Hi Wyatt,
We've been experiencing an influx of ENABLE_NETWORK_ADAPTERS Errors (6 in the last week) and I was wondering if there was anything that existed that could help people identify the root of the issue. I have gone through the troubleshooting steps with all of them and in many instances we are both scratching our heads trying to figure out why we can't find the faulty driver.
Would be great to hear your thoughts about this.
Thanks,
Hey Will,
A ton more information is needed: https://wyday.com/limelm/help/faq/#useful-reports
Versions (TA, Windows, Drivers, etc.), exactly which adapters are installed, whether they installed the latest drivers (again, version numbers), etc.
If they’re on a real machine, on the latest Windows, with updated drivers they should be fine.
VMs start getting tricky (they can shoot themselves in the foot a myriad of ways). Old Windows and Drivers are not worth time debugging — just update.
Thanks for the reply! We are using TurboFloat and TurboActivate .dll files, version 4.4.4.0
They're on a real machine, it's a Razer Blade 15 running Windows 11 Pro Version 10.0.22621
And the only devices in their Network Adapters section are the usual WAN Miniport adapters, Bluetooth Device (Personal Area Network), Killer(R) Wi-Fi AX1690i 160MHz Wireless Network Adapter (411NGW), and a hidden Dell Gigabit Ethernet adapter. All are updated and don't show any signs of malfunction.
I've provided a drive link that goes to the screenshots of their network drivers and their version numbers, but if you would like me to type them out I can do so as well.
Link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Ny06uhwHo4lq3cJu0lPjJLi3roAPtsIa?usp=sharing
An interesting update to this is that a few days after initially contacting me, the Enable Network Drivers error went away for the customer and they were able to use the software. But then the next day, they encountered it again, stating “The only real difference is today I'm working from home (same laptop). I wasn't on the VPN yesterday or today."
Let me know if you need any other information from me or the customer.
Is it a real VPN (I.e. Windows built-in VPN software). Or is it one of those thousand honey-pot VPN services (SurfSark, NordVPN, ExpressVPN, etc. etc.)
If it was a honeypot service, have them remove it for their own security.
If it was a real VPN (ie accessing their work network from their home network), then they need to provide more details on reproducing this.
We can’t reproduce it using the real Windows VPN.
Regarding the VPN, it looks like we're using Unifi VPN service but I log in using Windows VPN. I'm not typically logged into it, though, it's really only for the playtests where the VR headsets are talking to each other is where I need to be on it.
Would you consider this a honeypot service?
I have had two clients report this problem and both have the Killer(R) Wi-Fi 6E AX1690i 160MHz Wireless Network Adapter (411NGW) device installed and reporting PhysicalAdapter = False. If they uninstall the device in device manager, immediate activation is possible.
I've provided a drive link that goes to the screenshots of their network drivers and their version numbers, but if you would like me to type them out I can do so as well.
Link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Ny06uhwHo4lq3cJu0lPjJLi3roAPtsIa?usp=sharing
The 2 real network adapters (Intel's and Dell's) are both out of date. The intel's by almost 2 years. Dell's by almost 4 years. We're not using internal tools to determine this. We type “[Product Name] drivers” in a search engine and we get a direct link to the page with the latest drivers for that product name.
Everyone can do that without having to wait for a response from us.
For those particular devices actually updating the machine (install all updates) and the drivers (again, download them directly from Intel and install them) fixes the problem.
There's something up with Intel's “Killer” brand of network adapters. It seems like every 18 months or so the company releases a broken set of drivers for them. They must have their C-team of developers writing drivers for that brand.
At any rate, updating should fix the problem (as we say often in our FAQ).
Yes, Windows should just force customers to update. But they don’t. So customers have to do it manually.
I have had two clients report this problem and both have the Killer(R) Wi-Fi 6E AX1690i 160MHz Wireless Network Adapter (411NGW) device installed and reporting PhysicalAdapter = False. If they uninstall the device in device manager, immediate activation is possible.
Just wanted to say that I've recommended this to 3 people and 2 have reported back that this has fixed their issue. The other did not have a wired connection available but will hopefully check in tomorrow with me. @Wyatt is there something you can investigate with this Network Device?
The customer provided the statement below, not sure if you can glean anything from it. I'm certainly out of my wheelhouse when dealing with individual WiFi cards.
I checked for a Windows update and am up to date. I've also looked at the drivers the Killer Wifi is using. I am having an issue with Killer Intelligence Center "Service Not Running" when using their tool to look specifically for the latest driver. Looks like others are having a similar problem with the Center and the fix is to roll back to a previous one. I'm looking into that.
Yeah, it sounds like the driver is messed up (which is not surprising since it's exhibiting broken behavior in TurboActivate too).
They should install it manually (google Device manager and installing drivers manually).
@Wyatt it looks like the driver they host on their website still leads to the same error: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/217241/intel-killer-wifi-6e-ax1690-is/downloads.html
Will be checking if older versions give something different in the meantime.
Edit: Receiving more and more of these errors.. it would be very beneficial to know the specific driver that is causing the issue
The specific driver versions are broken? I don’t know. Thats a question for Intel.
The driver version isn't broken. It seems that WyDay does not cooperate with the most updated version of the driver (as indicated by my experience and David Shepard). This is the assumption I have to work on since there is no way to tell what driver is causing the issue. If you could develop a way to log that information (which network device is causing the problem) that would be immensely helpful in solving these issues as they are happening with increasing frequency
This error is happening to us now and we are unable to activate machines. Wyday need a solution please help. Keeps specifying a network adaptor is disabled but that is false.
Please follow the FAQ. Linked above multiple times.
There doesn't exist a diagnostic tool. Not by us. Not by Microsoft. Not by Intel (where most of the common buggy drivers originate from). We're not going to waste time and resources writing these tools to fix trillion-dollar company mistakes. Especially not when the solution is to update (again, said above multiple times and in the FAQ multiple times).
Update the software (TA, Windows, all the network drivers). Reboot the system. Run your app (or TA Wizard) as admin.
All those steps are required. If you're still having problems, again, see the FAQ (provide enough information so we can actually help – just saying its broken is no help to anyone).
I just saw this with that same Killer nic. But as always it's difficult to track down and erodes customer confidence and tests their patience with our product. This has got to improve.
Btw thank you David Sheperd. Hello from the UK! Big fan of your product.
Hi Wyatt, I've attached a link to an image of a customers driver details and versions here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FN7QGBphAp1kbvws7RNc3vcrO2e3f1Xb/view?usp=sharing
They say that they've manually checked and that all drivers are up to date, and based on the dates of the drivers it seems to be correct. Do you see anything that could be creating this Enable Network Adapters error?
The picture you provide literally shows a disabled network adapter. So… enable it. Or remove it and throw it in the trash (MediaTek devices are truly the bottom of the barrel). But, at the very least, start by enabling it.
If it can't be enabled, then the device is broken (which is the natural state of MediaTek devices).
This thread keeps going and going, but the fundamentals are that this error isn't a bug. It's telling you that the machine is in a bad-state. Sometimes the bad-state is as simple as enabling the network adapter. And sometimes the solution is to fix the software on the machine.
But, the solution is always the same:
Every single case has been one of those 4.
There's a bonus number 5 for customers with broken network installations (to do only after running through 1 though 4):
https://wyday.com/limelm/help/faq/#fix-broken-wmi
Certain Intel network installations break WMI, and that FAQ will fix the WMI and put it back into a working state.
Also, yes, this “fixes” a TurboActivate specific error, but other software on the machine will “magically” work better once you've fixed these issues (because, like I said, the machine was in a bad state).
@Wyatt Enabling the Adapter doesn't change anything. They have updated their OS. TurboActivate is the latest version. They have updated the network drivers. There is no TA_E_BROKEN_WMI error.
Would love to hear what option 6 is as we continue to get more and more of these
Like I said above, if it can't be enabled, then it's broken. That's not surprising for a cheap adapter. Remove it from the computer. Step 0 (the implied step) is don't use broken hardware.
They have updated the network drivers. There is no TA_E_BROKEN_WMI error.
TurboActivate cannot detect all circumstances in which the WMI is broken. At the very least running those commands will put the computer in the same state. At best it will fix the problem.
BUT if they can't enable the network adapter in the first place, then it's broken hardware. Remove it, trash it, get a working adapter (preferably from a company that produces network hardware that functions well).
Here are the results from following the WMI suggestions. I'm not sure if there is any pertinent information in the file or screenshot, but I've included them here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Fvmrg9KuCUfB_IKBYuuzuznmnY24uKAQ?usp=drive_link
Still not resolving the error
There's no access to the file. Rather than screenshot, just provide the logs:
Now open a PowerShell command prompt (which is different than a "cmd" prompt), and run the following command:
Get-WMIObject MSFT_NetAdapter -Namespace root\StandardCimv2If you're on Windows 8, 8.1, or 10 (or equivalent Windows Server version 2012, 2012 R2, 2016, 2019, or "Windows Server"), you should get a full list of your network adapters whether they're connected to the internet or not. If you're on those Windows versions, and that PowerShell command gives you an error, then you still have WMI corruption. Contact your system admin and tell them to fix it. Or re-install Windows for the easiest fix.
And if they cannot enable a network adapter then it is broken. Either the customer has installed the wrong driver for it or the actual hardware is broken.
Hey Wyatt, sorry you should be able to use the link now. The text file is the output log.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Fvmrg9KuCUfB_IKBYuuzuznmnY24uKAQ?usp=sharing
So, the driver is buggy. Which is what I suspected. (You can see it for yourself in the log – notice that some of the MediaTek adapters aren't showing permanent addresses? That's a bug in the hardware and/or driver).
Is it even saying it's enabled in the Device Driver's panel? Or does it look like before?
I've spent several hours looking into it and the long and short of it is that hardware is garbage and/or the driver is garbage. Even the company that made the motherboard made a 1.1 revision that drops MediaTek and uses an Intel adapter instead. (The customer is using a 1.0 revision of the motherboard).
The customer should return the board to get a replacement. Namely, the 1.1 revision.
Long story short: the customer got pre-beta hardware/drivers (the 1.0 revision of the motherboard) and that's why things are broken. Have them get a replacement (either from the same company, or from a company that doesn't release pre-beta garbage to paying customers).
If they're looking for recommendations: don't use Gigabyte. For an equivalent gaming/consumer manufacturer, ASUS is a better choice. Or, just get the 1.1 revision of the same board if they don't want anything to change (except for working network adapters).
Just wanted to update all in this thread that I've had two customers this week with this issue with the Killer Wi-Fi card. One of which we had to refund because uninstalling their Wi-Fi card wasn't acceptable for them.
Just wanted to update all in this thread that I've had two customers this week with this issue with the Killer Wi-Fi card.
Follow this: #post-50826
Including the “broken WMI” step.
Copy that Wyatt. I will give ensure all 4 of those are as expected and then follow up with any news.
On a Windows computer, can a simple vb.net program identify which network adapter is preventing Turboactivate from activating? For instance, something like the following:
Imports System.Net.NetworkInformation 'for reading network adapters
Module Module1
Sub Main()
MsgBox(GetMacAddress())
End Sub
Function GetMacAddress() As String
Dim i As Integer, s As String, nics() As NetworkInterface = NetworkInterface.GetAllNetworkInterfaces()
s = ""
For i = 0 To nics.Count - 1
With nics(i)
s = s & vbLf & i.ToString & vbTab & .Description & vbTab & .GetPhysicalAddress().ToString()
End With
Next i
Return s
End Function
End Module
No, not easily. We might provide an API in the future to iterate through broken adapters. Not a priority (because the solution is update everything).
Can either of the following free network adapter utilities from Nir Sofer make it easy to identify exactly which adapter is preventing Turboactivate from activating? If so, that could be quite helpful.
No. Use the powershell script in our FAQ. It will list all adapters and which ones don’t have addresses have broken drivers.
No need for shady 3rd party tools.
Solution has been stated above at least a half dozen times: update everything.
I've got a customer whose adapters all have mac addresses, but turboactivate still gives the Enable Adapters error. Why can't TA merely skip insisting on reading buggy adapters, and avoid all this misery.
False negatives and false positives. It’s a world of pain if we just “ignore” broken adapters.
How do I know? Because we used to do it (3.x and prior). It was a world of pain for everyone.
The solution? Just update. And actually update. (Don’t take the customers word for it, actually verify they’ve done it).
If all adapters have mac addresses, why would turboactivate still give the Enable Adapters error?
Because the drivers or hardware aren’t reporting the address to Windows and thus we can’t read them.
Follow the FAQ for how to “fix it”.
But they do all have addresses. If Windows can read them and I can read them, why can't turboactivate read them?
You're only asking part of the question. Yes, if you can read it, and Windows can read it, then TurboActivate can read it.
Are you seeing all the network adapters on the machine? Probably not. TurboActivate is. And of the “real” network adapters some (at least one) are not reporting the network address.
So, as stated above: #post-50785
Thanks for the quick reply, Wyatt.
If there is an adapter that Windows cannot see, but Turboactivate does, how can the end user determine that? So he can try to fix it? In this particular instance, it is a laptop system, where it is no simple matter to see what is inside. Windows only reports 5 adapters, and they all report a Mac address other than the Loopback thing, which I believe is normal. Could one of these possibly be the problem adapter in spite of reporting a Mac Address?
It would be very helpful if TA's error message identified which adapter, such as by giving its name or description property.
Windows only reports 5 adapters, and they all report a Mac address other than the Loopback thing
You have your answer. Remove whatever software is adding a broken driver. Or update the software and driver so that it behaves like it should.
So, as stated above: #post-50785
TurboActivate is not magic. It will not fix broken systems. It *does* fix common issues, but there are a thousand ways people can mess up their own computers.
My HP laptop has a “software loopback interface”. But it does not appear in Device Manager's list of network adapters. Any suggestions on how to update the driver for it? Turboactivate activates with no trouble on my laptop in spite of the loopback thing not having a mac address.
Isn't there any way at all to get Turboactivate to identify which adapter is giving it heartburn?
Isn't there any way at all to get Turboactivate to identify which adapter is giving it heartburn?
No.
Any suggestions on how to update the driver for it? Turboactivate activates with no trouble on my laptop in spite of the loopback thing not having a mac address.
It's likely 3rd party VPN / Firewall / otherwise useless software. Just uninstall it and use the built-in Windows firewall. Anything else is bad or malicious.
The Software Loopback Interface is evidently used by all Microsoft Office programs, Dropbox, plus others, and is installed by default with the Windows OS. Do you still think it could be causing Turboactivate heartburn?
The Software Loopback Interface is evidently used by all Microsoft Office programs, Dropbox, plus others, and is installed by default with the Windows OS. Do you still think it could be causing Turboactivate heartburn?
It’s definitely not required by any Microsoft program. You can remove it safely.
“Loopback” devices are a Unix-ism that MS recently added to Windows 10. They’re not necessary. They’re not enabled by default. And they can be safely removed.
We're looking into whether enabling this optional feature effects TA/TF/TFS.
