William Veitch
asked on
Computer freezing or locking up
I had a new Actiontec router installed on August 29 and since then my computer freezes every ten minutes for one minute. You can set your clock by it. After a number of hours with tech support who have no idea I have looked at a number of things. I had the installation tech back. His computer does not freeze. We patched mine through an ethernet cord -- it runs fine. It appears to have something to do with my wifi adaptor. I have a realtec 802.11 card. What I found in looking at the device board is that a series of WANmini ports installed at the same time as my router. Could they be the problem? Do I need them? Can they just be removed or do they need possibly to be replaced?
ASKER
Hi John,
I'm a little short on expertise so when you say "find the driver for your wireless card" are you referring to my Realtek not the miniports?
Realtek RTL8188CE Wireless LAN 802.11n PCI-E NIC date - 3/31/2016 Version 2013.12.331.2016
You then say find it and download it. Does that mean search the internet for the Card noted above?
Where you say remove wifi driver are you again referring to the card listed above?
What effect does this have on the mimiports where I think the problem is? I have had this Realtek card performing with my old router for a long time whereas the miniports just showed up on the day the new router was installed.
I'm a little short on expertise so when you say "find the driver for your wireless card" are you referring to my Realtek not the miniports?
Realtek RTL8188CE Wireless LAN 802.11n PCI-E NIC date - 3/31/2016 Version 2013.12.331.2016
You then say find it and download it. Does that mean search the internet for the Card noted above?
Where you say remove wifi driver are you again referring to the card listed above?
What effect does this have on the mimiports where I think the problem is? I have had this Realtek card performing with my old router for a long time whereas the miniports just showed up on the day the new router was installed.
Yes, I mean Wi-Fi card and not the WAN Miniports.
For the download site for the driver, go the Support Site for your computer model and that site should offer drivers for your computer and operating system. Download it from there.
whereas the miniports just showed up on the day the new router was installed. <-- I am not sure why. WAN Miniports have been around forever (at least Vista forward). So it may have been occasioned by your router but they do not cause any issue that I have run across.
For the download site for the driver, go the Support Site for your computer model and that site should offer drivers for your computer and operating system. Download it from there.
whereas the miniports just showed up on the day the new router was installed. <-- I am not sure why. WAN Miniports have been around forever (at least Vista forward). So it may have been occasioned by your router but they do not cause any issue that I have run across.
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ASKER
The tech came and removed the Actiontec T3200M router and replaced it with a ActiontecT1200 router. The problem with the screen freeze every 8 minutes and 41 seconds went away. I thought I was homefree because my computer screen was not freezing every 10 minutes.
Now it appears to only freeze every 12 hours at precisely 10:06 a.m. (my time) and 10:06 p.m. I will have to check closer on the other hours but it's only the "10 o'clock" that has caught my attention.
Far less frustrating than every ten minutes. I still look at it as a router manufacturer "fault" or "idiosyncrasy" but they won't admit it and it appears there are no experts on router design that can put a finger on a "time" aspect.
Now it appears to only freeze every 12 hours at precisely 10:06 a.m. (my time) and 10:06 p.m. I will have to check closer on the other hours but it's only the "10 o'clock" that has caught my attention.
Far less frustrating than every ten minutes. I still look at it as a router manufacturer "fault" or "idiosyncrasy" but they won't admit it and it appears there are no experts on router design that can put a finger on a "time" aspect.
Some routers have user time of day settings. Perhaps look in there for clues as to why it is locking up (or as the tech to look at time of day settings).
ASKER
Thanks John, I'll check it out.
ASKER
My problem of computer freezing appears to have been resolved. Although refusing to accept any responsibility for the freezing problem my ISP (Telus) and the manufacturer (Actiontek) have advised me that they completed a firmware update last week and my computer no longer has a freezing problem. No idea what they did to resolve it and I doubt they will admit to anything.
Consider this case closed.
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Find the Driver for your wireless card and download it. Make sure you know where to find it.
Connect by Ethernet.
Go to Device Manager, remove Wi--Fi driver, restart and when it says it is going to install the Wi-Fi driver , point to the driver you downloaded.
If Windows installed the driver, see if it works.