Having great difficulties this weekend

[foreversummer]

Hi

Wonder if any of you kind souls can help.

Kept losing synch with our exchange yesterday, but today staying connected is not a problem.  However although we are connected all of our computers are having difficult in loading pages - it is so painfully slow if they load at all.

Our router is connected to the master socket and all the computers connect by wi-fi.  The wi-fi signals are showing as excellent.  However, we can bearly load pages let alone do any gaming.

Hoping I can get this message through to the board.

Any suggestions greatly appeciated.

[Rik]

Can you post your router stats and, if possible, the results of a BT speed test?

[foreversummer]

Hi Rik

Thank you for your immediate response.

I'm sorry but I am not sure how to post my router stats - if you can talk me through that that would be great.

I think I know how to do the BT speed test so I'll do that now.

Many thanks.

[Rik]

What router do you have?

[foreversummer]

Phew . . .  Have just managed to do the BT speedtest on the fourth attempt.  Didn't seem to have enough juice to load:

DSL Connection rate 7616 downstream
736 upstream
IP profile 6500
Download speed 2403 kbps.

Pages either downloading very slowly or not loading at all.  Had problems getting back to the forum.

Router is the Netgear DGN1000 purchased from ID Net.

Many thanks.

[Rik]

That's odd, the BT data shows that you're connecting OK, but your throughput is very low, suggesting either a lot of errors or a highly congested exchange. I don't know that model of Netgear, but usually the stats are available by logging into the web interface http://192.168.0.1, then Router Status > "Show Statistics" Button.

What I'm interested in is the downstream line attenuation and noise margin. Normally, the login credentials for Netgear are admin & password, but if IDNet configured it, it's likely to be different, try your ADSL logon username & password if the defaults don't work.

[foreversummer]

Downstream line attenuation 8.6 db
Noise margin 9.8 db

Re exchange congestion, we pay for the priority service with IDNet and never normally have problems.

[Rik]

Can you connect one machine via an ethernet cable and see if the performance is any better that way? It looks like your target noise margin has been raised, otherwise for that line attenuation I'd expect a full 8192 sync.

Run a quiet line test, dial 17070 and select option 2. You should hear only a background hiss or hum, if there are any crackles or the noise level is high, then report a fault to your voice provider, but don't mention ADSL, only noise when making calls.

If the quiet line test is OK, do you have an NTE5 master, the type where the bottom part of the faceplate can be removed? If so, please remove the plate and plug the router only into the test socket which will be revealed. Does that help?

What else is connected to the line, eg phone, Sky box etc?

[foreversummer]

Thanks Rik

Going to take a few hours out in the sunshine then if problem still exists will work through what you suggest.

Its really strange but for a few minutes I get perfectly normal speeds and then suddenly it changes and goes so slooooow often to a grinding halt with nothing loading.  Maybe there is a problem at my exchange?

Many thanks for your help.  I will let you know.

[Rik]

The exchange fits the symptoms best, but if you can eliminate other possibilities as I've suggested, it will save you some time when you talk to IDNet.

[Simon_idnet]

Have you tried rebooting everything including your router? The wireless setup may need resetting and a reboot would do that. But, better still, and as Rik says you should try one machine on the (rebooted) router with an Ethernet cable.

It might also be an idea to try a different wireless channel in case a neighbour has started using the same channel as you.

[foreversummer]

Hi Simon.

Have done a couple of reboots this morning.  Now both kid's laptops off and just this computer connecting wirelessly.

I've just come back in and everything is going at a snails pace if at all.  Takes absolutely ages to get to the forum.  I've just noticed that one of the lights has gone out on the router.  It is the third one from the left with the round globe - think thats the web light.

I guess next I will connect with the ethernet cable.  Had just been hoping that suddenly everthing would get back to normal.

Thank you for taking the time to reply.

[foreversummer]

Forgot to mention have tried changing channels.  Router is set to auto and usually sits on Channel 1.  I've switched to Channel 6 but no improvement.

[Technical Ben]

I would also suggest turning off wifi from the Admin control panel (or button on the router box if you have one) and connecting via an Ethernet connection on a laptop/pc. This should rule out the small risk that someone has hijacked your wifi, or the more likely candidate of the kids a family member bogging it down with the wrong Iplayer/youtube settings.

You can also try downloading a video to "watch later" via BBC Iplayer, or some other large file from a site you use. Then you can see how quickly the file is downloading. If it downloads quickly, it suggests just your web browsing is effected. If it downloads slowly, then it's something effecting the entire connection. However, you did mention gaming being a bit slow too, so it suggests the latter.

[foreversummer]

Have computer connected to ethernet cable.  Still terrible slow - like only just managed to get onto the forum after many attempts. 

So, it seems that if I reboot the router the web light comes on for a while but everything is so slow to load most pages don't.  After a while this light goes off.

Doesnt matter if we are connecting with ethernet cable or wirelessly.

Ben, thanks for your reply.  Don't quite understand though.  All we can do to download a basic webpage let along a large file.  Tried to connect to the IDNet page to check bandwidth usage but won't download.

Guess for tonight we will turn everthing off.  Have a glass of wine or two and see what tomorrow brings!  Who knows, perhaps everything will be find in the morning.

Thank for all your help today.

[Rik]

Do you get any error messages, or is it purely a sluggishness? Have you tried any of the diagnostics I suggested?

[foreversummer]

Hi Rik

Have tried quiet line test - OK.

If I get windows diagnosics to to check connection it comes up with:  Cannot communicate with Primary DNS Server 212.69.40.3.

Web light still on at present so I can communicate.  When web light not on this is what it says.  When web light off it says:  See above, what I said to Simon when I log into Router.

At moment, my computer says that I have local access only.  So no guarantee that this message with reach the forum.

Cheers.

[foreversummer]

Sorry just realised my reply did not get to Simon.

When web light out my router shows time connected 00.00.00.  Connection to server:  Waiting for Data.  Negotiation:  LCP is allowed to come up.

[Rik]

It did.

Right click on the connection > Status > Properties > TCP/IP > Properties. Change from 'Obtain DNS server address automatically' to 'Use the following DNS server addresses'. Type in 198.153.192.1 and 198.153.194.1 - that's Norton DNS. See if that cures the problem.

[foreversummer]

Sorry Rik

You will need to treat me as a complete dumbo!

Where is my connection to click on.  If I click on the little connection icon on my taskbar it doesn't give me the option of status.

[Rik]

Go into Control Panel > Network Connections and double click on the connection there, then. Which version of Windows are you using?

[foreversummer]

Done it!  No better unfortunately.

Windows error message:  Windows has found a problem that cannot be repaired automatically. Contact your ISP.

BT speedtester won't load to get another reading from there.

Web light on router still on at present though.

Most webpages just time-out.  The forum often loads in plain text (doesn't look like the usual page).  Don't know what this means.

Going to turn off soon and hope for a better day tomorrow! Lol.

[Technical Ben]

Have computer connected to ethernet cable.  Still terrible slow - like only just managed to get onto the forum after many attempts. 

So, it seems that if I reboot the router the web light comes on for a while but everything is so slow to load most pages don't.  After a while this light goes off.

Doesnt matter if we are connecting with ethernet cable or wirelessly.

Ben, thanks for your reply.  Don't quite understand though.  All we can do to download a basic webpage let along a large file.  Tried to connect to the IDNet page to check bandwidth usage but won't download.

Guess for tonight we will turn everthing off.  Have a glass of wine or two and see what tomorrow brings!  Who knows, perhaps everything will be find in the morning.

Thank for all your help today.

Oh sorry. Did not realise it was so difficult to actually get anything up at all. Was just wondering if it was just webpages that were the problem. There have been a few faults on occasion where everything else would work fine.

[Rik]

Windows error message:  Windows has found a problem that cannot be repaired automatically. Contact your ISP.

Odd. Can you hit Start > Run > CMD and hit Enter. In the DOS-like window which opens, type ipconfig /all. Copy and paste the output back here could you?

[foreversummer]

Good morning.

This is so odd.  About 9.30 pm last night everthing started to work fine.  Got up this morning, everyone on their laptops working perfectly. Then about 15 mins ago hardly anything loading again, page timeouts, virtually unusable. 

I will try as you suggest Rik. Thank you.