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Windows 10 (A6100 A6200 A6210) Installation Heads Up
As a heads up, DO NOT install Netgear's driver package for your A6xxx device on Windows 10. It permanently removes Windows 10’s ability to access the WiFi Connections list. Instead, use the defa...
For problems with the windows 10 included driver with the a6210 (e.g. no 5ghz networks visible) just use the latest driver from mediatek (5.1.21.0).
It is the newer version of the driver that came with windows 10 and with it i can join my 5ghz wlan, which wasnt able with the old one!
The chip in the A6210 is a Mediatek MT7612U.
I have the following setup
Netgear A6210 Wifi USB adapter
Windows 10 Home edition 64bit (fresh installed currently, Originally it was an upgrade from Windows 7 Premium 64bit) Performed a Restore function after problems with Netgear drivers.
Custom PC with ASUS M5A97 V2.0 Motherboard and an AMD FX(tm) 8320 eight core processor
8GB Ram
Unsure which version of the Netgear driver i attempted to install as my Restore function in windows wiped out the downloaded files
I do know that it was whatever version was available as the most current on the netgear website on August 2nd.
I received no error message
While in the upgrade process from Win 7 to 10, I could not completed the upgrade as the upgrade could not proceed past the login screen after the first restart of the PC. contacted Microsoft and was told to perform a fresh install of Win7. Wiped hard drive, installed win 7 and loaded all current drivers and software for running PC only. then attempted to upgrade again to Win 10. Again it stalled at the login screen after reboot during installation. Tried a couple of things and ended up removing all peripherals including the a6210 from my system, Login screen then proceeded and was able to finish the install. Tried to uninstall the old netgear genie and installed the one rated for Win10 and it never said finished, the window closed after i got to the point it says to insert the USB adapter. It would never go beyond that point. I could also not open Netgear Genie even after a reboot. I also lost all ability to see networks in my wifi connections list. I decided to RESTORE windows at that point and since, have not even attempted to try to run my a6210 and have just used an ethernet connection until the drivers are fixed.
I have Windows 10 Pro 64 bit edition
PC Spec
Asus Crosshair V Formula Z 990FX AMD
AMD FX8950 CPU
OCZ Vertex 4 SSD
Nvidia Gforce GTX780ti
Wireless Card is the A6200
Upgraded from Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit initially, PC hung on login screen.
A6200 was installed using the Genie interface.
I then did a fresh install of Windows 10 Pro 64 bit and installed the latest A6200 driver from Netgear and the Genie.
The Network card can see and login to the network but constantly cycles between connected / disconnected.
Connection speed was typically 870 MB/s prior to the Windows 10 installation.
Currently usng the internal nic to connect via a old Netgear range extender.
- What model of adaptor are you having issues with? A6210
- Is the Win10 install a fresh install or an upgrade? Upgrade Windows 8.1->Win 10 Technical Preview (Various Versions) -> Window 10 Pro 64-bit
- If an upgrade, from what version of Windows? Windows 8.1/Winows 10 TP
- What is the H/W model of the PC/tablet/netbook? Custom, MSI Z97S Krait motherboard, Intel i5 4590
- What driver version are you attempting to install? 1.0.0.30 and 1.0.0.28 and latest MediaTek - All present issues
- Did you try installing with AV / Firewall disabled? No AV/Firewall
- What error messages do you see? No error messages
- If no error messages what failure of functionality do you see? Unstable Wi-Fi connection, regardless of 2.4g or 5g. With a constant ping running to my router, will see lots of dropped packets and occasionally loss of connection completely. No pattern that I can discern. Have tried turning off various power management features for the deivce.
Thanks to those people posting the useful information above, I have asked that engineering review the data to help find solutions.
I’ve had some feedback from engineering, could those people having issues with the A6200 and A6210 please try the following instructions which include the need to update the USB host controller;
A6210 – USB 3.0
A6200 – USB 2.0
EDIT - Additional Info
For A6210 installation, user must run NTGR software “setup.exe” first then follow instruction on the GUI and insert A6210 hardware.
If user doesn’t follow this and insert A6210 first, then the win10 MTK built-in driver will detect the hardware and install it, then user faces the 5G not working issue.
Upgrade from win7 to win 10
- Users must upgrade the USB host controller driver as well, especially for A6210 product which uses USB3.0.
- User must uninstall the old NTGR software and install the software downloaded from NTGR website again. This is because the win7 driver structure is different from win10, so win 7 adapter driver can’t run on win10.
- For A6210, if some users install MTK win10 built-in driver, users may face 5G can’t be used issue. Users must follow attached documents to uninstall the MTK driver first, then use NTGR software to do the installation again. Please DO run the NTGR software setup.exe first and follow on-screen instruction to insert USB adapter later. Please DO NOT insert A6210 adapter first, then run the setup.exe. The attached document was provided by A6210 developers.
Upgrade from win8 to win 10
- User may need to upgrade USB host controller first. Then re-install NTGR software.
- For A6210, if some users install MTK win10 built-in driver, users may face 5G can’t be used issue. Users must follow attached documents to uninstall the MTK driver first, then use NTGR software to do the installation again. Please DO run the NTGR software setup.exe first and follow on-screen instruction to insert USB adapter later. Please DO NOT insert A6210 adapter first, then run the setup.exe.
EDIT: Please note that the document referred to above has been temporarily removed pending a review / update.
Will try the driver uninstall/reinstall process.
I have a suspicion it may have something to do with a KB pushed by MS on 8/5:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3081424
I was using the Win10 Tech Preview for months with no issues, and started getting the instability about a week ago. Seems like it might coincide with that update.
