New Atheros Ethernet Driver causes Windows to hang on boot

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Guest

I've discovered a pretty serious problem with one of the recently posted
updates that I thought I should share, in hopes that other people can avoid
my fate and the the powers that be will be notified and start working on a
fix.

Here's the story: I installed Windows Updates on September 14th, just after
Microsoft made available the following update on September 13th:
Atheros - Networking - Atheros L1 Gigabit Ethernet 10/100/1000Base-T
Controller

Normally I don't hesitate to install hardware updates like this, but it
appears I need to be more careful. After I installed this one, my computer
would refuse to boot. It would load all the drivers successfully, which I
can tell if I turn on boot logging, since CRCDISK.SYS is the last thing
loaded. However, before the router's network light for the connected port
comes on, the machine locks up. I've left it in this state overnight before,
and while the hard disk light would blink once in a while, and the green boot
progress bar would move a tick every minute or, there was no indication that
it would ever finish booting.

What clued me into the fact that it was a network problem was the fact that
I could boot into safe mode, but not safe mode with network support, AND the
fact that power cycling my DSL router while the boot hang is occurring would
allow it to finish booting. Once it finishes booting, the network all works
fine.

Here are some of the relevant details of the new driver that causes the
problem:
Provider: Atheros
Driver Date: 8/30/2007
Driver Version: 2.4.7.4
Driver Files: \system32\DRIVERS\l160x86.sys

And here are the same details for the old driver that I have reverted to
which works properly:
Provider: Attansic
Driver Date: 11/15/2006
Driver Version: 1.0.560.11159
Driver Files: \system32\Attansic\L1\atcInst.dll
\system32\DRIVERS\atl01v32.sys

Here are the relevant specs of my configuration. Please don't hesitate to
ask me for more info if it would be helpful.
- ASUS P5B-E Motherboard
- Attansic L1 Gigabit Ethernet 10/100/1000Base-T Controller (built in)
- AMI BIOS version 1601, 7/13/2007
- Westell Versalink 327W DSL modem / router (supports wireless but
that's turned off) via Verizon Internet
- Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 (stock clock speed)
- 2GB Memory at 800 MHz
- NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT
- Vista Ultimate build 6.0.6000 Build 6000

Apparently, Attansic has changed hands and now become Atheros, and clearly
the new driver is only slight related to the old one, based on the new
version numbers and files. Methinks some further testing of this driver is
in order.


Cheers,
Ben
 
Ben Gilbert said:
I've discovered a pretty serious problem with one of the recently posted
updates that I thought I should share, in hopes that other people can avoid
my fate and the the powers that be will be notified and start working on a
fix.

Here's the story: I installed Windows Updates on September 14th, just after
Microsoft made available the following update on September 13th:
Atheros - Networking - Atheros L1 Gigabit Ethernet 10/100/1000Base-T
Controller

Normally I don't hesitate to install hardware updates like this, but it
appears I need to be more careful. After I installed this one, my computer
would refuse to boot. It would load all the drivers successfully, which I
can tell if I turn on boot logging, since CRCDISK.SYS is the last thing
loaded. However, before the router's network light for the connected port
comes on, the machine locks up. I've left it in this state overnight before,
and while the hard disk light would blink once in a while, and the green boot
progress bar would move a tick every minute or, there was no indication that
it would ever finish booting.

What clued me into the fact that it was a network problem was the fact that
I could boot into safe mode, but not safe mode with network support, AND the
fact that power cycling my DSL router while the boot hang is occurring would
allow it to finish booting. Once it finishes booting, the network all works
fine.

Here are some of the relevant details of the new driver that causes the
problem:
Provider: Atheros
Driver Date: 8/30/2007
Driver Version: 2.4.7.4
Driver Files: \system32\DRIVERS\l160x86.sys

And here are the same details for the old driver that I have reverted to
which works properly:
Provider: Attansic
Driver Date: 11/15/2006
Driver Version: 1.0.560.11159
Driver Files: \system32\Attansic\L1\atcInst.dll
\system32\DRIVERS\atl01v32.sys

Here are the relevant specs of my configuration. Please don't hesitate to
ask me for more info if it would be helpful.
- ASUS P5B-E Motherboard
- Attansic L1 Gigabit Ethernet 10/100/1000Base-T Controller (built in)
- AMI BIOS version 1601, 7/13/2007
- Westell Versalink 327W DSL modem / router (supports wireless but
that's turned off) via Verizon Internet
- Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 (stock clock speed)
- 2GB Memory at 800 MHz
- NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT
- Vista Ultimate build 6.0.6000 Build 6000

Apparently, Attansic has changed hands and now become Atheros, and clearly
the new driver is only slight related to the old one, based on the new
version numbers and files. Methinks some further testing of this driver is
in order.


Cheers,
Ben
Click to expand...
 
It has been proven time and time again; never trust Microsoft for hardware
updates!

Always go to the hardware manufacturer's website to get the latest drivers

One other thing; in Windows Update, set it to Notify when updates are ready,
NOT auto update!
That way, you can see if you want the update, or not!
 
Sound advice, Mick, thanks! I will definitely use the Notify option from
this point forward. Sure enough, if I go to the Asus website directly, the
newest network driver they have available is the earlier one, with no mention
of an "Atheros" driver whatsoever.

Ben
 
I have the same problem too. Attansic L1 Gigabit Ethernet on Asus P5B-E.
Windows Vista 32bit
I installed Atheros Driver and the computer hanged on startup I tried to
restore the system, not knowing network card driver was the cause of the
problem. Now I can't install older driver as windows says it can't load them
(error 31) and hangs when installing them.

How do I solve it?
 
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