Laptop freeze with USB Wifi Adapter

[fld2000]

Hi,

I'm running Windows XP on a 2 year old Fujitsu laptop, Athlon processor, 512 MB RAM. When I have a Olitec USB Wireless Adapter connected the computer freezes randomly, sometimes a few minutes after startup, sometimes after hours of trouble-free run, frequently at night between 03:00 and 04:00. I have already tried the following:

- re-installed Windows and Adapter as the only connected device (so that I can use Windows Update), freeze after a few hours
- used Windows and not the provided software for setting up connection
- verified RAM (computer freezes with either of the two 256MB chips), a first run of Memtest showed an error in RAM, but subsequent runs found everything ok
- it is definitely not a heat problem
- I have run checkdisc, there is nothing in the event log, I have checked for spyware and viruses, XP is up to date
- I have new drivers for the video card (Radeon 9000), the graphic tablet and everything I could think of. Anyway the computer freezes when nothing is connected (excepted the adapter).

If anybody has any idea, please let me know. Thanks

[billythehamster]

Hi

It sounds to be like a problem with the Wireless Adapter most likely the driver. Have you checked for either a new driver from the manufacturers website or tried a different Wireless Adapter?

[fld2000]

There are no newer drivers on the manufactorer's webpage. But it is definitely the adaptor or the driver that causes the problem. Without the adaptor the PC does not freeze, with the adaptor connected it may last a few hours but might as well freeze after only minutes. So I guess I'll have to buy a new adaptor but how can I be sure to really buy another one. I suppose that somewhere there is a factory that builds the electronics for one kind of adaptor and puts various plastic shells around them and they get sold under all kinds of brand names. What are my chances of simply buying the same adaptor over and over again?

[billythehamster]

You will probably find that it is just that one adapter that has a fault or a bad batch, if there was a design fault then they wouldn't be allowed to keep making them.

I would buy a new adapter from a known manufacturer and you should be fie.

There are no newer drivers on the manufactorer's webpage. But it is definitely the adaptor or the driver that causes the problem. Without the adaptor the PC does not freeze, with the adaptor connected it may last a few hours but might as well freeze after only minutes. So I guess I'll have to buy a new adaptor but how can I be sure to really buy another one. I suppose that somewhere there is a factory that builds the electronics for one kind of adaptor and puts various plastic shells around them and they get sold under all kinds of brand names. What are my chances of simply buying the same adaptor over and over again?

[fld2000]

Ok, I bought another adaptor, uninstalled the Olitec, installed the new one (Peabird WIFI 54 G), easy installation by the way, and it IS another device, other drivers, went online, after 1/2 hour computer freezes, bad mean hardware freeze.

Is there a way to somehow monitor what the pc does, anything that logs whatever happens, preferably also the last few microseconds before the feeze?

[DMR]

Is there a way to somehow monitor what the pc does, anything that logs whatever happens, preferably also the last few microseconds before the feeze?

You may be able to find some clues in your System and Application log files, which can be reviewed with the Event Viewer utility in your Administrative Tools folder/Control Panel.