Strange latency issues, Techies please help :)

[Leppy]

Hello everyone, and thanks in advance for reading / commenting on my post. Let me start by saying im not particularily tech-savvy guy, so if you have some suggestions, you might need to 'dumb them down.' The following issues started on Saturday (currently sunday, approaching midnight). Okay, onto the problem:

Problem: Logging into online games (Wow, Rift, BF:BC2) causes me to drop my connection to the server, and disconnect soon after.

Example 1: I log onto wow, everything is fine on the character screen, and I get into game as usual. Once Im on though, I notice that everyone else is running on the spot, my text doesnt display, and I cant use abilities. It'll stay like this for a maximum of 5 minutes, where all of a sudden everyone on the screen does their last 5 minutes worth of actions, and my ping (both home and world ms) shoots up to 10,000+. Immediately disconnecting me.

Example 2: I bring up the lobby for bfbc2, all works fine. Get into game, and notice that my character keeps jumping back to where I previously was standing...5 or so seconds ago, and my grenades wont explode, and I will be disconnected soon after.

Obscure observations: Whilst I'll be caught in this 'lag-spike' (on wow for example), I can minimise the game and my internet will run perfectly. My net hasnt skipped a beat in the last few days, excluding logging into games.

Obscure observation 2: On my secondary computer (Linked to my network wirelessly, primary pc is connected with a cable) everything is running fine. I can get into, and play online games, without issue.

Possibly related: The only hardware and/or software update I've had lately is purchasing and having a new GFX card installed (460 gtx). This was on Friday, and my games ran fine Friday night.

Attempted fixes:
Updating router firmware
Changing network card settings to prevent 'power-saving'
Bypassed Router
Running trace route to the wow server (couldn't understand the results :-/ )
Connecting to different router ports
Opening Port-forwarding on gaming related IP's


Finally, I'd like to apologise for the format of my post, but I thought it'd help me remember everything I needed to include. Thank you all very much for any responses. (I know most people arnt so happy to help 'newbies,' I've been a long-time reader, but rarely have any input that has not been shared by others)

 

[AmrasCalmacil]

I'm not so great at this stuff, but have you tried contacting your internet providers yet?

 

[Leppy]

I'm not so great at this stuff, but have you tried contacting your internet providers yet?

Not yet, im with TPG (Australian company, who runs their net through Optus), but contacting their customer support has proven on several previous occasions to be a waste of time.

 

[Nimbus]

You have successfully isolated the problem to either your primary PC, or the fact that you are connecting by a wire, rather than wirelessly (The latter is unlikely).

The next step is to see if the problem is hardware or software. I would suggest creating a partition on your harddrive, and reinstalling your OS on it. If the problem carries over to the new partition, it's almost definitely a hardware issue, otherwise it's software.

If it's hardware, start replacing parts, starting with the network card. If it's software... that's anyone's guess.

 

[oplinger]

Try running windows under a selective start up.

hold down the windows key and press R

When the Run prompt shows up, type in "msconfig" without the quotes.

click on selective start up, and uncheck the start up items check box. then click on the services tab, and uncheck every service not belonging to microsoft. and restart. then try to run WoW or whatever. Windows should also start up faster.


If that doesn't work. Get a new cable. Bad cables cause a lot of weird issues. Mostly...Data loss. which is what's happening to you.

 

[Wicky_42]

Hello everyone, and thanks in advance for reading / commenting on my post.

1) are you running windows 7, Vista or XP? 7 vs XP have a few different things that can be going wrong.

2) use speedtest.net to check out your connections to various servers around the world to get a better idea of how fast your REAL internet connection is. If your bandwidth is low then you could be having issues, though that is subverted by being able to game on the second machine.

3) there have been a host of ping-spike issues with BC2 over the years, and I can't play when someone else in the house is even browsing the internet despite having a MORE than adequate connection. Here's one fix that helped many people on windows 7 [http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1043281&highlight=Multimedia+Class+Scheduler]. Didn't work for me, but it's the most widely-linked to fix for rubber-banding in the game.

4) when you do the route trace, it shows you the time it's taking for your connection to go through every point in the network between you and the server you want to connect to. According to the BC2 rep I talked to, if it doesn't show the IP of the first connection, which should be you, then it's not forwarding the ports correctly (happened to me despite my best efforts to get the router to do what I wanted it to do :/)

oplinger's suggestion about the cable is actually an interesting one... I might have to try that for my own issues

 

[Aphex Demon]

Is your NAT Type Open, moderate or strict?

If it's not open, change it to that... could help.

 

[drakythe]

You have successfully isolated the problem to either your primary PC, or the fact that you are connecting by a wire, rather than wirelessly (The latter is unlikely).

The next step is to see if the problem is hardware or software. I would suggest creating a partition on your harddrive, and reinstalling your OS on it. If the problem carries over to the new partition, it's almost definitely a hardware issue, otherwise it's software.

If it's hardware, start replacing parts, starting with the network card. If it's software... that's anyone's guess.

This. Though honestly my first attempt at a fix would be to replace the Cat5 cable (the one connecting your computer to your router/modem) to see if that went bad. If that is not the problem then try a new windows partition if you can. If you can't set up a new partition, try re-installing the easiest game to do so and see if that kicks the problem for you.

 

[Antari]

When was the last time that you reformatted? The hardware doesn't appear to be the problem from the way you describe things. But an old massive swap file in windows can do what your describing.

 

[Steve Fidler]

snip

Try this (assuming you are using Windows 7)

Control Panel > Device Manager > Network Adaptors > Your Ethernet Card, right click and go to Properties > Advanced Tab > Transmit Buffers, set the value here to 512 (should be default 256). Do the same for Receive Buffers

This is sort of a dramatic fix, and may not actually help. It sounds like when dealing with little bits of information, your Ethernet card is fine (the login screen) but when massive amounts of information is being sent (in game) it is locking up and causing you to Ping Out.

If absolutely nothing that anyone here suggests works, my next suggestion would be to replace your Ethernet card (or, if it is an onboard ethernet controller, getting a PCI Ethernet card.)

A good way to isolate the problem would be to borrow a PC of someone who it is working for, setting it up exactly the way you have your current PC set up, same cables/router/etc. and seeing if the problem persists. If it does, it is likely something outside of the box (cable, router, modem, ISP) If it is cleared up, it will have something to do with your PC, either the NAT Card/Ethernet Card, or possibly driver related.

 

[gimmly22]

Every one here has pretty much have you setup with your system regarding this issue. I would suggest replacing your network card, as Steve suggests. Replace cables, including your ADSL modem cable.

Another suggestion is turn off QoS packet scheduler. This is found by right-clicking on the Network icon on the desktop and select Properties. Using Win 7, on the window that displays, look to the left, and click on Change Adapter Settings. The next window will display your adapter. Right click and select properties. Uncheck the box next to QoS Packet Scheduler, and click on OK.

QoS was a major issue when I worked for AOL and helping people with ADSL.

 

[Leppy]

Hello again everyone, I'd like to apologise for the delay in responding to all your feedback. I had a family tragedy which has taken most of my time. Again, thanks everyone for your responses.

New info: I took my computer to a repair place nearby, unfortunately it ran completely fine on their internet. Does this mean that the issue is not with my computer?

New info #2: Strangely, some days my games will work as if there was no problem, but most of the time I am still seeing the same problems.

Suggestions I've tried:
Replacing the cat-5 cable connecting my router to my PC
Connected my secondary PC to all the hardware my primary uses, it worked perfectly.

Try running windows under a selective start up.

hold down the windows key and press R

When the Run prompt shows up, type in "msconfig" without the quotes.

Thanks Oplinger, gave it a try but games still refused to work online.

1) are you running windows 7, Vista or XP? 7 vs XP have a few different things that can be going wrong.

2) use speedtest.net to check out your connections to various servers around the world to get a better idea of how fast your REAL internet connection is. If your bandwidth is low then you could be having issues, though that is subverted by being able to game on the second machine.

Cheers Wicky, I'm running windows 7 64 bit.
Running various speed tests all give very similar results, Your line speed is 7.05 Mbps (7051 kbps).
Your download speed is 881 KB/s (0.86 MB/s).
I doubt its an issue with BF:BC2, as all my other online games fail. And on the slim chance that my net is working, all games run fine.
I've run trade routes to both wow and BC2, and have found nothing of note in the results.

Is your NAT Type Open, moderate or strict?

If it's not open, change it to that... could help.

Thanks for your post Aphex, however I tried all 3 options and found no changes.

Antari, I've not yet reformatted my PC since I purchased it (its just under a year old).

Thanks for the reply Steve, I tried your suggestion (transmit and receive buffers). Strangely, the highest setting for my transmit buffers is 128, and that was the default. Receive buffers are set to 512.

And finally, I tried your suggestion Gimmly, setting off QoS scheduler, still not help

The computer repair guy I brought my PC to seems to think its not a PC issue, but more likely a problem with the modem. Also, with the suggestions to partition(?) my PC, does the fact that it worked 100% at the computer store eliminate the need to try this?
Sorry for the wall of text, was just trying to address the solutions one at a time.

 

[Leppy]

Delete

 

[Leppy]

Hey guys, I'm at my wits-end. Games are still not working online, its approaching 4 weeks now that I've had this issue. Strangely, I've noticed that games primarily don't work during the day, (from 7am, till 6-7pm) at which point they generally connect (about 3/4 occasions).

Today I tried running recovery on my system, and rolling everything back to a week before my problems started. Still having this issue. I also borrowed a modem from a friend and installing it with drivers / software. Unfortunately for me, it still wont let me connect to games (well, I connect, then lag out).

So, I've ruled out my PC software (rollback on software, and it worked at repair shop), my modem (using a working one in its place) and PC hardware (replacing cat-5 wire, and setting up secondary PC with all current peripherals). And I guess I can rule out my ISP (secondary PC works completely fine with online games).

So, I don't know what to do now... Help me Obi wan (erm, Escapists) you're my only hope!

 

[Leppy]

Final bump for help.