DSL Connection problems Modem or Not?

[oulooool]

Well hello again everyone.....heh.....

I am having some serious connection problems, its lags extremely BAD! When surfing the net it takes forever for the page to show up and "if" it does it's missing half of the page I had make this post from work =\

Anyone know of any tweaks and such that may help? I am also using IE does anyone recommend any other browser's? I tried mozilla before but couldn't run windows update? =\

Basically here's what I noticed as well.....While gaming online I noticed I was getting some heavy packet loss and the ready light on my modem started flashing. I have 3 lights on it ethernet\ready\power. I tried unplugging it to reset it for like 15 mins. I tried rebooting the computer along with the reset. I also attempted formatting and reinstalling and nothing =\ I contacted my isp in which they had me del my cookies and such but it did nothing, it works for a short period of time and then dies on me and comes back =\ They also had me go into the dos prompt and do a /release and /renew under the ipconfig command.

I am currently running this on:
Windows XP Pro SP1
AMD Athlon 64 3400+ 1mb L2 Cache (Venus 12(Thermaltake CPU FAN)
Asus K8NE Deluxe Mobo
1gig Kingston 3400+ Memory
80gig WD Caviar HDD 7200rpm 8mb cache
9800pro 128mb Video Card
420w PSU Silent Pure Power (With active PFC)
Sound Blaster Audigy 1
I am also running Zone Alarm as my current firewall (in which I changed nothing to it so I wouldnt gather it would be that?)
And Norton Antivirus 2004
Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[RealBlackStuff]

To run Windows Update, you still need IE.
For any other browsing we at Techspot heartily recommend Firefox 0.9.3
It is very fast, much faster than IE, and is not anywhere near as vulnerable to hackers & crackers as M$ IE.

Check in your modem if it has a DMZ, which can be used specifically for gaming. If you give us the specs of your modem/router or whatever you have, we can come up with better advice.
Norton AV 2004 is an immense resource-hogger, replace this with a program that has a smaller "footprint", such as Kaspersky or F-prot.
Do a Google for Zonealarm-settings for gamers. You may want to even replace it with the (free) Sygate Personal Firewall, which is much more configurable/tweakable than Zonealarm.

 

[oulooool]

Originally posted by realblackstuff
To run Windows Update, you still need IE.
For any other browsing we at Techspot heartily recommend Firefox 0.9.3
It is very fast, much faster than IE, and is not anywhere near as vulnerable to hackers & crackers as M$ IE.

Check in your modem if it has a DMZ, which can be used specifically for gaming. If you give us the specs of your modem/router or whatever you have, we can come up with better advice.
Norton AV 2004 is an immense resource-hogger, replace this with a program that has a smaller "footprint", such as Kaspersky or F-prot.
Do a Google for Zonealarm-settings for gamers. You may want to even replace it with the (free) Sygate Personal Firewall, which is much more configurable/tweakable than Zonealarm.

Once again my friend you are the MAN! DAMNIT I just bought Norton Anti I thought it was the best? I kinda knew it was a hog mog though =\ Would F-Prot or Kaspersky give just as good protection? Virus' are my worst nightmare I had one before that I couldn't find and in the end it drove me so nutz I punched the side of my tower and screwed up my HDD HAHAH This was well over a period of a month though, funny thing was after I punched it I figured out the problem and how to fix it but alas it was too late I fixed it and part of the HDD was corrupt when I went to install other programs =\ And as for ZoneAlarm to Sygate will
sygate offer as much protection as ZoneAlarm? I have never really had a problem but will most definitely take your advice.

What kinda Modem spec's do you need? I know its a westell modem. Where should I look on it? I will take it apart and look inside I have no idea what a DMZ is?

 

[Nodsu]

When you type "ipconfig" from the windows command propmt it tlls you your computers local IP address. If it starts with 192, 178 or 10 then your DSL modem is configurable. You can most likely access it by typing the "gateway" IP address in IE address bar.

If your IP addres does not start with one of the mentioned numbers then your DSL modem is acting as a bridge.

The reason for packet loss can be your local network connection (your network card or the ethernet cable)
Your phone line.
Troubles at your ISP.
Troubles at the server side.

To test packet loss, use the ping command. You can see if the problem lies with your phone line or ethernet by pinging the gateway machine (only if your modem is a bridge (that is your IP doesn't start with 192, 178 or 10).

Type "ping gateway.IP -t" at the command prompt and let it run or a minute. If you see any packets getting lost then you know it is your phone line or LAN. With the "ready" problem I'd bet the phone line.

 

[RealBlackStuff]

The AVs that I mentioned are both better than Norton.
See my post here for a comparison:
https://www.techspot.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9646

The free Sygate is at least as good as the free Zonealarm, but lets you tweak more.

Give us the model of your Westell modem. You don't need to take it apart physically, just read the manual that came with it.

Here are 2 posts about Westell stuff. Read and see if they help you further:
https://www.techspot.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8878
https://www.techspot.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8908

 

[oulooool]

WOW! Thanks alot to the both of you! All useful info. My connection works on and off and I am almost positive it's the line either way cable will be here on friday morning. As Verizon helped me with nothing, which is wierd in California they helped me out alot here nothing.

I will be getting F-Secure since it's the best! =) Is it easy to setup\config? Does have any type of auto update feature? Is it a resource hog like Norton AV?
And as for Firewalls any recommendations? I don't care if I have to pay for something like that it's always worth the money in the long run:grinthumb

I know its a westell dual modem I recieved it from Verizon but they never gave me a manual =\ I will get the model # when I get home thanks guys you have been more than extremely helpful!:grinthumb

 

[RealBlackStuff]

The free Sygate firewall is very good. If you want the best, then buy Agnitum Outpost Pro V2.1 from www.agnitum.com

Before you install F-Secure, make sure you properly UNinstall NAV. Go to Symantec's website to get the (page upon page) full instructions. After that you will never want to touch Norton again!

 

[oulooool]

Originally posted by realblackstuff
The free Sygate firewall is very good. If you want the best, then buy Agnitum Outpost Pro V2.1 from www.agnitum.com

Before you install F-Secure, make sure you properly UNinstall NAV. Go to Symantec's website to get the (page upon page) full instructions. After that you will never want to touch Norton again!

Will do bud! Thanks RBS your a mountain of information man!
Is that Agnitum Outpost Firewall easy to conifg and easy on my gaming stuff? Thanks man I will be buying both of those on the 1st when I get paid :grinthumb

 

[RealBlackStuff]

When Outpost installs, it finds your browser(s) and email-program(s) and sets up the "rules" for them.
Afterwards, any program that wants to go on the internet, will cause a pop-up to ask you if it may do so. You can choose: allow always, allow once, refuse always and refuse once. You can modify any rule if you are so inclined.
Once you have given permission, Outpost will not bother you again, until you update a "permitted" program.
You can revoke permissions at any time.
The built-in help is very good and online help is available 24/7.
I've used it for about 3 years now and my PC is "airtight".

 

[oulooool]

Yes my friend from all the stuff I was reading on it I am DYING to buy it at this point!! :grinthumb I am trying to turn a buddy of mine onto it here at work once I check it out, he had some 70+ virus' I have seen more than 500+ on one computer at one time and the number was climbing until I told him forget it man just format and reinstall. We only walked away from the computer for like 5 minutes! LOL

 

[RealBlackStuff]

Don't forget that a firewall does NOT stop you from getting viruses/virii!
A firewall only controls traffic in and out, NOT content!

To protect against a virus you need an anti-virus software, and most of all, use common sense when visiting obscure websites and be extremely careful in what you download.
The 70+ , and not to mention the 500+, are plain stupidity and irresponsible ignorance and probably result from "pr0n" and/or Kazaa and its ilk.

 

[oulooool]

Yes I know Porn and KAzaa are pure crap as it is and I have been knowing they are Virus infested not to mention other things so I stay away from those types of things completely :grinthumb Thanks for the info though I will be getting both F-secure(#1 right?) and the Outpost Pro firewall on the first:grinthumb Can't wait!

 

[Shiney]

Just a thought, try running a program called pest patrol, www.pestpatrol.com worked wonders for my slow speeds by removing adware/spyware stuff that was using valuable bandwith to send its info back and forth.

My son uses kazza etc and we found over 1500 pests with it
needless to say his machine and net connection speed has improved immensly.

 

[oulooool]

Ok well......
I got my Cable Modem all setup and good to go. But I am still having problems not as bad as DSL but this modem connection out here is outstanding. So I can stay online but whenever I try and play a game I get major packetloss. I have pinged it and no pl I have called my ISP and they said same thing no pl so I don't know what to do at this point? =\ I has to be some type of setting or something somewhere. As I noticed my pc activity light is always blinking but it's not sending or recieving any information when I go to the cmd and type in "netstat". I am gonna try buying NIC today and disabling the onboard gigabit nforce =\ which I am kinda mad about since the mobo is somewhat brand new =\ Any suggestions on some settings in windows anyone has?
Here's whats in my network connection folder 3 connections

1394 Connection
1394 Connection #2
LAN Nvidia nForce Networking

anything I could do?
I ahve also swapped out cables just in case. And Nothing =\

 

[oulooool]

*UPDATE* On my situation.....

I just bought F-Secure and found out that if you d/l the free trial version first the next day they will give you 20% off for 48hrs So I jumped on that WOOHOO! I will be installing it this weekend.

My Connection seems to run OK but I am still getting a wierd problem, My dsl runs pretty decent now (cept my ping jumps up and down? no more p/l though some like 40-74ping jump). But my cable is getting p/l? I don't get it? The cable is like waaaaay faster than my DSL but it get's p/l? Really odd to me. I have called the cable company and everything as well it's very odd. Any ideas? They say the line is good but I don't get it?
And I will be returning the call from Asus FINALLY they called back while I was asleep the luck you know? =\ Oh well

Thanks to everyone who has helped me out thus far. And RBS man I am VERY CONFIDENT that f-secure is gonna be perfect Thanks alot buddy.

 

[wesa1]

Isnt it always Norton anti-virus. Yeah just about.