sometimes my DSL slows to a stop ("finding website" or "waiting for reply"). then when i start my dial-up connection (which i have as a back-up internet connection method), the DSL suddenly starts going again before the dial-up connection is finished!
anyone know what causes the DSL slowdown/stop, and then the sudden DSL reactivation after i start a dial-up connection? does my computer lose contact with the DSL modem for a while? thanks in advance.
(windows xp, hp pavilion with realtek ethernet card, winlucent dialup internal modem)
Could be several things. Try some diagnostic work first. Look for a pattern.
Do an online analysis at <
http://www.pcpitstop.com/default.asp> (free).
Find out exactly what's going on while this "finding website" or "waiting for
reply" is going on. Here are some free diagnostic tools.
Get Process Explorer (free) from
<
http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware/procexp.shtml>. Provides way more
information than Task Manager. Will show you what's using your cpu, and let you
graph cpu and memory use at will.
Port Explorer (free) from
<
http://www.diamondcs.com.au/portexplorer/index.php?page=home> will show you
what network connections your computer is actually opening, and what processes
are opening them.
DUMeter from <
http://www.dumeter.com/download.php> (30 day trial) will show you
how busy your network connection is.
PingPlotter from <
http://www.pingplotter.com/> (30 day trial) will graph your
network performance over time between you and a target.
VisualRoute from
<
http://www.visualware.com/redirection/support.html#visualroute> (15 day trial)
will analyse the network path between you and a target.
These mysterious slowdowns - do they happen in any pattern? Favorite websites?
Time of day? Other activities at same time?
Are you running a wired or wireless network?
Watch Process Explorer to see if the problem is cpu related.
DUMeter and Port Explorer will show you if you have network traffic while your
slowdown is happening.
If the problem is related to DNS server performance (a DNS lookup could be what
you're waiting on), find out the ip address of your DNS server, start
PingPlotter, and let it chart your DNS server response.
VisualRoute can help you with website analysis, or to see if your problem is
browser related.
Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.
