Slow in recognising connection

[David58]

When starting my PC (from sleep or hibernate), I have a bit of struggle getting my wireless connection to wake up and connect to my router (this is a separate problem).  Once I connect I do a couple of ping tests (one to the router and one to idnet.com) to confirm that the little icons in the system tray are not lying (they will sometimes claim connected when there is no connection!). The router ping test (set up as a batch file) completes reasonably quickly but the ping test on idnet can take minutes to complete.  For instance, this morning:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
local ping start  9:33:47.88

Pinging 192.168.1.1 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=4ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for 192.168.1.1:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 2ms, Maximum = 4ms, Average = 2ms
local ping finish  9:33:54.74
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ISP ping start  9:33:54.81

Pinging idnet.com [212.69.36.10] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 212.69.36.10: bytes=32 time=60ms TTL=59
Reply from 212.69.36.10: bytes=32 time=135ms TTL=59
Reply from 212.69.36.10: bytes=32 time=80ms TTL=59
Reply from 212.69.36.10: bytes=32 time=85ms TTL=59

Ping statistics for 212.69.36.10:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 60ms, Maximum = 135ms, Average = 90ms
ISP ping finish  9:42:03.65
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The local ping test takes 6.8 seconds to complete, but
the idnet ping test takes 8 minutes 8.84 seconds to complete!
Is this common and if it is what does one call this issue?
How do I sort out whether this is my router being slow in trying to connect to IDNet, or whether it is IDNet being tardy in recognising my account?

TIA
David

[Rik]

Hi David

It sounds a bit like your machine is not waking up properly. If you cold boot it, do you still have the problem pinging IDNet?

[David58]

Rik,

Thanks for the prompt reply; cold booting is one of that ways that use to try and sort the wireless wake-up issue (which I have not yet posted about because I have not fully codified it) - although having to do that is a bit of a PITA when you have work open.

However, given that I can ping my router, I am working on the assumption that the PC has "woken up" OK and the issue would lie between my router and IDNet.  I could try resetting the router (either soft via the web interface, or hard by going and pressing the on/off button) - and will try that when next starting.  If that "solves" the problem, I will then have an awkward work-around, but will I have moved towards identifying the underlying problem?

Thanks
David

[Rik]

I think it's likely that the issue is more to do with the hibernation than with the router/IDNet, tbh. I don't use wireless much, and I don't hibernate the machine when I do, but my router is connected 24/7 and has no trouble springing into life when I turn a machine on. My hunch is that you're not picking up DNS immediately. Try switching to allocating the DNS servers in Windows, rather than acquiring them from the router, and see if that helps. Another possible diagnostic would be to use a cabled connection for a while and see if the issue goes away. If it does, that would point at the wifi adaptor not correctly initiating communication when woken.

[Rik]

Hi David

I've been bouncing ideas around with support, we're fairly sure this is a PC issue, so can you try these diagnostic steps, one at a time please:

1) Change your IDNet ping to the IP address 212.69.36.10 (or one of the nameservers). This will eliminate DNS from the issue. If that fixes things, then your PC is not picking up DNS from the router, so move to setting the DNS in Windows.

if that doesn't help:

2) Try using a cabled connection. If that cures the problem, it's something to do with the way the wireless is initiating on wake up. If possible, try with a non-Windows machine and see if that works OK, if it does, we know it's a Windows and/or hardware issue. If it doesn't, can you try a different router?

3) Check your BIOS settings to see if the machine turns off the wifi as  power-saving measure. Repeat the exercise in Device Manager.

4) Check what state the Zero Config service is in after power-up (C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.msc).

Let us know if any of that helps.

[Dangerjunkie]

Hi David,

It sounds like you have a dodgy wireless driver that's failing to correctly restart your wireless card when the machine wakes up.

What make and model of machine is it please? What type of wireless card does it have (make and model)? Where did you get the driver for the wireless card? (Is it the one that installed with WIndows, one from the PC maker or did you go directly to the wireless card maker's site and download the latest version?) When is the last time you updated the wireless driver? Which OS do you have? (XP, Vista, Mac, Linux?)

Cheers,
Paul.