Booting and Shutting Down Issues

[sb14blue]

I have a custom laptop with an Intel MGM45WU motherboard. A couple of weeks ago, my wireless adapter died. I replaced the adapter with an exact model. The new wireless adapter works, however I am having issues booting up and shutting down the laptop. When I shut down the laptop, it does not shut down completely. Windows shuts down and the monitor turns off, but everything else continues to run. To completely shut down, I have to unplugged the laptop and remove the battery. When I try to reboot, I receive a "ME is Initializing" message after the BIOS flash and then it hangs. If I unplugged the the laptop and remove the battery again, it reboots without any issues and Windows starts normally. This issue happens about 50% of the time. A couple of days ago, I reinstalled Windows hoping this would solve the issue. It did not. All of my drivers including the wireless adapter are up to date. Can anyone help me with this? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Smoove910]

Complete system specs would be helpful... i.e. laptop model #, which OS, etc...

 

[sb14blue]

My laptop does not have a model number. It was a custom build.

- Intel MGM45WU Motherboard
- Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
- Intel Core 2 Duo T9900 3.0Ghz
- 4GB RAM DDR2
- 320GB SATA HD

The wireless adapter I replaced, which started this whole mess was an Intel 5100 Mini WiFi N-Card. Let me know if you need any other specs.

 

[paul878]

If the 5100 you add in started this mess, then take it out and see if you still have that problem.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

This sounds like a BIOS/ACPI conflict with the new wireless adapter. Try clearing CMOS and in BIOS "Load Optimized Defaults". You may even want to look into a BIOS update.

 

[Steltek]

"ME is Initializing" probably refers to the Intel Management Engine (part of their vPro remote access capability). I'd try to download an updated driver for this from the Intel website.

 

[sm625]

Check all your intel management engine / AMT settings in your bios. You could post screenshots, or just start tinkering until you find it. Your bios must have gotten reset at some point and some AMT setting got borked in the process. It happens on my desktop when bios settings revert to defaults.

 

[nature1ders]

I'll help you out here

Go on ebay and search for AR5BHB116

If you review this article Atheros AR5BHB116 you'll see it's the same chip as the Bigfoot Networks Killer Wireless-N 1102 which is a highly regarded wifi adapter. This version I tell you about is an electronic sample but I have 3 and they operate so much better than my old Intel 6300 did.

You can download the drivers on Atheros.cz Qualcomm Atheros AR5B116 aka AR5BHB116 10.0.0.75 (08-01-2012)

Anyways the thing supports 2ghz and 5ghz and has never given me a problem had it a year now. It's dirt cheap too =S

 

[sb14blue]

Thanks to everyone for your advice. The first thing I did was set the defaults in BIOS. This did not help. After that I updated the BIOS, but that also did not work. I finally removed the wireless adapter and bingo, everything is back to normal. Does anyone have any ideas as to what went wrong? I am was considering buying a USB wireless adapter, but nature1ders adapter looks like that might be a better route. Does anyone else have any recommendations. Thanks again for everyone's advice.

 

[sb14blue]

My motherboard also has ports for the mini PCI-e and the half mini PCI-e. Is there a preference?