Nother computer issue...

[mitche8359]

MAN I'm just having a rough time of it lately. Should have built my own system.

There appears to be an issue with the linksys wmp11 wireless network adapter and something else on the new compaq. I've done everything within the last week to try to resolve the issue. Even got XP in a mode where I could manually change the IRQ addresses which didn't fix anything. I thought I had the problem fixed the other night when I discovered that the sound card and wireless adapter seemed to have a conflict, but XP is still locking when I use the network card. It appears that when I have two applications accessing the internet, the system freezes, such as Netscape Mail and Netscape browser, Netscape and IE, an IM app and a browser, etc. Sounds crazy to me, but it's 100% reproducible.

I've read that the wmp11 from linksys seems to have a problem with AMD or via? chipset. I know I have an AMD processor but not sure how to tell what chipset is in the thing.

The last thing I haven't tried from googling the issue is another brand of wireless card. Anyone using a wireless adapter in their desktop? What brand are you using and do you have an AMD processor?

[flipz]

I have my whole house (5 comps) all on netgear wireless cards.

Sorry I don't have time to help right now, running out the door, but have you tried the simple stuff such as updating the drivers or firmware?

-brent

[deli_conker]

I would start by killing any non-essential programs/processes in the background and see what happens. You may also want to hit F8 during the boot process and select "safe mode with networking". Test your connection after trying the above so you can narrow down the possibilities.

[mitche8359]

LOL... the driver thing yes. Laughing cause of course that's what all the tech support people have suggested. I've installed the drivers every which way but standing upside down on a full moon which I refuse to do.

flipz, you have any AMD processors running on XP with SP2? From what I've been reading SP2 really messed up a lot of stuff. Not sure I can remove SP2 from the system since that's the way it came. I guess I could look at Add Remove Programs and see if it's an option.

deli, that's a good idea that I hadn't thought of. Forgot about the network option in safe mode. Hopefully that will work with the wireless adapter. As far as kill the non essentials, I think I'm already at that point. I've turned off all the virus detection, Norton Firewall, all the other apps that load at start up. Still a lot in the sys tray for some reason. Everything runs fine until the second app tries to hit the internet. I need to get a second computer on the network to see if accessing the network and the internat results in the same freeze.

[skydvr]

I have a laptop with an AMD CPU and a Belkin adapter. It's a little flakey, but I think I messed up my acceess point's config - it wasn't flakey before I played around with that...

You've gotten some good ideas here. Safe mode is certainly worth a shot.

Does it do the same lock-up when something like a background process contacts the internet (like Norton Anti-Virus, or Zone Alarm Firewall or whatever you may have running)? I always get these pop-ups from Zone Alarm telling me that "such and such wants to contact the internet" - do these types of "connections" freeze your computer as well? Or maybe evem AOL Instant Messenger? Or is it just the browser/mail reader conflicting?

[mitche8359]

I have successfully disabled the virus protection until I want it back on. I thought I had the Firewall app disabled as well though I recall now that I saw it pop up recently. As far as the freeze, I think it's any two apps accessing the internet at the same time. AIM and Netscape Mail will freeze the system as well. AIM has been turned off until the issue is resolved as well.

I agree, safe mode should hopefully shine some light on the problem. Will have to try that when I get home.

[mitche8359]

So I tried Safe Mode with Networking which should have stopped a lot of applications from loading as well as some drivers. Machine locked up as it has been. It appears that I was wrong about 2 applications running and accessing the net for the lock up to occur. I've only been running one browser and trying to get in here for the last hour. As soon as I open the browser and start loading a page, the system was freezing. So I'm off to google.

From the editor: Locked up as soon as I posted this message. Also meant to say that the Device manager doesn't show any conflicts and the event viewer doesn't show any errors either.

[mitche8359]

YAY!!! Got a D-Link card tonight and installed it in 5 minutes. Not a problem. That's how an installation is supposed to go.