Tip for wireless networks and lag spikes

from Demigod Forums

I was doing some investigating into my connection earlier today, as I noticed most games I played would judder, get hit by lag spikes. I monitored my connection and saw I was getting a lag spike every minute like clockwork (1000ms ping+ for about a second). After some research, I discovered this was due to Windows polling for nearby wireless networks. I hadn´t noticed it in other games as this is the only P2P game I play at the mo, other games tend to smooth that kind of interference out.

If you are running wireless network, it may be worth checking that you have the service "Wireless Zero Configuration" disabled. To do this make sure you are running your wireless network on your wireless cards drivers/software (not through the XP/Vista interface).

Go to Control Panel -> Admin Tools -> Services. Find Wireless Zero Configuration and right click and go to stop. If you are happy to, you can also go to the properties and set it to disabled, so it won`t turn on, on reboot.

Hopefully, this can help some people get a smoother experience. I haven´t noticed any problems so far with it off.

1,175 views 8 replies
Reply #1 from Demigod Forums Top

I'm having the same problem as you but i can't find Wireless Zero Configuration(using Vista).

Reply #2 from Demigod Forums Top

Hmmm, I guess it may just be a XP service, I don´t run Vista.


Searched on google but brought nothing up, maybe they changed it.

Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion
Reply #3 from Demigod Forums Top

in Win7, i think the service is called WLAN AutoConfig (atleast that's the service with a description that fits the bill), so i'd see if it's called that in Vista.

Reply #4 from Demigod Forums Top

yes it is called WLAN AutoConfig in Vista but as soon as i turn it off my wireless connection is disabled.

Reply #5 from Demigod Forums Top

Have you installed your wireless card drivers from the manufacturer and switched over to the manufacturers software. You HAVE to do this, or you will lose connection.

After playing over the weekend, this has made a HUGE difference to my in game experience. Nearly every game is lag free, it doesn't affect the 30min hell of staring at the lobby screen to actually get into a game! :p

Reply #6 from Demigod Forums Top

i already have installed the lastest drivers from the manufacturer(D-Link DWA-160 rev A)and it still doesn't work.

Reply #8 from Demigod Forums Top

If you use wireless networks, it's strongly recommended to test your connection with some ping test tools.

There are many ping tools in the internet, just download one and do a ping test.

(I use the Ping Tester http://www.pingtester.net/ trial version to test my connection)

You don't need to ping an internet address, you can just ping your router IP.(like 192.168.11.1)

Keep pinging for 2~3 minutes, the reply time should be very stable, like <10 ms.

if you see some timeout or >1000 ms every 60 or 70 seconds when pinging,

your connection was influenced by the MS wireless connection auto-check bug.

The bug can be solved by many methods, depends on your OS and wireless network hardware.

Just Google "wireless spike every 60 seconds" , and you will find many answers for it.

In my case, I need to uninstall my Vista wireless card driver, re-install the XP version driver(use compatibility mode),

and run the Vista Anti-Lag software to make the connection spike disappear.

Hope it is helpful...