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Posted: Sat Nov 06, 2004 5:17 pm
by GORDON
Updated all systems in DTManor to WinXP-SP2 within 24 hours of each other. This may or may not be relevant.
A few days after the SP2 update, 2 different PC's on the same network developed the same tick:
When browsing the internet, or checking internet email, or sometimes even trying to connect to ICQ, it's like the DNS can't be resolved. I'll have to "send/receive" my email 2 or 3 times before it connects. 3 out of 4 times when I surf to a web page, I'll have to "refresh" 2-4 times before the page will load.
I figure 3 possibilities:
1. WinXP-SP2 firewall... or something... is screwing me up.
2. My router has gone flakey... all PC's run through it. (Router firmware update did not resolve the issue)
3. It is my ISP, or their hardware (the cable modem.)
Anyone have any thoughts?
Something else possibly related.... sometimes I'll click to go to another page, and do my "refresh" thing 2 or 3 times. Then I'll want to hit the back-arrow to return to the previous page, and I have to hit it 2 or 3 times before it goes.
It's just all wack.
Posted: Sat Nov 06, 2004 7:00 pm
by Cakedaddy
Reload. I reloaded my system and things run ALOT better. Updated to SP2 as well.
Side note:
A long time ago there was a question about if a video card was enough to boost a PC's performance. After extensive testing, I think it is.
I have an XP 2100 with 1GB RAM (I don't remember the speed though. It's not the fastest though. Maybe, 3200.) ATA100 drive (80GB 5400RPM).
I bought Far Cry and loaded it with my GeForce 4200ti. I cranked up the settings and it ran very poorly. Had to drop things way down to have a clean frame rate. But, when there was LOTS of action, things would lock up just a bit.
Installed my new GeForce 6800GT. Cranked up the settings to max. Had very good frame rate, crisp clean picture. Quite impressive. However, when the shit really hit the fan (lots of action) my frame rate would drop. Or, more accurately, the game seemed to lock up for .25-.5 seconds. It was annoying, but playable. Turning settings down didn't make this go away. (just like with the 4200ti) So, I figured it was a system bottleneck. Either CPU, RAM, or hard drive.
Then, I rebuilt my system. Reloaded Win XP Pro, and all drivers. Loaded Far Cry. Holy geez what a difference. The little lock up thing went away. High frame rate at max settings and there's no sign of anything bad. So, my sub par PC can run the newest and arguably the most demanding application cleanly at max settings with a beast of a video card in it. Granted, my PC isn't a slow poke, but I'd rate it at as a midrange PC right now. But with the king of video cards (almost, I didn't opt for the Ultra), it performs like the best.
So, in my opinion, a new video card (and a good system reload) will wake up an aging PC.
Side side note:
Far Cry released a new patch. Patch 1.3 build 1337. That's right. Build 1337. It added even more stuff in the video section where I was able to boost settings even higher. It added more isocropictal (or whatever the hell it is) and I think it added another antialiasing number. Being that higher is better, I bumped both of them up. No impact on performance, and my eyes couldn't detect a difference between old settings and new. But, it must be better!!! They also activated some rendering options (paradice, cartoon, improved, etc) that use to be 'not supported'. They are now supported. They do change the way things look, however, I haven't played with them enough to comment.
So, if you have Far Cry, try the new 1.3 patch. And, if you have an aging PC, you SHOULD see better performance with a new video card.
Posted: Sat Nov 06, 2004 7:03 pm
by GORDON
Why did you put all that crap in my thread?
It started happening to two systems at the same time. Reloading one won't fix the other.
Posted: Sat Nov 06, 2004 10:04 pm
by Cakedaddy
Because the reloading helped my video problems which made me think of the whole video card thing when posting here. If it bothers you that much, delete it. I hate you.
Posted: Sun Nov 07, 2004 9:30 am
by TheCatt
So argumentative, Cake is.
Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2004 9:23 am
by Zetleft
Have you tried just turning off the winxp firewall.
Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2004 10:37 am
by Paul
I say it's your router. Reboot.
Could be your DSL modem or service.
You can also try Winsock Fix to redo your TCP/IP shizzle. I use that a lot when a computer has DNS issues (like being able to ping external IPs, but unable to resolve domain names), especially stuff caused by spyware.
Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2004 10:47 am
by Paul
Cakedaddy wrote:A long time ago there was a question about if a video card was enough to boost a PC's performance. After extensive testing, I think it is.
...But, when there was LOTS of action, things would lock up just a bit.
...So, in my opinion, a new video card (and a good system reload) will wake up an aging PC.
I don't think anybody would argue that a hefty video card will improve a video games performance.
If I recall, Gordo was asking about upgrades. More memory was suggested (of course) and we had a discussion about the importance of a hard drive's revolution speed. I thought that a 7200 was a significant improvement over a 5200, but others didn't think it was as significant.
Of course, I could be thinking of a thread totally different from what you were thinking of.
Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2004 11:12 am
by GORDON
Zetleft wrote:Have you tried just turning off the winxp firewall.
Yes. I just firned it off long enough to see it didn't fix the problem... I didn't reboot with it off, or anything... mebbe I should try that.
Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2004 12:52 pm
by mbilderback
--GORDON wrote:--Zetleft wrote:Have you tried just turning off the winxp firewall.
Yes. I just firned it off long enough to see it didn't fix the problem... I didn't reboot with it off, or anything... mebbe I should try that.
Here's a thought gordo, try running Firefox and see if it has the same issues. This may be an IE issue or somesuch.
Edited By TheCatt on 1262804986
Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2004 6:20 pm
by GORDON
Status Start Date
(EST) End/ETR Date Areas Affected Notes
Yellow 11/10/2004
12:00 AM 11/10/2004
1:00 AM RDC Road Runner is currently experiencing issues with the Domain Name Service (DNS). Subscribers in the affected area(s) may experience trouble reaching certain web sites at this time. Our engineers are working quickly to resolve this issue. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2004 6:49 pm
by TheCatt
11/10/2004? They live in the future?
Posted: Mon Nov 08, 2004 6:53 pm
by GORDON
Wondered about that. The also had one for 11/9... I wondered if they were expecting to have the issue at least a couple more days.
Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2004 2:55 pm
by GORDON
Welp, just lost a big post due to the flakey ROUTER.
Long story short, my router is flakey, not the ISP.
The end.
Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2004 12:02 pm
by Paul
Paul wrote:I say it's your router.
Gordon wrote:Long story short, my router is flakey, not the ISP.
Boo-yeah!
Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2004 12:06 pm
by GORDON
Yeah.
I had a long post about how I figgered it out... in summary, I ran the cable modem directly to my PC, and there were no issues accessing web pages. I go through the router again, and I have the same issue.
In troubleshooting the router, I tried a new cable; no. Rebooted, no. Re-installed the latest firmware, no. Reset to factory defaults, no. Went to the manufacturers web site to see if this was a known issue... not just "no," but I saw their "this product is at it's end of life and we don't support it no more."
So, ordered a new wireless router for $20 from tigerdirect.com.
Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2004 5:08 pm
by Paul
If the cable went out you'd lose pretty much all data transfer. Since it was DNS, the router was the prime suspect.
As you already know, a work-around might have been to assign the DNS IP's manually on each computer. But that would just postpone the inevitable.
Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2004 5:11 pm
by GORDON
Paul wrote:If the cable went out you'd lose pretty much all data transfer.
Well, you know how it is. You have to try the easy stuff first.
Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2004 6:31 pm
by Paul
The one time blindly following my advice wouldn't have resulted in the deaths of countless innocents, and nobody follows it. <sigh>
Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2004 5:03 pm
by GORDON
Ok, now I'm pissed.