MP81 Posted October 7, 2006 Share Posted October 7, 2006 Hi, I have this odd recurring problem with my computer. I finally got cable internet a few months ago, and since I had dial up, the nVidia NAM drivers didn't screw anything up, until I got cable when it corrupted downloads and limited external (PCI) NIC/WNIC cards to a 200 kbps download speed (though they worked at 1 mbps on the same site in a different computer). So I reinstalled Windows (though I didn't reformat, because I cannot afford to lose all of what is on my drive). So, Windows is installed, and I don't install the NAM drivers because they suck, and it's faster on all cards and doesn't corrupt downloads, but, X-Chat couldn't stay connected, and it was really annoying. So, I changed the MTU settings in the windows registry to match what was in the router setup, and it seemed to help (though it does disconnect still, sometimes it's good though). Anyways, it seems, ever since I validated Windows, I have this odd recurring problem. It usually is happening or happens when I wake up to get on the computer (I leave it on, this is like 2-3 day periods of recurrance), or get home from school. The computer gets real slow, I can't use the internet (though it works everywhere else), and no windows application will work unless I close a program or something (used to be that I had to close Crazy Browser which was always on, and I think if I close IE7 now, it should be the same result (next)), then they would work. However, I still would have no sound, the driver randomly goes away. It is very strange. Now, two days ago, this problem occured, so I restarted, like always (which fixes it, until the next time), but this time, the computer just hung on the post screen. And it said my HDD was 137 GB instead of 250 GB, and just sat there... So I got upset, turned it off and went to school. When I got home, I started it up, and it was working again. This problem is very strange, and scares me a bit. I'd actually rather have a computer not working at all then one that works randomly... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparda Posted October 8, 2006 Share Posted October 8, 2006 It MAY be a hardware fault or some sort, try using a live Linux distrabution for a few hours and see what happens. More likly it's your ISP ripping you off. I would call them and say "My Internet connection isn't working properly" (esentialy) they will (eventualy) respond by saying some thing to the effect of "we juted tryed to connect to you (wtf is that supposed to mean?!), and it's fine" and you will probably find all your porblems have gone becasue your ISP stopped throteling your bandwidth. It may not be the case, but it's always a posability, but if it is the case, this will probably last between a day and a month and then it wil start again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MP81 Posted October 8, 2006 Author Share Posted October 8, 2006 Hmm, oh, forgot to say that before I reinstalled windows, I don't recall the connection dropping in the IRC app... :? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaKo Posted October 8, 2006 Share Posted October 8, 2006 ...More likly it's your ISP ripping you off. I would call them and say "My Internet connection isn't working properly" (esentialy) they will (eventualy) respond by saying some thing to the effect of "we juted tryed to connect to you (wtf is that supposed to mean?!*), and it's fine" and you will probably find all your porblems have gone becasue your ISP stopped throteling your bandwidth. It may not be the case, but it's always a posability, but if it is the case, this will probably last between a day and a month and then it wil start again. Are you fucking high sparda?! What in christs name are you on about? Looking and whats been said, ie HDD's being reported at the wrong size, something critical looks fubar'd. How old is this machine? Whats the hardware specs? What version of windows is it running? What the hell is "Crazy Browser"? Desktop or Laptop? Have you got the latest drivers for everything? Have you done a anti-virus/malware/rootkit scan? Are you using a firewall? Have you gone into the network adaptor hardware settings and made sure there not all screwed up? Have you taken the whole thing apart, carefully cleaned out the dust/shit and reassembled it? EXACTLY what have you changed in the registry and how? It could be that there is a bad driver in the mix which is causing the problem. Run a linux liveCD for a bit and see if you get the same problem. If you do, looks like the hardware is shot. If linux is fine, you need to install the drivers from the manafacturer, NOT the drivers from windows update. *It means they bring up your connection on computer at there end, ping it or run a tracert and can see some kinda response from your end. When i was working for an ISP we used to get idiots who couldn't configure a PC properly and rang us to say we were shit, it was all our fault etc. You could ping the customer and see that everything to the CPE was fine, and that the problem lay with the last section of the connection. Usually the bit between the chair and the keyboard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparda Posted October 8, 2006 Share Posted October 8, 2006 Are you fucking high sparda?! What in christs name are you on about? No... well, may be, but American ISPs have been knowen to do that, and if you call them and tell them it's not working properly they will get scared and stop throteling your traffic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaKo Posted October 8, 2006 Share Posted October 8, 2006 Are you fucking high sparda?! What in christs name are you on about? No... well, may be, but American ISPs have been knowen to do that, and if you call them and tell them it's not working properly they will get scared and stop throteling your traffic. He's connected to a router... which means that his connection to the router is the problem, and not the wan connection to the ISP. This indicates a problem with the windows network driver, not some crazed conspiracy that the ISP is throttleing you. And really, what ISP would throttle you to 200kps? And also, when people say its only 200kps, is that when you run a internet speed test or the actual speed its connected at? Because you'll connect to your router/modem at 100mps with ethernet, but home connections are not that fast. So you do get people who run a speed test, then see that its not the 100mps the connection its running at in the system tray and think there being shafted. PEBKAC. The ISP is the last thing to look at in this situation as the guy clearly has some kinda hardware error/misconfig going on if you read what he's written. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparda Posted October 8, 2006 Share Posted October 8, 2006 I understand now, perhpaps insted of trying to read a long un paragraphed post at 02:00 I should sleep ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaKo Posted October 8, 2006 Share Posted October 8, 2006 I understand now, perhpaps insted of trying to read a long un paragraphed post at 02:00 I should sleep ;) Nah, keep on toking ;-) What the hell is "Crazy Browser"? Its a pile of utter shit, thats what it is. Don't ever use that crap, its just ie6 with some fancy skin. Get firefox or opera instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MP81 Posted October 8, 2006 Author Share Posted October 8, 2006 How old is this machine? I built it in February Whats the hardware specs? Asus A8N-SLI Motherboard (Socket 939) AMD Athlon 3200+ CPU (running OC'd at 2.2 GHz' date=' normal is 2.0 GHz) 1 GB (2 x 512MB dimms) of Kingston ValueRAM (only 333 MHz, but whatever) XFX GeForce 6800GS PCI-E x16 Video Card 250 GB Western Digital SATA II 7200 RPM HDD (boot drive) 40 GB Western Digital IDE 7200 RPM HDD 40 GB Maxtor IDE 7200 RPM HDD What version of windows is it running? Windows XP Home Edition SP2 What the hell is "Crazy Browser"? An IE6 based browser that has tabs' date=' I'm using IE7 now. I've used Crazy Browser forever now, on my old computer too, and never encountered this (I used it on the old install and it ran fine). Desktop or Laptop? Desktop Have you got the latest drivers for everything? Yes Have you done a anti-virus/malware/rootkit scan? Yes' date=' and nothing came up Are you using a firewall? Yeah, McAfee Have you gone into the network adaptor hardware settings and made sure there not all screwed up? Yes. Have you taken the whole thing apart' date=' carefully cleaned out the dust/shit and reassembled it?[/quote']Yeah, I always do that to keep it running cool EXACTLY what have you changed in the registry and how?Not much, I followed directions that windows had on how to set the computer to a certain MTU size.Stupid thing still disconnects a bit now...god I hate this machine now. Ever since I reinstalled winblows it's been shitty... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaKo Posted October 8, 2006 Share Posted October 8, 2006 No electrical storms etc? Does is actually disconnect entirely or is it just losing the connection? (IE is it going "cable disconnected" or is it just failing to talk to the router?) How regulary is it doing this? (start -> run -> "cmd /k ping -t <router IP>", and set the buffer height to as high as it will go.) Is there a pattern? Have you tried removing Mcaffee and testing without that? edit: Have you tried disabling power managment for the network adaptor? Might be something as simple as the thing turning itself off when its not being used, although in this case probally at the wrong times. Have you tried linux yet? Or BartPE? If they get the same issue, it sounds like a hardware issue. Which you can "fix" by throwing in a cheap PCI NIC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MP81 Posted October 8, 2006 Author Share Posted October 8, 2006 Hmm, and it seems to act weird with cookies too...like it doesn't always stay logged in either... No electrical storms. It doesn't say "cable unplugged", but when it does "disconnect" the IRC channel will say connection reset by peer (I don't think it's said ping timeout), and then it will "reconnect". AOL has to reset the buddy list and Windows Live Messenger's News page thing pops up because they lose the connection or something. I had been thinking about timeout settings and maybe that was the cause (it seems to not "disconnect" if I leave my computer off for a while, and if X-Chat is off, it doesn't usually "disconnect")... It had done this before and after McAfee, so I don't believe it's that... I don't know where to get the Linux Live CD. Links? Oh, and I bought a Linksys Gigabit NIC card, but I believe it does the same shit, though I could try again. I do believe it runs slower than the integrated port in this motherboard... The power managament was already turned off by me to try and help that... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparda Posted October 8, 2006 Share Posted October 8, 2006 It might be a DNS server problem, I can't recommend any DNS servers my self, but here is a list of DNS servers you could try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaKo Posted October 8, 2006 Share Posted October 8, 2006 Borrow a 2nd box/laptop from someone and try that. And do a factory hardware reset on your router. Are you on DLS per chance? Sparda (via IRC) says replace your network cable. More importantly, do the ping -t thing to your router, watch to see if it drops. If it does, its the connection to the router. If its fine, do a ping -t to google.com, and watch to see if it drops. If it does, do a ping -t to googles IP address. If that drops, call your ISP and say that your connection is dropping randomly, ask for a line test and don't let the monkey on the other end fob you off with anti-virus checks etc. If the IP doesn't drop, but the google.com does, its crappy DNS servers like sparda says, change them to another set. As for linux, just download and burn an ubuntu CD. Piss easy to use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
addisonzinser Posted October 10, 2006 Share Posted October 10, 2006 the problem is he didnt do a fresh install when he/she reinstalled windows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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