Wireless Adapter permanently disabled after sleep mode - Windows 7 64 bit

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chemnerd1 Author

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Wireless Adapter permanently disabled after sleep mode - Windows 7 64 bit

Hello,

Info:

Laptop: 2014 Macbook Pro running Bootcamp (dual boot...not a VM) with Windows 7 Pro 64 bit

OS: Windows 7 Pro 64 bit

Network Adapter: Broadcom 802.11ac Network Adapter

Driver version: 6.30.223.215

Issue: My broadcom 802.11ac wireless adapter becomes permanently disabled when waking from sleep mode. It requires a restart in order to become enabled. If I try to manually re-enable it, I get a message saying "Enabling..." -> "Enabled!" but after this message the device still says Disabled and the wireless still won't connect to anything. This issue is very reproducible. Occurs both under battery power and when plugged in.

What have I tried?: Tried disabling the "Allow windows to disable this device to save power" under power management, which didn't work. Tried updating driver but Windows Update says the driver is up to date. I was able to find a newer version (6.30.223.227) but I can only find it hosted on Russian websites which makes me a little suspicious.

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013), Windows 7, 64bit

Posted on May 6, 2014 10:46 AM

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Answer 1

May 14, 2014 4:31 PM in response to chemnerd1

Hi,

I'm having the same issue. Were you ever able to find a solution?

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Answer 2

chemnerd1 Author

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May 18, 2014 11:21 AM in response to nwcaldwell

Unfortunately no. I contacted Apple Support and they said it's a Windows issue and Microsoft support says it's an Apple issue. I have tried various drivers for the network adapter and even tried older versions of bootcamp and nothing has worked. The only thing that has worked is that under Power Management I changed all the power options from "Sleep" to "Hibernate". It makes the laptop slower to come back up but at least I don't need to do a full restart.

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Answer 3

May 18, 2014 12:01 PM in response to chemnerd1

Hi,

Sorry for not replying sooner, I forgot that I had posted here.

I found a solution in this thread that seemed to work for me: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5547732?answerId=25794717022#25794717022

I actually didn't follow his instructions exactly, I only reenabled the disabled drivers but I think the effect is the same.

I'm still having another internet problem which may or not be related but this fix made it so I didn't have to restart after sleep.

Thanks for following up.

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Answer 4

chemnerd1 Author

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May 18, 2014 12:54 PM in response to nwcaldwell

OK so I just solved my problem. It turned out it was being caused by my Zone Alarm Pro Firewall. I re-booted into safe mode, uninstalled the firewall, restarted and now the network adaptor works fine coming out of sleep. I installed Comodo Firewall and the network adaptor is still working like it should.

On a side note, I also use Avast Antivirus. I uninstalled that first (before the firewall) and the network adaptor was still not re-enabling so Avast was not an issue. I have since re-installed Avast with the Comodo firewall and everything is running fine.

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Answer 5

Feb 26, 2015 3:01 PM in response to chemnerd1

Many thanks to chemnerd1's hints - saved me going mad.

My problem was that the wifi worked perfectly until connected to a Thunderbolt display - then the wifi was permanently disabled (nothing would enable it; changing driver, changing wifi channel, uninstalling and reinstalling wifi, nothing worked). As you can imagine I was very disapointed after spending a fortune on the Thunderbolt display (brilliant kit) and then finding that I maybe only have wired internet available!

Definately, Zone Alarm was the problem (maybe other firewalls cause the same /similar problem).

My solution was -

uninstalled Zone Alarm (safe mode not required)
reboot with Thunderbolt display connected (checked that wifi now working)
reinstall Zone Alarm (important that Thunderbolt display is still connected)
reboot - checked and wifi still working perfectly - wonderful

I have to confess that I was initially blaming Apple for the problem. I did loads of searches to try and solve this and a lot of links ended with conclusions that Apple doesn't care. Well in this case it wasn't Apple's fault.

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