Proxim Orinoco 8470 on Windows 7

This page looks like proxim is saying they support W2k-XP with that card

8470-FC ORiNOCO 11b/g PC Card, Gold - FCC - Windows 2000, XP

This is the page where you connect with the proxim support for downloads and knowledgebase which requires that you have a login account

Thanks Mike - they actually also support Vista, as they have a driver specifically for it. While they don't support Windows 7, there are plenty of other devices out there that don't officially support windows

7, but still work with it. So, I'm wondering if there's any way to get the existing drivers to work with windows 7, or perhaps there are modded drivers out there, or something along those lines. I dunno.

Yep, thanks, already have an account and tried the latest Vista and XP (WHQL) drivers, to no avail.

There is also no help at the MS Win7 hardware compatibility ctr

See what works! Easily browse or search the compatibility status of your favorite applications and devices on the Windows 7 Compatibility Center.

If it is any consolation, that card is well supported by linux drivers such as madwifi and others :-)

Wireless cards with good linux support

I hear and read in numerous places that Orinoco cards are easily recognized by Linux. - What chip set are the Orinoco cards using that makes them so easy to use?

(old page with some interesting orinoco chipset and history info)

(Dec 2002) Proxim has bought the Orinoco product line and released a different card under the "Orinoco Gold" label -

yeah, thanks. just trying to get my system as-is rolling with this card. but, if all else fails, i can run a VM in a pinch, try to attach the pcmcia to it, etc...

According to Proxim, they'll eventually support windows 7 with the 8470.

From Proxim Support:

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Thank you for contacting Proxim Technical Support.

With regards to your query about the drivers to support Windows-7, I'm sorry for the fact that as of now we do not provide any drivers for windows 7.

(Though I'm not sure of when this would happen however),to meet the business requirements proxim will come up with drivers to work on windows 7.

Please use the following link to check for the available drivers for the Client card: Answer Title: ORiNOCO 847x-FC 847x-WD 802.11b/g PC Card download and documentation Answer Link:

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Anyone have any other ideas as to where I might post this question? Even if proxim doesn't support win 7 yet with their 8470, there might be a way to tweak older drivers, etc. thanks!

Have you tried finding win7 drivers for the chipset the 8470 uses and giving those a try? madwifi lists it as an AR5212

At least one person has got the chipset to work in win7

Thanks Bob - those are nice ideas. I actually already came across that post, and tried using the AWLC4030 driver, but it didn't work for me. I assume it's because I'm running 64-bit Windows 7. I've searched around for other AR5212 drivers for windows 7 x64, but again, no joy. The Omnipeek drivers don't do the trick either. There are probably some out there that would indeed work (I hope there are, anyway), but I haven't been able to find them yet.

Most of the atheros drivers seem to cover a broad range of devices so if you feel like experimenting you could try the Win7 drivers listed at

Hmm, I gave those drivers a shot, but it doesn't take when trying to "update drivers" from the device manager. My guess is that they're not

64-bit compatible. I'll search around there for 64-bit drivers, but let me know if you happen to have some more up your sleeve. thanks.

The package is supposed to contain 32 and 64 bit drivers.

Did you try just running the exe file rather than using "update drivers"?

Just did, and same result unfortunately. Was this driver for a cardbus card?

I just looked for a card that had the AR5212 as part of it's architecture and that driver covers a wide variety of cards.

What do proxim support say about writing a driver for it? not cost effective?

Thanks Bob. Proxim will write a Win 7 driver, they say, but won't give a timeline.

- why are you running the x64 Win7 instead of the x32? Usually you don't gain anything with x64, and sometimes you cause unnecessary compatibility problems - that thinkpad T400 supports more/other than pcmcia, it also supports express card, such as the Intels and others which will also do wireless N. Your proxim is just G.

1) I'm not about to change my OS because a card won't work with it. But regardless, I have a mountain of reasons for using an x64 system including speeding up modeling tasks and increasing memory capacity. 2) the thinkpad supports lots of things. I've had this card for a while, and want to keep using it as I did a fair amount of research before buying it, and don't want to go through all that again if I can avoid it.

While it may not get anyone to produce a driver have you filled in MS's compatibility report on the card?

If you require a list of known working cards.

>

thanks bob. submitted a report. i'll post back if i manage to get this working somehow. thanks for your help.