MyWireless freezes PC, and trashes hard disk!

[oef88]

Hi,

I have an AMD Athlon 1600, 1 Gigabyte RAM, 2 IDE drives, standard NVidia graphics card, nothing else special. The motherboard is an ASUS A7V266E - and I have flashed the BIOS with the latest version off the web! Oh Yes, running Micro$oft XP, with SP1 and all the latest patches I could get my hands on.

Got my modem about a month ago, along with the CD. Faithfully followed the install instructions. Installed the drivers okay, and tried to connect to a tower. That's where my problems started ...

My PC froze - the display was locked - mouse wouldn't move, Task Manager did not update. Could not toggle the NumLock or CapsLock LEDs on my keyboard - it was totally unresponsive - although the Hard Drive active LED was glowing ...

Only option was to do a hard reset!

On reboot, got a message saying that the NT Loader file was missing. Couldn't recover it, so I had to do a fresh install of XP. (I got quite good at installing XP ...)

To cut to the chase, the MyWireless software causes my PC to freeze (I couldn't connect for about a month, so didn't have it installed - no crashes. Got a new 'aerial' last night - re-installed the drivers - hard disk trashed again) So it definitely IS the MyWireless software.

I have stripped my PC down to the bare minimum - 256MB RAM (1 chip), 1 hard drive, video card - nothing else - but it didn't make a difference. I've tried different video cards as well - no luck!

So, finally, I have organised a new motherboard, and will reload XP over the weekend - otherwise, I am at a loss on what to do! (and I am losing data - email etc. when it crash and burns - although I now have 'Ghost' images of my boot disk to reload - it now takes me 12 minutes to be up and running again!)

Has anybody else had the MyWireless software cause your boot drive to be trashed? Even my second(data) drive gets screwed on occasion.

Any other ideas?

On one occasion, I got a BSOD (my first on XP) - with a message that the NV4 driver (part of the MyWiteless install) had got into an infinite loop, causing the crash. Most of the time it just hangs. On a couple of occasions, the screen has changed spontaneously into 4bit 640X480 resolution (which is why I tried a different video card).

I have logged calls with the Call Centre - they swear blind that they have never had a PC crash and burn like this before - but I can replicate it at will.

I have even had SenTech techhies present - 2 of them (on seperate occasions) when the box has frozen (I had problems making a connection to a tower, and they came out to try different antennae).

I have tried upgrading the IPWireless software, upgraded my BIOS, applied all patches. It's not the modem - we tried a SenTech modem, same thing happened.

It even froze (on 3 occasions) while transferring the new firmware to the modem - but eventually it went thru. Still Crashes.

It doesn't always trash the disk. And it has run for up to 10 to 15 minutes before crashing - but normally it crashes almost immediately.

I have even tried a 'virgin' install - absolutely nothing else installed on the PC apart form the operating system - same result, so it isn't a clash with installed software ... No Antivirus, no Office installed - absolutely nothing (not even patches).

Any ideas?

 

[Inevitable]

you got BIG problem mate!
all i know is hyperthreading enabled causes freezes.but since you have AMD this is not the case.so im clueless.
Maybe Rodent could help you since he is knowledgeable with all this stuff

Glory Glory Man United!

 

[gripen]

A faulty USB section perhaps?

Do you have any other USB devices? Unplug them or try using a USB expansion card. I guess you have tried the modem on another PC..

Also, make sure you update your NVidia drivers using www.nvidia.com drivers and not windowsupdate.

These "Sentech techies".. were they from nowire or what?

 

[Cerberus]

The older 266 chipsets had major issues with their USB usually requiring a d/l of some or other software.. my opinion? see if you can get it working over PPPoE, thats all I can say.. I know I had a nightmare getting my AMD 266 chipset working before I got the Nforce2 which ran no problems Hope that helps... or scan the Asus site for a patch for the usb.

Regards
Cerberus

 

[regardtv]

Looking at the dialler that comes with the MyWireless software it does do a lot of chatting to the video settings in the registry... Have you tried connecting using ProASM's MySignal software ? .. Or just try using a direct DUN connection (ie anything but the MyWireless software)...


************************************************************
The views expressed on this site are my own and NOT those of my employer.

 

[Sapphiron]

I think the motherboard uses a Via Chipset for the USB control. I had trouble with a usb scanner (new model) on the old MB. I got a USB expanstion card. That solved the problem. I would give it a try.

<hr noshade size="1">
Man who scratch ass should not bite fingernails.

 

[TheRoDent]

Your problem is definately unique. I run three AMD systems from Athlon's to Durons and mixed kind of kit including one with an Asus Mobo.

The MyWireless software is pretty benign, aside from it's SMP (HyperThreading) un-safe-ness. I really think that you might just have a bad South bridge on that board, and that possibly the USB traffic is causing some upsets. Of course, power could also be an issue, AMD's are very power hungry and the MyWi modem draws up to 500ma from the USB even if self-powered.

That could lead to all kinds of stability issues. The filesystem corruption sounds to me to be just a side effect of another problem.

Also, from the freezing behaviour you described, it sounds like the system is power starved. I've had that on a few AMD machines with shoddy 250-300watt power supplies. If you're going to feed your PC power, buy an expensive power supply that will last. You can ALWAYS re-use it for the next system.

Bottom line: I think it might be your kit at fault here, not the IPW software.


<center><h6> MyWireless <s>Hacks</s> Tweaks & Tech Info || Have you checked the fawking FAQ? <br /> <font color="red">Tired of bad Service? Want to compare speeds? We at least listen...</font id="red"></h6></center>

 

[regardtv]

Fair comment Rodent ... thinking back... Had an old Athlon with some weirdness - upgraded PSU did fix it ;-) ...

************************************************************
The views expressed on this site are my own and NOT those of my employer.

 

[Karnaugh]

I dont really see anything that suggests its the MyWireless software. what brings you to that conclusion anyway?

I'd suspect a flakey motherboard rather, or maybe you keep getting infected with a worm when you connect.

- Colin Alston
colin at alston dot za dot org

"Getting traffic shaping right is easy and can be summed up in one word: Dont." -- George Barnett

 

[Karnaugh]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">No Antivirus, no Office installed - absolutely nothing (not even patches).<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

*cough* Yea...... Connecting to the internet is a very good idea like that []

Can anyone spell B L A S T E R...

- Colin Alston
colin at alston dot za dot org

"Getting traffic shaping right is easy and can be summed up in one word: Dont." -- George Barnett

 

[desraid]

oef88, it is something to do with your system if windows freeze.
in my experience, windows freeze when a device conflicts with another device.
so try to remove other devices such as printer and scanner including the devices from the PCI slots and just plug in the modem only.
Also try to disable any motherboard built-in devices like analogue modem and sound.
if it still freeze, I'd say that the modem is not compatible with your motherboard.

 

[Perdition]

I agree with TheRoDent on this one. I know from experience that not supplying your system with enough power will result in stability issues, including corruption of data. Even though you have a standard NVidia card they do draw a lot of power. Check your power supply rating and if it's below 300W it could definitely be the problem.

 

[TheRoDent]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">
On one occasion, I got a BSOD (my first on XP) - with a message that the NV4 driver (part of the MyWiteless install) had got into an infinite loop, causing the crash. Most of the time it just hangs. On a couple of occasions, the screen has changed spontaneously into 4bit 640X480 resolution (which is why I tried a different video card).
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

The NV4 driver is part of the NVidia driver suite, not MyWireless. If the crash was in something like ipw_mdm.sys or mdm_filt.sys then you could blame MyWireless. The "infinite loop" error is quite common on faulty or badly manufactured nVidia cards (I've had a few) and can also be cause by a power starved system, and bad memory. Really the only option is to either chuck it out, or start eliminating components.

The more I hear about this the more I think that your problem is due to power, or a bad component, not MyWireless...


<center><h6> MyWireless <s>Hacks</s> Tweaks & Tech Info || Have you checked the fawking FAQ? <br /> <font color="red">Tired of bad Service? Want to compare speeds? We at least listen...</font id="red"></h6></center>

 

[gripen]

See, hes not always against MyWireless [] (TheRoDenT)

^ for the Sentech forum scanners...

 

[RogueKill]

I've had a similar problem in the past ie. NV4_dsp.dll {infinite loop) crash. My geForce4 mx440 used to do that to my Athlon XP 2600+, epox Nforce2 Mobo. the funny thing is, it only happens while i'm online (wierd). I thought there might be a compatibility issue with GF4MX's and AMD processors so i did a search on the net - nothing about that. but i got myself a radeon 9600pro anyway since i needed an upgrade. And what do you know, no more crashes. Gave the GF4mx to my brother's P3 and it ran fine, no crashes. since there's nothing wrong with the GF4mx maybe its issolated cases of nVidia card do not like AMD processor thing.

Just thought you might like to try something != nVidia, That worked for me.

 

[TheRoDent]

Typicall happens with AMD's Nvidia cards, and DirectX.

http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=64

Also see this thread: http://forums.viaarena.com/messageview.cfm?catid=30&threadid=54130



<center><h6> MyWireless <s>Hacks</s> Tweaks & Tech Info || Have you checked the fawking FAQ? <br /> <font color="red">Tired of bad Service? Want to compare speeds? We at least listen...</font id="red"></h6></center>

 

[swordfish]

hi oef88,

I would suggest you, replace your CPU with any Intel CPU & your MB with any reasonable (some known brand like Asus) MB with Intel chipset (like i865PE for example).
AMD (VIA, SIS etc) chipsets are notorious with their poor realiability and compatibility issues. You may gain few % better performance from your AMD (in raw CPU power only!), but you pay the price for it. I always prefer reliability!

Also I think Windows 2000 is always a better choice (more stable and faster) over Windows XP, but this is quite controversial, And I guess is nothing to do with the problem you have anyway.

regards, and good luck

 

[oef88]

Hi,

Finally replaced the Motherboard - and it fixed the problem. But I could get it to happpen evry time. So there was definitely some sort of incompatibility!

Just to add insult to injury - had signal strength problems - added a Pringle can as antenna - and it worked like a drem!