Computer freeze when using wireless internet

[Guest]

I have a problem. Whenever I use wireless internet my computer freezes
anytime there is graphics or animation. It also freezes sometimes by just
clicking on links or buttons. My computer crashed last year and I had to
reinstall windows XP. It has done this ever since. My computer is an
eMachines laptop M5305. I just put in more memory 512K. Total mem. is 768.5
MB, available 333.45 MB, tot virtual 2.0 GB, available virtual 1.96 GB. I was
running Iexplorer 7 with SP2 and switched to firefox to see if anything
changed. Nothing was different.Have done a virus, spyware, malware scan and
cleaned everything. I have all the latest updates for my computer. I have 1
problem my network controller says that no drivers are installed and I can't
find them anywhere to download them. My graphics chip is a Radeon IGP 320M.
Finally this computer works fine when hooked to the 'net on a cable.

 

[Guest]

Try taking the system to the Windows Update site. Often drivers are available
specifically for your systems hardware. You will find a link to that site on
the 'Start/All Programs' menu, ( at the top.)

 

[JimKeo]

Hi John,

Having similar problems with my eMachines M5305. This model has a
known overheating problem which has been corrected by eMachines
service. They had a "no charge" policy for a while for this problem. I
am not sure if it is still in effect.
I no longer have an overheating problem but my M5305 still freezes
up on occasion.

Just to compare notes I have same 768K RAM. I do use Internet
Explorer 7 with SP2. I tried using FireFox for a while which was nice
but some new problems sent me back to IE7.

Usually my laptop freezes during graphics/animation but my email
program, EarthLink MailBox seemed to be involved a bit.

In any event I freeze up during graphics/animation without MailBox
though less frequently.

A couple days ago I downloaded RADEON IGP 320M driver from
omegadrivers.com. I still saw freezing though perhaps less frequently.
I lowered some of the higher end graphics boost settings and things
improved markedly though not completely. When I lowered it too much I
had other problems including ATI Tray Control not recognizing any
drivers. I then turned on a bit more of the graphics (it's a sliding
thingie on Properties/Advanced/Troubleshooting) and I'm stable again,

Will play with it a bit more let you know how I'm doing. If you
have success please let me know too.

I have wireless ZONET PC Card. What do you have? I have some USB
wireless gear but ZONET was the best.

I'm on the road now, hence the reliance on wireless, but, at home
office, I plugged into Ethernet port off Linksys wireless router and
DSL modem. The freezing was far less frequent then but it still
occurred once in a while.

Cheers, - Jim

 

[Guest]

Yes just installed the newest driver myself. Yeah I sent the recall papers
back but having issue about it. I am running a Kyocera air card through
Alltel. I will be in contact with eMachines to try and resolve this. Anyways,
good luck with yours.

 

[JimKeo]

Hi Gang,

Some good news. After a lot of trial and error I thought I narrowed
the problem down to just wireless usage while displaying graphics. I
replaced my ZONET PCMCIA card with a cheapie USB-400 WIRELESS WIFI LAN
ADAPTER that I picked up over 2 years ago for $12. Now I cannot get
any freezing to occur even when doing acitivities (like GOOGLE VIDEO
and some Apple videos) that invariably died before. I am also not
getting any random or unexplained freezes when no video or animation
is involved as I would see intermittently.

I do not recall why I didn't use the USB-400 much. Perhaps it had
its own issues. All I'm saying is that one recourse might be a
different wireless adapter. Maybe USB instead of PC card if PC card is
what you have now. The ZONOT card was IEEE802B/G. Cannot make out
printing on the USB adapter. It may be just B not G so perhaps that is
the determining factor.

In any event I was able to view various GOOGLE Videos, including
the BBC report on the Global Warming Swindle, with no problem and with
reasonable performance.