Browser, Proxy or Network Problem?

[rex72]

Okay, I've tried a number of places, and nobody can figure out what's
happening here. So I might as well try here... And yes, there is a
freeware connection. The relevant technical stats are at the bottom.

The short version of my troubles? Broken images on webpages (all pages)
after surfing a short while. Sometimes I can go a day or two without
experiencing the problem. Sometimes only half a day. It happens very
quickly after visiting pages with lots of images. I'm a very heavy
surfer and this problem is BRAND NEW to me.

The long version? Read on.

I'm on dial-up and I've never had any trouble surfing. Even pages with
tons of images. I'm a heavy surfer and usually go for weeks at a time
before having to reboot my system. I've used Mozilla as a browser for
about three years and Proxomitron as a local proxy for about 8 years.
I've used all kinds of ISPs, never with any problem.

I just switched ISPs and I'm not sure if it's coincidence or not, but now
I experience frequent problems of not being able to load images. All or
some of the images on a page will be broken. Sometimes when I turn off
the local proxy and connect directly to the Internet that will help for a
few minutes, then the broken images start again.

So, while I originally thought it might be a problem at the proxy level,
now I don't think so.

As for the browser, I've tried various changes in the settings -
pipelining, persistant connections, no. of connections - to no avail.

I also switched to Firefox - same problem.

It's not a DNS issue either since I've tried an assigned DNS server and
unassigned. I've also directly used the dotted IP address, and still get
the broken images.

The ONLY cure I've found is to reboot.

So it seems like I'm 'using up' something that needs to be cleared thru a
reboot, but I'm not sure what it is. I've tried deleting the browser
cache. I don't use persistent cookies, so there are no cookies to clear.
The browser's memory cache is fine, and my Windows resource level is
fine. Yet a reboot has always (to the best of my memory) solved the
problem.

Since this happened when I switched ISPs, I contacted them. But they
said it's not a network issue and it must be my browser. But they only
support Internet Explorer, not Firefox or Mozilla, so they couldn't help
me.

Can anyone suggest any ideas or some new directions to take?

Thanks.

Dialup 56kb/s
Win98SE
Firefox 1.04 and Mozilla 1.5
Local Proxy: Proxomitron N4.2 and N4.5

 

[jmatt]

"Can anyone suggest any ideas or some new directions to take?"

Try isolating the problem, another browser 1st & then if needed ,borrow
another monitor & then if needed , borrow a video card.

Here is a very good IE engined browser, just to see if it works.

Fast Browser
http://www.fastbrowser.net/
Fast Browser Pro is an innovative Web Browser, can open up to 180 web
pages at the same time. We're excited about the great new way to surf
the web and believe you'll enjoy the efficiency this new browser has to
offer. Key features:

 

[me]

Okay, I've tried a number of places, and nobody can figure
out what's happening here. So I might as well try here...
And yes, there is a freeware connection. The relevant
technical stats are at the bottom.

The short version of my troubles? Broken images on
webpages (all pages) after surfing a short while.
Sometimes I can go a day or two without experiencing the
problem. Sometimes only half a day. It happens very
quickly after visiting pages with lots of images. I'm a
very heavy surfer and this problem is BRAND NEW to me.

The long version? Read on.

I'm on dial-up and I've never had any trouble surfing.
Even pages with tons of images. I'm a heavy surfer and
usually go for weeks at a time before having to reboot my
system. I've used Mozilla as a browser for about three
years and Proxomitron as a local proxy for about 8 years.
I've used all kinds of ISPs, never with any problem.

I just switched ISPs and I'm not sure if it's coincidence
or not, but now I experience frequent problems of not being
able to load images. All or some of the images on a page
will be broken. Sometimes when I turn off the local proxy
and connect directly to the Internet that will help for a
few minutes, then the broken images start again.

So, while I originally thought it might be a problem at the
proxy level, now I don't think so.

As for the browser, I've tried various changes in the
settings - pipelining, persistant connections, no. of
connections - to no avail.

I also switched to Firefox - same problem.

It's not a DNS issue either since I've tried an assigned
DNS server and unassigned. I've also directly used the
dotted IP address, and still get the broken images.

The ONLY cure I've found is to reboot.

So it seems like I'm 'using up' something that needs to be
cleared thru a reboot, but I'm not sure what it is. I've
tried deleting the browser cache. I don't use persistent
cookies, so there are no cookies to clear. The browser's
memory cache is fine, and my Windows resource level is
fine. Yet a reboot has always (to the best of my memory)
solved the problem.

Since this happened when I switched ISPs, I contacted them.
But they said it's not a network issue and it must be my
browser. But they only support Internet Explorer, not
Firefox or Mozilla, so they couldn't help me.

Can anyone suggest any ideas or some new directions to
take?

Thanks.

Dialup 56kb/s
Win98SE
Firefox 1.04 and Mozilla 1.5
Local Proxy: Proxomitron N4.2 and N4.5

FF uses IPv6 by default (at least 0.8 did). Some ISP's access
points do not handle IPv6 well. Try tinker with
network.dns.disableIPv6
(setting to 'true' reverts back to IPv4).

J

 

[rex72]

(e-mail address removed) wrote in

FF uses IPv6 by default (at least 0.8 did). Some ISP's access
points do not handle IPv6 well. Try tinker with
network.dns.disableIPv6
(setting to 'true' reverts back to IPv4).

That's one of the things I tried. It worked for a day, then it was back to
the usual broken images.

 

[rex72]

(e-mail address removed) wrote in @g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

Try isolating the problem, another browser 1st & then if needed ,borrow
another monitor & then if needed , borrow a video card.

Here is a very good IE engined browser, just to see if it works.

Fast Browser
http://www.fastbrowser.net/
Fast Browser Pro is an innovative Web Browser, can open up to 180 web
pages at the same time. We're excited about the great new way to surf
the web and believe you'll enjoy the efficiency this new browser has to
offer. Key features:

I'll check into that, thanks.

My ISP had told me to use IE for troubleshooting, and I did a little
experimentation with IE. But I was told I had to make it my DEFAULT
browser, and I was concerned about the changes it was making to my file
associations.

But I suppose I could try either IE or Fast Browser *without* making it
my default.

 

[jmatt]

"But I suppose I could try either IE or Fast Browser *without* making
it my default."

That's right , when it asks if you want it as default, click > No