internet connection problems

Topic

New Reply

Could any update in the last month or so have negatively affected my internet connection? Specifically the .NET “preview” KB5004331, or else KB5004237? I’m getting timeouts in Thunderbird and DNS lookup failures and timed out sockets in Firefox. Thanks.

Reply | Quote

Replies

Try resetting your modem/router.
Turn them off (unplug the power if they don’t have an on/off switch).
If they are separate devices, turn on the modem first and let it boot up. Then turn on the router and give it a couple of minutes to reboot.
See it that improves your connection.

You could also call your Internet provider and see if there are any problems in your area.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Bob1515

Reply | Quote

Thanks, I did now restart the router, to no avail. I guess I can call the ISP. However, my throughput is normal and good — once things start flowing, so to speak.

I’ll take your answer to mean it’s not likely a problem caused by a recent update.

Reply | Quote

I’d check the Internet connection first.
You could also try restarting the computer – Start button\restart.
There haven’t been reports here about updates causing connection problems like you are having.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Bob1515

Reply | Quote

See if there are router firmware updates available, too.  I found a BIOS update for my laptop yesterday that fixed a lot of online weirdness for the last few days.  There has been one vulnerability fix after another for windows, hardware, most everything, it seems for months.

If you know how to get into your modem’s admin interface and there’s a signal strength panel available, look at that.  Also for correctables and uncorrectables.  If there are a lot of uncorrectables after a reboot, something’s probably not right.  Unless you really understand that stuff, your ISP is best to investigate, may be a bad outside connection or something else.

You could always try installing those updates from the catalog, if they’re the only issue.  This is for 21H1, put your version in if different.

https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=Windows+10+Version+21H1

 

1 user thanked author for this post.

Bob1515

Reply | Quote

Thanks, I had checked for a firmware update. It’s old. But regardless, no updates are available.  It’s Verizon D-Link DSL-2750B. I had done my latest BIOS update maybe 3 months ago. I have no signal strength panel available, but there was a rudimentary troubleshooter, which reveled nothing bad.

No correctables and uncorrectables are shown. But it has been very hot and humid, maybe that’s a factor; I’ll unplug and replug what I can outside at the box.

I always do install updates from the catalog, since my March 2021 update from hell went so horribly bad.

 

Reply | Quote

Your ISP should be able to swap your old modem/router for a newer one.  It’s to their benefit as much as it is yours. I call mine every year to inquire.  My ISP issues Netgear (uggghhh), so keeping that POS up to date is paramount.

These internet service issues are popping up in other forums in cyberworld.  One postulate was that so many server farms and cloud providers are using so much security to deter or prevent incursion by bad actors that it ‘clogs the pipeline.’  Another one I read pointed the finger at Amazon and their worldwide collection of web servers that automatically limit bandwidth on certain domains or URL’s. I find that one hard to swallow. But then again, with the Bezos’ boys in control of a goodly portion of the internet, it might not be as far fetched as we think.

"War is the remedy our enemies have chosen. And I say let us give them all they want" ----- William T. Sherman

1 user thanked author for this post.

Bob1515

Reply | Quote

It might be a DNS issue. The nslookup command can tell you which DNS servers the OS is using. Check that they are from your ISP or those you configured manually. Also, change one web browser to use secure DNS and see if that browser performs better. You can test the DNS servers used in a browser (you should check all browsers on your computer) here

https://routersecurity.org/testdns.php

Get up to speed on router security at RouterSecurity.org and Defensive Computing at DefensiveComputingChecklist.com

Reply | Quote

Thanks, but my router is still free. If I get a new one from them, they’ll want a monthly charge.

I did go to the ISP website and did the automated line check. I get “found an issue while running a line test and will try to fix it”. [Edit: I think they might reset the CO. Maybe.] I did that three times, to no avail.

Next, I went outside and unplugged/replugged the DSL lines at the box. Things seemed better, but then not.

I’m switching DNS over HTTPS (in FF and TB), results are inconclusive.

If I see Bezos around, I’ll step on him.

Reply | Quote

Ah, so it’s a DSL line…

It’s possible the DSL filter has gone bad, which would cause the sort of problems you’re describing (any lightning storms in your area that cause a power outage or your lights to flicker right around the time your connection problems started?)

A easy way to check the filter is to set up a “continuous ping” to some address (I always use yahoo.com) then use a phone that’s connected to the same DSL line to call someone.

If the filter’s shot, you’ll get a lot of time outs while the phone’s in use that stop/lessen once you hang up.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Bob1515

Reply | Quote

I have DSL too and I have had off and on issues such as the one Bob describes because I live in a very rural area (BFE) and some of the copper here was probably strung by Alex Bell himself.  I have had tech support come here to test for line noise. In almost every single case  it was the line noise …… the result of old wiring, old D-SLAM’s (the one that services me is 28 years old) tree branches scraping against junctions, or even moisture seeping into the main lines. (it happens)

DSL is highly susceptible to slowdowns and erratic speeds if the slightest inaudible buzz, short or dampness interferes with the ‘smooth’ transmission of a packet.  Noise you cannot hear on your phone line will pin the LED of a line tester into the red.  I’ve seen it too many times, and waited too many hours for the tech to drive around the ‘hood’ to isolate and mitigate the problem. Usually, it’s one of the things I just described, including water issues with the D-SLAM because the little ‘hut’ it’s housed in has a leaky roof. (But with only 400 or so subscribers around here using it, it’s unlikely that will be replaced in my lifetime)

Don’t know about Verizon, but my ISP always comes out and does a line test if I ask tech support for a service call. They don’t charge for it — a good thing, or I’d be broke.  So if you’re using copper DSL, get a line test done ….. both inside the house and outside at the interface.

"War is the remedy our enemies have chosen. And I say let us give them all they want" ----- William T. Sherman

1 user thanked author for this post.

Bob1515

Reply | Quote

Thanks again, CT. The thing is, this never happened before. But then again, there have been windstorms which might might have done something.

Here is something that seems like a major clue: I try to send email with Thunderbird, it sporadically times out. I immediately try again and the mail does get sent right away.

Meanwhile, Firefox gives me either  ~ “couldn’t find server” or connection timed out. (So it’s not confined to DNS.) Then I’ll have a long period with no problems.

The phone itself works fine, no crackles or disconnects. (Yep, I know you mentioned “Noise you cannot hear…”)

My wifi connection did disconnect itself yesterday, but that was only one time. It seemed to take extra long to reconnect afterwards, but seemed normal since that one occasion.

Reply | Quote

(any lightning storms in your area that cause a power outage or your lights to flicker right around the time your connection problems started?)

Oh yes. Several times, on each. No outage from a very close strike, though – only hours long outages from some problem far away. But I suppose when the power comes back on, that might be a surge? And close strikes happen, but no outage. Not close enough to hear the first sizzle.

 

A easy way to check the filter is to set up a “continuous ping” to some address (I always use yahoo.com) then use a phone that’s connected to the same DSL line to call someone.

If the filter’s shot, you’ll get a lot of time outs while the phone’s in use that stop/lessen once you hang up.

Well, using ping -t with the phone in use gave me everything steady and normal. But I’ll try that again at various times throughout the day. Thanks. I have a spare filter somewhere, if I find it I’ll try that.

What else could lightning have harmed? I use wifi, not the cable. I generally unplug the laptop power when lightning is near. The wifi card? Or is the router/modem the primary candidate for non-fatal damage?

 

I’ll emphasize that the problem is intermittent.

Reply | Quote

The DSL modem that’s plugged directly into the phone line would be the main culprit for possible power surge damage.

However, typically, if it was damaged, it wouldn’t cause an intermittent problem.

A more likely candidate for intermittent problems on a “copper” phone line is corrosion of the copper wires due to water intrusion somewhere along the line

• a crack in the insulation somewhere

• corrosion of the “exposed” wires where they connect to the POTS terminal outside your residence.

• foreign residue in an “unused” wall outlet (typically in the kitchen where grease can build up on the wires inside the outlet.)

Spend many years installing DSL circuits for both businesses and consumers before I retired and you’d be surprised at what can cause problems.

Had one once were the problem was caused by transformer style “bleed-over” from a nearby improperly grounded electric fence (caused a noticeable buzz on the phone line every time the fence recharged itself.)

Had another one where the “total length” of the phone wiring in the customers residence just happen to be a exact match for the broadcast frequency of a local radio station (you could actually hear the radio broadcasts, at a very low volume, if you picked up their phone.)

As ClearThunder pointed out, when it comes to the copper wiring used for DSL, it only takes a slight problem in the wiring to affect your connection and you already indicated the ISP line test you ran “found an issue.”

You need to contact your ISP and ensure they take action to correct whatever the test found wrong and get a “clean line” result before you proceed with further T/S.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Bob1515

Reply | Quote

Thanks for all the detail, I have  good understanding of copper pitfalls now.

Reply | Quote

Also, any connections in the incoming line (splices, junction boxes after the source, etc).
And the phone line between the filter and the modem. RJ11 connectors.

PS, it doesn’t go away with cable either, if the infrastructure is old.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Bob1515

Reply | Quote

I will begin with the inside.

 

Reply | Quote

Odd… I left the cmd window open where I’d been running ping -t yahoo.com   All before had been steady and normal. Now I get nothing but “Request timed out.” after repeated tries. But I can get to Yahoo via browser.

So I did–> ipconfig /flushdns

and all is normal again, I can ping Yahoo. Is the DNS cache able to be corrupted?

[edit: asking that final question was sort of rhetorical. yes it can be corrupted. sorry for using up the extra electrons. now for some extended testing, because I can suddenly send email email normally now, but we’ll see over time]

Reply | Quote

Just an FYI. Peplink routers include WAN health checking as part of their basic firmware. This is because most of their routers are multi-WAN and they need to know when one WAN connection has failed, so they can send traffic to the other WAN connection(s). The feature is pretty flexible, you can use either DNS queries, pings or HTTP requests for testing. You configure how often it should run a test and how many time to re-try before considering the WAN to be down. It also emails you about the problem (immediately if 2 WAN connections, when it comes back if a single WAN connection).

This will not fix anything, but it may illuminate a pattern. Maybe the problem only occurs when it rains or when a neighbor re-charges their electric fence, as was mentioned earlier. Also, it insures the problem is with the WAN connection, not with any specific computer or with Wi-Fi.

Get up to speed on router security at RouterSecurity.org and Defensive Computing at DefensiveComputingChecklist.com

1 user thanked author for this post.

Bob1515

Reply | Quote