cable modem crawling

[simtis]

A little help here, 99% of the time while using my cable modem everything is great, then, for whatever reason everything just slows to a crawl. Web pages seem to load at the speed of a 2400 bps (slow for those who missed out on those). It doesn't matter what page im loading. I shut down the browser but that doesn't help. MS Outlook also slows to a crawl. When I reboot my computer....BAM!!! blazing speed again....but it could crawl at any time
Generally(but not exclusively) i see it most often when im really pushing it. ie: video downloads, MP3 downloads(5 at a time) etc.
Has anyone experienced this?

My ISP is no help, there reply... "well sir, there are times when you will experience reduced x-fer rates, for example, when a large volume of users are logged on"

This guy was a big help, there is a difference btwn reduced x-fer rates and litteraly crawling.

I am starting to think this may be an issue with my nic. (D-link)

system spec's
win98
IE 5.0
Outlook 2000
Motorola modem

 

[jeffg007]

Tell a little more like cpu speed, how much ram, mother board, video card, ect... stuff like that.

Jeff

 

[simtis]

Thanks for the reply

I could of given that info initially but im not really sure much of that has anything to do with my problem, remember i said i normally experience great download speed, its just the occasional hault i get.

CPU K6-2 450 BCM board with ALI chipset
64mg, AGP ATI expert 98 16mg
D-Link NIC
Motorola modem
COX@HOME is ISP

 

[yoda271828]

I don't think that hardware has anything to do with your problem (excpet maybe the network card). I have a Pentium 60 on my shared cable connection, and it can download at 650KB/s just like the rest of my computers.

Have you checked to make sure your using the latest NIC and motherboard drivers? I have three D-link cards and have never had a problem like that, but I am probably just lucky because the other D-link products I've had were crap. Network cards are inexpensive, so you may want to just go buy a new NIC just to be sure.

 

[lostinms]

I have the same problem except I am using a 56k modem and Windows 95. Things seems to just slow down the they stop. The only thing that I can figure out with mine is shut the computer completely off and turn it back on again. I am guessing that my memory or cache is starting to so its age. It can also be a memory leak.

AMD K6-3 400mhz
GA5-AX ver 4.1
USR 56k ISA modem (gotta love these old hardware modems)
64 meg
Maxtor 4gig udma33 and 2 gig DMA hardrives
Samsung 32x cdrom
HP 8250i CDRW(it is really a 8290, in other words I think it is the Phillips ver)
Voodoo 3 2k pci(so sue me it was cheap)
Linksys fast ethernet card 10/100 hooked up to my Linksys Hub which is hooked up to my wife's computer.

 

[simtis]

Yoda, i was thinking of dropping a new NIC in, i guess it cant hurt and your right they are cheap. As far as drivers go i haven't updated the NIC or Mbo. I guess what really kills me is that this is the configuration (NIC, Drivers etc) my ISP installed. I shouldn't have to troubleshoot this dam thing at $40 per month. There latest reply to me was to disable the proxy settings or detection or whatever its called, i did this and used the net for about 90 minutes at blazinging speed but just when i thought i was out of the woods......bam!!! c r a w l i n g again.

lostinms mentioned a memory or cache problem, wouldn't either of these show up in other software applications?? when my browser slows and i close it everything else on the computer seems to run fine, once i reboot the browser is fine again too.

Thanks for the input, as soon as i get this resolved i will post the cause.

If anyone else cares to share thier input it would be greatly appreciated. I cant belive i am the only human experiencing this with with a cable modem.

thanks again yoad and lostinms.....

 

[simtis]

Ok, i dropped in a Lynksys 10/100 and havent had a problem for the last 5 days. Hope this helps someone else.

 

[Bubba]

I have Linksys, NetGear, and D-Link network cards.
My personal preference is for the Linksys cards.
They just seem to work better. I think they are faster.

 

[simtis]

D-link was my first experience(isp installed) but i will stick with Linksys from now on.

 

[tiberius]

Try a 3Com NIC. You can not go wrong with 3Com. I use a 3CR990 NIC with an on board processor. This card smoothed out my cable modem connection. Also go to http://www.tweak3d.net/tweak/cable/, this is a sight to tweak out your cable modem....

 

[flavio321]

i am a network admin and i would recomend cable....
anywho, where are you locate? if people in your neighborehood are using the cable connection at the same time, naturally your connection speed will decrease. cable is a bridged/shared broadband. i'll bet your connection is fine during late night and early mornings. try uncapping your cable modem. that might help upstream.

If you can't beat 'em kill 'em
athlon "SLOTA" thunderbird 700@1050mhz