Laptop freezes when using two PCMCIA cards

Hello group!

I have an old Asus F7400 laptop with a PII processor running Windows XP
SP2. The laptop has two PCMCIA adapters (Texas Instruments PCI-1220 CardBus
Controller). One of them is being used for a long time with a network card
(Xircom CardBus Ethernet II 10/100) without any problems. For the other
one, I recently bought a two ports USB 2.0 card (Conceptronic CSP480C2) for
connecting an external storage device and/or a digital camera. However,
about 1 minute after I plug any USB device to one of the USB ports, the
computer just freezes and nothing else happens until I remove the newtork
card. I have already checked for updates of the drivers of all the related
components, but that only confirmed that all the drivers being used are up
to date.

Besides buying a decent computer, does anyone have any other suggestions
or ideas about what the problem might be and how (if) it can be solved?

Thanks in advance,
Jorge.

Jorge Seixal wrote:
> Hello group!
>
> I have an old Asus F7400 laptop with a PII processor running Windows XP
> SP2. The laptop has two PCMCIA adapters (Texas Instruments PCI-1220 CardBus
> Controller). One of them is being used for a long time with a network card
> (Xircom CardBus Ethernet II 10/100) without any problems. For the other
> one, I recently bought a two ports USB 2.0 card (Conceptronic CSP480C2) for
> connecting an external storage device and/or a digital camera. However,
> about 1 minute after I plug any USB device to one of the USB ports, the
> computer just freezes and nothing else happens until I remove the newtork
> card. I have already checked for updates of the drivers of all the related
> components, but that only confirmed that all the drivers being used are up
> to date.
>
> Besides buying a decent computer, does anyone have any other suggestions
> or ideas about what the problem might be and how (if) it can be solved?
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Jorge.

It's either Bios, or you're going to have to live with it. This is
pretty much your only shot, though you may be able to get joy by trying
a different brand of Network card or usb2 card.

Asus' f74 webpages.

http://support.asus.com/download/dow...Language=en-us

Latest Bios image
http://dlsvr01.asus.com/pub/ASUS/nb/f7400/fa-1113a.zip

Bios upgrade utility
http://dlsvr01.asus.com/pub/ASUS/nb/flash/phlash.zip

Extract these archives

Read the readme that's bundled with phlash.exe.


BIOS Flashing Steps
================================================== =========================
1: Make a DOS boot diskette without autoexec.bat and config.sys files.
Copy the PHLASH.EXE, PLATFORM.BIN, and unzipped BIOS
image(ex.0404.ROM) files to this diskette.

2: Turn the system off, then boot the system using the boot diskette
you just created. Then type
PHLASH/MODE=3 0404.ROM(say if you wanna to update to rev. 0404)
and press [ENTER].

3: It will now update the flash BIOS. If flash memory has been
successfully programmed, it will ask you to press any key to power
off
the system. If the system does not off, turn the power off then on.


4: Assuming that you have successfully flashed the BIOS. After the
system
reboots, hit [F2] to enter the CMOS Setup. At this point, go to
"Load Setup Defaults" field at "Exit" sub-menu. Then save and exit
Setup.
If screen resolution has shrunk after you restart, please reset your

display resolution to 1024*768 and color to 16 bit.
"


Note:
When they say dos bootable disk, they usually mean it. You may have to
borrow a machine with win98 to create the diskette.

Alternately, use this utility to create the diskette.

http://motherboards.mbarron.net/download/drdflash.exe

On 30 Nov 2006 21:47:15 -0800, paulmd@efn.org wrote:

<snip>

Hi paulmd@efn.org!

I'll do as you suggest and try to update the BIOS in the coming days to
see if that solves the problem.

Thank you ver much for your suggestion.
Jorge.

Jorge Seixal wrote:
> On 30 Nov 2006 21:47:15 -0800, paulmd@efn.org wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
> Hi paulmd@efn.org!
>
> I'll do as you suggest and try to update the BIOS in the coming days to
> see if that solves the problem.
>
> Thank you ver much for your suggestion.
> Jorge.

Let us know whether or not it works.

"Jorge Seixal" <not@home.yet> wrote in message
news:11obt6tc9k3yk.nj0kymcrtve5$.dlg@40tude.net
> Hello group!
>
> I have an old Asus F7400 laptop with a PII processor running
> Windows XP SP2. The laptop has two PCMCIA adapters (Texas Instruments
> PCI-1220 CardBus Controller). One of them is being used for a long
> time with a network card (Xircom CardBus Ethernet II 10/100) without
> any problems. For the other one, I recently bought a two ports USB
> 2.0 card (Conceptronic CSP480C2) for connecting an external storage
> device and/or a digital camera. However, about 1 minute after I plug
> any USB device to one of the USB ports, the computer just freezes and
> nothing else happens until I remove the newtork card. I have already
> checked for updates of the drivers of all the related components, but
> that only confirmed that all the drivers being used are up to date.
>
> Besides buying a decent computer, does anyone have any other
> suggestions or ideas about what the problem might be and how (if) it
> can be solved?
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Jorge.

My first thought would be to use an USB connection to your network or
DSL/Cable modem and or router. As it seems like you can't have both
Ethernet and USB Cardbus running at the same time.

--
Bill