Latest Update: One commentor by the name of Bob has kindly written how he fixed his driver problems. It’s a much better solution than buying a new card, especially if you don’t have the money to spend. Thanks, Bob!

Update (June 12th, 2005): The latest version of bcmwl5.sys is now available for download, to be placed in c:/windows/system32/drivers/. This is the latest version which was grabbed from driver package that HP offers. Please create a system-restore point before replacing your bcmwl5.sys file, as this may or may not damage your system.

That dreaded file is the driver for the Linksys WPC54G and WPC54GS. They’re both wireless network notebook cards, and they both use a Broadcom chipset. BCM means Broadcom. WL means Wireless LAN. 5 means (presumably) version 5. The new drivers shipping with the cards since about 6 months ago (not sure) have been shutting down computers at random times everywhere. And so I downloaded the WPC54GS driver from linksys.com, as per a visitor suggestion. It worked for a week. Then the BSOD popped up again. I was doomed.

If you have $60 and you are willing to spend it, then do follow the following advice. However, if you do not have the money, please read Bob’s solution and/or the comments on this entry.

However, this weekend I went to BestBuy and quickly bought a Netgear WG511 card, barely even thinking about it. It was $10 cheaper than the Linksys, plus a $20 mail-in rebate. And so I installed it, which was easy enough. I finally got it working after teaching Windows some obedience lessons. It’s worked ever since. No shutdowns. No freezes. Nothing. This is heaven!

So, if you’re having trouble with bcmwl5.sys, go and get a Netgear*. (I haven’t tried a D-Link card, but somehow I feel as if it could have the same problems…)