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I have an HP Envy 14. Several weeks ago I found the cpu usage often up to 20%-50% even in idle. There is a process wmiprvse.exe was the killer. When I stop the HP wireless assistant, it's back to normal. Without HP wireless assistant, I can not connect the WiFi.
Someone else said they can run the computer normally without HP wireless assistant, I don't know why I can't.

I tried some other solutions such as trying different versions of HP wireless assistant, and some solution I don't understand. None of this worked. How can I connect to WiFi without my CPU use spiking?

by the way, the basic information of my PC. whindows 7 home premium 64-bit Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU 6.00 GB memory

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    What operating system are you using? How have you identified the Wireless Assistant as the issue?
    – Dave M
    Feb 7, 2012 at 19:33
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    Check out the info in this post on HPWA using a lot of CPU. Supposedly the CPU usage problem was fixed with version 4.0.6.0. You should still be able to connect using Windows' built-in wifi tools though.
    – nhinkle
    Feb 7, 2012 at 20:39
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    Uninstall HP Wireless Assistant, let Windows manage the wireless connections.
    – Moab
    Feb 7, 2012 at 21:54

2 Answers 2

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You have to start the Wireless Zero Config service in order to return control of the Wireless to the OS and work without the HP Wireless Assistant.

Press Win-R and type

services.msc

and press Enter.

Scroll down in the list to the service titled WLAN AutoConfig and double click. Set Startup Type to Automatic, press Apply, then press Start and then OK.

Now you can use the Windows wireless manager and get rid of the useless trash that is any wireless config utility included by the OEM. This is a pretty common issue. The wireless management apps included by OEMs usually have some wiz-bang feature, but when it comes right to it, they offer nothing substantive beyond the Windows built-in manager.

UPDATE:

Most current OEM Wireless Management apps I've seen give the option to return control of the wireless to the OS on uninstall. Because I'm not 100% sure if yours does, do the following:

  1. Download the latest HP Wireless Assistant from HP so you have the installer on your computer.
  2. Uninstall the HP Wireless Assistant.
  3. Reboot and see if Windows' built-in wireless manager can now see and manage the wireless connection.

UPDATE 2: Final steps

As it seems the previous steps don't fix the issue, it would appear the wireless control in your OS is messed up. As there is no indication this is a hardware issue, even if you're under warranty there is nothing HP would do. So that leaves a clean OS install. It's not fun and it's not friendly, but sometimes it's the final solution. I'm sorry none of the previous solutions worked.

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  • +1 You are faster than me. Many issues reported with the wireless tool and that process.
    – Dave M
    Feb 7, 2012 at 20:34
  • First OEM that included their own tool I'm aware of was Toshiba, the kings of bloat. Unfortunately, instead of realizing the problems with such setups, most other OEMs followed tongue-draggingly along. Feb 7, 2012 at 20:36
  • The only OEM tool I've ever preferred was Intel's, and that was a specific case were the Intel tool was used to connect to a secured corporate network before logging in to the computer, so that users' Active Directory credentials would still authenticate over wireless. Feb 7, 2012 at 21:45
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    Intel had profiles that you could export for connecting loads of systems to a network with more complicated authentication. But even in that case there were no situations where I or anybody I supported needed that capability. To all OEMs: Leave off the custom bits. They generally suck. Feb 7, 2012 at 21:50
  • Thanks for you answer, I checked my service which there was no Wireless Zero Config, only Wired AutoConfig and WLAN AutoConfig. I tried the process as you said, but it still didn't work.
    – anter
    Feb 8, 2012 at 0:05
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Here's my W7 configuration for these HP utilities and services (works fine...)

A) Services related to Internet/WiFi connection:

All of them in Automatic

  • Netman
  • EapHost
  • Wlansvc
  • nsi
  • netprofm
  • iphlpsvc

Services related to HP

  • HPWMISVC Automatic

All the other HP services in delayed start

  • HP Software Framework Service
  • HP Support Assistant Service
  • HP Wireless Assistant Service

Suggested tool: start / run / mmc.exe and add the services.msc to create a "console" to keep your display setup for services.msc ... (mmc.exe is very useful imho..)

B) Windows startup:

HPWirelessAssistant is set to disabled (used only to enable/disable the WiFi vcard)

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

c:\program files\hewlett-packard\hp wireless assistant\delayedappstarter.exe

Suggested tool: Autoruns from MS TechNet Sysinternals

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902

Also: update your HP utilities with the support assistant like "C:\Program Files (x86)\Hewlett-Packard\HP Support Framework\HPSF.exe" or the equivalent in your PC Model and version.

Hope this help. Let us know.

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  • Actually, I'm not very understand what you say which may be too professional. But I do follow the step what I understood, and it didn't work. Well, but still thank you for you advise.
    – anter
    Feb 8, 2012 at 15:12
  • Check the Windows services with this NirSoft utility: ServiWin nirsoft.net/utils/serviwin.html and set the services like I explain you in my post. Disable de HP Wireless Assistant windows with autoruns: just uncheck the entry. Finally update your HP with the HP utility that come with your PC... :)
    – climenole
    Feb 9, 2012 at 6:57

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