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Netgear WG511T PC Card

Recently my WG511T Netgear PC card started crashing my windows XP laptop. Sometimes the laptop will operatate from 5 to 15 minutes before it freezes, other times it wont work at all. On removal of the card all seems to be ok, and the machine un-freezes. Sometimes removal of the card causes a Blue Screen of death.

This started happening recently, unsure of the cause, so I uninstalled the Netgear driver and upgraded to the latest version, to no avail. It still crashes. Seems more evident as soon as I fire up Internet Explorer however.

My initial reaction was that it was a windows hotfix that caused the problem. So anything installed in the last month I have uninstalled. Still to no avail. System still crashing.

I have a spare drive with a clean install of Windows XP SP2. So I loaded this up and again the machine keeps crashing..

Would appreciate any thought on this problem. Could my PC card finally have given up the Ghost ??? The only confusing thing is sometime it works for 15 minutes. I would have thought the card either works or doesn't.

BTW I am using WEP not WPA security. have tried with both the netgear software and the windows wireless connection software managing the card.

TIA SnaZZZ

Reply to
SnaZZZ
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Install a different browser (firefox, for example) and see if the problem persists. The WG511T is an outstanding notebook card. To be honest, it's probably my favorite and I've tried many. Still, it is possible that the card has become defected. I doubt it, though. Anyway, keep us updated.

Reply to
Doug Jamal

Will Do D.. Card has performed flawlessly for the past year and a bit. So I hope its not the card Will keep you posted

SnaZZZ

Reply to
SnaZZZ

"SnaZZZ" hath wroth:

I've seen this before with other PC Card wireless cards. Unfortunately, the fix was never consistent. Sometimes it was a bad driver. Sometimes spyware. Sometimes it just magically fixed itself. One time, it was a bent pin on the PCMCIA connector. In another, it was a flakey card (DWL-G630).

It's unlikely that the Microsoft updates caused the problem. If the patches were broken, you would see headline news on CNN and a major drop in MS stock value. The end of the civilization would surely follow.

Oh-oh. That eliminates spyware, worms, corrupted drivers, and such. However, it does not eliminate a broken laptop or card. Can you try the card on a different laptop?

I wish the cards would have a built in self test feature like most high reliability hardware. The general lack of diagnostic software has been a pet peeve of mine for many years. However, that's not going to happen at the price point.

There are plenty of things that can go wrong with cards that would create a partial failure. Building up a huge static electricity charge on your body, and plugging in the card is a great way to zap some parts. The gold metal strip on the PC Card is suppose to discharge any static, but it's not perfect. Having one or two devices blow up (or partially blow up) does not mean that the computer will instantly crash. Your house does not shut down completely because you blew a single light bulb. However, when the computah finally needs to access the area that's fried, then it will crash.

First, get a flashlight and inspect the connectors. If there's a bent pin, you have your answer.

Try the card in a different laptop. If that doesn't work, then you know it's the card.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

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