[customizer]

I bought a barebone gx630 with a geforce 9600 gt video card and included optical drive. I had to add the processor, ram, hard drive, and wireless card. So that's what I did. Here's what I added:

320gb SATA hard drive
4gb ram
1.9ghz athlon X2 processor
intel wireless N

When I had it all together, I installed all the appropriate drivers, as provided on the MSI website. However, while all seemed well initially, it started freezing up randomly (while running A B and C applications, while running nothing, while typing my password to login to windows, etc). I also noticed that sometimes when I hit the button to enable wireless, it BSODs. Also, when I have wireless disabled (running on ethernet), it seems okay. I haven't tested that thoroughly, but I did play a few hours of L4D on wired, and it worked just fine.
So here's what I've tried in order to fix the problem:

Bought a new hard drive & swapped out.
Used one stick of ram at a time. Ran full memtest on both sticks twice.
Changed OS from XP to Vista, and installed appropriate drivers.
Bought new Azurewave Atheros wireless N card.
Reinstalled all appropriate drivers.
Installed third party drivers in place of intel wireless drivers.
Used intel wireless drivers found on website, and drivers auto-installed by vista.

I'm sure there are more things I've tried that I forgot to list, but that's just a few. I've been struggling with this thing for months. I haven't had the BSOD for a little while (mostly I avoid the wireless enable/disable button), but I still get freezing under every condition listed above. I highly suspect it has to do with the wireless internet, but I can't seem to find a solution. I've read about a few other people having freezing issues when they have wireless enabled, so I was wondering if anyone has a solution to this issue, or if they've had this problem with the msi gx620 or gx630.

 

[Riskyone101]

Hello and welcome to TSF,

The only thing you forgot to post here is the psu?
What is the power supply unit you have installed in the pc? (most critical item) in a custom built pc especially.
Also post voltages here: you can find this in the bios.

Go here and read this:

http://www.techsupportforum.com/f210/power-supply-information-and-selection-192217.html

Note: for what you have here you need atleast a 700 watt psu (good quality one)because of the graphic card you are using.

 

[customizer]

I'm sorry, I should have specified. The msi gx630 is a laptop. I did not adjust power settings or timings.

 

[Riskyone101]

I apologize...lol....not use to being in laptop forum...I forgot this is laptops..geesh

ok the freezing only occurs when you go to get on the internet?

 

[customizer]

Not when I use the internet per se (like firefox, steam games, IM, etc), but whenever the wireless is enabled (laptops almost always have disable buttons/switches). When I have it disabled, as far as I know, there is no problem. Also, when I press the button to enable it again, sometimes it will BSOD. For these reasons, I believe it to be a wireless internet related issue. However, in order to rule out other factors, I replaced the hard drive and did the appropriate testing on the ram, as well as changed OS and redid driver installations.

 

[Riskyone101]

yes thats what Imeant wireless not lan.
Did you install the right driver for the wireless card?

Also go into event viewer and look if theres any errors?
and post them here please

 

[TriggerFinger]

To clarify... you only get the freeze incidents when using WLAN? If yes, it could be a compatibility issue between the WLAN card and the BIOS or motherboard. I have a similar situation with 802.11g WLAN card on an old R31 IBM. It freezes randomly when WLAN card is in use. No problems if WLAN card is disabled or removed. Unfortunately, IBM has no fix so I put back the old 802.11b card originally with the Thinkpad.

In your case, you could try other WLAN cards as well. I believe you are using an 802.11n card. I suggest you try 802.11g or check with MSI if there is an update that would support the 'n' card. If it is supported, try replacing the card as well as it may be malfunctioning.

 

[customizer]

As stated, I installed the specific drivers as provided by MSI, and as provided by intel. I also allowed windows vista to automatically install the drivers it decided were appropriate. I also installed older drivers, as well as third party drivers. All of these situations resulted in eventual freezing (times usually range from 20 minutes to 2 hours).

IBM has very specific compatibility requirements for their laptops, I've experienced first-hand. This laptop should not have such problems, but just to be it was neither a faulty card nor an incompatibility issue, I purchased the second wireless card, Atheros by Azurewave (as stated above) that is commonly shipped in MSI laptops. Neither card seemed to behave differently. They both allowed perfect internet connection, and the laptop froze with either one installed.

I will look for errors in the event viewer, and post them here should I find them.

 

[TriggerFinger]

Is the other card an 802.11g? I ask because it could be an 802.11n issue. Anyhow just disregard if you have ruled this out already.

My old R31 work perfectly with ANY 802.11b card (intel or otherwise - tried several) but it does not work well with an 802.11g (tried several too) as it freezes randomly when the card is in use (browsing the internet). This is the reason why my question in the previous paragraph.

 

[customizer]

This model, when sold as a completed laptop, typically comes with a wireless n card. I'll look into BIOS versions.

 

[Riskyone101]

Ty triggerfinger I appreciate it, good luck customizer I hope you get the problem resolved.

 

[customizer]

Bump.

To update, I still haven't found a solution to this problem. However, progress has been made, if you could call it that.
I left the laptop packed away for a month or two, not having time to deal with it. Today I took it out to try some things. First off I wanted to make sure it would work without freezing while on wired ethernet. This has been a success for the past 5 hours. However, when I decided to test the wireless functionality, to see if the problem still existed (I was rather hoping it had resolved itself), I found that the wireless enable button no longer works. I have no way of enabling the wireless internet.

From this, I suspect that the problem may have been (and still is) the actual hardware related to the quick media button panel above the keyboard, or the part of the motherboard into which this connects. I suspect this because the wireless button is located along the top panel with the media buttons. It is currently the only unresponsive button, however. It neither lights up nor functions.

Any ideas?

 

[TriggerFinger]

Try another (good/working) WLAN card... may be that would resolve the WLAN on/off switch issue too.

 

[customizer]

Please note, as stated above:

Two independent wireless cards were tried, yielding the same results. Both cards operate in the sense that they provide me with stable internet, but both produce the same freezing problem when used.

Please note, as not previously stated:

The device manager properly recognizes the card, so it is unlikely that it is a matter of an unrecognized card.

 

[TriggerFinger]

Seems to me you have ruled out any possibility of a defective WLAN card. I understand given you tried 2 wlan cards already. Are both wireless n cards? If yes, have you tried any wireless g cards?

I do not have any doubts about the WLAN cards being recognized or not (see my reply re: my wlan experience with my R31) as I believe the cards are recognized in Device Manager. Personally I suspect incompatibility with the WLAN cards and the BIOS (see one of my previous replies). Of course it is also possible that it could be a Windows problem or a defective WLAN card or may be a defective motherboard/WLAN slot (very unlikely - IMO). I am not sure how comfortable are you with linux as it could help narrow down the possibilities.

In linux you may configure the WLAN connection. If freeze still happens then most probably there is a problem with the hardware.