USB NIC shuts down when I play World of Warcraft

My problem has me seriously stumped. If you can figure out what is wrong you're a certified genius.


Specs: Abit kn9-SLI, AMD 4200x2, BFG 8800 GTS, XP SP2
Card: D-Link DWL-G122 b1 Wireless-G USB Card AND d-link 120+ (same problem with both cards)
ROUTER: Standard linksys wireless B/G too lazy to get model number cause I know it doesn't matter...
MB Chipset: nForce 570 w/SLI
Firewall: None, all port forwarding updated.
Other USB devices: MS corded keyboard and mouse (not wireless)
Drivers: I've updated and uninstalled and reinstalled every driver related to networking.. all other drivers including nForce, video, etc are up to date.

PROBLEM: My USB wireless card (D-link DWL-G1222 b1 with RT2500) loses power (lights go off) and I lose all connectivity at random times when I play WoW. For some reason I can't understand, this only happens when I play World of Warcraft. Windows still shows the wireless network connection has connected and with good signal strength but there is no dava transfering and the lights on the device are off. The normal way to get the card to reconnect without restarting is to "stop" the device using the "safely remove hardware" option and then to reconnect it. This method, however, sometimes doesn't work and I'm forced to restart and plug it into different USB ports. I'm desperate here, any advise would be helpful. I've updated every possible driver I could think of and still nothing. The exact same problem occurs when I use my back-up d-link 120+. Problem occurs with or without CAM enabled, but I don't have a laptop anyway. I've also noticed that the adapter will now instantly shut down as soon as I load the game. Even before I try logging on it will have shut down.

Unfortunately, a cable at this time is not feasible so I'm stuck with wireless.

How long have you had that installation of windows for?
Windows gets messed up after a while or after you've installed/uninstalled a failry good number of programs on it. As a result it starts acting weird after some time does crazy stuff and causing various problems like yours. If you have had your windows installation for some time then it may be a good idea to re-install it.

However, it not like erasing anything or re-partitioning and re-installing drivers, etc. Just pop the windows CD in while in windows and choose to upgrade. It will re-install windows on top of the current installation just like a fresh copy. The good thing is that it won't require you install of your current programs. Everything (at least in my 3 cases) was installed as before but with no problems. It was like I just installed windows and kept my PC as before with all programs intact.

Otherwise, get a new wireless adaptor.

Another guy on this forum was having a similar problem, in that his USB card would lose link when his CPU usage would get high.

So here's a little test you can run.

1. Get a benchamark program that will run your cpu at 80+ percent. Prime95 is a good one.

2. With nothing else running, stream some music using Winamp through shoutcast for a while. This will generate a good amount of traffic. If everything seems fine after 10-15 mins and it doesn't lose link then proceed to the next step.

3. Run Prime95(Go to options and choose "stress test"). Check the task manager and make sure CPU usage is up. Sit back and see what happens.

Let me know how it goes.

Try using a powered usb hub between your adapter and your pc....maybe your usb power supply drops below an acceptable level with that much traffic/cpu usage....worth a try...simple solutions are sometimes the best...