D-Link Wireless N300 USB Adapter on Windows 2000

[ironman14]

Hello.

 

I have been trying to get my D-Link Wireless N300 USB adapter to work on Windows 2000 with SP4 and Update Rollup 1 (official). I will install some unofficial packages later but I need internet access to download those packages, some software and to download some of my hardware drivers. 

 

When I run the setup program located on the CD, it installs well and I can even connect to my wireless internet using the built-in D-Link Wireless Connection tool. But when I restart my computer, it displays an error : "winlogon.exe has generated errors and will be closed by Windows. You will need to restart the program." And after a space, there is another line that says: "An error log is being created."After this message displays, the computer restarts after a few seconds.  I can restore my PC by uninstalling the D-Link program. 

 

It doesn't matter which partition I install it to (My D: drive, which is the W2K partition, my G: drive, which is one of my "extra space" partitions for programs and documents, and my I: drive (a USB drive) all produce the same problem.). If I try transfering the installed version from my Windows 7 PC to this PC (I usually try to avoid this with programs, as it doesn't often work), the computer doesn't stop working, but there is a missing wlanapi.dll file, which only comes with XP SP3 or later. I have tried downloading the file from the web (the XP version) (I don't have an XP machine), but it complains of a missing function in ADVAPI32.dll. Even if there is a workaround for this function (and any other DLL errors), the program likely still won't work.

 

I know that this adapter is compatible with W2K as the device manual says that Windows 2000 with Service Pack 4 is supported (I know this is the correct manual:

ftp://ftp.dlink.ca/PRODUCTS/DWA-130/DWA-130_REVE_MANUAL_5.10_ENFR.PDF)

 

Incase it matters, this machine is dual-booted with Windows 98. I don't know if I can get my internet to work on that but for now Windows 2000 is my priority. I don't think it should matter if it is dual-booted or not as uninstalling the D-Link program "restores" my PC. But just putting it out there.

 

Lastly, thank you for reading this. Any help I can get would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[AnX]

Find an older driver. I use a TP-LINK driver from 2010 on Win2k and my TL-WN722N performs as well on Win2k as it does on newer OSes. I didn't even have to install unofficial updates, the adapter was ready to go as soon as i popped in the driver.

Edited August 11, 2015 by AnX

[ironman14]

I went to D-Link's website and downloaded all the drivers for the previous versions of my D-Link DWA-130 USB Adapter (not knowing for sure that they would work, but figuring that they might, since they are for the same type of hardware and by the same manufacturer)(I downloaded versions A through D) :http://support.dlink.ca/ProductInfo.aspx?m=DWA-130 

 

All of the zipped files had a setup folder and the actual drivers contained inside, and I ran all 4 setup programs (starting with the first and ending with the last) and I got to the part where it asked me to plug in my USB adapter, which was plugged in the whole time I ran the setup programs. However, the program(s) won't accept it since my USB adapter is newer than the drivers that those programs included. So that was out. 

 

Since each of the older D-Link drivers contain Windows 2000 drivers, including the SYS file (the driver) a setup information file (.inf, in case I was being unclear) and a catalog file. Also, since Windows 2000 can install the appropriate drivers for my hardware if I locate the appropriate .inf file, I tried to install the drivers that way, but each time, I get a message that says "Windows was unable to locate a driver for this device. To search another location click back, or if you do not want to install a driver now click Finish, and I obviously can pick either Back or Finish. 

 

I remember before I asked for help on this forum, I saw a Windows 2000 Wireless driver on my D-Link CD, and I know it doesn't work, at least with the D-Link utility, and while I was searching for "general" wifi drivers (Not sure if they exist) I found this: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/product/3400/Intel-PRO-Wireless-2100-Network-Connection. At first I thought that maybe it was the D-Link Wireless utility (program on CD) that was causing the program, and not the W2K driver. I will try the 2100 software first with my D-Link driver (on CD) and if that doesn't work, I will try the 2100 driver and the software.

 

Thank you for your help and sorry if I am being unclear.

[w2k4eva]

A little googling shows you aren't the only one having issues with this card.

 

Maybe try to divide and conquer. Can you separate the driver installation from the client manager portion? I'd try using the latest driver loaded by navigating to the INF file but not installing the client yet, see if that much can reboot. If so, then try the full install, but before rebooting, adjust your startup entries to not autoload the client at boot, see if the error persists, or if not can you launch the client manually when needed rather than every boot no matter what.

 

Another alternative would be use the latest drivers but a different client. There are a couple threads that have links to some potential targets:

http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/173922-need-a-wireless-client-for-windows-2000/

http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/144280-wpa-client-software/

In particular, the Buffalo client can work with other cards provided it is connecting to a Buffalo router. Maybe try one from the manufacturer of your router and see if they are similarly tolerant of other makers' cards? I guess if it is a DLink router that puts you back where you started...

 

One thing to note, in post #21,

My router is a Belkin N600. A Netgear card I have with WPA can only connect to the internet if the router is set for WPA encryption only, not WPA+WPA2.

 

so you may have to turn off the WPA2 option in the router if your card is uncooperative.

 

[ironman14]

The intel software was trying to force itself to install to my boot drive (which is less than 1gb and only has 36 mb left). The installation was 50 mb and even when I select the option to install it to a different drive (in this case my F:\ drive, also a hard disk partition), it insists on putting 39 MB on my C:\ drive and 11 MB on my F:\ drive.

 

I could seperate the driver installation from the client manager portion. Using Windows' tool Found New Hardware, I could find the drivers for Windows 2000, install them, and boot successfully. So I installed the software as normal, and even after using Windows XP's msconfig tool to disable the D-Link program at startup and removing it from the Startup folder, the Winlogon.exe error persists.

 

Sadly I don't have money to just go out and buy another router. Do you think that either of those wireless clients will work with my adapter?

 

Also, I could try installing UURollup and see if that works, although that does defeat my original purpose of using the internet to download all the W2k updates and drivers. Currently I have no sound and I have 16 color display. Even the D-Link installation program, upon launching, says I need to be running in 256 colors or higher, but it works anyway.

 

I know this does adapter does work with Windows 2000, but I forget how I did it. It's been at least a year since I used Windows 2000 as my main OS. Currently I use Vista or 7.

[w2k4eva]

Oh, it looks like there's a few things I didn't get before...

 

The intel software was trying to force itself to install to my boot drive (which is less than 1gb and only has 36 mb left). The installation was 50 mb and even when I select the option to install it to a different drive (in this case my F:\ drive, also a hard disk partition), it insists on putting 39 MB on my C:\ drive and 11 MB on my F:\ drive.

 

By "boot drive", do you mean C: and is that where you have the dualbooted W98 install - and did you say your W2K is on D: ?  Sounds like a REALLY bad installer if it hardcodes drive letters even when the OS is installed on some other partition!

 

The main problem may be about simply running out of space - 36MB just isn't enough for really, anything! Any possibility of clearing out more space? One biggie could be to NOT allow swap to use that partition, instead redirect it to some other partition with more space available. Sometimes this can free up as much as 3GB. Also perhaps move "temp" and/or "tmp" as well (both for your own username and for system, they are generally different), this can be a pretty large amount of space consumed... and, yeah, clean them out first! A tool like CCleaner - or even just Disk Cleanup that is packaged with Windows - might help here. Of course you'll need to be sure there is plenty of space on whatever partitions you redirect these items to.

 

My personal method is after the above are moved, to also move "My Documents" to somewhere else than where the OS is installed since this one folder invariably dwarfs the entire combined other contents of that partition.

 

And yes, even W98SE lets you move those items, at least if you have another FAT32 (or FAT16) partition to move them to.

 

I'm a little confused now - are you installing the Intel drivers? I thought you said it was a DLink adapter?  I wouldn't expect the drivers to be interchangeable if the underlying chips don't match.

 

I could seperate the driver installation from the client manager portion. Using Windows' tool Found New Hardware, I could find the drivers for Windows 2000, install them, and boot successfully. So I installed the software as normal, and even after using Windows XP's msconfig tool to disable the D-Link program at startup and removing it from the Startup folder, the Winlogon.exe error persists.

 

Hmm, that sounds like the service component is the only thing left, so that must be what is hosing the works. The only other thing I can think of to try would be, after install and turning off the startup folder stuff and the startup entries, to also disable the service. Start->Run, type "services.msc" without quotes, and press Enter. Then scroll through the list looking for whatever just got installed, right click it and choose Properties. On the General tab, set the Startup type to Disabled. If that lets you boot, it would confirm that it is the service that is the problem. You could then try re-enabling the other items to see if you can still boot properly without the service. But since the service will be needed to actually use the device, I'm not sure how useful this information will be unless someone else can find more clues.

 

Do you think that either of those wireless clients will work with my adapter?

 

They might, the only way to know is to try them. What router(s) are you using? If it is not a DLink there may also be other clients to try.

 

Also, I could try installing UURollup and see if that works, although that does defeat my original purpose of using the internet to download all the W2k updates and drivers.

 

If the card really is supported under W2K then UURollup shouldn't be needed for this. As for defeating the purpose, there may be another path - have you got a driver for plain old wired ethernet? That might let you DL the rest of the drivers.

 

The other question is whether this whole sequence is backwards. It would be MUCH safer to use some other system to do those downloads, then copy the files onto a CD, DVD, or USB stick, then to the target system. I would NEVER connect a new (or even old!) build to the internet until after drivers are installed, things are updated, and a good firewall is installed and properly configured.

 

Currently I have no sound and I have 16 color display. Even the D-Link installation program, upon launching, says I need to be running in 256 colors or higher, but it works anyway.

 

If you have not got all your drivers in order that could be part of your problem. Especially important would be motherboard chipset drivers, and anything related to USB. There are also a bunch of USB related updates for W2K that might be needed. I'm not sure from your post whether you are using ONLY the SP4 and official UR1 packages from MS, or something else like the Gurgelmeyer package (which installs only MS files. It includes SP4, UR1, plus hundreds of other updates). If you haven't somehow included them already you may need to add KB843503, KB838417 and/or others.

 

KB890188 - ignore the title, what matters is that it replaces Wzcsvc.dll, Wzcdlg.dll, Wzcsapi.dll, and Wzcsetup.exe

 

KB904711 may be relevant as it replaces winlogon.exe

 

            I know this does adapter does work with Windows 2000, but I forget how I did it. It's been at least a year since I used Windows 2000 as my main OS. Currently I use Vista or 7.

 

Did you used to use it on this system, or was it on a different one? What motherboard is this? Does it use one of those older VIA-based USB controllers that MS refused to support? If so you may need to disable that and use an adapter card in a PCI slot to have working USB.

 

Maybe previously the drivers and updates were squared away first?

 

Sadly I don't have money to just go out and buy another router.

 

It's a bit hit-or-miss, but sometimes people give them away on either freecycle or craigslist free stuff (pick a location, then under "for sale", click "free"), if you have the patience to watch and wait for something to turn up.

 

[ironman14]

My Windows 2000 is on D:, but personally, I was trying to get it to install to my F:\ drive (a partition with 22.4 GB left). To avoid leaving it out, my D: drive has only 16MB left. I have no plans to use it for anything.

 

I do have a D-Link adapter and I was trying to find a “software” that might work with my drivers. Guess I didn't think that idea through enough.

 

 

I haven't tried disabling the Service yet. I will try it later and reply with the result.

 

My router is an Actiontec r1000h. But this machine has no wireless card, so that is why I need the adapter to get a connection. I will also try those wireless clients out.

 

I could download all the updates (graphics, sound etc..)on a seperate computer and transfer them to this one via USB. Assuming the relevant updates are included in USP5, I will install that. I do not have a driver for plain old ethernet.

 

I used it on this system before. I have already uninstalled the Windows installation featuring the working adapter because I wanted to dual-boot it with Windows 98. I think I had at least my graphics drivers installed at the time, but I find it a bit hard to believe that that would make a difference. Perhaps it would, though. My motherboard is a Micro-Star international MS-6769. I have working USB ports and am currently using a flash drive and a USB mouse.

 

Thank you very much for replying to me.