[MuffyXo]

Alright, I have 2 computers in my house and I'm having problems with both of them.

On my old computer, Dust Bunny, I play this RPG game which has low computer requierments. I recently formatted my C: and ever since then I either disconnect from the game or my computer restarts on it's own. On occasions I would disconnect due to server issues in the game, but never like this. 5-10 minutes into the game my computer either restarts of disconnects from the game. When I'm on my desktop, searching the web, nothing out of the ordinary happens. All fine and dandy. My vid driver was updated.

On my 2nd computer, Thor, When I'm on a web page, It's very choppy. When I scroll up and down, I see segments instead of it being a smooth scroll. When I try to access the RPG from that computer, It's so lagged that I can't even type my log-in info. This bothers me since Thor is a bit more up to date comp. The graphix card I have on Thor is ATI Radeon HD 2400 Series AGP. I have a driver which is dated 6/2/2008 so hence It's up to date? Even with this driver, I still get choppy results on the web, and a lagged expieriance while in game. I tried to go to theirr website and perhaps find a better driver (thinking maybe that's the problem here) but when I download it, I get a message saying "it couldnt find a better match for this computer" or something like that along the lines.

If anyone could shine some light into my situation, I would be very appreciated, since I'm up to my end dealing with this stuff. For the person who helps me, please can you write it in easy to read language. I know the basics of a computer and I'm going to need step by step instructions.

Thank you in advance,
Muffy

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Well from the sound of it the common denominator is the internet.... either you are having issues with your service or if on high-speed and using a router maybe issues there....

[shard92]

Well from the sound of it the common denominator is the internet.... either you are having issues with your service or if on high-speed and using a router maybe issues there....

[MuffyXo]

Thank you for the reply. Sorry I took so long to respond, busy with work, work, work.
I called my ISP and things seem to be working smoothly on their end. I forgot to add this, sometimes the net crashes and I loose connection to the net, my brother disconnects from X-Box Live. On one of these crashes I called my ISP up and he told me that things were good on his end. He also said that it could be my router. Do you suggest I buy a new router? If so, which do you recommend at an affordable price?

Thanks in advance,
Muffy

[shard92]

Well that certainly could be your problem.... we've had good luck with d-link but I've also known others who like linksys.... if you have a walmart near you one or the other should be available there.

[MuffyXo]

Thanks for the response.

I plugged my pc dirrectly into the modem and I'm still having the same problem. My brothers xbox is also hooked up to the router and he barely disconnects from live. Im starting to believe this is more of an issue with my computer then my router/modem.

[shard92]

could be. possibly the network card is going bad or the drivers are corrupting..... could also be that it's a windows issue..... you may want to go to the malware forum and see if you have some bug messing around with you....

[Mark D]

I picked up your thread in the waiting room. Just one question
All this started to happen after "Dust Bunny" was re-formatted? Before that everything was ok? The same level of op system was installed after the re-format? Both systems XP? Router model and make?

Edited by Mark D, 12 December 2008 - 11:54 AM.

[MuffyXo]

Shard, I scanned my computer, it's clean.

Mark, yes. Everything was fine before the format. I used the Windws recovery to recover my OS and what not. Dustbunny is a few years old, she never had any problem with the game until now.

Edit: Yes, same modem and router.

Edited by MuffyXo, 12 December 2008 - 01:49 PM.

[Mark D]

Please tell me what your network setup is like. Do both systems attach to a router/hub or is the internet being shared from one to the other? It doesn't make sense that both systems suddenly went wonky... Thor's display problem almost sounds like a dust build up or some other heat problem, (CPU heat sink impacted with dust?) Dust Bunny? A re-format using Windows Recovery? I looked up Dust Bunny and its dated from around 2004. Did you upgrade to Service pack2, (or 3), for XP?

[MuffyXo]

Both computers are hooked up onto a router which is plugged into the modem.
As for Thor, i bought him off a friend. As soon as i got him, i plugged him up and tried to play the game and it was super lagged. there is no dust inside the computer at all. Dustbunny.. ok so one time i tried to install sp2 and it completely wiped out my audio. a few friends and i tried to fix it... i ended up having to format my comp. I tried to install sp2 yet again and i was still having problems with it. ever since then i never installed sp2. ive been playing my game on sp1 with no problems up until now.
i bought thor about a month ago. i barely use that computer since of all the problems im having with him (lagged game/choppy web results)
dustbunny, i have no idea what went wrong. just the other day i formatted again, nothing..still disconnecting every 5 minutes.

thanks for the reply,
Muffy

[Mark D]

Howszit?

Is the UTEP cable from the modem to the router a direct patch cable? (look at both ends, if the colors in the RJ45s are the same, its not direct patch). Direct patch cables are used between hubs or if two computers are linked together without a hub/router in between. From my experience with connecting two systems without a direct patch cable, they would maintain their addressing, but eventually lose the connection. Restarting would restore the connection again for awhile.

You may also want to try to add the Dust Bunny program to the Windows firewall in Thor, (which I assume is running SP2), and test it. Go to Control Panel, Firewall, then the exception tab. Click on Add Program and navigate to your Dust Bunny program. I'm assuming that you are using the Windows firewall here and not another firewall program. I'm advising this since your other system also experienced problems after upgrading to SP2.

And.. since Dust Bunny is at SP1 level, what Anti-virus are you running on it? Most of the AV's require SP2 now...

Hope this helps..

[MuffyXo]

I dont understand anything you just said, Mark.

the colors of the wires on my router? they're black. the one from my modem to my router is a white one though.
Thor is on sp3, and Dustbunny uses AVIRA.

Oh, I'm lost, I dont see Dustbunny on the "Add a Program" list. Where would i find it in the "Browse" button?

Sorry for my computer illeteracy.

Thanks in advance,
Muffy

Edited by MuffyXo, 16 December 2008 - 09:19 AM.

[Mark D]

Sorry,

You said both systems are attached to a router and the router to the modem. What kind of cable is between your router and modem? RJ45 connectors have 8 pins and a different colored wire is visible through the connector, it looks like a phone plug, only wider. Looking at it with the pin side up, you should see different colors on each wire, each pair has an white "cousin" - Orange & orange white - Green & Green white - Blue & Blue white - Brown & Brown white. Normally all the wires are in the same slot on both, but a direct patch has the #1 & 2 switch with #3 & 6, (and those wires are the only ones that are actually transmitting any signals). Industry standards say the wiring should go Orange-white, Orange, Green-White, Blue, Blue-white, Green, Brown-white then brown. If you're modem to router is using a direct patch cable the wires in slot 1& 2 will switch with 3 & 6.

Sorry, Thor will have the Windows Firewall, (not dust bunny - the firewall only came through with SP2, which Dust Bunny is not running). Go to your control panel on Thor and look for the Windows Firewall. The 1st window will have several options but it's normally set to ON with the "Allow exceptions" tick box empty. the next tab is the Exceptions list. At the bottom of this window you will find the Add Program button. Use this button to navigate to Dust Bunny's starting program. If you don't know what this, right mouse click on Dust Bunny in your program list and see where it is. Add this program to the firewall.

(I will often add programs to the exception list, especially when a program is being run a network).

I tried to look up more about Dust Bunny and see if I could get any more info, but the last thing I see is that there was a convention back in 2007 and I'm not allowed into its forum..

[MuffyXo]

Oh, okay I see what you mean (i think). Can i grant you access or something?

I'll look at my wires later on tonight. I must do a few things before i poke into my computer... thank you so much mark.. any help is deeply appreciated.

Muffy

[Mark D]

Howszit?

I've been going over the posts and I'm just curious. How often to you run maintenance on your systems? (remove temp files, defragment & error check?) Sometimes a system that re-boots can be hard drive or even a PSU that putting out funny voltage swings.