Cable Connection Problem???

[WRX_Rocky 0]

I have been using COX Cable Internet for some months now, after being sick and tired of DSL. At first it was great! But now, for about a month, the connection has been getting slower and slower. And when I try to watch any streaming video (Opsgear has killer mil-sim paintball vids), it stops dead right in the middle. It is acting like there is a time limit or TTL problem. The problem is with my XP 32 bit partition. When I boot into XP 64bit, everything seems ok. So I am wondering:

 

Is there something from the SBC DSL days that is interferring with the cable connection? Some settings that need to be changed? I had once used DR TCP from DSLREPORTS to change settings for the old DSL connection, maybe need to change or dlete some of what it did?

 

Some old software causing problems? The 64 bit partition does not have much installed on it, cause it was a pain to find needed drivers, so never really used it for much.

 

On XP 32bit, I have Zone Alarm 6.5, MS Defender, and Kaparsky A/V. On the 64bit I use the built in firewall, and Avast A/V. Could the problem be within those?

 

Of course, one easy solution would be to just format and start over. But I have a lot of files and customizations over time that I don't want to loose, or take a month to get back to where its at now.

 

Any thoughts? It might just be some simple settings. Thanks

[Sampson 0]

This looks like a duplicate post. It is not a good idea to have two different firewalls running. Having said that, refer to the post "network" to see what to do.

[WRX_Rocky 0]

Weird that there is the same post by pinkvus? That is my post, but so is this. Perhaps there was a glitch in the database here?

 

As to the firewalls, I only run one - ZA in the 32bit and the MS built-in one on the 64bit. Not both at the same time.

[Relic 0]

Have you tried shutting down Zone Alarm 6.5, MS Defender, and Kaspersky? Turn them all off, then try connecting. If that works, try them one at a time, then together.

 

Personally, I believe you have overkill going on here, they're fighting each other and screwing up your connection.

[WRX_Rocky 0]

Ok, uninstalled Defender and installed Spyware Terminator. Shut down all of those, and used Firefox instead. This time the video got to 3/4 complete, then the connection just dies. So it went further, but still no bananas. It is almost like something messed with the time to live setting, idle time, or some sort of cap on connectivity. I really don't want to redo the whole system, but guess I just might have to, or start building up the 64bit partition into my main system now

[Relic 0]

That makes no sense whatsoever, very weird. Before I'd format the works, I'd be calling cox.

 

I'm with Rogers cable here in Barrie ON Can, there is no "time to live", my cable is always on. No need for "pings", my TV is always on, so is my cable internet.

 

If you're losing your connection on a regular basis, either your modem is faulty, or you need a new ISP. Cable has two things going for it, number one is speed, number two is that it's always on.

 

Time to dial the "800" number and start asking questions......

[WRX_Rocky 0]

Quote:

If you're losing your connection on a regular basis, either your modem is faulty, or you need a new ISP. Cable has two things going for it, number one is speed, number two is that it's always on.

Well, I did call Cox and they checked my pings, and all was ok. But again, the weird part is when I am in regular XP 32bit, I have these problems. But when I boot into XP 64bit, there are no problems. So doubt its the modem or the connection.

The items I think it could be:

1) some bad MS patch for XP 32bit is interferring with the connection

2) something I may have installed (but were only games)

3) tried disabling Kaparsky and Zone Alarm, but maybe need to remove both completely?

4) somewhere in the registry there are screwed up TCP/IP settings

5) maybe some old DSL settings in the registry messing things up? But I did remove all traces of the SBC DSL software (or maybe it did not do a clean uninstall???)

6) some setting in MSIE 6? But same stalling when I use Firefox.

[WRX_Rocky 0]

WOW!!! I did some more research, and found this program called Cablenuts:

http://dslnuts.com/software.shtml

 

It worked WONDERS! But make sure to also get the update to it at:

http://dslnuts.com/update.shtml

 

And this helped as well:

http://www.tweakxp.com/article37124.aspx

 

Now I am able to stream the videos again - even faster than before. Am now a happy camper. Hope this helps someone else too.

[Relic 0]

Good to see you got it fixed up, no thanks to COX.

 

I don't worry about tweaking my connection, currently my speeds are very good, streaming video/music is flawless.

 

Download Speed: 4851 kbps (606.4 KB/sec transfer rate)

Upload Speed: 365 kbps (45.6 KB/sec transfer rate)

 

[WRX_Rocky 0]

Well, as I said, the problem is "somewhat" fixed. When I checked the Speakeasy Speed Test, it shows an amazing 31104kbps upload, and 935kbps download speed. Well, I also just got an E-Mail from COX saying that they upped our speed from 9 to 12. So, the movies stream fine and all, but I still have MSIE6 stall a lot on oppening web pages every so often.

[Sampson 0]

As to IE6 "stalling" - sometimes it is the browser, but, more often than not, the number of hops your connection has to make and the speed of the website's server are bigger factors.

 

On the other side of the equation, since you used some of DSLnuts registry enhancements, one of the tricks for faster deployment is to suspend error checking per packet sent, which a high percentage of times on broadband, does speed up download times. But, if the error check with the larger packet size does not "compute", there can be a noticeable delay.

 

Glad you were able to get your system to something you found more satisfactory.