r/WindowsHelp • u/Coolxer252 • Jul 06 '26
Windows 7 Can windows 7 connect to the internet anymore?
I just got a windows 7 computer and every time I try to connect to my wireless WiFi router the whole thing blue screens. Is this anything that can be fixed or will this just always not work on this certain firmware? The wireless chip card thing is a Ralink 802.11n wireless LAN card. The picture is what pops up when I reboot after the crash.
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u/ShadowDeath7 Jul 07 '26
Probably drivers, wifi settings from your router (?) what about ethernet?
BTW what's going on with people saying "do not connect that to the internet" it's not like if it's connected it would be decimated with virus, etc... You need to download, install, visit sketchy websites, etc in order to make something happen unless you are being targeted.
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u/Termiborg Jul 07 '26
Nnnnno, not really. The whole point of an OS no longer being supported is that security issues and backdoors aren't patched. Windows XP for instance can simply just be connected to the internet, and after a few minutes, you would already have a number of processes running on it without you doing anything. While 7 is newer, and has less known backdoors, that doesn't make it secure by any measure.
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u/DukeSmileDevs Jul 07 '26
You Sir should not give advice if you think a depricated OS without any security patches is "safe as long as you dont download".
The second you are connected to the internet you are exposed and the only saving grace might be a firewall in your router but noone should bet on that in consumer hardware lmao.
Win 7 at this has so many known holes that there is no problem poking through it after finding the machine. You do not need to visit sketchy websites or download anything to get your system and with it your whole network compromised.
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u/Opposite_Leader_602 Jul 07 '26
I would not let a windows 7 machine connect to the internet unless it is entirely sandboxed on it's own network without any other devices on that network
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u/Jin-Bru Jul 07 '26
Its odd. Any drivers would have already been loaded.
Possibly, when connecting there is some memory allocation issue. Probably more likely a hardware issue.
Do you have RJ45 LAN ports at each end that you could try instead of wireless?
You say you just got it. From where? Was it sold off because the wireless always bsod ?/s
Can you press F8 while booting and go into Safe Mode with networking and see if it does the same thing.
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u/Existing_Routine_599 Jul 07 '26
Yeah it should work without any issues. Even Windows 95 can still connect to the internet
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u/Silver-Engineer4287 Jul 07 '26
Can or should are two very different things.
Beyond that… for actual internet browsing IE is now pretty much useless, the latest Won 7 release of chrome struggles, Mozilla seems less unreliable, Opera is annoying but actually helpful, I *think* there’s an old enough version of Edge still available…
and there is TLS and a few other things that have to be fully updated as far as Windows 7 can, Windows 7 actually saying it’s up to date, before you can use the newest compatible releases of alternative browsers that still offer versions of their browsers for Windows 7.
But even with all of that the system is highly vulnerable to attacks and infection without using any “risky” sites and without any obvious signs of it happening.
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u/carlosChanpio70 Jul 06 '26
I'd download the latest drivers that work with your version of windows, I've found this page, 5.00.46.0000 has windows 7 support. Also would upgrade windows as soon as possible but that's your choice.
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u/spookynutz Jul 07 '26
Windows 95 will still connect to the internet. BSOD on connect typically signals bad driver. Either uninstall the current one and go with the generic Windows driver if it's available, or if it's already using generic, download and install the manufacturer's driver.
You'll probably want to install Firefox ESR, or some other modern browser that still supports Win7. Your NAT router will protect you from unsolicited inbound attacks, but it can't save you from a malicious website.
Secure connections will also be a problem since your cert store will be out of date, so maybe don't use that laptop for anything important. Long term, you should probably just install Ubuntu on it. You could upgrade it to Win10, but that's also at end of life, and the hardware likely doesn't meet the requirements for 11.