Wireless adaptor causing freezes/stuttering

situX

Honorable
Dec 2, 2013
3
0
10,510
Specs -
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1
Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2500 CPU @ 3.30GHz (4 CPUs), ~3.6GHz
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti
PCI Tenda W322P+ V2.0 Wireless Adapter

Computer around ~2 years old, no other problems. Have had 3 different wireless adapters, all with the same problem.
Computer will freeze for .5-2s - causing sound to loop, mouse cant be moved, screen stays same. The adapter seems to stop working during these stutters - ping will jump up to a few thousand or just timeout.

Stutters become much more common during games - average once/minute, but can also happen outside - browsing, doing nothing, watching videos (but much less - almost non issue - once/very rarely). It definitely stabilizes outside of games.

After disabling the adapter not a single freeze happens - playing games or doing whatever. I can play an offline game while the adapter is enabled is still on and it will freeze up.

Issue occurred over 3 different adapters, and using different slots - one was a TP-link PCIE card,
- stopped working after becoming increasingly worse
the currrent is a PCI Tenda W322P+ V2.0 (i just read it is 32 bit - is that possibly an issue?)
the third was another PCI, i don't remember what it was.

drivers are all updated (equally bad before and after) , installed properly, no viruses. Temp and voltage all fine, good airflow, clean
very similiar to this, unsolved
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/42297-43-computer-freezes-stutters-bursts-wireless-card

What do :(
 
Solution
If all adapters have had this issue, perhaps it is actually your wireless signal that may have interference that can be worse with applications that need greater bandwidth.

I would download and install a free simple wireless analyzer inSSIDer from HERE just to check your signal and other neighboring signals. Look under the network tab and see what signals show up by channel and strength. Test in your normal computer location and also if possible very close to your wireless router.

Post your results. You may need to add an AP or re-position your adapter antenna with an extender cable. Or perhaps change your radio channel if there are others on that same channel.

RealBeast

Titan
Moderator
If all adapters have had this issue, perhaps it is actually your wireless signal that may have interference that can be worse with applications that need greater bandwidth.

I would download and install a free simple wireless analyzer inSSIDer from HERE just to check your signal and other neighboring signals. Look under the network tab and see what signals show up by channel and strength. Test in your normal computer location and also if possible very close to your wireless router.

Post your results. You may need to add an AP or re-position your adapter antenna with an extender cable. Or perhaps change your radio channel if there are others on that same channel.
 
Solution

situX

Honorable
Dec 2, 2013
3
0
10,510
It would make sense, because the issue became much worse after i moved house - no changes other than location. A neighbours signal seems to be sitting in one channel band, but briefly stretching out wider ~1s/30s. I wonder if that may be the problem?

http://imgur.com/a/ZGIQp


I'll move the channel band to 11+/- 2 and see if that fixes it, should stay out of range of anything the neighbours' extend into.

 

RealBeast

Titan
Moderator
Yes, change your channel to 11. That other network is channel bonding (using a 40MHz wide channel) and must be close to you as it is as strong as your signal. Your signal strength is very poor -- should be more like -50 range. Can you move your router closer to your computer?

When the neighbor is actually using the wireless 1 and 6 are useless and 11 will be slightly impacted. You may need to consider going to 5GHz if that does not fix the issues.
 

situX

Honorable
Dec 2, 2013
3
0
10,510
Yeah the router is pretty far, which i guess made it susceptible to being pretty screwed. But the change totally worked!!! Had no idea that just a little interference could make the whole computer feel like it was breaking apart.

Thankyou!!