Almost all sites time out periodically

1

I've moved to a new internet connection and I'm having issues getting on the web consistently. A few websites (esp. Google) always load as expected. But, most other sites (incl. Bing, Facebook) sometimes get stuck on the "waiting for a response from " portion of the connection.

I don't think it's a web browser problem because FTP connections are having the same problem. I'm using the standard DNS servers provided by the ISP.

In the Internet Explorer web settings, both the "Automatically Detect Settings" and "Use a proxy server for your LAN" are unchecked.

I've contacted the ISP's IT department and the most they recommended was checking

Any ideas what could be going on/how I can fix it?

EDIT: The problem disappears in safe mode, but reappears when I switch back to regular mode (even with all startup programs disabled.

I also tried using the directions in this post: http://www.sevenforums.com/browsers-mail/157057-unknown-timeout-issue.html#post1348665 to no avail.

The problem also doesn't appear in a Linux install I have on the same machine.

EDIT 2: I've tried the most recent Realtek drivers from EVGA (motherboard manuf.) and also the versions pushed by manually updating the driver in Device Manager... neither has fixed the problem.

EDIT 3: So... after about a week on the new Windows install... the same problem came back. At this point, I've concluded that something must not be working right on the ISP level... I'm going to ask them to check out the router in the building and see if there's a problem on that level.

Alex Mullans

Posted 2011-05-26T22:04:27.060

Reputation: 111

Sounds like it's a problem for your ISP. If everything was OK before the move and this was the only thing that's changed then it doesn't sound like a problem at your end. – ChrisF – 2011-05-26T22:08:53.017

Have you checked your modem? – soandos – 2011-05-27T01:48:04.523

Don't think it's an ISP problem because other people on the same router (it's a college connection) aren't having the problem. – Alex Mullans – 2011-05-27T02:43:58.117

Out of curiosity, try switching your DNS servers to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 (Google's DNS). See if you have better reliability. (My local ISP's DNS is really rotten, but switching to other DNSs has helped tremendously.) If it doesn't help, it could be the driver for your network card -- try searching for a newer version or a driver from the company that made the card (not necessarily the company that made the computer). – Kerri Shotts – 2011-05-27T04:11:36.780

@kerri, if he has already resolved the addresses, or is using FTP, it has nothing to do with his DNS. – MaQleod – 2011-05-27T04:31:37.060

Regarding the FTP connection part, is this when attempting to establish the connection, or after you've already made the connection and transferred some data. When establishing the connection, I would still argue for some freaky DNS stuff going on, but if it is occurring after a connection has been established, then yes, it can't be DNS. I'd then lean more towards the network driver since Linux is working correctly. – Kerri Shotts – 2011-05-27T04:38:11.853

Some data is transferred over FTP before it times out. The first thing I'm going to go for is a network card driver. Since the problem goes away in safe mode it seems to me that it has to be a driver or a service in Windows that's causing my problem. – Alex Mullans – 2011-05-27T11:01:49.540

Reinstalling the driver didn't seem to do the trick either. I ended up reinstalling Windows on a new partition. – Alex Mullans – 2011-05-29T02:01:27.017

Answers

0

Bypass your router for any of these tests, otherwise your ISP will disregard them. If you can connect your modem directly to your NID (DMARC, NIU, etc), that would be even better as your ISP will likely ask you to bypass your IW (inside wiring) at some point anyway.

Run a few continuous pings, something less than a 1 second interval (I prefer 200ms myself) and just let it go in the back ground. Point one at your ISP's primary DNS and one at Google and one at a random page that you tend to have problems with. When you see a problem, compare the latency or loss you see. This will let you know if it is your ISP or just your route to a given server. If you see only issues to the page you are having trouble with, run an MTR or pathping to it and see where you get the trouble. If this same server shows up on a number of tests to various servers, then see if your ISP can get you placed on a different route. If you see issues going to your ISP's primary DNS, then it is an issue they will have to fix. Most SLA's for loss and latency are in the ISP's favor (unless you have a T1). They will quote you something like more than 3% loss in a one hour period or over 200ms to the first hop on a continuous ping for an hour (common with DSL or cable).

MaQleod

Posted 2011-05-26T22:04:27.060

Reputation: 12 560

Asked: 2011-05-26T22:04:27.060

Viewed: 180 times

Active: 2011-06-05T04:07:46.850