USB WiFi Freezing Computer

[CyberPickle]

Recently without me changing any settings in Windows and the bios i have been having problems with my PC freezing when it gets to the login page.

 

After disconnecting all my USB devices and reconnecting them one at a time i found out that it was the USB WiFi that was the problem.

 

I can boot into windows when it is disconnected and use my PC normally, but when it is plugged back in it shows the connected to WiFi icon and freezes which requires a restart to continue to use the PC.

 

I am using:

 

Windows 8.1

4770K

8GB Ram

Gigabyte Z87M-D3H Motherboard (latest BIOS installed)

120GB Samsung SSD

1TB WD HDD

 

As with the BIOS and Windows, none of the hardware has been changed lately and it seems to have developed this problem seemingly from nowhere.

 

if any of you have any suggestions as to why this is happening it would be greatly appreciated. 

[RelentlessAF]

You could try uninstalling the driver for the wi-fi adapter and reinstall it. It may have become corrupted which can happen seemingly out of nowhere, give that a shot and let me know if it works.

[Leonius]

also check weather the driver works well with windows 8 I've heard of issues that windows 8 has with some drivers...

[CyberPickle]

After removing the drivers and re-connecting the USB WiFi, the PC didn't freeze and continued to work as usual (without internet of course).

 

When i installed the latest drivers from the Netgear website (made specially for windows 8.1 compatibility) which i used my laptop to get it all seemed to work fine until i connected to a WiFi connection, then the screen lost connection and all peripherals became un-responsive (i know this because i have a Bluetooth keyboard that wont light up the caps lock button without receiving data from the PC).

 

I then tried to use the USB WiFi on my laptop and it is working fine and i am actually using it right now to write this. Both devices are using windows 8.1 with hardly any software installed apart from things like steam and origin.

 

So i'm assuming that there is a conflict with a setting or piece of software somewhere on my desktop but i have no idea where to start looking.

[Leonius]

After removing the drivers and re-connecting the USB WiFi, the PC didn't freeze and continued to work as usual (without internet of course).

 

When i installed the latest drivers from the Netgear website (made specially for windows 8.1 compatibility) which i used my laptop to get it all seemed to work fine until i connected to a WiFi connection, then the screen lost connection and all peripherals became un-responsive (i know this because i have a Bluetooth keyboard that wont light up the caps lock button without receiving data from the PC).

 

I then tried to use the USB WiFi on my laptop and it is working fine and i am actually using it right now to write this. Both devices are using windows 8.1 with hardly any software installed apart from things like steam and origin.

 

So i'm assuming that there is a conflict with a setting or piece of software somewhere on my desktop but i have no idea where to start looking.

have you tried weather you can find some chrash dump files? also maybe the driver is interfering with your bluetooth keyboard... try to use another keyboard maybe

[CyberPickle]

I think i'll probably just leave it for now. I was always going to upgrade to a WiFi PCI-E card but just haven't gotten around to it yet. I would run a cable but to get where my computer is would require a very long cable and since i have several items that require internet in that area it just makes more sense in this case to leave it wireless even if it doesn't give me the best performance.

 

Thanks for the help but getting it working seems to be more hassle than it's worth, I'll probably try it again after i reformat when i change to a bigger drive.