Intel AX200 Wifi adapter system incompatibility.

[Dicoray]

Hey everyone, I'm having a weird issue with my a new Wifi card I hope y'all can help me sort out.

 

I recently purchased an ASUS AX3000 Dual Band PCE-AX58BT Wifi 6 PCI-E Adapter, using the Intel AX200 Wifi chipset, to upgrade from my old Wifi 4 PCI-E card and take full advantage of my new Wifi 6 router. 

After installing it into my system however, I am unable to get the new adapter to function at all and the card gives a "This device cannot start (Code 10)" error when viewed in device manager. 

 

My PC is running Windows 10 Home Version 1909, an Intel i7 4790k, a Gigabyte Z97X-SOC Force motherboard running the latest available bios, and an nVidia 980ti graphics card occupying the top x16 PCI-E 3.0 slot. 

 

Initially I had downloaded and installed the latest driver package, version 1.0.0.6, from the ASUS website (https://www.asus.com/us/Networking/PCE-AX58BT/HelpDesk_Download/). Since the device was not functioning with that driver, I removed it entirely and performed a clean install of the the driver package from the disk included in the box. Using this driver the device still did not function and gave the same error. Finally, I uninstalled that driver and went to Intel's support website (https://downloadcenter.intel.com/product/189347/Intel-Wi-Fi-6-AX200) and downloaded the AX200 drivers available there, version 21.80.2. The device still did not function using Intel's drivers.

 

At this point I was understandably frustrated and did some deeper digging on this error code and general incompatibility issue. I performed a Windows 10 network reset and reinstalled the drivers, power cycled my modem and router, and even reset my BIOS to the optimized defaults. None of these processes made any change. Eventually, I stumbled upon a Reddit thread with others having compatibility issues between the Intel AX200 chipset and Z97 motherboards (https://old.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/crve6w/z97_board_with_ax200_wifi_6_expansion_card_issues/)

 

Unfortunately, no one in the thread had any clear idea or conclusive evidence as to what was causing the issue. Someone in that thread mentioned Bluetooth was working, even though Wifi did not, but I am unable to confirm this myself as my motherboard only has one internal USB 2.0 header which is occupied by by front panel USB ports.

 

I would really rather not send back this card for a couple of reasons: I need more stable and faster Wifi due to working from home, it is the only Wifi 6 PCI-E card I could find with a black PCB and a black heat sink, and Newegg wants to charge over $20 for the return, but if I am unable to get this issue fixed it is useless to me and I'll need to return it.

 

[Dicoray]

Also, I have tried contacting ASUS support in a variety of ways to no avail. To start, I attempted to use the Networking_Support@asus.com email provided in the box of the Wifi adapter, but it seems this email is not currently working. Then I tried to use their online support portal to chat with a representative. The first representative immediately disconnected after I gave them the same information I provided above and the next one said they would escalate my issue, but I still haven't heard anything back from ASUS.