Intel 82577 LLC Gigabit Browsers hang freeze, msn messenger hang freeze etc.

[idata]

Hello everyone.

I am currently owning a very sweet notebook, Sony Vaio Z Series VPCZ12.

Ever since I bought it, there was an issue with random freezes, lock ups and such.

Those freezes would happen 4 hours after boot, sometimes 10 hours...

I have basically diagnosed the whole pc, I have all by myself tested different things.

Finally after a month of testing the notebook everyday for like 10 hours, I realized where the problem was.

The freezes are caused by my network adapter. And yes, I do have the latest driver for it.

To be more specific, what happens is:

1.) When opening a chat window in msn messenger, it first shows a blank, white window for 3-5 seconds, and then it becomes normal.

2.) While browsing internet, the screen freezes...hangs...the browser is not working good at all...

So what have I noticed?

During the freeze period, i went to the Resource Monitor, and checked the network diagnostics...

And what I found out is, that during the lock up's/freezes, the TCP connections have latencies between 250 and 400ms! HAHA! Gotcha!

(ATTACHING A SCREEN!)

http://img837.imageshack.us/i/delayethernetadapter.jpg/ Uploaded with http://imageshack.us ImageShack.us

What I have also checked is, when the freezes occured, I disabled the network card in the device manager, and enabled it again, no freezes for a next couple of hours!

My question is, what could be a cause of this?

In addition, it has all been performed on a clean OS right after a format.

[vt5]

how's the result when you try the wireless connection?

[idata]

Wireless works normally...

[Mark_H_Intel]

I did some checking and there are no known driver bugs that would cause your issue. Maybe the network connection is being momentarily starved for system resources. Resetting the adapter like you did would probably clear things up temporarily just like you saw happen. Try increasing the receive buffers to 1024 to see if the freezes stop. If the system is not processing receive requests fast enought, then increasing this configuration item might help.

You should also look at the other end of the Ethernet cable. Where are you connecting the other end of the cable? If you are using a hub, can you try connecting to a switch? Is your switch updated with the latest firmware?

You might want to contact Sony support directly to see if they are aware of any system issues.

I hope this helps.

Mark H

[idata]

Thank you for the different advices, well the internet connection is a Broedband 100mbit connection, and I have got the direct cable in my room, which the pc is s connected to ( the hub is somewhere down in the basement of the block of flats ).

My buffers were set as default to 256, I have first increased it to 512...and tested, didnt notice any change really.

Thereafter I have increased the buffers to 1024, and well...the PC hung after 12 hours of use...three times. ( I have tested it for three days ).

It seems like, when the connection exceeds a certain amount of packets...it starts hanging. ( This is my assumption only ).

And why I think so? Well, when the connection hung, I just went to the Adapter settings and changed the buffer to the same value ( it caused the adapter to semi restart, I say semi, cause it does not really restart in the same way as when you disable the adapter and reenable it again, BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY the AMOUNT OF PACKETS ZEROED in the local connection details.

After that, the freezes stopped immediately.

Do you have any other suggestions about options that could cause this in the adapter?

I see that there are many different options in the adapter. For example:

- interrupt moderation is enabled

- Large Send Offload (IPv4) is enabled

- Large Send Offload (IPv6) is enabled

- Log Link State Event is enabled

- IN THE PERFORMANCE OPTIONS:

- Adaptive Inter-Fram Spacing is disabled

- Flow Control Rx & Tx is enabled

- Interrupt Moderation Rate is set to Adaptive

- Receive Buffers is set to 1024 ( we have discussed this earlier)

- Transmit Buffers is set to 512

- IN TCP/IP Offloading OPTIONS:

- IPv4 Checksum Offload is enabled

- TCP Checksum Offload (IPv4) is enabled

- TCP Checksum Offload (IPv6) is enabled

- UDP Checksum Offload (IPv4) is enabled

- UDP Checksum Offload (IPv6) is enabled

Thanks for help

I would really appreciate if I could solve this issue...my other PC works perfectly on this internet ( I have set it to work for over 80 hours to test if it would get freezes, and it has not gotten any ).

I have researched all possible articles on different forums in internet related to this issue. In one of them, someone said, that I might need to disable DHCP on this ethernet adapter, and then I need to set the IP settings static (manually).

Do you think it might be worth a try?

Thank you very much

Tom

[idata]

UPDATE TO THE ABOVE:

Today I have been downloading a big file from a server ( 1.2 GB from www.lol-europe.com )

And just when I started downloading, and opened a chat window on MSN messenger, then opened my webbrowser...immidiate freezes ( the pc has been on for no more than 10 minutes ).

So...it seems like, it might be something with my adapter settings?

[idata]

For anyone who experiences freezes in their Sony Vaio Z Series laptops...

and I am talking about freezes during which, the keyboard input appears 5 seconds after typed...mouse jumps on the screen ( no fluency ) etc.

Open the Local Area Connection ( the active LAN connection ).

Go to the Properties

Untick the box " Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6) ".

Finished.

This is a solution, after which my Sony Vaio Z Series stopped hanging, I kept on testing it, and it works. My laptop is powered on 12 hours a day for the last two weeks, and no freezes occur.

I hope this is useful to people.

Bye!