Windows7 freezes upon LAN connection

Question

Windows 7 64-bit freezes whenever there is a LAN connection to my desktop PC. My PC has a Core 2 Quad processor, 4GB RAM and an NVIDIA GeForce 9600GT 1GB.

The symptoms are as follows:

1. When another computer in my LAN network tries to access some files on the problematic PC, it works properly for about ten seconds and then eternally freezes. (mouse cursor also freezes)
2. I have tried setting up a PS3 media server on this PC to stream music and videos; my PS3 can read the files for a moment, say around ten seconds, then my PC freezes. This freeze also crashes the network and everything. It doesn't unfreeze no matter how long I wait.
3. During these freezes, even my mouse cursor is frozen when I move the mouse. I can't do anything, including opening Task Manager since the PC no longer receives any input. The only thing I can do is to push the restart button.
4. My Internet connection works well.
5. The LAN connection between other computers not involving the problematic PC seems to work well.
6. All devices (PC, notebook, PS3) are connected via the same wireless router. At this point, I think the router has nothing to do with this problem.

I have had this problem for a long time. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Answer 1

http://superuser.com/ - stack overflow is for programming questions, perhaps we can help you write your own LAN driver?

otherwise, it sounds like your network driver is dodgy. does this problem ever happen when there is no network? because I have regularly had this problem when a Harddrive was failing too. but it sounds like its the LAN card. try to update the driver, see if you can get a driver directly from the site of the LAN card's maker. (or your motherboard's maker if it's built in)

you could also try rolling back the driver, I had my LAN working fine, then windows update installed a busted version that caused the same problems, rolling back the driver fixed it.