Posted on 06/12/2014 6:51:39 PM PDT by Zionist Conspirator
I'll try to make this as short as possible, because I never know when a page is going to load.
As you may recall, I started having connection issues about three and a half months ago. After eliminating every other issue I wound up getting another (rebuilt) computer.
Late last month the same issue began showing up so I returned the computer to the repair shop at which I bought it. They hooked it up to their connection and announced that there was nothing wrong with it.
As recently as last Sunday this thing was working like a top. Now not only will it not play videos, it doesn't even want to load still pictures and sometimes doesn't want to load a page at all. I've been on the phone twice today with my ISP. The first guy remote controlled my computer, checked out my browser, and said it was working great (which it was for him). Then after hanging up I was once again having the greatest difficulty loading pages. I called again and was told there was absolutely nothing wrong with the network. So it's not the computer, it's not the modem (either one of them, since they both have the same problem), and it's not the network. I'm losing my ability to surf the Net at all and apparently there is nothing wrong with anything.
The DSL is sending someone to check out our wiring over the weekend (I'm grasping at straws that it may have something to do with the days of flash flooding saturating the soil and perhaps doing some harm to the phone lines, though we have no problems with the telephone itself). If he once again tells me there's nothing wrong with anything and to take the computer to the shop (been there, done that) I'll simply have to cancel my Internet account. I can't afford to keep paying this for service that's indistinguishable from dial-up.
I don't want to do this. But it looks like that's what it's going to come to barring a miracle. I'm absolutely sick about this. Everyone's jerking me around and disclaiming responsibility, every else says it's working for them, but i can't do anything.
I've been online for seveenteen years, the past seven on DSL, and never had any problems at all until just a few months ago. Furthermore 5/24 was my fifteenth anniversary as a FReeper.
Please don't tease me by asking if my computer is plugged in. Not funny, guys. Don't try to give me advice because I won't understand a word of it. And I don't have any laptops, smart phones, or any such thing . . . just one desktop plugged into one phone jack.
Please forgive my tone, but I am at my wit's end. I hope I will somehow be able to stay online, but if no one can find anything wrong, I don't know what to do other than cancel. And no, we don't have cable out here.
I hope this isn't the end, but if it is . . . well, I'll miss all of you. And I'm well aware of what an unpleasant jackass I am most of the time. Thanks to Jim Rob and everyone else for putting up with me.
Getting the wiring physically examined is the correct first step. Old damaged wiring will play merry hell with DSL.
He taught me trouble shooting, reading schematics, and I was the only kid in school who built his own transistor radios LOL. The put the two stories of mechanical switching into a computer that would fit in the average living room.
Dad passed a couple years ago but I remember a lot of what he taught me. Even up till he retired I'd go out on call outs at night if it was a bad part of town. He stayed craft level his entire time because that's where the money was. He made more than his boss and likely the second step boss just by taking call outs.
I can drive down the road now and I see things that 25 years ago would have not been allowed. Cable Pedestals wide open laying over, wires exposed, aerial cables laying on the ground, etc. That was what full crews took care of.
If the split had not happened most places would now likely have fiber optic service at least up to the SLICK. It was the Big Bell that also brought us ESS. My local C.O. was among the first to go ESS in the nation. But then again old Bell had issues.
We had the old paper wrap rural aerial wire but a ESS central office. Every time it rained the lines sounded like Rice Crispies and a bad amplifier.
One night I was flying home from the ship and sometimes I flew in via Norfolk to Atlanta then Knoxville. A plane crashed in Atlanta and the phone started ringing non stop. I mean it ringed even with the handset off the cradle. Dad had enough. He pulled it off the wall, took it outside and took a sledge hammer to it and put the pieces in a box. Next evening he put in on his bosses desk. That didn't get anything done so he went to the state PSC and filed a complaint against the company. It was a risky thing to do back then for him although he had more than enough years for retirement. That finally got a cable buried from the central office to our area about 8 miles away. IIRC the spilt had been ordered but had not occurred yet.
bflr - information
Fascinating history, CVA66Snipe! Good that you’re writing these stories. They’re historical, they’re interesting for the technically inclined and although a different topic, they are folksy enough to remind me of the stories of the British Veterinarian James Herriot.
Do you run Java on your computer? If so, uninstall it and defrag everything. Wipe out all cookies, install a good virus detector and try again.
I finally figured out the problem myself, when I finally realized it started the day we were having overnight visitors. I had added another TV in the house for them. When I unplugged that TV antenna, my problem went away. In your case, with DSL, check each phone, or even phone isolators that might have gone bad, or anything new that you might have added about the time the problem started..
I second the corroded coupler idea. Open your phone box on the outside of your house. Inspect the phone wire ends. If you see any corrosion on those ends, call the phone company and have them fix the issue. Don’t do it yourself. When your phone rings, those tiny wires carry in excess of 100 volts. It will zap you good.
I believe Hughes is one such company that offers service for remote customers. It's satellite based and could be pricey. It might be worth a look.
ZC, I have read some of the replies on this thread but I just do not have the time to read them all. I apologize in advance if my story is merely a repetition of things you’ve already been told. But fwiw, here’s what happened to me.
I used to have all kinds of problems with my computer & my internet connection. Every time I took it to the repairman I paid a war debt. The problems would in most cases be temporarily solved, but things never went smoothly for very long.
One day I happened to mention my troubles to a casual friend. She said her husband repairs computers. I figured, what did I have to lose?
I took it to him...and WOW. For a fraction—a small fraction—of what the pro charged, this man revolutionized my computer. He not only fixed it, but he improved the performance 100 percent.
I’ve had a few minor issues since then, nothing like before. For paltry, near-negligible charges the man always leaves this computer working many times better than before. He is an uneducated technical whiz/genius.
I don’t know how you’d go about finding a non-pro who is just really, really good w computers. I know in my case it was Providence. I guess the best you can do is ask around. Try to find people who are enthused about their ‘amateur’ repairman. If you succeed in finding a really good person, you’ll be amazed. Your machine will work SOOO much better, & the bills will be so much more reasonable. The key is to make sure the person has a good reputation. I hope this is a practical solution. It’s the one that changed my computing life, so I thought I’d share it w you.
I tried to download the anti-malware tool and it wouldn’t load, so it may be that I do indeed have malware that is blocking the download. Or it could just be my slow connection. Unfortunately, there’s no way to tell.
Everyone is giving me all sorts of good advice. Unfortunately, it either is unnecessary (who needs to run a speed test when the flipping computer doesn't want to load anything) or are beyond my understanding.
Please read the following very carefully.
What no one seems to be catching is that when my ISP remote controlled my computer it worked perfectly.. There was no malware. There were no viruses. There was no problem with the computer. There was no problem with the modem. There was no problem with the line. There was no problem with the connection. It worked perfectly. Then, the minute they cut off the remote control and I resume control of my computer, we're right back where we started.
Does this make any sense to anyone? Is it me? Am I holding my mouth wrong?
Now on top of everything else, I'm starting to have trouble with clicking on things with my mouse. I've clicked on something and nothing happened whatsoever. I've clicked on something and something else happened. Could my keyboard/mouse be somehow at fault? After all, the remote controller bypassed both.
Has anyone heard of some malware named "Z*us" something-or-other (you know, the Greek "gxd?")?
I apologize for my short temper. I don't know what's going to become of my Internet presence.
I'm at the end of my rope.
After a scan it found one piece of "unwanted non-malware"--pup.opencandy in my AIM downloader, which was successfully quarantined.
Oh well. At least one more possibility has been eliminated. What now?
Something crazy is going on.
I had a similar sporadic connection issues back when I had DSL. For me, the issue turned out to be a phone jack in my daughters room that had a phone plugged in w/o a DSL filter. I would start by unplugging all of your phones and filters and even removing any Wifi or router devices. plug your PC directly into the DSL modem and start there. Once you remove all of the extra stuff, and get a solid connection, you can start adding it all back in, one thing at a time, until you ID which item is causing the problem.
Did you do a full, in-depth system scan?
Reboot, and see if any of your problems were solved.
Next is to go into Control Panel, Programs & Features, and see what’s actually installed on your computer. Any unwanted apps can be uninstalled from there.
What anti-virus software are you using? Norton-Symmantec? Windows Defender? McAfee?
BlueMondaySkipper’s Post 75 is next:
Unplug modem, router, all phone connections, wait a few minutes, and re-plug one at a time, plugging your PC directly into the DSL modem.
It could be a simple router (can easily be bypassed and isn’t necessary to get a connection) or other hardware glitch.
Try one re-plug at a time, and see if your original problems are now working, after each re-plugging step. That should help narrow down connection hardware problems.
Fair disclosure: I’ve never had DSL. I went from 9600 baud (late-80s), to 14.4k to 28.8k to radio tower at 75mbps, and now to 121mbps on CommieCast.
“Thanks TexasGator. I haven’t looked into getting Satellite yet after hearing your experience, perhaps it’s time.”
I had satellite for TV only. DSL worked fine after lines were relocated.
Are you connecting via wire or wireless? Does your setup have wireless available? Has the wireless been locked down (password protected)? Do you have neighbors close enough to be using your connection? If enough people pile onto your wireless, it will slow you way down.
Have you tried having a friend come over with a laptop to see if another machine acts the same way as yours does in your environment? If it seems to work fine and yours does not, that would tend to limit the problem to your box - If it acts the same as your box, then it cannot be your box, but rather something in the wiring/modem/router... The reverse is also true - if you take your box to another environment and it works fine, the box itself is eliminated from the possible problem.
Try to determine if there is any time patterns - if it is always bad around say, 10:30 and 4:00, but is usually good at say, 2pm and 10pm, then it is probably throttling performed by your DSL provider (limiting their users to preserve bandwidth)... if that seems true (and they will lie through their teeth and tell you they don't throttle), the only thing to do is try a different provider (cable would be nice).
Try unplugging all external peripherals - especially USB devices - Since USB is a 'serial port' acting like a 'network share' a malfunctioning printer (or whatever) can send goofy signals into networking that really bungs things up.
How is the power? are you on a battery? Poor power can do crazy things.
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