Windows 7 freeze when downloading

[happymatei]

hi
i just installed windows 7 today
my system spec is:
psu: 300w
e7200
5670hd ati
500gb samsung spinpoint f3
120gb old hdd
p5k se epu motherboard
4gb ddr2 800 ( 2 gbs from kinstone, 2x1gb kingmax )

it just freezes when i dl
i first thought that the psu is not enough, but my old system was with a pentium D and i think that consumed more though and i didnt have any problems
the gadget on the desktop indicated <5% use of cpu and ~20% use of ram when i last monitored it

i havent made any updates to windows or motherboard ( the support cd is not supported by the win 7 )
i updated only the graphic card

does anyone have any ideeas?

 

[happymatei]

+ also, in case it helps

i ve left the old 120 gb hdd untouched and just made 3 additional partitions from the 500gb one

i installed win 7 on one of the new partitions, to have dual boot
and the hdd i am running the applications is the 500 gb ( win 7 using it, dl files to it )

 

[COLGeek]

The 300w PSU is indeed way too small for your long-term needs. I suggest you start thinking about a quality (500w +) PSU such as a Seasonic to better serve you in the future. BTW, PSUs do wear out and break down over time.

Are you attempting to overclock anything? Also, how are you connected to the internet?

 

[happymatei]

no OC, yes i m connected to the internet

i thought since the pentium D has around twice the consumption in full load than e7200, that i will be fine ( i ran the pentium D to full load several times playing high ress games )

i will change the PSU, but i cant now, my budget was spent on the 2gb Kingstone and the 500gb samsung

 

[COLGeek]

Does your system ever lock-up when doing anything else, like gaming?

I assume you connect to your router via an ethernet cable, correct?

 

[happymatei]

yes, i get my internet through a local network

it didnt happen during games
played far cry 1 and league of legends, both with maximum settings of display and it worked flawless

 

[COLGeek]

Could also be an issue with your ethernet controller (due to insufficient power). You could try disabling your on-board network adapter and installing a stand-alone network controller if you have access to one to see if that helps. You should also update your network drivers if you haven't done so lately.

Regardless, you really do need a stronger PSU for long-term stability.

 

[happymatei]

just ran memtest 100% and it didnt find any errors
also i m currently checking the partitions for errors ( the 500hdd ) i m on the second partition atm, the first one was ok

 

[happymatei]

how can i update it, since asus didnt give support for win 7 on this motherboard
i m on 64 bits

 

[COLGeek]

Looks like your motherboard uses a Atheros L1 network controller. You may need to google for the current driver. I am unable to do so from my current location.

You can use a generic driver, not only one provided by Asus.

Good luck!

 

[happymatei]

i havent found a newer drive than the one i already have on it
the current one is from 2009 and i ve found only from <2008

 

[COLGeek]

Understood. Windows 7 is actually pretty good about keeping drivers up to date. Do you have access to a stand-alone network card?

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/lan/Atheros/AtherosL1_LAN_v2474.zip

Try this driver ^

 

[happymatei]

no
never had one either
all my motherboards had them integrated

if its a psu problem, why dont i have it when the pc is actually doing something hard like gaming?

it freezes when its almost like idle
i am 100% sure my last setup ( with the pentium D had way more consumption, since it always made the PSU run much harder - i enabled the psu to work harder when its needed )

checkdisc didnt find any errors

i m currently running hd tune to check for bads

 

[happymatei]

when i tried to dl that driver, it froze for 1 second or so
dont know if i am paranoic now

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Try disabling Task Offload. Go to Device Manager, and properties, than Advanced, and turn Task Offload off.

Try this ^

 

[happymatei]

ok, i did all of them
ps: was downgrading the driver an intention?

should i stop the hd tune scan and try to dl something bigger to see if i still have the problem? or wait for it to finish?
i m afraid i won't catch u here later and by the looks of it, the scan will last around one more hour

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Yes did you disable the taskload?

 

[happymatei]

yes, i did
what do i do next?

btw, thanks to both of you for helping me out, i really appreciate it

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

REBOOT and try downloading again.

 

[COLGeek]

Try disabling Task Offload. Go to Device Manager, and properties, than Advanced, and turn Task Offload off.

Try this ^

This is a good recommendation.

Regarding the earlier question about why other stuff works properly, power issues can have some very odd negative impacts that can be very difficult to resolve. Without a solid power foundation to work from, it can be next to impossible to figure out what is going on.

That being said, if the on-board network adapter has become defective, you are going to have to change to alternate means to connect to the net. I would suggest you check with a friend where you live to see if anyone has an adapter you can borrow for troubleshooting is area51reopen's suggestion doesn't solve the problem.

 

[happymatei]

i did exactly what you told me

and it worked! thanks a lot!
i really really appreciate your time helping me

i m just curious now, what was wrong?
was my driver bad? because i didnt install any drivers for the motherboard, i m afraid now that i might get into trouble with the other drivers too and should install them manually

i m dl-ing many items atm, trying to put stress on the pc and bandwith and see what happens

again, MANY THANKS!

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Your welcome,it's just a fix that works with that issue,i've seen it in other forums!

It's a combination of the driver and disabling the task offload that helps.

 

[happymatei]

Best answer selected by happymatei.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

This topic has been closed by Area51reopened