Odd problem: The wifi card deactivates itself

System: Windows Vista ultimate x64
Laptop: Zepto Znote 6214W
Wifi card: Intel Wireless ABG 3945

The Problem:
Sometimes (maybe during high-load, I'm not sure) my wifi card disables itself during use for no apparent reason. It does not enable itself again either, even when I try to force it to do so. I have a switch on the laptop that can turn the wifi on or off, but using that switch does nothing at all when this occurs.

I have tried both the latest drivers from intels website and the drivers from Zeptos ftp, without getting rid of the problem.

The only thing I've found that helps is rebooting the laptop.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

/Adam

 

What happens if you right-click on the wireless icon in the system tray and choose 'repair'?

 

Interesting... my HP dv6000 has the same problem; it is caused by the proximity of the internal components such as RAM and GPU to the wireless card. After ~60hrs runtime, the wireless craps out due to heat damage to the chip. Your problem could be caused by something very similar.

 

over heating?

 

Interesting

I didn't know that!!

 

I have a 3945 in a new laptop and it does get pretty dang hot. One thing you could do is to bring up the configuration panel for the 3945 and set the power management to 'max battery' instead of letting Windows choose the setting. On mine it seems to cool it down without affecting the signal strength, although it might just be my imagination. Something to try, anyway.

 

I'm not really sure what settings you are referring to. I have changed some for the card though, and will see if it helps.

I'll also take a look inside if there's any dust by the wifi card.

It is strange though because my laptop is much much cooler nowadays since I undervolted it.

 

Click on the wifi icon in the systray to bring up the connection status panel, then "properties", then "configure". That gets you to the 3945 configuration panel. Power management is one of the options in the little scroll box. This is XP by the way, dunno about Vista but I'd guess it's the same?

 

None of the tips have worked so far, and I don't think it's heat related since my laptop is very cool nowadays, and the wifi wont work again without a reboot no matter how long I wait (the card should cool down when it's off and start working again).

Anyone?

 

Who is managing your network, Vista or another application?

 

64bit drivers are not very common. Have you tried the drivers from Intel?

I have seen heat become a problem, but mainly with routers though, where torrent is used.

 

Vista

I have the latest drivers from intel, and have also tried earlier drivers.

 

Do you have zonealarm?

 

Nope

I use the windows firewall and NOD32 anti-virus. It's happended with three completely different routers at different locations.

 

Ok I don't think this suggestion have been made clearly...so just to be sure. Get into ur "Device Manager"---Right click on the "My Computer" icon, select "Properties", then "Device Manager"...I believe that's how u get into it on Vista...Select Hardware, look for ur network card and right click on it and choose properties...and look for similar options like what i've attached. I know u use Vista but I don't so just look for those two similar options and make the obvious educated decision so that ur card doesn't shut off by the Operating System.

 

I still haven't found any solution to work. Does anyone have any new ideas? There seems to be other people who has the same problem, but neither have found a way to fix it

 

I feel sad to hear you are still turning off and on your laptop to recover internet.

Next time you get this issue, try to do an ipconfig/release followed by an ipconfig/renew, and tell me what happens.

 

is it off in the bios? (by default)

 

Update:
I've tried the following:

Have the latest router firmware
Turned off UPnP on the router (have heard it helps)
Tried a registry tweak adding "DhcpConnDisableBcastFlagToggle" with value "1" to the NIC registry.
Turned off all energy saving options for the NIC (network interface controller)
Tried several different drivers for the NIC (currently using the latest)
Tried several different options in the configuration for the NIC
Turned off IPv6

None of this has has any effect. I'm still having the same problem.

-It is not off in BIOS
-The wireless card deactivates itself, so IP renew/refresh doesn't work either.

 

Vista

Anyway I solved it!

The trick was to deactivate Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-interface (a hidden network driver in the device manager)

 

The problem has returned.. Shortly after my last post it disabled itself again.

I tried reformatting the laptop, which didn't help either, and I even replaced the 3945 card with a brand new one but it still doesn't work!