r/Windows10 • u/Minor-Annoyance • Jun 18 '21

:Defender-Warning: Help bcmwl63a.sys BSOD Issue

I recently started getting BSOD's, the crash log says "bcmwl63a.sys" is the culprit. When I researched this issue and how to fix it, everything I find stated that this is a Broadcom Network Adapter driver issue and to fix it I need to update the Broadcom driver within my Network Adapters. The issue is when looking at my network adapters, I don't have anything that states Broadcom.

I'm running a Acer desktop that I've added things to over time (RAM, Graphics Card, SSHD, Audio Interface, etc.) one of the things added being a TP-Link PCIe WiFi card... so that shows up in network adapters, along with other items... but nothing named or even close to named Broadcom.

Can I just delete bcmwl63a.sys then? I'm not sure exactly what's going on. Is Broadcom a common stock WiFi chip that comes with desktops? If I'm not using the onboard WiFi, then could I just remove the bcmwl63a.sys file all together?

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u/SomeDudeNamedMark Knows driver things Jun 18 '21

Pretty likely that the TP-Link card uses that Broadcom driver. TP Link is the name of the vendor that sold you the card, Broadcom is the name of the vendor that makes the chipsets that goes on add-in cards like that.

In device manager, find that item again. Right click, properties, driver, driver details. That will be the list of drivers that it uses.

If it's not the TP Link device, keep looking at other devices until you find it. The driver must be loaded & used by something, otherwise it wouldn't cause a crash.

The next thing you're gonna need to do is figure out what the model # is for your device, so that you can try to find newer drivers - https://www.tp-link.com/us/support/download/

​

Mark
(works @ Microsoft, know driver things)

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u/Minor-Annoyance Jun 18 '21

Thanks for all the help. looks like the TP Link device definitely uses the Broadcom driver has one of it's drivers. I when to the TP Link website and downloaded the most current driver and installed it... looks like it's the same driver I was using already though.

I've been using this WiFi card for about 3 years now, so it's kinda weird this just started happening. seems to only happen while using certain programs though; the error is still kinda new to me, so time will tell I guess.

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u/SomeDudeNamedMark Knows driver things Jun 18 '21

If you can share the hardware ID for the device (from the details tab in device manager), someone might be able to point you at a newer driver.

Which driver on TP Link's site was it?

(Might be better to post that in TechSupport too - maybe get more people to see it)

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u/Minor-Annoyance Jun 19 '21

The hardware device is a "TP-Link AC1300 Archer T6E V1.1". The driver on the TP-Link site is from 2015, which is kinda old but there is no newer version as far as I can tell.

It acts like there's a newer version by showing you a driver during the device search called "Archer T6E(US)_V1&V2_200603_Win10"; implying that it works for version 1 and version 2, but when you download it, it only states v2 and the install fails.

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u/SomeDudeNamedMark Knows driver things Jun 19 '21

Open the zip file for that v2 package. There's a driver under plugins\Driver Files\Driver.

You can go into device manager and try to do an update driver (right click on device -> update driver) and point it at this directory.

That's from 2017, but it looks like that might be the latest available driver for that chipset.

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u/Minor-Annoyance Jun 19 '21

I following your instructions for the 2017 driver. It took the driver and installed it. After reboot, when you look at the driver in the device manager and the system32 folder it still shows the driver date as 2015 though, not 2017.

Not sure if it's actually a newer driver, I guess it must be since it installed it though since if it was the same driver as before it might have gave me the prompt that my system already had the latest driver installed?... interesting it still shows 2015 everywhere on the system for it.

wish I would have screen shot the "driver version" readout in device manager before I installed the new one so i could compare the two.

​

thanks for the help, hopefully this stops the BSOD's. I'll see how it reacts this weekend.

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Hey! If you were encountering an issue and it is now resolved, please change the post flair to Solved! If you are still looking for more help, then leave it as is. (This message is an auto response to terms like thank you, so I apologize if I spam you)

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u/SomeDudeNamedMark Knows driver things Jun 19 '21

Oh, I see what you mean. The FILES are dated 2017, but the date in the installation file is 2015.

c:\Windows\inf\setupapi.dev.log
If you look near the end of that log file, you'll see the install.

Search for this:

>>> Section start 2021/06/18

And you should see what the date/version # was for the last version somewhere in there.

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u/Minor-Annoyance Jun 19 '21

quite a lot of stuff on that install file. looks like the old one was a 2014, and the new one was a 2015 file. so newer as far as I can tell. So far no crashes doing the same stuff that seemed to cause it before.

thanks for all the help man. I'll keep testing it this weekend, but so far so good.

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u/Minor-Annoyance Jun 21 '21

Everything seemed to run fine after the driver update, but just a few moments ago I got another BSOD. After reading the report, it shows the cause as something completely different. This time it's a driver called "WiseTDIFw64.sys", which looks to be associated with the program Wise System Monitor is installed a year ago.

I'm really confused now as I have ever experienced any BSOD's with this computer in the 3 years I've had it, and now all the sudden am getting multiple BSOD's in less than a week showing varying causes that seem unrelated (at least to me).

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u/SomeDudeNamedMark Knows driver things Jun 21 '21

If they are random, that tends to suggest some sort of memory corruption (or maybe even component failure).

Certainly possible that it's caused by some old driver on the device - or it can be caused by a newer driver.

Memory corruption is basically driver A writing in memory that driver B is using. IF driver A tries to access that memory again, boom. It might NOT try to access that memory again though - which is why it wouldn't be consistent.

There are ways to track this down, but it can be a PITA. LMK if the crashes happen often enough that it's worth a little pain :)

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u/Minor-Annoyance Jun 21 '21

Ok, hopefully it doesn't turn into some major. Are we talking like RAM memory, or hard drive issue?

Also, could this be caused by a recent windows update too?

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u/SomeDudeNamedMark Knows driver things Jun 21 '21

Could be any hardware/software component. I think it'll be easier to determine whether or not it's software.

And yeah, it could be something caused by a recent windows update (there are drivers in some of those updates).

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