cable modem - slow websurfing?

henmaster · Post by **henmaster** » Sun Jan 28, 2001 10:32 pm

I am having minor problems with my cable modem that I cant seem to resolve. My connection seems to be very tempermental, lightning fast at times but 56k-like at others. But the problem is not with bandwidth or pings, its with web page loading.

When it seems "slow" it feels like it is slow to make the initial connection with the remote server. I will click web pages and they will not start to load until 5 or so seconds after. Once they begin to load, the page comes up instantly. I ping to these web pages at less than 100ms, and usually get DL speeds of 200-300KB/s when I download stuff from them. So I cant figure out what is holding me back.

I was thinking that it could be the whole "shared bandwidth" thing that cable users experience, along with maybe internet traffic as another reason. But why then am I able to get such great throughput and Downloads from the very web sites that I am slow to connect to? If my problem were shared bandwidth wouldnt I be getting slower DL speeds as well? And why do I get good pings?

Ive tried Opera, IE, and Netscape but to no avail. Installing cablenut's patch boosted DL speeds by about 40K/s but has not helped with this problem.

Sorry for the long post, anyone with any thoughts to offer?

TIA
henmaster

Lobo · Post by **Lobo** » Sun Jan 28, 2001 10:56 pm

One of the guys here was having a problem like that I think but I can't remember the name of the thread, I think on page 2 somewhere, he tried everything and finally called maybe his ISP and fixed it, but first have you repaired IE, it may be that.

HMS White Star · Post by **HMS White Star** » Mon Jan 29, 2001 3:10 am

Two questions, first, are you going thru a proxy server, if so try to bypass it (if possible), also check in LAN settings if automatically detect settings is checked, if so uncheck this.

henmaster · Post by **henmaster** » Mon Jan 29, 2001 1:08 pm

Thanks for the replies
I repaired IE but to no avail. And Im not using a prixy server or automatic settings. Any other ideas as to what this could be?

Buggyman · Post by **Buggyman** » Mon Jan 29, 2001 1:11 pm

I have the same problem.... what do we do to repair IE?

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Runing in Warp Drive!

henmaster · Post by **henmaster** » Mon Jan 29, 2001 1:22 pm

hmm the plot thickens. Ive now noticed that my connection gets really fast for about a half hour after each time I restart my computer. When I first turn on my comp it will be normal - but if i then restart it this problem goes away for a little while. Weird, huh? I am now totally baffled...

Lobo · Post by **Lobo** » Mon Jan 29, 2001 1:26 pm

First go to [url=http://www.updates.com,]www.updates.com,[/url] click on my updates, small download, then update everything you can, it might be VM or Java stuff

nemesis123 · Post by **nemesis123** » Mon Jan 29, 2001 1:38 pm

i get the same problem at times but the downloads are fine, how do you repair IE? i use 5.1

Lobo · Post by **Lobo** » Mon Jan 29, 2001 1:40 pm

Buggyman, if you have not already go to www.microsoft.com and download your IE of choice, then you will not have to repair IE

Buggyman · Post by **Buggyman** » Mon Jan 29, 2001 2:08 pm

well I'm using the 5.1 version. AT@T (former Media one) Road Runner said there were some problems with the 5.5 version. and also the Update website mention alot of microsoft program updates. would it be easier to just go to the 5.5 IE ?
Sorry if I'm hogging the post!

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Runing in Warp Drive!

Exzor · Post by **Exzor** » Tue Jan 30, 2001 12:30 am

During your stall does the bottom left of the window say web site found waiting for reply??? maybe this is a DNS server issue or your gateway might have a bad flapping Ethernet port

henmaster · Post by **henmaster** » Tue Jan 30, 2001 7:00 pm

I am using IE 5.5 and i dont think it will ever say website found waiting for reply. I click a link and it immediately says opening page in the bottom left. But the blue loading bar in the bottom right goes very slowly for 5 or so seconds and then it starts going fast and loads the page.

Ive noticed something else, and i think it could be important to someone who knows their stuff well. This problem only happens the first time I load a domain. Like I type in www.speedguide.net and I will get the 5 second delay thing, but then after it loads I will not experience delay for any sites in that domain (articles on speedguide.net etc. load instantly). And as I mentioned above, it seems like the problem subsides if I restart my computer but it comes back usually in 30 minutes or so. Very odd. Thanks everyone for the help Ive found this board very informative so far.

henmaster

Lobo · Post by **Lobo** » Tue Jan 30, 2001 7:09 pm

If your running WIN 98 or SE try sys file checker to make sure you have all your files

Brent · Post by **Brent** » Tue Jan 30, 2001 7:56 pm

How are your settings in TCP/IP

are they manually in there? or are they all on automatic settings?

If not manually inputted, try JUST manually putting in the DNS info, Host, Domain and DNS Servers....

reboot for changes to take effect...

If that doesn't solve it try putting everything in there statically, assuming you have a static IP, if you don't have a static IP don't try this, as it could make your service any slower

Make sure you aren't going through a proxy etc...

Unplug your cable modem, leave it unplugged for 20minutes or so, plug it back in let it resync, reboot your machines and try again....

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Striking Fear in the Heart of Newbies Because I am BRENT JUSTICE: Man of Action Defender of Good and Destroyer of Evil

My site www.coremeltdown.com

Storm90 · Post by **Storm90** » Tue Jan 30, 2001 9:55 pm

You could also try the web patch here at www.speedguide.net Main page under Patches. This might help you out to. Plus if resyncing of the modem don't help rebuild your TCP\IP Protocol. This helps most of the time.GoodLuck!

henmaster · Post by **henmaster** » Thu Feb 01, 2001 5:10 pm

Here are my TCP/IP settings:

IP Address: Obtain the IP address automatically
WINS Configuration: Use DHCP for WINS resolution
Gateway: blank
Bindings: Client for Microsoft Network
Advanced: Nothing
DNS Configuration: DISABLE DNS

All of these settings are what my ISP recommends. I have been reading about DHCP and it seems that my IP is on lease to me and that every time I restart my computer my lease is renewed. This may have something to do with my problem, and why it goes away for a while each time I restart. The next time it gets slow Ill just renew the lease through winipcfg and see if that fixes it. Otherwise Ill try the other things mentioned here (Rebuild TCP/IP, Resync). If I can narrow the problem down to the DHCP setting then Ill contact my ISP (Optimum Online) and maybe they can give me a static IP or have some fix. Any comments about any of this? Thanks again for all the help.

henmaster

Glug Glug Glug · Post by **Glug Glug Glug** » Thu Feb 01, 2001 7:02 pm

An alternate for the IE would be the OPERA web browser... from http://www.opera.com
IT's really good... almost perfect (for me atleast)... I used to use it when I had the 5 sec delay with IE.. IT's a free browser, but has the ad bar on top. U can always get the serial number officially or unofficially

to get rid of the ad bar .. Give it a try....

crocker1 · Post by **crocker1** » Fri Feb 02, 2001 6:22 pm

are you using a terajet modem? I see your isp is optonline.

tR@K0r · Post by **tR@K0r** » Fri Feb 02, 2001 8:07 pm

Do you have a Aamptron movther Board or something? I had one at one time and it caused me all sorts of problems with my onboard lan, Maybe go grab a internal linksys or netgear card and try that.. hope that will help, it helped me

henmaster · Post by **henmaster** » Sat Feb 03, 2001 8:01 pm

Glug:I am pretty sure the problem is not my browser, I have tried Netscape, IE, and Opera but to no avail.

crocker: nope, Ive got a Motorola SB 3100 over here

tR@K0r: My Motherboard is an Abit BF6, but thanks for the heads up.

Right now my connection has been going strong for about 4 and a half hours, I had to reboot once in the morning due to slowdown. When browsing slowed I tried releasing and renewing through winipcfg but I got some kind of error "DHCP server not found". So I restarted and everything sped up again. I did a series of traceroutes and pings to a bunch of sites both when it was fast and slow. I got nearly identical results- ping times were similar and the traceroute paths were the exact same thing. So I dont know what changes in my connection to cause the web slowness. I did notice, however, that newsgroup messages load instantly all the time, even when web sites are slow. So I doubt there is a hardware problem on my end. Im gonna try some more things and see what I can do, if all else fails a good clean format could be my salvation.

henmaster

Duzmor · Post by **Duzmor** » Sat Feb 03, 2001 8:33 pm

Hi henmaster - I was haveing a problem as you are- lobo and I fixed It what I did was went to Msconfig start and removed all the junk running in the background It helped Big Time
Duzmor

Sid · Post by **Sid** » Sat Feb 03, 2001 10:55 pm

It ain't your system man! I'm at 1.5mbs download speed and I have the same problem and I'm on a different service then you are, and on multiple systems running multiple OS. However if anybody finds out whats behind it all let me konw.

SirTOKEaLOT · Post by **SirTOKEaLOT** » Sun Dec 30, 2001 8:09 pm

same problem here.