Personal computing discussed

Moderators: renee, Steel, notfred

 
lenzenm
Gerbil Team Leader
Topic Author
Posts: 292
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2001 7:00 pm
Location: Greenfiled, WI
Contact:

Fri Mar 01, 2002 2:04 pm

OK, as some of you already know, my primary buisiness client is a contracting company for Time Warner cable; specifically handling Road Runner installs and trouble calls.
I have been seeing a recurring problem, and have no idea as too the cure. Win98 and WinME (but not Win95, oddly enough) machines suddenly take a huge hit in download speeds, for no apparent reason. The modems are capped at 1.5Mb/s down and 384Kb/s upstream. The customer will experience a drop to around 70Kb/s down, but still have around 350kb/s up. A new modem makes no difference; testing the modem customer experiencing the slowdown already has with a laptop yields normal speeds. Uninstalling/reinstalling the TCP/I protocol tack yields no change. Any and all firewall software has been discounted as a cause. Rin-installation of the OS does solve the problem, but I'm looking for a qicker/easier fix. I just attribute it to the fact that Win9x starts to break from the day it's installed, but I'd like to know just WHAT is breaking. MS Technet has been less than helful in this regard; but I've never been very good at searching that site, so maybe someone has seen this problem before?
Any ideas?
 
ANApex
Gerbil XP
Posts: 447
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2001 7:00 pm
Location: PA
Contact:

Fri Mar 01, 2002 2:14 pm

Full file caches maybe? Just grasping at straws btw.
 
lenzenm
Gerbil Team Leader
Topic Author
Posts: 292
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2001 7:00 pm
Location: Greenfiled, WI
Contact:

Fri Mar 01, 2002 5:17 pm

ANApex: been there, done that. Dumped the caches, no good. Increased size of browser cache, decreased size of browser cache, nada.
Sux.
 
Damage
Gerbil Jedi
Posts: 1787
Joined: Wed Dec 26, 2001 7:00 pm
Location: Lee's Summit, Missouri, USA
Contact:

Fri Mar 01, 2002 5:24 pm

Hmm.. Token-bucket rate shaping gone bad?
Scott Wasson - "Damage"
 
IntelMole
Grand Gerbil Poohbah
Posts: 3506
Joined: Sat Dec 29, 2001 7:00 pm
Location: The nearest pub
Contact:

Sat Mar 02, 2002 6:59 am

I'm taking it that you are installing this kit on already installed Windows systems...

I think I might have had a similar problem with my DVD drive...

Before, with a 40x CD-ROM, it was perfectly fine encoding cds...

Then I put the DVD drive in, everything went fine, and as it had a 48x CD speed I wanted to see the performance difference encoding CDs, no go, it wouldn't encode without crashing the system and nullifying all the encoding.

Uninstalled RJ2, re-installed RJ2, now it runs fine, will do 3.5x encoding on my crappy li'l K6-2 400, where the CD-ROM might have done 1.5x

So I would suggest that if your situation is similar, then Windows is trying to use the kit as a different piece of hardware, just as RJ2 was trying to use my DVD as a CD...

Again, I'm clutching at straws though,
IntelMole
 
lenzenm
Gerbil Team Leader
Topic Author
Posts: 292
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2001 7:00 pm
Location: Greenfiled, WI
Contact:

Sat Mar 02, 2002 12:44 pm

IntelMole:
The situation exists on machines that have had the Road Runner cable modem service for awhile, with the normal speed associated with the service (~1.5Mb/s down and ~384Kb/s up). Then, one day, out of the blue, it tanks (~70Kb/s down and ~350 Kb/s up). That's the odd part, the upstream notices almost no dropoff, while the downstream enters "supreme suckage" (c) mode.
 
Speed
Gerbil Elite
Posts: 702
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2001 7:00 pm
Location: Chicago, IL USA
Contact:

Sun Mar 03, 2002 10:29 pm

What protocols are affected? Please tell me that you're not just talking about HTTP with IE!
 
lenzenm
Gerbil Team Leader
Topic Author
Posts: 292
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2001 7:00 pm
Location: Greenfiled, WI
Contact:

Mon Mar 04, 2002 4:27 pm

Speed:
No, its not only HTTP. Its also FTP, POP, SMTP. And unfortunately, RR customers really only care about those things: browsing, file downloads, and email. The browser/email app/file sharing app doesnt seem to matter, the speed sucks across the board.
 
Fugazi
Gerbil
Posts: 30
Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2002 7:00 pm
Location: Toronto, ON
Contact:

Mon Mar 04, 2002 4:53 pm

Could this be registry bloat? I always found that if I installed a ton of apps (especially Adobe & Discreet apps) I would get some Win9X slowdown. Uninstalling didn't seem to pep it up any either.
 
Speed
Gerbil Elite
Posts: 702
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2001 7:00 pm
Location: Chicago, IL USA
Contact:

Mon Mar 04, 2002 6:11 pm

Well, Win9x <i>is</i> the legacy version. It has some 16-bit code in the network stack that can cause problems. Us corporate networking types have had our share of MPREXE freezups! See what happens with NT/2k/XP.
 
lenzenm
Gerbil Team Leader
Topic Author
Posts: 292
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2001 7:00 pm
Location: Greenfiled, WI
Contact:

Mon Mar 04, 2002 8:39 pm

Never seen it happen with an NT-based OS. Not once. Or with Win95, either which is really odd. But 50 or so incidents of 98/ME, and counting.
 
Speed
Gerbil Elite
Posts: 702
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2001 7:00 pm
Location: Chicago, IL USA
Contact:

Tue Mar 05, 2002 12:34 am

Is that Windows 95 right out of the box, or is that Windows 95 with all the patches? Is it the original boxed version, or an OSR version?


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Speed on 2002-03-05 08:44 ]</font>
 
Coldfirex
Graphmaster Gerbil
Posts: 1122
Joined: Wed Dec 26, 2001 7:00 pm
Location: College Station, TX
Contact:

Tue Mar 05, 2002 12:54 am

Dont know what could be causing it but has your company tried setting up any test machines? Like have a number of win98 boxes each a little different in configuration/patches/etc and maybe you could come across the culprit?

If ICS is turned on any of the machines, try deleting this string:
http://support.microsoft.com/search/pre ... us|9867783

Also give this a shot JIC:
http://support.microsoft.com/search/pre ... us|9867263

Just a shot in the dark. Good Luck.
 
lenzenm
Gerbil Team Leader
Topic Author
Posts: 292
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2001 7:00 pm
Location: Greenfiled, WI
Contact:

Tue Mar 05, 2002 11:30 am

Here's the problem:
I have to support 45000+ computers, all installed in various customers homes; that means I have seen every Win32 platform out there, mostly unpatched cause the users dont know that they should patch, or how to do so; I have all the patches pertinent to a particular OS on various CD's, applying them doesnt make a differenc.
I have tried duplicating the problem at the office, but it hasn't turned up yet. Since RoadRunner doesnt support residential networking (they can do it if they want, but Time Warner wont try to fix it if it's busted, the contractors are just supposed setup/repair service to one machine), one of the first steps is to turn off ICS; most ppl doing home networking are using routers anyway.
I'll give the registry tweak another whirl though.
 
IntelMole
Grand Gerbil Poohbah
Posts: 3506
Joined: Sat Dec 29, 2001 7:00 pm
Location: The nearest pub
Contact:

Tue Mar 05, 2002 7:41 pm

Ask the users who experience these problems what they have installed. I'm thinking that there may be some correlation between certain types of program (maybe they tried a connection tuning app, which never works and ends up slowing your computer down :grin:)

I realise you've probably looked in this area, but I can't see that the hardware has changed, so it MUST be the software, and it worked properly beforehand, so it's got to be something that Win 98/Me doesn't like in the software, IMO...

Still clutching at the straws though,
IntelMole
 
IntelMole
Grand Gerbil Poohbah
Posts: 3506
Joined: Sat Dec 29, 2001 7:00 pm
Location: The nearest pub
Contact:

Tue Mar 05, 2002 7:43 pm

Another thought, you sure that they haven't just kicked the machine and knocked the connection, or something <b>really simple</b> like that? I know that when I first moved my machine in this house I couldn't connect to the internet because the modem cable kept getting pulled out every time I moved the machine...

I'm betting it's user error though,
IntelMole
 
lenzenm
Gerbil Team Leader
Topic Author
Posts: 292
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2001 7:00 pm
Location: Greenfiled, WI
Contact:

Tue Mar 05, 2002 8:06 pm

They still have a connection, its just the D/L speed sux. I've spent hours on some of these machines, looking for loose connections, bolluxed NICs, damaged modems, nicked cables, bogus software. Nada. I'm sure its that Windows is crapping out, which I kinda expect. The Win9x codebase starts to fail from the day its installed, and this manifests in various ways.
I'm just trying to figure out how to throw a band-aid on the hemmoraging wound that is Win9x.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: lenzenm on 2002-03-05 19:08 ]</font>
 
Coldfirex
Graphmaster Gerbil
Posts: 1122
Joined: Wed Dec 26, 2001 7:00 pm
Location: College Station, TX
Contact:

Wed Mar 06, 2002 4:43 pm

Maybe its some really smart employee of yours that has put something on the ISP's side to screw up 98/ME SO youll have more business :smile:
 
IntelMole
Grand Gerbil Poohbah
Posts: 3506
Joined: Sat Dec 29, 2001 7:00 pm
Location: The nearest pub
Contact:

Wed Mar 06, 2002 6:39 pm

As a little aside, I was bored and read your first post again, then decided to go to mstechnet:

http://www.mstechnet.com/

That site IS less than helpful yes :razz:

So is the M$ Win 98 site as well,
IntelMole
 
lenzenm
Gerbil Team Leader
Topic Author
Posts: 292
Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2001 7:00 pm
Location: Greenfiled, WI
Contact:

Wed Mar 06, 2002 6:52 pm

On 2002-03-06 15:43, Coldfirex wrote:
Maybe its some really smart employee of yours that has put something on the ISP's side to screw up 98/ME SO youll have more business :smile:


Heh. Cute idea, but my field techs are cable techs first, PC techs second (WAY second). And they are far too dumb to do it. I didnt do it, so that leaves...no-one here. I suppose someone at one of the other contracting groups could have done it, but they are as clueless to the solution as I am.
 
IntelMole
Grand Gerbil Poohbah
Posts: 3506
Joined: Sat Dec 29, 2001 7:00 pm
Location: The nearest pub
Contact:

Fri Mar 08, 2002 4:15 pm

You ever watched Swordfish?

I reckon it's J. Edgar Hoover's secret organisation stopping you from finding the FBI's porn libraries :smile:

There's my conspiracy theory,
IntelMole

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 1 guest
GZIP: On