Broadcom Adapter 802.11ac Boot Camp

Question

Broadcom Adapter 802.11ac Boot Camp

Has there been ANY update on this? I have seen many people (myself included) still getting blue screens while running Windows 10 using Boot Camp thanks to this driver. I am also unable to now roll back to an earlier version and am weary of getting the old driver from a 3rd party site.

I tried downloading and "repairing" using the Apple Support software for Windows 10 on the off chance they rolled back the driver but nothing changed. The Broadcom site is also abysmal with no way of getting old versions of drivers. Someone on an old thread suggested removing every device under network adapters, but didn't know if anyone else had success doing this?

I cannot believe this hasn't been addressed yet. Any suggestions would be much appreciated, thanks.

Posted on Sep 24, 2019 12:29 AM

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Answer 1

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Sep 27, 2019 8:19 PM in response to NIMRODofArnor

NIMRODofArnor wrote:

I uninstalled the device completely and ran the support software, and that seemed to do the trick. I will just have to be diligent about rolling back the driver. Thanks for the suggestions.

Very nice!

Out of curiosity, how did you personally prevent your driver from updating? Or did you simply prevent all automatic updates? There are some ways to accomplish this like you said using the hardware ids and the command line, but I didn't want to mess with it at this time. There doesn't appear to be any built-in feature to accomplish this unfortunately.

Metered connections are one way. I will usually disable all automatic updates and manually apply only Security updates.

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Answer 2

Oct 5, 2019 4:36 PM in response to Loner T

I'm running 1903. Do you think that could be the issue?

Here's where I'm currently at. I examined the .dmp file created as a result of the most recent bsod. I determined that the issue is still pertaining to the Broadcom driver. WinDbg pathed the error specifically to the file "bcmpciedhd63.sys". So what I did was first turn off automatic driver updates and then uninstall and remove the driver through device manager(what I did previously). However, after doing this, I noticed that this file "bcmpciedhd63.sys" was still present in my system directory. So, just for good measure, I changed it's permissions to allow me to remove it completely. I'm suspecting that perhaps this file contained info for the updated (unstable) version, and was still being utilized by the system? I could be completely wrong on that, but regardless, I re-ran the windows support for boot camp and re-installed the driver once again. I will have to wait and see if this works (It probably shouldn't take long, my faithful computer likes to bsod at least once a day).

The odd thing is, out of curiosity, I went into device manager, verified the adapter as the old version, and hit update just to see if one was available. To my surprise, it said the driver was up to date. So either something is still wrong, or they removed the latest version. However, I CAN verify that the version I currently have is the one you also have. Or at least that is what device manager is telling me.

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Answer 3

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Sep 27, 2019 5:44 AM in response to NIMRODofArnor

NIMRODofArnor wrote:

Thank you for the detailed response Loner T! My current driver version is: 100.10.459.0 from 12/13/2018. I believe the one you're using is the one I had most success with before the most recent Windows update. The same update which unfortunately has prevented me from reverting the driver back. Do you know of a safe way to obtain the older version of the driver? As I've said before it's not available directly from Broadcom(as far as I know), and I have little experience with third-party distributers.

The safest method is on the macOS side, BC Assistant -> Action -> Download. Also, see Download and install Windows support software on your Mac - Apple Support for reference. Check Bootcamp.xml before you try to re-install the drivers.

I know how to prevent automatic driver updates for all devices, but would you also happen to know of a way to lock the driver version of the Broadcom adapter specifically, or prevent it from updating in the future?

This method - https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2500967/how-to-stop-windows-7-automatically-installing-drivers - should also work on W10. You will first need to uninstall and remove the adapter and driver, and remove the corresponding files from the DrvStore using pnputil.exe.

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Answer 4

Sep 27, 2019 8:12 PM in response to Loner T

I uninstalled the device completely and ran the support software, and that seemed to do the trick. I will just have to be diligent about rolling back the driver. Thanks for the suggestions.

Out of curiosity, how did you personally prevent your driver from updating? Or did you simply prevent all automatic updates? There are some ways to accomplish this like you said using the hardware ids and the command line, but I didn't want to mess with it at this time. There doesn't appear to be any built-in feature to accomplish this unfortunately.

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Answer 5

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Sep 24, 2019 4:07 AM in response to NIMRODofArnor

What is the year/model of your Mac (do not post the serial number)?

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Answer 6

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Sep 28, 2019 11:43 PM in response to NIMRODofArnor

Can you post a screen shot/photo of the BSoD?

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Answer 7

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Oct 1, 2019 2:45 AM in response to NIMRODofArnor

Check Windows Event viewer for errors just before the crash dump. You can also check the minidump that the crash should have created.

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Answer 8

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Oct 6, 2019 6:23 AM in response to NIMRODofArnor

If you can, I want to take a look at the mini dump. Can you post it to a dropbox or similar and post a link? You can also email the file to l o n e r t m a c a t g m a i l d o t c o m.

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Answer 9

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Sep 27, 2019 5:50 PM in response to NIMRODofArnor

NIMRODofArnor wrote:

I’ve already tried reinstalling/repairing the support software and it included the most recent driver.

Did you remove the newer driver from the DrvStore?

Also, the method you listed for preventing automatic driver updates is the one preventing ALL driver updates, not just a specific one.

You should be able to choose a specific device. You can also choose a specific PID/VID and disable updates.

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Answer 10

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Oct 5, 2019 5:41 PM in response to NIMRODofArnor

NIMRODofArnor wrote:

Yes, same stack. I have done all of the things suggested in that thread

... which is a lot of work!

other than download the older driver directly from Brigadier.

you can try it, but it may not make any significant difference.

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Answer 11

Oct 31, 2019 3:04 AM in response to Loner T

Did you ever have a chance to look at the minidump? I think I may have narrowed down where the issue is stemming from, but I'd like to see if you reached the same conclusion. I am noticing that whenever I have my computer hooked up on my desk, to my monitor, mouse, keyboard, etc...I never get the blue screen. Therefore, I have started completely removing the devices before disconnecting them. SO FAR I have not received any bsods after being diligent and removing them. However, I haven't tested it out nearly enough. If this solves the problem, that would be great, though it is an absolute pain having to reconnect my wireless devices every time I want to use my laptop at my desk.

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Answer 12

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Oct 4, 2019 6:01 AM in response to NIMRODofArnor

The drivers are OEM'd from Broadcom by Apple. Broadcom does not publish these separately. I have not yet seen such issues on my 2018 rMBP. Are you running W10 1809v2 or 1903?

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Answer 13

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Oct 31, 2019 4:13 AM in response to NIMRODofArnor

NIMRODofArnor wrote:

Did you ever have a chance to look at the minidump?

Unfortunately, I have not had a chance to look at it. Let me look at it today.

I think I may have narrowed down where the issue is stemming from, but I'd like to see if you reached the same conclusion. I am noticing that whenever I have my computer hooked up on my desk, to my monitor, mouse, keyboard, etc...I never get the blue screen.

This is the minimum mobility scenario. Interesting!

Therefore, I have started completely removing the devices before disconnecting them.

From Windows Device Manager?

SO FAR I have not received any bsods after being diligent and removing them. However, I haven't tested it out nearly enough. If this solves the problem, that would be great, though it is an absolute pain having to reconnect my wireless devices every time I want to use my laptop at my desk.

This is unnecessary setup and should not be necessary. Does you WiFi network use 2.4gHz Radio band? I assume all your wireless devices are dual-band capable.

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Answer 14

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Sep 24, 2019 1:13 PM in response to NIMRODofArnor

I can connect to a 802.11n and 802.11ac network using the following driver on a 2018 13-in rMBP. What is the driver version you have?

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Answer 15

Sep 27, 2019 12:31 AM in response to Loner T

Thank you for the detailed response Loner T! My current driver version is: 100.10.459.0 from 12/13/2018. I believe the one you're using is the one I had most success with before the most recent Windows update. The same update which unfortunately has prevented me from reverting the driver back. Do you know of a safe way to obtain the older version of the driver? As I've said before it's not available directly from Broadcom(as far as I know), and I have little experience with third-party distributers.

I know how to prevent automatic driver updates for all devices, but would you also happen to know of a way to lock the driver version of the Broadcom adapter specifically, or prevent it from updating in the future?

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Broadcom Adapter 802.11ac Boot Camp

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