Forums mIRC Help DCC lockups

I've unsuccessfully hunted around on the internet as well as searched the mIRC boards for others with the following problem:

Some xdcc bots completely lock up my system once a DCC receive from a fast bot has been initiated--the whole system will freeze for 10 seconds, unfreeze for 3, freeze for 10, unfreeze for 3, and repeat. Closing mIRC does nothing, the only way to regain control is to Disable the Network Adapter, then Re-Enable it. I have at least 2 or 3 other friends with different computer systems that have had the exact same problem. By freeze, I mean a complete lockup, you can't use the mouse or even get to the System Manager while you are waiting for the network to respond for a small 2-3 second window. It only seems to happen on a small number of DCC servers (fast ones). The only common things I can find:

- problem seems specific to Windows XP; Windows 98 runs fine
- lock-up only occurs on very fast servers; mine starts locking up as soon as the server reaches (passes?) my maximum download speed on ADSL, around 270KB/s. Most of the other DCC servers are slower than that and never cause any problems.
- we all use the latest version of mIRC
- problem even occurs on brand new clean fresh install of WinXP, so it doesn't appear to be something to do with the software loaded.

Any ideas? I'm stumped, but it seems as if the fastest DCC servers are 'stuffing' my connection faster than it can take, and some sort of train wreck happens that locks up my system if the DCC server sends me data too fast.

Any help is appreciated, I know at least one buddy that is still running Windows 98 just so he can get mIRC to not freeze his WinXP system on DCC receives. It's EXTREMELY frustrating to say the least.

Thx

Han

Do you all have the latest drivers for your network cards?

I have a NetGear FA311 NIC, and was using the Microsoft WinXP driver (there is no WinXP driver on NetGear's site.) I did download the FA311 Driver Set v1.8 anyhow and forced WinXP to use an 'Unsigned' Driver and tested it on the same fast DCC bot.

Result: at the same point it was freezing my system before, now it simply loses connection to the internet (the transfer drops to zero, and I can't browse or anything, have to disable/enable the NIC in Network Connections.) Because of this, I'm going to buy a new (read different) NIC right away and let you know if that fixes the problem. If everything works fine after that, I think we can say "DO NOT USE NetGear FA311 with mIRC."

Thx for the quick reply,

Han

Well... I just installed a new LinkSys LNE-100TX NIC, latest WinXP drivers, went back into mIRC and downloaded from the same bot. No problems now.

So, now I know... DO NOT USE a NetGear FA311 NIC on Windows XP with mIRC!

Netgear seems to object if you use port 6667 to connect to the network's server. One of the things we suggest is trying another port to see if that solves the prob

I'm having the exact same problem with the exact same network adapter. it's gotten worse lately.

is it really the adapter that's the problem? is there any other way? i've heard it's a windows proxy server problem...

http://computing.net/windowsxp/wwwboard/forum/71027.html

i can't understand the solution provided on the microsoft page.

The only thing i can tell you is that lots of xp users with linksys or netgear, and some NIC cards report the same probs. They get 10053 disconnects, (see this thread ) or crashes with "Driver_IRQL_Not_Less_Or_Equal" error msg. (see this thread )

Updating firmware/drivers, not using port 6667, and getting rid of any so called "speed boosters" are things that have worked for them. (Those speed patches seem to be a major source of BSOD)

chynco,

That Microsoft bug report seems specifically for users of Microsoft Proxy Server v1.0... which I doubt is your problem. I'd try changing the mIRC port from 6667 to something else, as ParaBrat suggests. If that doesn't work, don't waste any more time with it, just go buy a different NIC, the LinkSys LNE-100TX I just got completely fixed this problem (plus they have newer WinXP driver support.)

Han