Windows 10 (A6100 A6200 A6210) Installation Heads Up

[michael1800]

Oops, Kraster is right. I spelled out my best analysis of the problem but forgot to mention solutions (other than waiting for MediaTek, RealTek and Broadcom).

I have the A6100, so this may or may not help A6200 folks. For those that cannot see their 5Ghz bands:

1) In your router, (Wireless Network tab or equivalent) set the 5GHz SSID channel to a non-DFS channel (36-48, 149-165)

2) To start, make sure your channel width is set to 20 or 20MHz and channel bonding is off if you have that setting...they are usually on the same page as #1

3) Ensure your USB adapter driver properties are set to region 0 if you are in the US. If you're elsewhere, I'd recommend setting it appropriately

This should get you connected. However, with 20MHz channels and no channel bonding, your throughput will be fast, but not as fast as it could be. Start with bonding off and 20MHz width in order to verify this is your problem. After that's done and you can connect, you can experiment with increasing the width to 40 and/or 80. However, keep in mind, when you increase the width, you are using multiple channels (the one you select is *usually* the center I believe)...none of which can be a DFS channel. If you go 80, that limits your channel choice to only two channels (for me, it's 44 or 157 but some routers can be configured by selecting a upper/lower, upper/upper, lower/lower, lower/upper configuration which would change the channel numbers that work while keeping out of DFS).

If DFS and channel bonding are things you're not confortable with messing with, sticking with bonding off (or 20MHz width) on any of the channels in item 1 is still *very* far from slow.

After updated drivers come out (via Netgear or Windows Update), set your router back to auto (5GHz channel) will probably improve your speed a bit by avoiding the congested non-DFS channels.

[michael1800]

Correction:  A6200; not A6100

[Icebear8]

i have not had the random disconnects on windows 10 with my 6210 BUT i am having trouble getting it to connect using the AC, i noticed today that since i owned this adapter and a nighthawk x4 that it's been using wireless N and not AC, i only noticed this because i bought a steamlink and having bad performance with it and now i know why.

[Mauley]

I made the mistake of puchasing this product without first doing proper research only to find how terrible the issues are with Windows 10 still. Every time I boot up my PC and log in the dongle disconnects and takes a half a minute to reconnect again. Every single time without fail.

Will Netgear ever respond to this 26 page thread and actually do something about it???

[Retired_Member]

I registered just to comment. I purchased this sorry excuse for a network card thinking it would boost my speed over an older D-Link USB adapter I am using. Boy was I wrong.

This thing constantly disconnects and I have to reboot, only for it to disconnect over and over and over and over. I cannot for the life of me understand how this product can be such a joke. Netgear is a large company with a ton of resources, and you are telling me they cannot get 1 or 2 people to fix the drivers for Windows 10?

This is pathetic. I will never be purchasing another Netgear product.

[Cdr_Perkins]

Current status for me:

After manual installing the mentioned mediatek driver a few weeks ago and forcing Windows 10 to not take / update any other driver by itself, i have no problems anymore.

5ghz, no disconnect, no bluescreens and USB 3.0 (not 2.0 like with the netgear driver).

Marcus

[smintz]

Couldn't agree more. With the punt of complaints you'd think they could get one of their monkeys to fix it

[Retired_Member]

---

@Cdr_Perkins wrote:

Current status for me:

After manual installing the mentioned mediatek driver a few weeks ago and forcing Windows 10 to not take / update any other driver by itself, i have no problems anymore.

5ghz, no disconnect, no bluescreens and USB 3.0 (not 2.0 like with the netgear driver).

Marcus

---

Which model do you have? I tried the Mediatek driver and got a BSOD on reboot, but I am using the A6200.

[Mauley]

Also how did you force Win10 to not update the driver? That would be handy to know. Last time I tried the MediaTek driver I was not able to connect to 5G

[Cdr_Perkins]

I have an A6210 wlan adapter.

I installed the mediatek driver (driver only) 5.1.25.0. and then plugged in the adapter. Windows 10 installed immediately another driver and overrides the mediatek driver.

After that i manually installed the mediatek driver via system control -> device manager.

Then i disabled the automatic hardware/device driver update function in Windows 10 (pro) via the group policies:

gpedit.msc -> policies local computer -> computer configuration -> admin templates -> system -> internet communication -> deactivate search for hardware (or device) driver on windows update -> click on "activate".

Sorry, i only know it in german so i hope my "english translation" was not too bad.

With that, Windows 10 doesn't change the drivers for devices / hardware via the update function anymore. This doesn't concern software for something like mice and keyboards for example, only "built in" devices.

But: now i have to search for hardware drivers by myself. But i think this is not a real problem 😉

Marcus 

[Istari]

Dear Netgear,

This is becoming a bit of a joke. Ongoing driver issues since July 2015?

The A6200 was perfectly fine for me until upgrading to windows 10.

Constant device resetting on a vanilla windows 10 installation. Literally the first thing i installed was the netgear drivers, nothing else.

Tried various usb ports and hubs, both 2.0 and 3.0

Please fix this !

Istari

The network interface "NETGEAR A6200 WiFi Adapter" has begun resetting.  There will be a momentary disruption in network connectivity while the hardware resets.
Reason: The network driver detected that its hardware has stopped responding to commands.
This network interface has reset 53 time(s) since it was last initialized.

[USMCP8TRIOT]

I think netgear should replace these devices for us. They are not cheap.i hated windows 10AND the fact that i could not use the device without a work around so i switched to linux. Come to find out, it won't work with linux either. Screw netgear (and the chipset manufacturer)!

[dave1112]

ATTENTION NETGEAR!:

I have been waiting for a fix for over 6 months now. I paid $100 for a piece of junk that is outperformed by $20 adapters. Great job netgear I will no longer be purchasing your products.

[smintz]

What's worse is that they don't care. Take your business anywhere but to Netgear

[Edacyn]

I've been reading through here trying to find out what "U2" means and how to set it in the ASMedia 3.0 host controller.  Well, I've read through 27 pages, and I did purchase this last night. 

As of the latest build of Windows 10, that I installed yesterday, the device connects just fine.  Including on 5G networks.  According to the utility it's running at 300mbps, but I think that's because I don't have an AC router (yet), it's just operating on a single band 5G-N network.

Anyways, the device worked out of the box, installing the standalone driver from the CD, and then it was updated by Windows Update after a reboot and forced update. 

[seanvree]

Which "build" are you speaking of?  

[Edacyn]

Windows 10 - 10586 (which I think is the most recent patch sets, whatever Microsoft calls them this day and age)

In other words mainstream windows updates.

Hope that helps.

Here's the results from the speedtest from my A6210

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/5170948374

[cheeseds]

I have had some luck with this the meat of the U2 issue seems to be a power saving mode I managed to fix my issue by going into Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Power Options and selecting "High performance" (you may have to expand the "how additional plans" area) then clicking change plan settings, then "change advanced power settings" then selecting usb settings  -> USB selective suspend settings and changing it to disabled

[Edacyn]

Of course! That's a great point!

[rvrby]

It works like a charm, thank you cheeseds !!!!!!!!!!

[kumar07krishna]

Is the issue resolved with A6200 on Windows 10?

It is hampering my productivity, Netgear team is there a support from your end?

[Update4WinX]

I gave up on my a6210 5 months ago. I just bought a 75ft cat6 cable and ran it through walls/attic.
On a completely unrelated note, I've got a Netgear a6210, hardly used condition, for sale. PM me if you're interested. Serious inquiries only.

[Mikos53]

The A6200 Genie installed the device in my old windows 10 machine without issues. Is this a hardware incompatibility issue?

[jdbway]

Thank you thank you THANK YOU!!!

[douga54]

I finally gave up on my A6200.  I bought a new Dell Alien computer with built in AC.  Works like a champ!  Netgear never really gave me a solution that I could use after months of trying.  Their customer service was useless.  Never again.