions so it's difficult to suggest the best way forward.

You also mentioned you recently reinstalled your Vista OS from scratch but didn't answer my questions about whether you've installed Service Pack 2 and/or if your OS is patched to end extended support on 11-Apr-2017. An unpatched OS might be contributing to some of the problems you've encountered since your Vista reinstall.  It's still possible to manually patch a clean reinstall of Vista SP2 back to April 2017 without a working Windows Update service (see my FAQ What To Do if Windows Update Hangs or Throws an Error [UPDATED August 2020] in the VistaForums), but while you're troubleshooting your internet connection keep in mind that older Internet Explorer browsers (this includes the outdated IE7 browser bundled with Service Pack 2 as well as IE8 and IE9) only support the insecure TLS 1.0 connection protocol and will often throw an error message while browsing to different websites, even if you manage to create a working wired or wireless connection to the internet.  See my 14-Nov-2020 post in tharpdevenport's "Internet Explorer Cannot Display the Webpage" in the BleepingComputer Vista board for more information about using the Firefox ESR v52.9.0 browser.  If necessary, you can download the Firefox ESR installer to a USB thumb drive on a different computer with a working internet connection and then transfer the installer to the desktop of your Vista machine.

The Microsoft Update Catalog (https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=AR5007EG Vista) shows a newer Atheros AR5007EG Wireless LAN driver v7.7.0.449 was likely pushed out to Vista computers with this Atheros adapter via Windows Update in January 2010. Here are download links on the Softpedia site (with instructions for installing the .cab file) that might match your system specs, but you would be using them at your own risk.  Always make sure you create a system restore point before installing any driver so that you can recover your system if you apply an incorrect or mismatched driver.

     32-bit: Atheros AR5007EG WLAN Driver 7.7.0.449 for Vista

     64-bit: Atheros AR5007EG WLAN Driver 7.7.0.449 for Vista64

I'm not a hardware specialist so if you continue having problems with your Atheros WLAN driver and wireless internet connection I'd suggest you post in the BleepingComputer Internal Hardware board at https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/f/7/internal-hardware/ and ask for assistance there.

__________________

ASIDE Regarding Diagnostic Utilities (Speccy, Belarc Advisor)

Did you try the portable version of  Speccy as previously suggested?  If not, download the speccy132.zip file from the Softpedia site at https://www.softpedia.com/get/PORTABLE-SOFTWARE/System/System-Info/Speccy-Portable.shtml, save it to a USB thumb drive [you can create a new folder (e.g., D:\Speccy) and save the .zip file there if you wish], unzip the file, and then double click the appropriate executable (Speccy.exe for 32-bit OS; Speccy64.exe for 64-bit OS) to run.  If you can connect to the internet via a wired Ethernet connection you should be able to post a Speccy snapshot of your system on the Piriform server (File | Publish) as instructed in my 16-Nov-2020 post.  If you have any issues with the language files just delete the optional \lang folder (shown below) and the interface should default to English.

If you can't get Speccy to work then Belarc Advisor (https://www.belarc.com/products_belarc_advisor) is another good choice. The diagnostic log might contain detailed information you don't want to share publicly (e.g., product keys for Windows, MS Office, etc.) but the Communications section might contain useful information about the status of your network adapters.

32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.9.0 * Malwarebytes Premium v3.5.1-1.0.365 * Speccy Portable v1.32

HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS

Hi PeterReinhold:

If you can't run Speccy Portable (the .zip version) from a USB thumb drive to view details about your network adapters  then it would be helpful if you could capture a screenshot of the Network Adapters section in Device Manager (Control Panel | System and Maintenance | Device Manager) and let us know the model and current driver version for each adapter, including your Atheros network card.   Here's a screenshot of the Network Adapters for my HP dv6835ca laptop.

32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.9.0 * Malwarebytes Premium v3.5.1-1.0.365 * Speccy Portable 1.32

HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS

Hi PeterReinold:

Instead of using WiFi, can you can connect your modem / router directly to your computer's network adapter (network interface card / NIC) with an Ethernet cable?  I have an old Cat5e cable with RJ45 connectors on both ends that I can plug in to the Ethernet ports on my router and computer to make a direct connection to the router if my WiFi connection is really slow or isn't working correctly.

32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.9.0 * Malwarebytes Premium v3.5.1-1.0.365

HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS

Hi,

thanks for the reply. I installed or tried to install Speccy and it brought up a bunch of error messages during installation about lang/(differentnumbers).dll and it showed me some weird language after i finished installation. 

Well the downside is, I can't provide you with an URL as I have no internet connection with that specific PC ;)