"connection timed out" problem

Skywise · 2006-04-01T02:18:54+00:00

I am having a problem with "connection timed out" and it'sdriving me nutz! I tried asking over in the w2k group butdidn't get much help. So I thought I might try the brainsthat reside here.It's a new win2k setup with dialup access to the net.It affects all my programs that access the net - netscape,firefox, thunderbird, xnews, mailwasher....most of which Iused on my old system with no problems.It sometimes acts like it's just too many connections. On myolder system, I could load a set of 10 browser tabs at once.Yes, it was slow, but it loaded. Now, some of the sites comeback timed out, and those that do load may be missing severalimages.Alternatively there are times when I'm simply downloading onefile (getright or firefox) and I go to load a simple webpageand I get timed out. The timeout happens in seconds, usuallyinstantly.Another weird example is loading a website that has advertising.While the page loads, one or more of the ads will show thebrowsers "connection timed out" error while the rest of the pageis still loading. This happens if all I am doing is loadingjust that one page.I've used ethereal to examine traffic and I'm noticing two things.One is that when this happens there's a lot of "ICMP destinationunreachable". This always comes on the heals of a "DNS queryresponse" and is being sent by my machine to the DNS server. Imean, it's at the same time to the microsecond. When things runsuccessfully, I may see one or two of these. But when thingsfail, they come in droves.Second, using the above example of downloading a file and thentrying to load a webpage, it appears the request doesn't evengo out. The GET commands never show up in the packets. The webpage times out instantly.I was having problems with my modem anyway, so I changed to myold tried and true USR 56k sportster. No change. (other thanthe problem the 'new' modem was having - dropped connectionsfrom connecting too fast for the noise level on the line)I have tried different modem drivers. No change....

S

Skywise 20 years ago

Replying for both Moe (dig the ID, btw) and Sebastian.

Thanks again for all your help.

OK...my old modem is a USR Sporster 56k external on the com port. Runs like a champ. I've had it for about 7 years or so.

The new modem is a USR 56K USB.

I had bought the new one for the faster upload speeds for updating my websites.

On both modems, they typically want to connect at 49.2, sometimes higher. But I was getting dropped about 1/3rd of the time. This happened on the old machine as well.

The old modem has the commands to set max and min connect speeds. Right now I have it limited to 45.2 and I don't get dropped as often, if at all. It does retrain once in a while. I can tell when RD/SD are low when there should be stuff moving. Only takes a few seconds to retrain. I can live with that as long as it's not actually dropping the connection.

The new modem does not have those commands so therefore it always connects at a high speed, and eventually I'd lose it.

As for the DSL, when I tried to get it but couldn't get sync, they came out and checked the line. Turned out I am something like 24,000 feet from the switch. I was told it typically tops out at 17-18K feet. They couldn't but barely get a signal at the J-box down the road which was supposed to be at about 21K feet. I was told they are working on a new system that can go further, but no telling when it would be available.

S*it, I just wish I could have a fiber optic right to the CPU. :)

Brian

Vote

S

Skywise 20 years ago

Skywise wrote in news:122ujs4erqgrd68 @corp.supernews.com:

Backtracking on this for a sec, I had an opportunity to check a different W2k machine I had built previously for someone. It doesn't even have the above key. I presume then that the system would just use the default value?

I wonder now if this key on my system was put in by something I installed and it made the bad choice of setting the value to zero.

Brina

Vote

V

Volker Birk 20 years ago

Yes, you can open the registry files with registry editor.

Yours, VB.

Vote

M

Moe Trin 20 years ago

Built like a tank - gets the same mileage. ;-)

In both cases, they really do have specific model numbers. The first one is probably a 5686-03, or a 5605. Not sure about the new one - my understanding is that they are all using the same Texas Instrument chip sets.

AT&Nxx and AT&Uxx which you can see using the 'AT$' and 'AT&$' commands.

Did you check using the $ commands?

I'm just about 21000 feet. It only took four years to get it here. The company line is still a dedicated POTS line.

Fiber is available in a few markets on the East Coast, at some significant cost. I haven't heard that much about it one way or the other. Your other option would be to move into the "down town data center" - which may not be the most desirable thing.

Old guy

Vote

S

Skywise 20 years ago

snipped-for-privacy@painkiller.example.tld (Moe Trin) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@compton.phx.az.us:

5686-04. The new one is a 5633A.

I much prefer the older one. A bit slower on uploads. A small price to pay for the ability to control the damned modem.

Believe it or not, the new modem doesn't even support $ commands!!!

I had to rely on the published command list in the docs. Even so, I tried the &N &U commands anyway but got errors.

Brian

Vote

C

ChronJob 18 years ago

Skywise wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com:

Man, you're riding a dial-up connection. No wonder your pages are timing out! F*ck, get a life.

Vote

S

Skywise 18 years ago

ChronJob wrote in news:Xns9A00A35289FFchronjob888@

69.28.186.158:

Whose the one with no life? You're the one replying to a post made 20 months ago!!!

Brian

Vote

"connection timed out" problem

Join the Discussion

Didn't find your answer?