Hello,

Girlfriend bought a D-Link DWA-542 Wireless N adapter.

The Quick Install Guide and User Manual both state to install the adapter prior to installing the software (contrary to all other wireless cards I've installed, AND a sticker that on the static-free wrap that said "Install software first before installing drivers from CD-Rom).

So, she removed an unused modem (because she had no other available slot), she installed the wireless card in it's place, booted up, computer saw the card during boot up (i.e. "WindowsXP has detected new hardware" ), she cancelled whatever pop-up came up per the instructions, insterted CD-Rom, clicked installed, went through the steps, got to the typical, "Software you are installing has not passed Windows Logo testing" pop up, clicked Continue Anyway, and then the computer locks up.

When she looks at the Device Manager, "Other devices -> Network adapter"

Has to reboot using last know good configuration.

Called D-Link tech support. Dlink emailed link to download drivers, attempted to install from USB stick, same problem.

She has a TV Tuner card in the other PCI slot. She removed her TV Tuner next to the card and tried to install the drivers (just in case it was conflicting). Still locks the computer up.

We are considering removing the wireless card and installing the software first.

When she attempts to uninstall the Dlink software, she gets an error stating, "Setup has experienced an error" do a bunch of stuff that makes no sense, and "attempt again."

She currently does NOT have this computer connected to the internet.

She is installing the wireless card to network with her room mates router.

But she never gets to any type of configuration screen.

The computer does have a built-in wired network adapter.

Suggestions, ideas?

I'm having the same problem and am currently working on it. There's an obvious driver conflict somewhere and I can't seem to pinpoint it. If I figure it out I'll post my fix.

Hello I've had issues with the DWA 542 'setup' application myself. On my computer I went ahead and put the card in first because you can't plug it in there while the computer is on...when windows installed the drivers automatically I went to the Device Manager and uninstalled the drivers so that I could use the drivers on the setup disk.

After runing the 'setup' application I get to the step where it asks you to install the adapter (ie pluging the card into a PCI slot). Since the card was already plugged in I simply clicked continue and the setup program reports that the hardware is not found. So, I exit out of the 'setup' application and the application reports that the installation was successful...

But then the network adapter doesn't work or in other words I can't get online.

So, I go back to the Device Manager and uninstall the drivers.

In the Device Manager I say scan for hardware changes. Windows reports that new hardware is found and if I'd like to search online for a driver or search from a list of devices...

Anyway, something happens where windows will scan the disk and install the drivers for you. In other words windows installs the driver and not the 'setup' application. After doing this my wireless adapter works fine. Something is wrong with the DWA 542 setup application. It's version 1.0...

So, tinker around and see if you can get windows to scan the installation cd for drivers...Use the Device Manager to uninstall any drivers for the DWA 542 then tell Device Manager to scan for new hardware when the new hardware is found tinker around and see if you can get windows to scan the disk for the drivers and install them for you.

Hope that helps.