Why is my wireless ethernet PCMIA card slowing down my notebook (vanity)?

2/15/03 | self

[calvin sun]

I have a D-Link Airbus 650+ wireless network card, with 128-bit WEP encryption. I use the card in a Dell Inspiron 5000 laptop.

The card works fine for the first hour or so. Then, the computer slows to a CRAWL. In fact, the system time starts lagging by a few hours.

If I restart the computer, everything is fine again and the system clock is correct.

What's going on, and how can I correct it? Their technical support has no idea of why it's happening.

Thanks.

[John Jorsett]

What operating system? If you pull the card, does the slowdown not happen?

[LibKill]

Time to do that hi-tech ping-thing that you do so well.

[Fabozz]

Are you by any chance running ZoneAlarm?

[martin_fierro]

Wish I could help.

I have a wireless (Linksys) PCMCIA card with 128 bit WEP and love the mobility it provides.

It's causing different network problems for me (file sharing is kaput), but I haven't experienced the system slowdown you describe.

Right click on "My Computer" -> Properties -> Device Manager (assuming you're using Windoze) and see if there are any system conflicts.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

This is interesting, I am thinking about going with some wireless!

OFFICIAL BUMP(TOPIC)LIST

[martin_fierro]

Please add me to your hi-tech ping list.

[LayoutGuru2]

If you are running Norton Anti-Virus you may need the SYMEVENT update:
http://www.symantec.com/techsupp/files/symevnt/symevnt.html

Or look here:
Windows Clock on Taskbar and in Date/Time Tool Loses Time
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=189706

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I have a D-Link Airbus 650+ wireless network card...

Do you mean a D-Link AirPlus DWL-650+ Wireless 22 Mbps PC Card?

[HumanaeVitae]

I have a D-Link...

This may be your problem right there...

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Discussion thread on WiFi here:

Unplugged access - (Is WiFi (Wireless Fidelity) here to stay or merely a passing fad?)

[calvin sun]

Do you mean a D-Link AirPlus DWL-650+ Wireless 22 Mbps PC Card?

Yes, that's it. Sorry for the misspelling. I don't have the laptop with me right now. Airbus instead of AirPlus? I'm too in love with things of France LOL.

[applemac_g4]

What version of the OS? How much RAM? Any firewalls or antivirus software on that machine? Have you run spybot and/or adaware to check your system for spyware?

[PatriotGames]

This may be your problem right there...

I wholeheartedly agree.

[steveo]

I'll have an answer quick.

[PatriotGames]

Please add me to your hi-tech ping list.

Thanks in advance. :-)

[martin_fierro]

One other possibility: Does your wireless card have a "power-saving" setting? If it does and it's turned on, try turning it off.

[steveo]

O.K., I recently installed a LinkSys power line LAN in our house. Their software installs two programs for use by one of the common chips used in all of these units, which gobbles up a lot of processor cycles. As far as I can tell it is used to set the password on the LinkSys device. Look under your processes and find one called WinPlcMan.exe. This goober takes 100% cpu cycles for about five to six seconds every thrity or so seconds. I just stop the process and the sluggishness goes away. The other to look for is BridgeDeCor.exe you may not have this one. It uses cycles but not as bad as the WinPlcMan. Let me know if that works!

[Eala]

The symptoms you report generally sound like what is called a "memory leak."

"Memory leak" means some process in your machine is allocating a chunk of memory, RAM, to perform some operation but it fails to return it to the operating system when it's done. (This is caused by a programming error.) Eventually this reduces the size of the pool of available memory to the point where other processes are being forced to wait until they can be handed a chunk they've requested. Eventually some will come to a stop.

The immediate "fix" for a machine slowed down by a memory leak is to reboot it. That causes the pool of memory to be initialized anew. The machine starts out running normally, but after a while it starts slowing down again.

Try running the Resource Meter (in Win98: Start -- Programs -- Accessories -- System Tools) and look at "Allocated Memory". If you see that graph crawl upwards slowly over time as your machine slows down, your system is experiencing a memory leak.

The problem then is to identify the source of the leak. If, as you say, it does not occur when this card is not installed/running, then it's likely to be the driver for this card and something in your machine's configuration is triggering a bug of which the manufacturer is unaware. (Conversely but maybe less likely is that this card or its driver is causing something else to fail.)

Possibly the best bet (quickest, but not cheapest) is to try a different brand of card.

[foto]

I second the memory leak theory. Had the same problem with windows NT being used as a server, would slow down and crash every three weeks for no apparent reason. The easiest way to deal with it was to shutdown and reboot and clear memory every couple of days to keep it clear instead of waiting for the problem. In your case it seems you have to do it alot sooner, every hour or so. I have found that it doesn't pay to buy the cheapest network cards. Always buy the most thoroughly tested cards, i.e the cards approved for the server versions of software, usually the name brands like 3com, intel etc, but won't apply to your portable. Read the PC mags and see what cards they used in their portable test platforms to evaluate software and you usually won't go wrong. Hope it helps.