Wireless card causes blue screen of death

[JoelAnderson]

The wireless card on my laptop had been working fine for 4 years (I know it's old for a laptop). I recently got a new apartment and set up a wireless router on a cable modem. The wireless network worked fine for 3 months until I returned after a weekend and powered up both the modem and router at the same time, then when I turned on my wireless card the computer blue-screened. Since then, every time I turn on my wireless card, whether there is a signal in range or not, it causes my computer to blue screen and shut down. My roomate has an identical computer and wireless card and the same thing happened at the same time. I reset the network and the ISP says everything is working fine. The hardline network, through the router, is working properly. I've updated BIOS and tried to update the driver, but the problem is that I can't do anything to the driver unless the wireless card is turned on, and turning it on shuts down the computer, even in safe mode. Here's some technical info:

Computer: Compaq Evo N800W
OS: Windows XP Professional
Wireless card: Compaq W200
Wireless router: Linksys WRT54G
Modem: Motorola SB5101 surfboard

Here's the error message displayed at each blue screen:

A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

If this is the first time you've seen this stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

Check to make sure any new hardware or software is properly installed. If this is a new installation, ask your hardware or software manufacturer for any windows updates you might need.

If problems continue, disable or remove any newly instaled hardware or software. Disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing. If you need to use safe mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F8 to select advanced startup options, and then select Safe Mode.

Technical information:
***STOP: 0X0000000A (0XCDCDCDC9, 0X00000002, 0X00000000, 0X804DBE7B)

Begining dump of physical memory
Physical memory dump complete.
Contact your system administrator or technical support group for further assistance.


There was actually no loss of data, even though it says physical memory dump complete. I appreciate any advice. Thanks.

[johnwill]

These errors are almost always driver or hardware issues. Did you try a system restore to before the issue surfaced? The fact that two identical cards did the same thing suggests you used Windows update to update drivers, normally a real bad idea!

[JoelAnderson]

I forgot to mention, I did do a system restore after the problem came up. I restored it to a time I know the wireless card was working, but still no good. I'm not sure system restore could do anything to the driver if it's turned off. I do use windows updates whenever they automatically come up. Should I try removing the most recent updates? Thanks for your help.

[johnwill]

Rolling back the recent updates is not a bad idea, something must have changed to cause the issue.

[JoelAnderson]

Uninstalling recent updates did nothing. I heard of another person with a similar problem on the same computer and wireless card (we went to college together and everyone needed to purchase the same computer). He recently set up a new wireless network after moving to a new place, and his computer blue screens every time he tries to access that specific wireless network, but it works fine with other wireless signals. I'm not sure what his router was.

[chopedogg]

Hi, I'm having the exact same issue with my Compaq n800v. Worked fine for years, then all of the sudden i get the blue screen as soon as i plug in my wireless card. i tried it with 2 different cards, one from Netgear and one from Linksys...same problem. updated bios and drivers, etc., to no avail.

have you found a solution to the problem yet?

mine stopped working almost a year ago. this really sux to have to use the laptop only with a hard-wired network connection!

thanks!

[Monty Python]

Have you tried simply going into Device Manager and uninstalling the LAN, then letting (assuming XP) find & reinstall it again ?

Also, while in Device Manager, click "show hidden devices" and make note of any flagged devices and report.

Usually uninstalling those flagged devices (if any) will fix the problem on reinstall.

[chopedogg]

Thanks for that suggestion. I actually have gone as far as completely wiping the machine, installing a completely different OS (went from XP to Win 2003 Server), and still got the same error!

I actually just found a 'workaround' today. I went to Radio Shack and bought a compact Linksys USB Wifi adapter, plugged it in, and it has been working fine all day without any blue screens.

So perhaps it is a hardware problem with my PC card slot?

[Monty Python]

So perhaps it is a hardware problem with my PC card slot?

The card itself is more likely to be bad than the slot, I think.

PC slot ? I read up on the hardware and saw some pictures. One showed the "box" opened up and a PC board inside it. Somewhere it was called a USB device. This looks like an odd thing. It looks like someone took a standard LAN card and put it in a metal box. Is this some unique hardware that only fits in your laptop, and cannot be replaced by anything else ?

[chopedogg]

Well...I know it isn't the card because I actually tried a Linksys card and one from Netgear as well (brand new). Sorry I forgot to mention that earlier.

By PC Card slot I just meant the PCMCIA card slot.

thanks.

[johnwill]

It may be the PCMCIA drivers for the machine, have you tried loading the latest version of those? They may be combined with the chipset drivers.

[JoelAnderson]

Ok, It's working now. I couldn't uninstall the driver unless it was turned on, and turning it on would shutdown my computer. So what I had to do was go into the device manager and show hidden devices (thanks Monty Python). I then disabled the wireless LAN driver so I was able to turn on the wireless card without it shuting down my computer. With the wireless card turned on, I could then uninstall the driver and reboot the machine. After that it worked. Hope yours works the same. I think the Evo N800w is just programmed to screw when the warranty runs out.

[Monty Python]

Excellent way of getting your head around an oddball problem/solution. Also for documenting the solution in case it's useful to someone else.

[mlistwan]

mine does the same thing,

i have a compaq evo n610c with the W200 wireless adapter. it blue screens whenever i go over my girlfriends house, but works fine everywhere else. anyone any ideas??

[scice]

OK-A customer of mine had this exact same problem. I fixed it by setting the disabling wireless-N on the router (which I had to do with a wired computer). As soon as I set it to b/g mixed mode only, the laptop stopped blue screening and I am providing this answer from the now working laptop. Lost a night of sleep over this one.

[Guna2800]

Yes,

Solution:
disable wireless-N for some types of wireles cards.


strange it does not affect my lapop, but does affect the laptop of my girlfriend.

[petekane]

Hi there,
I am having very similar issues with the fabled BSOD as described below.
I am running a Dell Inspiron 600m laptop with upgraded ram to 1.25gb and upgrade windows to XP SP3
It does not Blue Screen when connected via LAN only when va the WLAN
The Error Screen is the same as described by Joel Anderson, I tried uninstalling the Intel Pro Wireless and letting it be reinstalled on restart but this did not work.
I have read that t could be a memory issue so I tried changing the card about but this did not work.
I am a bit of a novice at this so I do not quite ubderstand the last post in terms of "disable the wireless-N" I am guessing network but I have three other wireless devices all working fine on the router network.
The error msg report comes up afterwards as this

BCCode : 1000000a BCP1 : FF1511F2 BCP2 : 00000002 BCP3 : 00000000
BCP4 : 804D9B64 OSVer : 5_1_2600 SP : 3_0 Product : 256_1

if anyone has any ideas it would be really appreciated.
cheers
Pete

[petekane]

Hold the press ....I just downloaded the most up to date driver for the prowireless2200bg and I am currently wirelessly posting this, no BSOD yet...fingers crossed.
pete

[arsatweb]

I've been dealing with this problem off and on with my Evo N610c and its built in W200. I finally bought a Belkin PCMIA card and was fine until this past week when I performed a bit of maintenance and ended with a fresh install of windows and a hard drive wipe.

My solution was this:

Ensured the W200 wireless card was turned off.
I went into Device Manager, went to view>show hidden devices.
Right clicked and disabled anything to do with the W200 card.
Turned on my W200 card.
Disabled anything that appeared on Device Manager after turning on the card (That had to do with the W200)
Downloaded the latest drivers from HP (I believe they were dated Nov 2004, so it was the same as the version I had before, but I felt that a fresh install was called for either way) and reinstalled the card.

After restarting the computer, the wireless card (Unless you already specified otherwise) will not connect to a wireless network immediately. This gives you time to go back into device manager and disable it again. (Or disable W200 items, turn on the card, and disable the rest of the W200 items)

Go to view>resources by connection (In device manager)
Expand the IRQ list. Take note of any IRQs that aren't listed from one to seven (As the error is a 'not less than or equal to' I felt it was best to go with a low number).
Go back to viewing devices.
Right click your WLAN Multiport W200 item and go to 'properties'.
Go to the 'Advanced' tab.
Change the IRQ from 'Auto' to one of the available IRQ channels.

Re-enable your W200 items, connect to a network, and let the computer sit for a minute to ensure the BSOD won't appear.

My computer has been successfully connected for almost an hour. Typically prior to these steps it blue screened as soon as the W200 was turned on.

This solution should likely help with any device causing an IRQ conflict, though I recommend trying standard solutions prior to changing IRQs. I am only comfortable with it because I spent the first half of my life setting up IRQ channels for sound cards on DOS machines.

[Snorbs]

I had an intermittent Blue Screen (BSOD) with WiFi use on an MSI notebook running XP - would run on wifi for a while, then crash.
I had been a silly-boy and forgotten I'd changed the network settings when I joined a friend's network.
Setting up my XP network settings for IP to be allocated by router (not hard coded) sorted things out.
I guess there was a conflict with other (iphone, etc) devices on the network.
Curiously - placing the laptop close to the router also seemed to help (no idea why).