L
Lee Harvey
Ever since applying the latest Windows Critical Security Updates from
mid-August via the Windows Updates website to my Toshiba Satellite M30X[1]
running Windows XP Pro, my Atheros AR5004X (a/b/g) Wireless Network
connection has been hanging, locking-up, and stalling -- and it never used
to! It's very frustrating.
Specifically, I can be surfing wirelessly perfectly fine for about 2
minutes, then the next thing I know, all Internet applications (MSIE, FF,
Opera, OE) all hang for about 60 seconds! When I do a netstat from a
command prompt, I clearly see a SYN_SENT that just hangs around until I'm
able to surf again.
When the hangs, lock-ups, stalls do occur, I notice my wireless networking
icon in the system tray notification area is NOT blinking, nor lit-up.
Nothing gets sent from the computer! I even enabled logging on my router to
confirm this. Which leads me to believe the problem is solely with this
laptop networking setup.
FWIW, I do have another wireless laptop (an Acer) with the same updates
applied, and it does NOT experience these hangs. Of course, it's using a
completely different built-in wireless card.
One more possibly important point: I have the Cisco VPN client software
4.0.4 installed, that requires the "Deterministic Network Enhancer" network
service to be enabled. However, temporarily stopping the "Cisco Systems,
Inc. VPN Service" and disabling the Deterministic Netowrk Enhancer has NOT
helped any.
The Critical Security Updates include:
Security Update for Windows Media Player 10 (KB917734)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB922616)
Update for Windows XP (KB911280)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB921398)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB914388)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB914389)
Update for Windows XP (KB916595)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB920670)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB920214)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB917159)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB918899)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB918439)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB917344)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB921883)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB917537)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB917422)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB917953)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB919007)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB920683)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB920685)
Update for Windows XP (KB920872)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB925486)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB922582)
I tried manually uninstalling 2 specific updates (KB917953) and (KB920683),
but it made no difference. Thus, I revisited Windows Update website,
noticed a new AR5004X Wireless Network driver and 7 more critical updates
(probably related to the fact that I uninstalled the previous 2 updates), so
I downloaded and applied all of them (with the exception of the new driver,
they are included in the list above).
Short of uninstalling every update listed above, is there something easy I
can try to make my Atheros wireless connection rock-solid once again? Oh
yeah, nothing else has changed in my home or outside, and the lock-ups even
occur when the laptop sits next to the wireless access point.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
--
[1] Intel Pentium M 1.8MHz CPU
1GB RAM
40GB free disk space
a/b/g wireless
broadband cable connection
mid-August via the Windows Updates website to my Toshiba Satellite M30X[1]
running Windows XP Pro, my Atheros AR5004X (a/b/g) Wireless Network
connection has been hanging, locking-up, and stalling -- and it never used
to! It's very frustrating.
Specifically, I can be surfing wirelessly perfectly fine for about 2
minutes, then the next thing I know, all Internet applications (MSIE, FF,
Opera, OE) all hang for about 60 seconds! When I do a netstat from a
command prompt, I clearly see a SYN_SENT that just hangs around until I'm
able to surf again.
When the hangs, lock-ups, stalls do occur, I notice my wireless networking
icon in the system tray notification area is NOT blinking, nor lit-up.
Nothing gets sent from the computer! I even enabled logging on my router to
confirm this. Which leads me to believe the problem is solely with this
laptop networking setup.
FWIW, I do have another wireless laptop (an Acer) with the same updates
applied, and it does NOT experience these hangs. Of course, it's using a
completely different built-in wireless card.
One more possibly important point: I have the Cisco VPN client software
4.0.4 installed, that requires the "Deterministic Network Enhancer" network
service to be enabled. However, temporarily stopping the "Cisco Systems,
Inc. VPN Service" and disabling the Deterministic Netowrk Enhancer has NOT
helped any.
The Critical Security Updates include:
Security Update for Windows Media Player 10 (KB917734)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB922616)
Update for Windows XP (KB911280)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB921398)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB914388)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB914389)
Update for Windows XP (KB916595)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB920670)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB920214)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB917159)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB918899)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB918439)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB917344)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB921883)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB917537)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB917422)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB917953)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB919007)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB920683)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB920685)
Update for Windows XP (KB920872)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB925486)
Security Update for Windows XP (KB922582)
I tried manually uninstalling 2 specific updates (KB917953) and (KB920683),
but it made no difference. Thus, I revisited Windows Update website,
noticed a new AR5004X Wireless Network driver and 7 more critical updates
(probably related to the fact that I uninstalled the previous 2 updates), so
I downloaded and applied all of them (with the exception of the new driver,
they are included in the list above).
Short of uninstalling every update listed above, is there something easy I
can try to make my Atheros wireless connection rock-solid once again? Oh
yeah, nothing else has changed in my home or outside, and the lock-ups even
occur when the laptop sits next to the wireless access point.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
--
[1] Intel Pentium M 1.8MHz CPU
1GB RAM
40GB free disk space
a/b/g wireless
broadband cable connection