Netgear A7000 causes Blue Screen of Death on Windows 10. Please help!
I have the Netgear A7000 USB network adapter with the 'latest' drivers (2017 are the latest....) - 'Software Version 1.0.0.15.'
When I use the A7000 on a 16GB 2016/2017 Acer Predator laptop (G5-793-72AU), it works fine.
However, when I use the A7000 on a 16GB 2020 Samsung Galaxy Flex laptop, connected via a USB-C to USB-A adapter (since the laptop has no USB-A ports) and I want to restart the laptop, the laptop hangs on 'restarting' (Windows).
The laptop hangs indefinitely (forever) while restarting; the only thing to get the computer to restart is to unplug the A7000 from the USB port, but then I get a stop code Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) - "Unexpected Kernel Mode Trap".
Can Netgear support please help!
This adapter is still being sold actively and not cheap at $75 retail, so it should be supported by Netgear. The drivers (latest ones are 4 years old) appears to have issues given how many people get BSOD errors with it.
I bought one for each computer, but now one is useless since it does not work... 😞
Re: Netgear A7000 causes Blue Screen of Death on Windows 10. Please help!
Update:
I tried plugging the Netgear into a USB hub which is then plugged into the USB-A to USB-C adapter which is plugged into my Samsung 2020 Galaxy Book Flex (16GB nVidia MX250 graphics and Intel 'Iris Plus' graphics). Then I could restart Winsows without an issue.
I then plugged the A7000 back into the USB-A to USB-C adapter and this time it allowed me to restart Windows 10 (unlike the issues I mentioned above).
Side note - I also just applied a Windows update - 'Feature update to Windows 10, version 21H1', but doubt that made a difference.
I will keep an eye on how the laptop performs the next few days with the Netgear A7000 plugged in.
Re: Netgear A7000 causes Blue Screen of Death on Windows 10. Please help!
The issue is back again. The adapter actually disconnects from the network after a while and cannot be re-enabled without restarting which causes hanging, unless USB plug is removed and then it gives the Blue Screen of Death.
Re: Netgear A7000 causes Blue Screen of Death on Windows 10. Please help!
Well, as a quick update on the A7000 disconnect, computer hanging on restart with the A7000 plugged in & A7000 BSOD issues on my 2020 16GB i7 Samsung Galaxy Flex laptop (part of which I posted elsewhere):
Attempt 1 / Option 1 - Does not work for all as paulie12 also found:
I tried disabling the RunSwUSB service for the Netgear A7000 adapter, but this resulted in wifi download speeds eventually dropping to USB 2.0 levels (e.g. 200 Mbps to 300 Mbps, with some levels around 168 and some best case scenarios closer to 400 before the drop again).
When I re-enabled the RunSwUSB service, speeds went way up to USB 3.0 levels - 600 - 750 Mbps with the laptop located all the way across the 1st floor from the room where the Orbi RBK853 is (satellites are in basement and top floor).
[Side note - The adapter in the same room as the router gets even more: 858 Mbps on another laptop - a late 2016 Acer Predator G5-793-72AU bought new in early 2017!] The Predator laptop does not have any issues with the A7000 adapater luckily].
Option 1 Outcome Summary - DID NOT WORK FOR MY SITUATION
Disabling RunSwUSB service does not work for everyone, especially for those with internet service above 200 Mbps; I have 1,200 Mbps plan with provisioned speeds up to 1,440 Mbps so i need the fastest USB 3.0 wifi adapter for my laptop (it does not have a mini PCIe port etc.)!
Attempt 2 / Option 2 (for those with a newer computers with only USB-C ports, such as my 2020 16GB i7 Galaxy Book Flex laptop which has issues due to the A7000) - Changing from one brand of USB-C to USB-A adapter to another brand:
This initially seemed to help speeds, but in short it did not help - with the RunSwUSB service enabled, the computer disconnected several times a day at a minimum and required a reboot to reconnect to the network. Unplugging the adapter when the laptop hangs on restart with the A7000 plugged in, resulted in a Blue Screen Of Death (BSOD) crash.
Option 2 Outcome Summary: With this new top-rated (4.8 / 5) name brand USB-C to USB-A adapter, the Netgear A7000 wifi adapter still disconnects multiple times a day, as it did out of the box [with no changes at all to my system], requiring a reboot each time to restore wifi connectivity.
Also, many times the laptop also had a BSOD after I was FORCED to remove the A7000 just to get the laptop to reboot (as soon as the A7000 was removed from the USB port, the latop restarted instantly, per the Restart I performed in Win 10, needed just to restore wifi connectivity with the A7000!!!).
Attempt 3 / Option 3 - Restore 2 'advanced power' options to Win 10 that had been intentionally removed by Samsung for who knows what reason:
Using regedit, I added back the following two important registry keys to give me the MISSING Windows 10 Advanced Power options (those options were not even visible due to a custom implementation - not sure why Samsung decided to remove these options!!!):
i. 'Wireless Adapter Settings' > 'Power Saving Mode' - After adding the key and rebooting, I then set it to 'Maximum Performance' for both 'on battery' and 'plugged in'.
ii. 'USB settings' > 'USB selective suspend' - After adding the key and rebooting, I then set this to 'disabled' for both 'on battery' and 'plugged in'.
I do not know what these settings were set to while they were removed / hidden completely by Samsung; but I think it is safe to assume they were probably set to power saving modes...
Well, this worked the longest, 9 hours of use yesterday, but then today, just when I was about to post that this POTENTIALLY worked with a big caveat, sure enough the A7000 disconnected again ARGH! This was after less than 1 hour of use today. 😞
As mentioned, once the A7000 disconnect I have to reboot to restore wifi connectivity. Sure enough I also had to unplug the A7000 in order for the computer Restart process to stop hanging - this resulted in a STOP CODE violation as others here and on Youtube have noted for the A7000.
The only reason I have spent ('wasted' might be a better word given the outcome) several hours a day this past week trying to get the A7000 to work, is that competitors' AC1900 wifi adapters have lower speeds than the A7000 and they are not always consistent in terms of wifi speed... 😞
Still amazed this has been on the market since 2017 without a fix from Netgear or whoever is writing the drivers for them for the A7000.
Re: Netgear A7000 causes Blue Screen of Death on Windows 10. Please help!
Quick update - The powered USB hub solution to the A7000 'disconnecting and needing a forced reboot / crashing' issue seems * to be working!
Per Paulie12's 'powered USB hub' solution in another thread, I installed the powered 4 port hub around 8 or 9 PM last night and the Netgear A7000 adapater has not disconnected once all day today, despite using my laptop for the past 4 1/2 hours straight!
(Aside from having a hub connected to my laptop being a clunky solution, I am happy that I can get 700 Mbps at a distance from my router without needing to reboot my laptop to 'fix' the A7000 every few hours!).
* I'll declare victory if this solution works another 12 to 24 hours or so without a disconnect.
Now I just need to find the smallest powered USB hub that I can. The one I bought is top-rated and has individual powered switches for each of the 4 ports and was only $19.99, but it is 'taller' / 'thicker' than I would ideally like). I am not sure there is anything much smaller though...
Re: Netgear A7000 causes Blue Screen of Death on Windows 10. Please help!
Netgear A7000 (latest 1.15 drivers from 2017) on Galaxy Book Flex with USB Type-C ports (so I use a USB-C to USB-A adapter to connect the A7000):
DISCONNECTS AND HANGS / BSOD ERROR.
Well, the powered USB hub solution only worked with the Netgear A7000 wifi adapter for 24 hours on my 2020 15.6" 16GB Galaxy Book Flex then it disconnected and I had to unplug the A7000 and restart my laptop to reconnect to wifi.
Ultra frustrating.
The puzzling thing is while many owners havve issues with the A7000 and I am one of them when it comes to the A7000 on my Galaxy Book Flex, the same Netgear A7000 on 2017 Acer Predator works fine, just plugged into a USB 3.0 USB Type-A port - I did NOT disable the RunSwUSB service or perform any other special steps:
WORKS FINE, unlike many owners of this adapter.
The odd thing is this is the same exact A7000 and it works perfectly for WEEKS on end on my early 2017 Acer Predator laptop which has actual USB-A ports. I have used that laptop to work remotely and the A7000 adapter never disconnects or hangs.
I found this post where someone says to use the older driver to prevent issues, but then how come the latest driver works fine on my Predator:
Re: Netgear A7000 causes Blue Screen of Death on Windows 10. Please help!
Probably on newer setups something changed in USB controller. Probably not HW itself, but maybe some firmware on motherboard, or controller drivers on host, or whatever that changes quite often.
Adapter driver was updated for last time after your Acer was released, so driver probably supported these systems without issues and was tested on them. For newer systems, like mine or your Galaxy Book or whatever that came out year or so ago, kernel driver is outdated and will simply not work, and Netgear doesn't care to even give generic response, so I wouldn't expect them to fix it.
I think we can make very safe assumption that only "driver development" Netgear did there, was wrapping generic relatek chipset driver that A7000 is based on with some fancy features, and this work probably was done by employee who not even work there anymore. As Realtek did not update drivers for this chipset for even longer time, I do not think there is anyone competent enough in Netgear to actually fix issues related to original chipset kernel driver. This is why they give no response, they just cannot do anything with that, physically. They could be more transparent, but you know, that would be admitting their support impotence on their own product and no-one high in sales/marketing team would allow that. Sad, but probably true.
Probably on newer setups something changed in USB controller. Probably not HW itself, but maybe some firmware on motherboard, or controller drivers on host, or whatever that changes quite often.
Adapter driver was updated for last time after your Acer was released, so driver probably supported these systems without issues and was tested on them. For newer systems, like mine or your Galaxy Book or whatever that came out year or so ago, kernel driver is outdated and will simply not work, and Netgear doesn't care to even give generic response, so I wouldn't expect them to fix it.
I think we can make very safe assumption that only "driver development" Netgear did there, was wrapping generic relatek chipset driver that A7000 is based on with some fancy features, and this work probably was done by employee who not even work there anymore. As Realtek did not update drivers for this chipset for even longer time, I do not think there is anyone competent enough in Netgear to actually fix issues related to original chipset kernel driver. This is why they give no response, they just cannot do anything with that, physically. They could be more transparent, but you know, that would be admitting their support impotence on their own product and no-one high in sales/marketing team would allow that. Sad, but probably true.
Cheers.
Thanks. Unfortunately you may be right. 😞
The fact that Netgear continues to ACTIVELY sell this adapter and has not updated the drivers since 2017 despite tons of owners having issue with the A7000 is amazing to me. Even if the drivers need to be supplied by Realtek or whoever else's chipset it uses (if not Realtek), Netgear is repsonsible for ensuring the product works as advertised.
They have not replied in weeks to all the threads about issues with the A7000.
Full disclosure - I have an Orbi RBK853 and love it! (Also loved my prior RBK53 and RBK753S).
But the A7000 is another story. I love it on my Predator, but it is unusable on my Samsung Galaxy Book Flex and many other computers based on all the other A7000 owners complaining here and in the Youtube videos.
By the way, with my second A7000 (I opened it today - had bought two), I tried driver 1.0.0.11 as someone suggested as a fix, but it did not help - it disconnected after just one hour on my Galaxy Book Flex, which is worse than it performed with my 1.0.0.15 driver (with my other A7000 which I had been using till now on both computers back and forth to compare how the 2 computers worked with the A7000)...
Re: Netgear A7000 causes Blue Screen of Death on Windows 10. Please help!
Update - In my specific case, the A7000 adapter is NOT overheating on the two computers where it works (I just got a new Adata XPG I Xenia Xe i7 16GB laptop) I tested this with 1 - 2 hours worth of large downloads on both laptops. Not a single disconnect or issue!
In short, I solved this A7000 issue by taking an extreme route - by getting a new laptop which has USB-A ports as well, to replace my Galaxy Flex which only has USB-C ports has served me really well!
1. A7000 works fine on the 32GB i7 Acer Predator (late 2016 model bought new in 2017 - upgraded RAM and both drives recently to increase RAM and storage and hard drive speeds):
The A7000 works fine on the Predator - great speeds, NO disconnects and works day in and day out - I have had one A7000 hooked up to the Predator for weeks at a time and it never disconnects or needs to be unplugged etc. Gets 858 Mbps actual download speed via the A7000.
2. A7000 also works fine on my brand new 2021 Adata XPG Xenia Xe laptop (which I just received last Tuesday to replace the Flex initially due to this issue [extreme solution I know), but the Xenia also has a better keyboard, faster SSD, runs MUCH quieter and is much cooler to the touch) - I have another A7000 which I hooked up last Thursday.
The A7000 has been working flawlessly since then (getting 675 Mbps / 700 Mbps down using the A7000). No disconnects or issues with speeds - I tested it yesterday with 7 large downloads back to back and was getting around 680 Mbps consistently.
3. A7000 has issues - The issue is specifically with the above A7000 when used with the 2020 16GB i7 Galaxy Book Flex (which only has USB-C ports) where I experienced the A7000 disconnecting after anywhere from 1 hour to 24 hours and at that point it has actually locked up requiring the adapter to be removed (in turn causing a Blue Screen of Death error) and the laptop to be restored to restore wifi, until the issue happens again (within hours).
So the A7000 issue, in my case at least, either has to do with the USB controller on the Flex and / or the fact that the Flex requires USB-C to USB-A conversion (adapters) to connect the A7000. I tried 2 different top-rated USB-C to USB-A adapters and the same disconnection & locking issue happens.
I even tried a powered USB hub, per Paulie12's recommendation, with the Flex and it did not help to resolve the A7000 issue...
So I am keeping my brand new Xenia Xe (along with my existing Acer Predator) for use with the A7000 and selling my only 1 year old Galaxy Book Flex to some very lucky individual - I suspect the auction may end up going for less than I paid (got a great deal a year ago for the Korean edition to get 16GB of RAM and nVidia MX250 since the one sold in the US only had 12GB max and, if I recall correctly also no nVidia).
Anyway, the A7000 has been working fine on my predator for 2 weeks (since I installed it again after using ethernet for a week or so) and on XPG since I received it last Tuesday!
This is why manufacturers need to keep USB-A ports.
As a final test to confirm the issue has to do with USB-C ports , I may try the A7000 on my XPG using one of the USB-C ports and my USB-C to USB-A adapter.
