Internet Hiccups

[Jvick123]

Hi!
I keep getting momentary hiccups in my internet connection. I only notice it when playing online games like Warcraft, AoC, and the beta for Warhammer Online. Every 15 or 20 minutes, I will get booted from the game, just disconnect. I can exit out of the game, and then log right back on. This only happens on this PC, and not my laptop.

When I look at the connection status, the duration of the connection seems to be continuous, like I haven't lost any connection at all.
I don't notice this problem when surfing the web, only when playing a game that requires a continuous internet connection.

I have tried using wireless, and connecting straight to the router with a LAN cable, and nothing helps. The problem must be with this PC since my laptop does not share this issue.

Please help! I am an addicted gamer :-)

[Jvick123]

I forgot to mention. It's not just games. I use a voice over IP program called Ventrilo to communicate with my buddies when I'm gaming. I get a little tone from that program letting me know that I disconnected. I can close it immediately and re-open it and connect again. It's like the internet connection drops for a fraction of a second. But long enough to break the connection needed for whatever I'm using.

[johnwill]

I'd be looking for something that's running in the background that is causing the issue. Try the following test.

Try these simple tests.

Hold the Windows key and press R, then type CMD (COMMAND for W98/WME) to open a command prompt:

In the command prompt window that opens, type type the following command followed by the Enter key:

ping -c 1000 yahoo.com >c:\test.txt



When the test completes, attach c:\test.txt[/b] to a reply message here.

[Jvick123]

Johnwill,
I ran that exact command and here is the text file that showed up. I deleted it and tried it again just to make sure.


Bad option -c.





Usage: ping [-t] [-a] [-n count] [-l size] [-f] [-i TTL] [-v TOS]

[-r count] [-s count] [[-j host-list] | [-k host-list]]

[-w timeout] target_name



Options:

-t Ping the specified host until stopped.

To see statistics and continue - type Control-Break;

To stop - type Control-C.

-a Resolve addresses to hostnames.

-n count Number of echo requests to send.

-l size Send buffer size.

-f Set Don't Fragment flag in packet.

-i TTL Time To Live.

-v TOS Type Of Service.

-r count Record route for count hops.

-s count Timestamp for count hops.

-j host-list Loose source route along host-list.

-k host-list Strict source route along host-list.

-w timeout Timeout in milliseconds to wait for each reply.




Was the "-c" the command I was supposed to use?

Thanks

[johnwill]

Sorry, it was -n, not -c. Try that, it'll probably work better.

[Jvick123]

Johnwill,
I attached the txt file I received after running that test.

Thanks

[johnwill]

Here's what I get.

Ping statistics for 206.190.60.37:

Packets: Sent = 1000, Received = 1000, Lost = 0 (0% loss),

Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:

Minimum = 11ms, Maximum = 14ms, Average = 12ms

And here's what you get.

Ping statistics for 68.180.206.184:

Packets: Sent = 1000, Received = 998, Lost = 2 (0% loss),

Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:

Minimum = 29ms, Maximum = 1276ms, Average = 45ms

Note that you dropped a couple, and some of the ping responses were pretty large. That's really what I'm looking for. There is something that's stepping on the connection.

Are you sure this doesn't happen on the other computer? Try the same ping test on it and post the results. Maybe you're just not playing games where you'd notice.

[Jvick123]

Ok, don't be offended but my other computer is a mac :-) So I"m not sure I'd know how to run that same test, and I understand that you are PC experts, not Mac guys so I don't want to ask too much. I am 100 percent positive it doesn't happen on the other one though cause I ran a little test of my own.

I signed onto my voice over IP program on both computers, side by side. Let it sit for about 15 minutes or so, and I got booted from the one on this PC, and not from the one on the Mac. I left my game running overnight on the Mac and didn't get booted once.

It's not one of those things that you don't notice when playing, because it will kick me all the way out of the game. That is why it's so frustrating.

I'm glad you do see something though. Means that I am not crazy. Do you have any idea how I could find out what is "stepping" on the connection?

Thanks again,

[johnwill]

Try disabling groups of startup applications using MSCONFIG until you have everything disabled, or you run out of stuff you can disable. That will help narrow down what's causing the issue.

[Jvick123]

Argh,
Ok after disabling all of the startup items through MSCONFIG I was still getting the problem.
I decided to go out and get Windows Vista Ultimate. I did a clean install, not just the upgrade. Wiped everything and started over. After installing it, I made sure to download any updates available to make sure I had all the most current updates.

After doing all this, I ran that test again and I got this.



Ping statistics for 206.190.60.37:

Packets: Sent = 1000, Received = 996, Lost = 4 (0% loss),

Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:

Minimum = 93ms, Maximum = 1493ms, Average = 106ms


It seems as if something is still messing with my internet connection. It says that the drivers are up to date for my wireless card, etc.
Do you think that I need to replace the wireless card alltogether? The Router? I'm a little lost at this point.

Thanks

[johnwill]

Well, four lost of 1000 is not all that bad, depending on the connection that can happen. It's not unusual to lose about one out of a hundred on some Internet links.

[mrduckz]

Originally Posted by Jvick123

Hi!
I keep getting momentary hiccups in my internet connection. I only notice it when playing online games like Warcraft, AoC, and the beta for Warhammer Online. Every 15 or 20 minutes, I will get booted from the game, just disconnect. I can exit out of the game, and then log right back on. This only happens on this PC, and not my laptop.

When I look at the connection status, the duration of the connection seems to be continuous, like I haven't lost any connection at all.
I don't notice this problem when surfing the web, only when playing a game that requires a continuous internet connection.

I have tried using wireless, and connecting straight to the router with a LAN cable, and nothing helps. The problem must be with this PC since my laptop does not share this issue.

Please help! I am an addicted gamer :-)

Hello all, I am having the exact same problem with my pc. I am running vista 32bit version and I have cable internet hook-up. I have contacted my ISP several times thinking it was my modem or my incoming connection. They have told after sending two different installers out to test it that everything is working as intended. They think it's either a software issue or a ethernet wire. I recently replaced my ethernet cable and I am still experiencing the problem.

Any ideas on how to fix this problem? Please help, thank you