Wireless Network Causing Crash

  • Thread starter Thread starter RobDee
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RobDee

After many hours of investigations & testing, I've narrowed down the cause
of sudden crashes of my XP Pro Desktop computer to a Wireless issue.

The desktop simply cuts out as if the power supply's been pulled. I've
eliminated all sorts of likely causes (despite error codes suggesting
graphics cards, I'm 99.99% sure it's not anything to do with that - still
crashed after all drivers uninstalled) and now I've reached the stage where
I can actually cause the crash to happen: All I have to do is go to My
Network Places on the desktop computer and attempt to access any file on my
Laptop - bang, not immediately, sometimes it takes a minute or two, but
without doing this the computer *never* crashes!

I have a small (4 machine) network via an ADSL Wireless Router. All machines
have fixed IP addresses and previoulsy communicated without problems.

The desktop machine is based on an ASUS mobo with built in Wireless - I've
got the most recent drivers for everything.

Any ideas as to what to do next?

Rob
 
After many hours of investigations & testing, I've narrowed down
the cause of sudden crashes of my XP Pro Desktop computer to a
Wireless issue.

The desktop simply cuts out as if the power supply's been pulled.
I've eliminated all sorts of likely causes (despite error codes
suggesting graphics cards, I'm 99.99% sure it's not anything to do
with that - still crashed after all drivers uninstalled) and now
I've reached the stage where I can actually cause the crash to
happen: All I have to do is go to My Network Places on the desktop
computer and attempt to access any file on my Laptop - bang, not
immediately, sometimes it takes a minute or two, but without doing
this the computer *never* crashes!

I have a small (4 machine) network via an ADSL Wireless Router.
All machines have fixed IP addresses and previoulsy communicated
without problems.

The desktop machine is based on an ASUS mobo with built in
Wireless - I've got the most recent drivers for everything.

Any ideas as to what to do next?
Click to expand...

I once had a similar problem where my machine would do this. I would
joke that even Microsoft hasn't figured out a way of turning off a
machine this fast. For me, it turned out to be an interaction between
Symantec Antivirus and a virtual drive. Perhaps you have a similar
interaction with a network drive. Try temporarily
disabling/uninstalling your antivirus and see if it changes things.

Shot-in-the-dark.
-- John
 
John Wunderlich said:
I once had a similar problem where my machine would do this. I would
joke that even Microsoft hasn't figured out a way of turning off a
machine this fast. For me, it turned out to be an interaction between
Symantec Antivirus and a virtual drive. Perhaps you have a similar
interaction with a network drive. Try temporarily
disabling/uninstalling your antivirus and see if it changes things.
Click to expand...

I'd tried disabling the AV. But am now uninstalling it. Will get back,
thanks for the suggestion John.

Rob
 
RobDee said:
I'd tried disabling the AV. But am now uninstalling it. Will get back,
thanks for the suggestion John.

Rob
Click to expand...


Hi,
No luck with uninstalling the AV. As it turns out, even after a complete
reinstall of XP Pro, the problem wouldn't go away. This computer runs
perfectly and even connects to the network via cable without problems. When
I open a window to the network via wireless however, it crashes very soon
after.
An interesting problem, but I don't have time to mess around with it any
longer. I installed a PCI wireless card and that works fine.
Conclusion: Obviously directly related to the Asus onboard wireless (which
as I said, has worked perfectly well until recently).

Rob
 
No luck with uninstalling the AV. As it turns out, even after a
complete reinstall of XP Pro, the problem wouldn't go away. This
computer runs perfectly and even connects to the network via cable
without problems. When I open a window to the network via wireless
however, it crashes very soon after.
An interesting problem, but I don't have time to mess around with
it any longer. I installed a PCI wireless card and that works
fine. Conclusion: Obviously directly related to the Asus onboard
wireless (which as I said, has worked perfectly well until
recently).
Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback.
I assume you've tried going to the ASUS website to downloaded the
latest drivers for the built-in wireless hardware.
Good Luck,
John
 
John Wunderlich said:
Thanks for the feedback.
I assume you've tried going to the ASUS website to downloaded the
latest drivers for the built-in wireless hardware.
Click to expand...

Hi John,
Yes, actually already had the latest drivers when this happened.
Anyway, as I said, there comes a time when, however curious we may be as to
the cause / solution for a problem, someone such as myself has to let it be
and fix it by whatever means is easiest.
PCI card is excellent - really fast and reliable. Much better than the built
in wireless, which was often a little temperamental even in its working
days.

Thanks,

Rob
 
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