Intel 5100 AGN persistent BSOD on T400 Windows 8 x64

[pointyhat]

Getting the odd blue screen on my T400 with Intel 5100 AGN copying lots of files over WiFi. It's NETw5s64.sys that is blowing which is the WiFi by the looks.

It's been doing it on Windows 7 x64 Pro beforehand.

Have tried Lenovo System Update provided drivers and Intel latest from their web site to no avail - issue persists.

Tempted to throw Windows 8.1 x64 off MSDN on it and see what happens. Failing that will grab an Atheros card and stick it in.

Before I do, has anyone seen this or is there a solution as I really don't want to move a mountain to solve it if possible?

[bill bolton]

is there a solution....

That sort of problem shows up sometimes (not just on 5100 cards) with flakey WiFi routers. What router are you using?

Cheers,

Bill B.

[precip9]

I have noticed a similar problem with an X61s running Windows 8. It occurs with Intel Proset 16.1.1, but not prior. Symptom: system freeze, no blue screen.

Try rolling back the Intel driver.

[pointyhat]

Thanks for replies.

I have a Draytek router. It occurs on three different networks plus I wouldn't expect a router to be able to BSOD windows remotely - that's a pretty big FAIL.

Have tried three driver versions since to no avail.

[precip9]

A defective wireless card can cause the problem. It is related to driver latency. The driver waits for the card to report a state. The allowed driver latency, the amount of time the driver can keep control, is a number in microseconds. If the driver never gets the report, it never lets go, so the other drivers "pile up." A "watchdog timer" loop then triggers the blue screen.

This most commonly happens with a bad hard disk. The disk can't report a state, the disk driver holds control. The first thing the user notices is that the mouse freezes, followed shortly by the bluescreen.

The appropriate diagnostic is to replace the wireless card. You don't need to change the brand, and the T400 will not allow another card that is not on the whitelist specific to the model.

[pointyhat]

I'm not 100% sure. Some googling seems to show that there have been numerous BSOD problems with Centrino cards that Intel. Apparently lots of unhappy people.

Not only that no device driver should panic the system - this particular STOP suggests the driver or DMA is writing over kernel RAM somewhere which is definitely a firmware or driver bug.

I'm going to patch the whitelist in the BIOS (pretty easy with a hex editor) and stick an Atheros card in and see what happens.