Broadcom Wireless adapter freezes randomly

My Acer Aspire 3000 series's, Broadcom Network Adapter 802.11g's (BCM4318) driver is 3.100.46.0 as default came with my Acer notebook. After having freezing problems when browsing the net or downloading with no chance to reach 192.168.1.1 also, i decided to update to a new driver also supports 802.11n, but after updating successfully(although i can browse sites successfully), the Wi-fi LED indicator which is built on to my notebook went CRAZY!!! It lits randomly and irregularly after rolling back to old original driver, Wi-fi LED went back to normal but i want to get rid of this strange freeze problem.

The problem i'm having about freezing: While i'm surfing or downloading the net smoothly, randomly the data transfer(receive and sent, bi-directional) stops, no packets are received or sent anymore, I use Wireless Zero Configuration of XP Home SP2. But the connection does NOT seem disconnected and no logs in event viewer about this. I'm on channel 11 with my US Robotics 9108 MaxG router. Also there are some several wireless networks around my building.

Then after searching for a long time, i'm forced to update to a new driver, but i'm furious because there's no newer drivers in Acer's supports site for my wireless adapter, even in Broadcom's site.

The driver which is suited to my adapter but Wi-fi LED went crazy by flashing irregularly and intermittently:

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What do you think?

Is freezing after connecting or surfing for a while related to router or drivers of my wi-fi adapter?

NOTE: The only solution is to disable/enable wireless adapter from ''network connections'' or to use ''repair'' option, then the connection establishes successfully. Also i'm using WPA-PSK with 22 digits.

Thanks for the help.

Regards...

Reply to
kimiraikkonen
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That sounds like a driver bug. I work on the Linux bcm43xx driver, which is a port of Broadcom's driver. Coding the LED's is not very complicated. You might try other drivers. For example, the Linksys WPC54G V3 contains a 4318 chip. Getting the driver from their website would give you another option. The driver is bundled with Linksys's configuration programs, etc. that you will not need, but the bcmwl5.sys and .inf files should work.

As you can use 'repair' to restart communications, the problem is likely to be with your adapter. Have you tried changing channels to see if that helps? You didn't tell us which one you are using, but it is likely channel 6. Change your AP configuration so that it uses either channel 1 or 11, and see if that helps.

Larry

Reply to
Larry Finger

port of Broadcom's

For example, the

would give you another

you will not need,

with your adapter.

which one you are using,

either channel 1 or 11, and

Hi Larry and thank for the quick reply, I'm on channel 11 both for router and adapter. I couldn't find a newer and better driver than 3.100.46.0. With this driver the wi-fi LED is health and connection establishes successfully. But as i mentioned above, i experience odd freezes i cannot explain. My integrated wi-fi adapter listed as ''Broadcom 802.11g Network Adapter'' in device manager.

Where can i find the newer and better? As you know Broadcom does not provide driver support for their integrated wi-fi adapters and Acer(my notebook) does not have newer on the support site.

Thank you.

Reply to
kimiraikkonen

port of Broadcom's

drivers. For example, the

would give you another

that you will not need,

be with your adapter.

which one you are using,

either channel 1 or 11, and

I still do not think it is a driver problem. The main change between the

3.xx.yy.x and 4.xx.yy.z drivers is the firmware.

Your loss of connection could be some interference on channel 11. You need to try channels 1 and 6 to see if they also have the same problem. If not, it was interference. If they do, it could still be interference, but it might be your hardware.

Do you have a portable phone with a 2.4 GHz carrier? How about any Bluetooth devices? Does the hangup correspond with the use of your microwave?

Larry

Reply to
Larry Finger

a port of Broadcom's

drivers. For example, the

website would give you another

that you will not need,

be with your adapter.

which one you are using,

either channel 1 or 11, and

3.xx.yy.x and 4.xx.yy.z

try channels 1 and 6

they do, it could still

devices? Does the

Hi Larry, If i try channel 1 and 6, will i be able to use

54mbps(802.11g) ? No Bluetooth device in my home. No microwave owen. I have Panasonic high-quality (made in japan) cordless phone but it's just powered on with no use when this freeze happens.

Also, what do you mean that updating drivers make change on firmware? Firmware changes device inside software as it flashes newer and it can destroy. I know drivers are different than firmwares, drivers only talk between OS and device to function properly. Installing a new driver does not mean that i flash my device's firmware as far as i know. So?

Thank you.

Reply to
kimiraikkonen

Some cordless phones scan the spectrum even when not in use. Yes, channels 1 or

6 work equally well with 802.11g.

The firmware for a BCM43xx chip is _NOT_ in flash memory. It is stored in some sort of RAM, is embedded within the Windows driver, and is reloaded every time you start the device.

Larry

Reply to
Larry Finger

or 6 work equally well

sort of RAM, is

Hi again Larry!, Thanks for the support so far. I changed channel number from 11 to 6 inside my router (192.168.1.1).

But i think i also have to change some channel settings of my Broadcom driver from ''device manager'' in Windows.

There are 2 settings in ''advanced'' tab in my Broadcom wi-fi adapter's driver settings, they are: IBSS channel number WZC IBSS channel number, they are set to 11 still. But my router is changed to 6 and i can surf with these settings.

But do i have to ALSO change the channel numbers to 6 inside drivers settings and which ones above?

Thank you,

Regards...

Reply to
kimiraikkonen

I'm not a Windows user any more, but if I recall correctly, one selects the ESSID when choosing a network. If "i can surf" means that everything works, don't worry about it.

Larry

Reply to
Larry Finger

ESSID when choosing a

So, is a channel change on router enough? I had freeze problems again when the channel is set to 6 instead of 11 in the router settings.

Also, do i also have to set the channel set 6 for Broadcom wi-fi adapter to be sure i'm on channel 6? I don't know how to determine which channel i'm running wi-fi on.

Reply to
kimiraikkonen

ESSID when choosing a

Additionaly, i found IBSS (independent basic service set) is about computer-to-computer ''ad hoc'' networks and about 802.11b(not G) networks. So does it mean there is relationship with my router's wi-fi operating at 54mbps(802.11g) ?

Thank you.

Reply to
kimiraikkonen

ESSID when choosing a

I do not believe you have any ad-hoc networks set up. If your AP is set on channel 6, believe me that your adapter is running on channel 6. When the driver wants to connect, it scans all channels by sending probes on each channel that is legal in your locale to find which ones have AP's that are active. That is the list that shows up in your Windows configuration. If the adapter were to try to associate and authenticate on a channel that did not contain an AP, absolutely nothing would happen.

As to the loss of connectivity on channel 6, you could be affected by the same source of interference that hit channel 11. Please try channel 1. If that also has problems, do a Google search for sources of wi-fi interference. You may also have hardware problems.

Larry

Reply to
Larry Finger

On 28 Mar 2007 09:07:39 -0700, "kimiraikkonen" wrote in :

What _exactly_ does "freezing" mean? Does your laptop lock up? Does the browser lock up? Are you getting error message(s)? If so, what are they (_exactly_)?

How do you know that? What happens when you click Repair?

When this "freezing" happens, open a Command window; run "IPCONFIG /ALL"; and post the _exact_ results here.

Why are you forced? Why are you furious?

Hard to say with so little detail, but probably due to interference

If Repair works, then you almost certainly have interference. See the wikis below for possible sources of interference.

Reply to
John Navas

Hi, i came to post and saw your message new. I can explain the freeze: I connect the net via wireless through my AP and wireless data transfer freezes, i mean, data transfer and also ping do not respond.

No error messages, no dialog boxes and no lock up for notebook, browser and all of applications work. This freeze is only about wireless. The notebook responds commands clearly but when i have this strange freeze i cannot ping anywere including my router (AP) ! %100 packet loss occurs.

I usually do ipconfig /all and i saw there is no difference with the values when freezing occurs or does not. The values are the same of ''ipconfig /all'' when freezing exists or when there is a normal connection. It doesn't differ. When the freeze occurs, the only system problem is not to browse, not to download or not to ping any destination including my AP.

I'm nervous because of Broadcom's driver laziness, there is no information or explanatory for their chips like BCM4318 including driver change-logs.(history)

Also event viewer shows nothing as error.

I tried channel 11 and 6 with same freeze problem, haven't tried channel 1 but i don't have hope neither.

My notebook has Windows XP Home SP2 and i do not know it's a XP problem,especially SP2's.

Also i have licenced McAfee Enterprise 8 virus software and has the latest update on it.

When i click ''repair'' button on the taskbar, everything works fine and connection becomes stable until next freeze.

Thank you for your care.

Regards...

Reply to
kimiraikkonen

On 2 Apr 2007 12:13:22 -0700, "kimiraikkonen" wrote in :

Ping of your wireless access point? The _exact_ error message is "time out"?

(It really helps if you give _exact_ details -- paraphrasing is a serious obstacle.)

No error message from ping? If so, then you have a system problem, not a wireless problem.

So there _is_ an error message?

Is there some good reason you're not posting the _exact_ output, as I asked?

Turn that off and see if it has any effect on the problem.

Reply to
John Navas

Dear John, if you are asking ping results, yes there are %100 packets loss. That's why my wireless internet connection freezes. When i do ''ping 192.168.1.1'' i receive , error message: ''request timed out''. That's a very normal message for a not working internet connection as you know.

I have no grudge about sending details because there are so much details about that problem, the only solid data for this problem is ''request timed out'' and that error message shows the result. It does not help for the problem i think.

I also turned McAfee off but i think that didn't help. But i am not sure its McAfee's behaviour (i stronly don't suppose)

Here are results of ipconfig for a working wireless connection, but as i mentioned previously, these values are the same if freeze occurs:

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : acer Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected Description . . . . . . . . . . . : SiS 900-Based PCI Fast Ethernet Adap ter Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-16-36-2C-4A-74

Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection 5:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom 802.11g Network Adapter Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-16-CA-2E-F2-88 Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.11 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1 DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 193.140.83.251

Is that all what you want?

To explain better, when the freeze occurs, Internet Explorer opens fine but cannot open page ''this page cannot be displayed'' as well.

The wi-fi data transfer indicator which is on the Windows taskbar, stops flashing, because data transfer stops, freezes and never lights up until i click ''repair'' or ''re-enabling wi-fi adapter'' as i said.

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- this icon as you know.

Thank for your care...

Reply to
kimiraikkonen

On 2 Apr 2007 13:11:33 -0700, "kimiraikkonen" wrote in :

Sorry, but I can't read your mind, so I don't know what you're thinking of and what's actually happening when you say things like "freezes" and "cannot ping". You also said "no error messages" but now you say there _are_ error messages. This makes it much more difficult to help you.

The "solid data" is what I asked for. You need to let me be the judge of what I need to know, OK?

Let's just find out, shall we? As Jeff says, "Assumption is the mother of all screwups."

I don't want that. What I want is when it freezes.

You're done a binary compare? Or just a quick scan? Why not just post what I asked for?

Why do you have DHCP turned off?

What I want is that same thing for when it "freezes".

Unfortunately, Microsoft error messages are pretty unhelpful. Let's just start with ping. Then we can move on to nslookup.

FYI, "freezes" is normally taken to mean the system has locked up and become unresponsive.

How do you click "re-enabling wi-fi adapter"? Is that just a message, or is it really something you are clicking?

When the connection "freezes", can you connect to the wireless router over a wired connection? If so, what does it show for wireless status? What does it show for Internet status?

Reply to
John Navas

Hi again John, I want to clarify. By saying freeze: Computer, programs and devices respond normally except wireless connection. Wireless data connection stops, it dies, the taskbar wi-fi icon stops flashing as a result of freeze or i can call this problem ''unresponsive or non-reaction wireless connection'' although it still seems connected. (Duration counter of wi-fi icon continues) By saying ''no error messages'' i meant: When freeze happens i receive no error messages like dialog boxes or connection lost. Connections seems resuming on the icon of taskbar, but data transfer is stopped and dead.

By saying ''error messages'' I meant: I receive error messages as a normal reflection of computer if i do ''ping 192.168.1.1'' resulting with %100 packet loss, and ''the page cannot be displayed'' for IE WHEN freeze happens.

the values which i sent about ''ipconfig /all'' are the ''same'' when freeze happens. Also what do you want from me to send you except ipconfig /all ? Also i haven't done a binary comparision. How to do?

I haven't disabled DHCP inside my router, i just associated an IP for my wi-fi adapter, so it seems ''disabled'' due to manual IP configuration. Does it differ?

I re-enable my wi-fi adapter by going ''network connections'' windows, right-click to disable, then i right-click again to enable called ''re- enabling'' wi-fi adapter(Broadcom). As it helps for freezing, also ''repair'' function helps.

I haven't tried your trick yet, when i try wired connection i post the result of plugging CAT5 cable when wireless freeze happens.

Thank you for your detailed and close care again...

Regards...

Reply to
kimiraikkonen

On 2 Apr 2007 14:22:05 -0700, "kimiraikkonen" wrote in :

For now I just want the "IPCONFIG /ALL" when it "freezes".

Per IPCONFIG, DHCP _is_ disabled on your wireless adapter. Why???

You left out the Disable part. Please try not to leave stuff out.

Reply to
John Navas

OK, i will complete your requests. (ipconfig /all when freeze).

I haven't disabled DHCP for my wi-fi adapter or router. I use a static IP (manual IP config) and because of this DHCP seems disabled. If i use ''auto ip assign'' feature, it seems enabled. Additionaly, DHCP does not effect on my freeze problem. I run OK with these settings if wireless works stable.

Also i want to ask as off-topic, is there an obligation for setting wi- fi adapter's IP to 192.168.1.10 or 11? If i turn DHCP on, router assigns 192.168.1.11, but i can set also 192.168.1.2 or 3 or 4 or ....

11 manually which works without problem. This question was off-topic. Don't mess up your mind with my freeze problem please...

With my regards...

Thanks again.

Reply to
kimiraikkonen

Hi with updated news: I again experienced freeze with wireless, then i did not click ''repair'' button, upon this freeze, i plugged ethernet cable as you suggested, with wired ethenet connection the internet works very good.

Then i entered wireless client list of my router, my wi-fi adapter does NOT seem in the client list! That proves the connection is lost although the wi-fi taskbar icon shows connected and duration counter resuming counting seconds.

Here is your requests: In this screenshot ipconfig /all describes these values when FREEZE happens:

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In this screenhot ipconfig /all describes these values when connected via CAT5 cable which works the internet great.

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Summarized, i tried channels 1,6 or 11 with no luck.

Windows XP SP2 causes this? Connection is lost as wi-fi adapter does NOT seem in ''wireless client list' when freeze happens. But taskbar wi-fi icon says still ''connected'' and duration counter resumes ''as if'' the wireless connection is available...

Thank you.

Reply to
kimiraikkonen

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