Atheros drivers over Broadcom hardware??

I have a new Asus laptop (U38N) shipped with W8 and now running W8.1. According to the device manager, both wifi adapter and bluetooth modules are Broadcom. I can't make heads or tails of which driver to use. It's a virtual cornucopia of various drivers from 3 manufacturers when in reality, both hardware components are from Broadcom. Is it common to be running an Atheros driver on Broadcom hardware for instance?


The Asus website shows various combinations of driver versions from Atheros or Broadcom or Azurewave to be used for the Broadcom wireless modules.


Here is what Asus shows for my model (Asus 38N):


Windows 8


Wifi Adapter- Atheros (Version V6.30.59.74) and another Atheros (Version V10.0.0.216)


Bluetooth - Azurewave (Version V12.0.0.3100) and Atheros (Version V8.0.0.214).


Windows 8.1


Wifi Adapter- Only Atheros present (Version V10.0.0.263)


Bluetooth - Broadcom (Version V12.0.0.7900) and Atheros (Version V8.0.1.306)

Hi floepie,

To be sure, you can download HWInfo and view the Network Devices and it will identify exactly what you have:



Note that I do not have wifi on my desktop but yours will be there.

HWiNFO, HWiNFO32/64 - Download

This should eliminate any doubt as to which drivers you will need. Hope this helps.

my2cents

Thanks for the suggestion. Confirmed that they are indeed Broadcom drivers. I've also simply concluded that the drivers on Asus's site not only are mislabeled after downloading, but they are also misplaced! Atheros hardware as far as I can see never shipped with this laptop. Sheeesh.

Glad that information helped you make that confirmation.

my2cents