connection problems

jrobojrobo
edited June 2006 in Science & Tech
I play alot of Call of Duty and I use Gamespy to connect to severs. For the last week or so, I have had network issues: I can connect fine, my pings are fine, but every few minutes I lose my connection for about 20 seconds and then it recovers. During this time I usually get shot of course. It always recovers, but it continues to crap out every 5-10 minutes.

Does this sound like my NIC card is going? It could be a variety of issues but the modem is fairly new and I don't suspect that, at least not yet. Any help is appreciated on how to begin fixing this issue.

thanks

JR

Comments

  • botheredbothered Manchester UK
    edited May 2006
    Try connecting through the game instead of Gamespy. Just add the IP of the servers you like to the favourites. I have seen this when other progs take over the connection, like antivirus updating. Turn any other progs off and see if it's any better.
    Are you using a router? how is your connection set up?
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    jrobo wrote:
    I play alot of Call of Duty and I use Gamespy to connect to severs. For the last week or so, I have had network issues: I can connect fine, my pings are fine, but every few minutes I lose my connection for about 20 seconds and then it recovers. During this time I usually get shot of course. It always recovers, but it continues to crap out every 5-10 minutes.

    Does this sound like my NIC card is going? It could be a variety of issues but the modem is fairly new and I don't suspect that, at least not yet. Any help is appreciated on how to begin fixing this issue.

    thanks

    JR

    Do you use a router? If so, what brand and model?
    Do you experience connectivity loss when browsing the internet?
    What ISP do you have?
    Do you know how or where to do a speed test?
    Have you tried performing a route trace during the downtime? Do you need to know how?

    During the down time, try ping 127.0.0.1 from C:\> at a command prompt. Just go to start, run, type "CMD" and hit enter. Type "ping 127.0.0.1" without quotes and see if you can ping your network card, or if it's not responding (Timeout).
  • jrobojrobo
    edited May 2006
    OK, admittedly I didn't provide a whole lot of info, thanks for replying.

    I have Comcast and my connection is usually quite good. Latest Speakeasy speed test had these results:

    Download Speed: 17769 kbps (2221.1 KB/sec transfer rate)
    Upload Speed: 359 kbps (44.9 KB/sec transfer rate)

    I usually have a router as well but I already bypassed it to see if it helped but to no avail... it is not being used until I fix this issue.

    My ping to localhost is <1 ms. My PC is nothing special, I will post specs if anyone needs to see them. In general the connection has been fine until lately... the fact that it the connection problems are intermittent, evry 5 minutes or so, makes me suspect it's a hardware issue. I'm hoping it's the NIC.

    I've done a traceroute to the server I like, and the pings are consistently around 50ms for the first 15 hops, then it times out for the next few.

    Thanks JR
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    Can you do a ping to 127.0.0.1 when your connection to the internet is interrupted? If it's a hardware issue, pinging localhost when your connection is down might demonstrate that fact.
  • jrobojrobo
    edited May 2006
    I've tried to do a ping test when it is down but the down times are hard to catch... most obvious is when I am playing CoD, so I can't do a ping test when the game is running.

    I also recently switched from IE to Firefox about the same time this problem started - could that have something to do with it?

    A buddy suggested Comcast might be doing something so I will have them troubleshoot as well.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    No, the browser just piggybacks on whatever connection you have. It can't influence the quality or performance of your connection to the internet.

    Comcast is an extremely likely culprit; lots of users have switched away from them over the last 6 years to superior alternatives with faster speeds and greater reliability.
  • jrobojrobo
    edited May 2006
    I changed my modem connection: instead of using the cat5 cable, I used the USB cable. I got much better results, but the problem is still there, although less frequent and less severe. I'm not sure what this proves but at least the game is playable now.

    Comcast may indeed be the culprit, but my connection has for the most part been outstanding until recently. Maybe they are doing something (maintenence?) to my local signal and not telling me.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    I think you've narrowed it down completely to the modem or your ISP by taking your network card out of the equation. Call Comcast and see what's up.
  • flyriceflyrice
    edited June 2006
    Thrax wrote:
    I think you've narrowed it down completely to the modem or your ISP by taking your network card out of the equation. Call Comcast and see what's up.
    LOL good luck. It's really hard to get them to do something about drops like that. They'll probably say "it's your computer" or whatnot.

    Unless they do detect an immediate problem with their troubleshooting, you probably won't have much luck.
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