Network crashes computer

Yes. Windows. ;-)

Do you have an IP address?

The computer gets an IP address just fine. I can ping the network and the net without problem. It seems the problem only occurs when I try to surf the web while connected to that network. After a few seconds of surfing, the system will hang while waiting for a web page to open. Then Active Desktop will crash and Internet Explorer will stop responding. I've run the repair utility on IE and I've cleaned the registry, done a virus scan and tested the hard drive, etc. I can take the computer to another network and surf the web all day without problems. I understand that Windows ME is unstable, but both LANs are very similar and why would one network cause Windows ME to have problems while the other network does not.

I've considered the possibility that this problem might be caused by an electrical power issue instead of a network problem. This is a laptop, but the battery will not hold a charge more than 5 seconds, so I can't test it on battery alone. Or, could "dirty power" to the router affect the network and cause this problem? The router appears to work fine. There is only one other computer on the network and it usually does fine. Perhaps the LAN wires in the building are crossing florescent lights or picking up interference from something. Could this cause a computer to crash? Is there a way to test this?

Thanks, Steve Smith

I'd suspect a software problem. Nothing on the lan should cause that sort of problem and power problems would affect everything. Can you try a different browser, such as Mozilla?