windows 2k freeze cured by removing pc netwwork card - any thoughts

[douglas]

I have a dell inspiron 5000e laptop which earlier this
year constantly froze - by trial and error I discovered
that removing the pcmia network card would immediately
unfreeze the computer - more trial and error indicated
that quicktime running in the background was one of the
possible causes since when I removed it the problems
stopped. I now am having similar problems - apart from the
usual ms patches the only new software is mediaplayer 10
and realplayer 10.5
I have norton av2004
Any ideas gratefully considered.
Thanks
Douglas

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I have a dell inspiron 5000e laptop which earlier this
year constantly froze - by trial and error I discovered
that removing the pcmia network card would immediately
unfreeze the computer - more trial and error indicated
that quicktime running in the background was one of the
possible causes since when I removed it the problems
stopped. I now am having similar problems - apart from the
usual ms patches the only new software is mediaplayer 10
and realplayer 10.5
I have norton av2004
Any ideas gratefully considered.
Thanks
Douglas

Computer freezing (i.e. when the keyboard and the mouse
freeze) is often caused by interrupt conflicts. I would try a
different brand network adapter - they are very cheap!

 

[douglas]

-----Original Message-----



Computer freezing (i.e. when the keyboard and the mouse
freeze) is often caused by interrupt conflicts. I would try a
different brand network adapter - they are very cheap!


It is a netgear card and I have had this problem also

with a netgear wireless card; but most of the time I have
no problems; I am sure that you are right that there are
conflicts but why does the network adapter make the
difference unless as you suggest it is part of the problem.
Thanks
Douglas

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

with a netgear wireless card; but most of the time I have
no problems; I am sure that you are right that there are
conflicts but why does the network adapter make the
difference unless as you suggest it is part of the problem.
Thanks
Douglas

Every adapter (network, sound, video) grabs some resources
(interrupts, blocks of base memory). Plug and Play is supposed
to reconcile these resources between the various adapters
but it does not always succeed.

 

[Alp]

Hi Pegasus,

I'm sorry to jump in like this but I have been trying to solve my freezing
problem and saw this thread. Eventhough I do not have any "conflict"
indicators in device manager, looks to me like there is a potential disaster
here and all settings are grayed out so I can not assign other IRQ's. Please
advise, if you don't mind. OS is W2000 Pro. Here's my IRQ list:
IRQ Number Device
9 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System
9 NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200
9 D-Link DFE-538TX 10/100 Adapter
9 Creative SB Live! Basic (WDM)
9 Linksys LNE100TX Fast Ethernet Adapter(LNE100TX v4)
9 OX16PCI954 Dual PCI UART
9 Advansys SCSI Host Adapter
9 Intel(r) 82801AA USB Universal Host Controller
9 Intel(r) 82801AA SMBus Controller
8 System CMOS/real time clock
13 Numeric data processor
12 Microsoft PS/2 Mouse
1 Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
6 Standard floppy disk controller
4 Communications Port (COM1)
3 Communications Port (COM2)
14 Primary IDE Channel
15 Secondary IDE Channel

Thanks in advance,

Alp

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I have never successfully reassinged IRQs under Windows 2000.
When I had conflicts I was usually able to resolve them with this
strategy:
1. Remove all non-essential adapters
2. Re-insert them until the problem resurfaces.
3. Try different PCI slots, or
4. Try different adapters

If some expensive video adapter causes a problem then it is
quite conceivable that you can resolve it by replacing a low-cost
adapter instead, e.g. the network adapter.

You might also want to have a look at the Plug & Play options
offered by your BIOS.

Lastley, the newsgroup "win2000.hardware" might attract a
greater number of experts than this croweded general-purpose
newsgroup.

 

[Alp]

Thank you Pegasus for your quick reply and advices.

I'll also try in the hardware group as well.

Alp