network drivers causing freeze?

[exploited_cs]

This problem has been driving me crazy the past few hours, I have no idea why this has been happening so hopefully I can get some feedback/opinions/advice. I'll try my best to explain it..it might not make sense.

It's not a major problem but it is quite annoying. When I try to open or right click a file (ex: video, zip archive, notepad, any image file), my computer freezes for a good 3-4 seconds. In the system tray I notice that the network icon looks like this ( http://xpute.com/runu/freeze.gif ) and it happens EVERY time. From my observations, this problem does not apply to exe's, folders, or certain shortcuts.

I am almost positive it's my network drivers because when I disable the NIC or start up in safe mode, the freezing is gone and I can open anything quickly. If the NIC is enabled or if I start up in safe mode with networking enabled, it comes right back. I've tried 3 network cards (onboard SiS, a linksys, and some cheapo NIC) and nothing has worked. I suppose formatting would be an easy solution but I wanted to know if anyone else has experienced this. Once again, I know it's not a huge problem but I wanted to make sure I got some advice before formatting (which I hate). My system is virus and spyware free...if you need more system specs, let me know.

Any replies are appreciated.

[commach]

just before you format the HDD, change the nic to another PCI slot and suspect your's nic is sharing resource with other device.

[glc]

It's not a NIC problem, the onboard will work fine. I've seen this before and can't remember how I fixed it - but I do remember that it was relatively simple and won't require a format - repairing or reinstalling IE may take care of it. There's a thread in Tips and Tricks with an IE repair tool.

If this is XP, have you tried a system restore?

[exploited_cs]

Originally Posted by glc If this is XP, have you tried a system restore?

Nope, but I'll check out that thread you mentioned.

[exploited_cs]

Well I ended up formatting...started installing some programs..and it happened again =( - So I'm gonna go back to Windows 2000 and see if it happens on there. Right when it happened, I uninstalled pretty much everything and the problem didn't go away.