I have an intermittent problem (maybe once every five minutes or so) that has plagued my DSL line since I installed it. Tech support (Bell Atlantic / Verizon) has not been able to help me. They’ve checked all the lines / circuits up to the house, but that is about all they can do. My problem, is that when I click on a link - I get nothing. Nadda. Zip. Well, maybe nothing is not quite the right word. I get Explorer’s ‘click’ sound, the mouse pointer changes to an hourglass down by the status bar, but that is about it. No new page. If I right-click on a link and select ‘open in new window’ a blank browser opens up (white screen) and it sits and sits and sits. Then, after about ten, twenty or sometimes an exasperating thirty seconds, the requested page will load up lickety-split.
At first I thought it was the site I was visiting. To check that, I tried going to schools and newspapers all across the country (and world, too - gotta get my Madam & Eve fix.) Same problem wherever I went. I used schools and newspapers so I could be reasonably sure of the server’s physical location, so now I am pretty sure that it isn’t something in the lines outside of my house. Another clue that it is not a hang outside of my computer is that when the pages finally do load, they do so all at the same time. That is, if I have windows open, stalled, and waiting to load sites in New York, California and England, when they do begin to load they all do so simultaneously and very quickly.
I’ve also taken steps (albeit small ones) to make sure it is not the browser. I reinstalled and got the same problem. I also have Netscape and IE on my machine and the problem occurs with both programs. It also occurs with both browsers open at the same time, and with multiple pages open for each. Nothing nothing nothing, then all of a sudden all pages load up quickly.
I can not say how this is affecting downloads. They appear to be continuous, but I can not say if the pauses are hidden from me. Also, RealAudio does not seem to pause when I can’t open a new window, but I can’t tell if it is using the buffer to keep the stream constant.
In my system tray I have, among other things, BlackIce Defender, Asus Probe and McCafee Netshield all running, and when I can choose a setting I opt for paranoia. I have, though, shut them down one by one and still noticed the problem.
So, in desperation and despair, I turn to the kind folks here for help. What next? What else should I check? What other information could I provide? Is there a registry setting for randomly stalling before complying with an internet request? I am getting very close to reformatting my entire system with a hammer. Please help!!!
Thanks!!!
The hardware:
[list]
[li]Asus P3B-F Board[/li][li]PIII 550[/li][li]Linxsys basic NIC. I have been told that this is a possible source of my problems. I’ll replace it if needed, but don’t want to go out and buy hardware without just cause. I’ve spoken with Linxsys and they reported no problems with this card. I downloaded up to date drivers from them and saw no change. Before I left school I was using the card with an Ethernet connection (on a different machine) and had no problems.[/li][li]Modem is a Westell external DLS modem. No model number on the outside of the box.[/li][li]ISP is Bell Atlantic / Verizon[/li][li]DSL connection is (supposed to be) 640 / 90[/li][li]Running Win98 with service pack 2[/li]Both IE and Netscape, don’t recall which versions off hand (I’m at work) but downloaded the latest versions within the past six months.