Wireless adapter makes CPU idle temp jump 10c instantly?!?

[krazynutz]

I have a 3800 X2 oc'd to 2.5ghz with a Thermalright XP-120 heatsink. When on a wired LAN connection (at a friends house), I idle around 28c-32c and load around 46c-48c. BUT, when I throw on my Netgear USB wireless 54G adapter and hook up to the internet wirelessly (at home), my idle temps jump to 38c-42c but still top out around 46c-48c at load. WTF? It's so obviously the Netgear USB adapter that when I plug/unplug it, the cpu temp rises/falls almost instantly. No other temp (mobo, hdd, gpu) changes.

Has anyone EVER heard of something this bizarre?

The higher temps don't affect anything and I wonder if they're even accurate because my CPU usage doesn't increase/decrease with the adapter being plugged in/unplugged. I've seen on other forums that people have this same problem but no one ever responds. Hopefully someone here knows.

Thanks in advance!

 

[fishmahn]

I can tell you what I think is happening, but I don't know if there's any way to fix it. I read this was supposedly an Intel Core series problem, IIRC, but it could be something similar in your case - at least the symptoms are pretty similar.

You probably have Cool & Quiet enabled, do you? If not, then this theory is dead right now. There is/was a laptop bug that causes the CPU to be unable to enter the lower power save modes when a USB device (high speed only IIRC) was plugged in - and many laptops have webcams in their covers that are USB add-ons... go figure :roll: That caused undue battery drain, (it was called the battery life bug or something like that if you want to look for it)

Anyways, if you have C&Q enabled, and the wifi adapter has a similar effect, the idle temp would go up because its staying at 'full speed' or similar instead of slowing down and not generating as much heat.

Just a WAG since you hadn't gotten an answer yet.

Mike.