Member Avatar for ethiomate

Hi Guys
I need your help on this one.

Everytime my PC is connected to the internet using a wireless adaptor my windows xp freezes and I have to do a hard reset manually . I have two USB wireless adapters (Linksys wireless G USB and Netgear G111T ) and the freezing happens with BOTH.

As soon as I disconnect these adaptors my PC works fine, No freezing! I have tried updating the drivers,disabling the onboard "wired" adaptor, uninstalling the linksys and netgear utilities .... nothing seems to fix it. Interestingly the same problem happened when I tried the adaptors on another XP machine.

Can anyone out there help ? Thanks in advance ( I hope you can help before I go insane over this !

BTW My computer
AMD Athlon XP 2400 , 1gb ram, windows xp performance edition - SP2

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by paulmundorff

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Given the thread reports — repeated hard hangs after a USB wireless stick is attached, across multiple adapter brands and more than one XP install — the problem is best treated as a controlled isolation exercise rather than a straight hardware-return. ’s “return it” check is a quick filter, and ’s fresh-install/friend-test idea is sensible; the steps below are ordered from least to most disruptive and are aimed at proving whether the fault lives in Windows (drivers/network stack/security software) or at the USB/board/firmware level.

  • Try rear built-in USB ports (not front-panel) and avoid hubs; if available, test with a powered USB hub or a PCI USB 2.0 card to rule out a flaky onboard USB controller.

  • Temporarily remove all third-party firewall/AV and uninstall vendor wireless utilities; in Device Manager enable “Show hidden devices” and remove any non-present network/NDIS drivers before reinstalling only the adapter driver.

  • Disable USB power-management on each USB Root Hub (Device Manager -> Properties -> Power Management -> uncheck “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power”).

  • Reset Windows network stack from an elevated command prompt:

    netsh winsock reset
netsh int ip reset c:\resetlog.txt
ipconfig /flushdns

  • Test in Safe Mode with Networking and/or perform a Clean Boot (msconfig -> hide Microsoft services -> disable others) to exclude third-party services.

Advanced diagnostics (if the steps above don’t isolate it): boot a Linux live CD/USB and run the adapter — if Linux also freezes, the cause is almost certainly hardware/BIOS/USB controller or PSU. Update motherboard chipset/USB drivers and BIOS firmware. Use Driver Verifier selectively against network and USB drivers (warning: this can provoke a BSOD but exposes faulty drivers). Check Event Viewer for NDIS/USB errors and note exact freeze symptoms (does mouse move, do HDD/activity LEDs blink?) — that data points to kernel vs. userland failure.

If all these tests still point nowhere, a PCI wireless card (bypassing USB) or a clean, untouched Windows install will conclusively separate OS-level corruption from hardware/firmware faults.

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Member Avatar for bobbyraw

it's obvious that the wireless gear is the problem. if you just purchase it return it. one last suggest is to shut down the pc then insert the card the restart the pc if windows still freezes get rid of the card

Member Avatar for ethiomate

it's obvious that the wireless gear is the problem. if you just purchase it return it. one last suggest is to shut down the pc then insert the card the restart the pc if windows still freezes get rid of the card

But the problem happens with two different wireless adaptors .... how likely is that both of my adaptors would have the same defect ?

Member Avatar for bobbyraw

it's obvious that the wireless gear is the problem. if you just purchase it return it. one last suggest is to shut down the pc then insert the card the restart the pc if windows still freezes get rid of the card

Member Avatar for paulmundorff

Hi Guys
I need your help on this one.

Everytime my PC is connected to the internet using a wireless adaptor my windows xp freezes and I have to do a hard reset manually . I have two USB wireless adapters (Linksys wireless G USB and Netgear G111T ) and the freezing happens with BOTH.

As soon as I disconnect these adaptors my PC works fine, No freezing! I have tried updating the drivers,disabling the onboard "wired" adaptor, uninstalling the linksys and netgear utilities .... nothing seems to fix it. Interestingly the same problem happened when I tried the adaptors on another XP machine.

Can anyone out there help ? Thanks in advance ( I hope you can help before I go insane over this !

BTW My computer
AMD Athlon XP 2400 , 1gb ram, windows xp performance edition - SP2

I too had this problem with these pieces of gear. i had them working just fine for about 2 years when my problem started. i tried to work with their tech support but since i was out of warranty (1 year) they wouldn't help; just research their knowledgebases and hope for the best. i tossed the router in the garbage and bought a linksys routter and i was just fine.

hope this helps.

Member Avatar for ethiomate

I too had this problem with these pieces of gear. i had them working just fine for about 2 years when my problem started. i tried to work with their tech support but since i was out of warranty (1 year) they wouldn't help; just research their knowledgebases and hope for the best. i tossed the router in the garbage and bought a linksys routter and i was just fine.

hope this helps.

GUESS WHAT GUYS !!

I returned the damn Netgear and replaced it with a new Belkin USB adaptor and the same problem continued.

Everything is perfect until I connect my wireless adapter ..... a few minutes after connecting the adaptor and connecting to the net my effin PC freezes.

Any suggestions ???

Member Avatar for paulmundorff

GUESS WHAT GUYS !!

I returned the damn Netgear and replaced it with a new Belkin USB adaptor and the same problem continued.

Everything is perfect until I connect my wireless adapter ..... a few minutes after connecting the adaptor and connecting to the net my effin PC freezes.

Any suggestions ???

Geez,

I am not sure what to tell you. You've done the things that we suggested to isolate the problem. 2 different manfacture devices and 2 separate XP installs - doesn't make any sense to me.

I can think of only 2 other possibilities:
1) Take your USB adapter to a freinds house that has an XP install and see if the problem continues.
a) If not, then I would question your XP installs at home/office. In this case, try a fresh XP install, get all the Windows updates (no other application installs) and try your adapter again. If this happens again, you may have some "type" of hardware incompatibliity problem :( .
b) If the problem continues then that would suggest that you received 2 bad devices; chances would be almost zero :'( ! In this situation, see if you have a freind who has a similar adapter that you could borrow and try it on you XP machines.

Good luck

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