Gone Every Sixty Seconds

As they say, those who don't learn from their history are doomed to repeat
it. Five years ago I spent a couple weeks trying to get rid of an annoying
spike in my network latency that would turn up every sixty seconds.
Eventually I guess I managed to install linksys wireless software in Windows
2000 compatibility mode and disable the Wireless Zero Configuration service.

Apparently at some point this was magically fixed for me in XP because I
didn't really worry about it when I was buying a new wireless adapter and I
know I undid the linksys malarkey prior to going wired.

Anyway, this is apparently that "thing" where the services occasionally
decides to not do that recieve/transmit data stuff and goes looking for other
networks no matter how or how many times you tell it not to. It seems bloody
absurd for the ping to the gateway to ever be 900MS. I don't even know if
it's worth bothering to suggest that Microsoft put a configuration option to
stop it from polling.

OS: Vista 64-bit Home Premium
Card: WMP54G (using Ralink drivers I believe)

SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS:
If you have an ideas please let me know. I have Vista Anti-Lag and WLAN
Optimizer but they do not work for me. That in mind, here's my plan:
1) Uninstall Current Drivers, try to install XP drivers. If that works, try
VAL/WLAN Optimizer again.
2) Uninstall drivers, try linksys CD in compatibility mode. Manually install
drivers if needed. Disable WLAN Autoconfig.
3) Uninstall drivers/linksys, use Ralink installer. Try disabling
Autoconfig. Try disabling via "netsh wlan set". If WLAN Autoconfig is on, try
VAL/WLAN Optimizer again.
4) The registry has some "interval" values under hkey_local_machine,
Software, Microsoft, wlansvc. However these are binary values at "60 EA 00
00". Of course, that 60 in hex is really 96 and its the high order bits so it
doesn't make a lot of sense without documentation.

HARDWARE SOLUTIONS:
1) I have an old Windows XP box which Linksys apparently likes much better.
I am thinking that I could move the adapter over there, use a wired network
between the two computers, and bridge the connections.
Has anyone tried this, and will I need a cross over cable? I kind of think I
will but I'm not sure if it applies when one of them is basically being a
gateway.

Plus it kind of seems like throwing a second network/computer at the problem
is counter intuitive.

2) Go buy one of those WAP/Ethernet bridges they use on Xboxes to get
wireless networking. I now curse my current adapter, as I spent a couple days
looking for RPSMA connectors so I could move the antenna around. I could've
gotten one of these and stuck however much CAT5 on the end as I wanted. Has
anyone tried this on a desktop to get rid 60 second lag spike?

Anyway, there isn't any point in hoping Microsoft fixes it in a reasonable
time frame since I first encountered this particular headache in 2003. If
anyone has a solution I'm not considering let me know.

On Fri, 11 Jul 2008 15:46:12 -0700, Xpheyel
<Xpheyel@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>As they say, those who don't learn from their history are doomed to repeat
>it. Five years ago I spent a couple weeks trying to get rid of an annoying
>spike in my network latency that would turn up every sixty seconds.
>Eventually I guess I managed to install linksys wireless software in Windows
>2000 compatibility mode and disable the Wireless Zero Configuration service.
>
>Apparently at some point this was magically fixed for me in XP because I

I love bedtime stories.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...........

>didn't really worry about it when I was buying a new wireless adapter and I
>know I undid the linksys malarkey prior to going wired.
>
>Anyway, this is apparently that "thing" where the services occasionally
>decides to not do that recieve/transmit data stuff and goes looking for other
>networks no matter how or how many times you tell it not to. It seems bloody
>absurd for the ping to the gateway to ever be 900MS. I don't even know if
>it's worth bothering to suggest that Microsoft put a configuration option to
>stop it from polling.
>
>OS: Vista 64-bit Home Premium
>Card: WMP54G (using Ralink drivers I believe)
>
>SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS:
>If you have an ideas please let me know. I have Vista Anti-Lag and WLAN
>Optimizer but they do not work for me. That in mind, here's my plan:
>1) Uninstall Current Drivers, try to install XP drivers. If that works, try
>VAL/WLAN Optimizer again.
>2) Uninstall drivers, try linksys CD in compatibility mode. Manually install
>drivers if needed. Disable WLAN Autoconfig.
>3) Uninstall drivers/linksys, use Ralink installer. Try disabling
>Autoconfig. Try disabling via "netsh wlan set". If WLAN Autoconfig is on, try
>VAL/WLAN Optimizer again.
>4) The registry has some "interval" values under hkey_local_machine,
>Software, Microsoft, wlansvc. However these are binary values at "60 EA 00
>00". Of course, that 60 in hex is really 96 and its the high order bits so it
>doesn't make a lot of sense without documentation.
>
>HARDWARE SOLUTIONS:
>1) I have an old Windows XP box which Linksys apparently likes much better.
>I am thinking that I could move the adapter over there, use a wired network
>between the two computers, and bridge the connections.
>Has anyone tried this, and will I need a cross over cable? I kind of think I
>will but I'm not sure if it applies when one of them is basically being a
>gateway.
>
>Plus it kind of seems like throwing a second network/computer at the problem
>is counter intuitive.
>
>2) Go buy one of those WAP/Ethernet bridges they use on Xboxes to get
>wireless networking. I now curse my current adapter, as I spent a couple days
>looking for RPSMA connectors so I could move the antenna around. I could've
>gotten one of these and stuck however much CAT5 on the end as I wanted. Has
>anyone tried this on a desktop to get rid 60 second lag spike?
>
>Anyway, there isn't any point in hoping Microsoft fixes it in a reasonable
>time frame since I first encountered this particular headache in 2003. If
>anyone has a solution I'm not considering let me know.

Update, the following seems to work for me. I can at least ping my router
without loss.

A WMP54G v4.1 64-bit XP Driver from mr_smith_007 on the linksys forums,
installed under Vista with Vista Anti-Lag.

Obviously this is far into "YMMV" and "unsupported" territory. On the plus
side, you don't need any other network configuration software. Especially the
linksys one which still seems to be clunky and weird.

-
The Ralink installer would install the driver but the driver couldn't start
the device (code 10'd). Vista did not like the drivers from Linksys at all
and wouldn't install them via "Have Disk".

Also the registry values I mentioned are supposedly written when the WLAN
Autoconfig starts, thus editing them doesn't seem to make any difference.

-
I imagine something will screw this up eventually, so if anyone has used
Ethernet/WAP bridges with 64-bit Vista to get rid of the WLAN config lemme
know if it worked for you.