netgear wireless adapter causes high cpu usage

[vectorgod]

When I have my Netgear WG311v2 wireless network adapter enabled, my CPU (P4 1.8GHz) runs between 30-60% constantly. I know it keeps scanning for available wireless connections, but my laptop does that too at almost no cpu usage (with a MUCH slower CPU) with the WG511 adapter. I have installed the most up-to-date Netgear software on both machines and use it to connect them together.

On the PC that runs high CPU usage, I have Windows XP SP2 and on the laptop I have Windows XP (no SP). The Netgear software had other issues with SP2, but they fixed most of them (I think) in an update. Also, I am running McAfee VirusScan & Personal Firewall 2005 on my PC, but disabling them barely helps, if at all.

If anyone has any idea what the problem might be or how to fix it, that would be wonderful because now I have to disable it to do anything that is CPU intensive.

Thanks.

 

[Frank4d]

A few ideas:
How much RAM does the laptop have compared to the computer you are having problems with? If the one you are having trouble with has far less RAM that could be a problem.

Both computers are virus, adware and crapware clean?

Try disabling XP Wireless Zero Configuration on the SP2 computer and let your Netgear software handle the configuration. Set it to only connect to your network instead of searching for the best network.

 

[vectorgod]

The laptop has 192 MB PC100 (yes its that old) and runs fine, the PC has 512 MB PC2100 and runs poorly. Wireless Zero Config is already disabled on my PC and Netgear runs the show. I have it set to connect to my network on my PC, but it still checks for networks all the time. I think its checking for conflicting networks on the same channel. And both my computers are definitely clean of virus, adware, crapware, etc.

Processes taking most of the CPU time:
csrss.exe (Microsoft Client/Server Runtime Server Subsystem)
wlancfg5.exe (Netgear SW)
net1.exe (Netgear SW, this one pops in and out of the list about once per second, sometimes there's two of them)
net.exe (same as net1.exe)
McShield.exe (McAfee VS)

I didn't mention before, maybe this is important, I'm using my PC for Internet Connection Sharing from my LAN over the Wireless Network. I'll try disabling that and seeing what happens.

I'm going to email Netgear to see if this is something they've seen and are working on or if I'm special.

Thanks

 

[Frank4d]

Maybe try another channel on the wireless.

Or try turning off the firewall in SP2 if the McAfee is enabled.

 

[vectorgod]

Trying another channel didn't help, neither did letting it choose its own channel. The Windows firewall is set to off, and I'm using McAfee Personal Firewall. What does work is to use the utility to activate the network, then exiting the utility. Windows keeps the connection alive after I close the Netgear program and CPU usage drops into the single digits. I'd like a better solution but that will work for now. I'm almost certain there's still a conflict with the updated Netgear software/drivers and SP2.

 

[Crowley16]

which process is taking up the cpu% or does it constantly fluctuate between a few different processes...

not 100% sure why you should have net and net1 and why they should pop in and out every second, sounds a bit dodgy to me...

--------------------
Procrastinate Now!

 

[vectorgod]

csrss seems to run at arount 15%
mcshield runs around 10-15% sometimes drops really low but not much
wlancfg5 is only about 2%
net and net1 both pop in at 7% usually
whenever net and net1 pop in, my mouse and anything like video, music, games all freeze for a fraction of a second

 

[vectorgod]

I've noticed that if I close the Netgear utility, that the CPU usage drops down to a normalish value, but the mouse, etc. still skip all the time. I have to disable the adapter to get normal performance out of my PC.