Internet Connection Super Slow

I had posted saying that my email freezes, but I just discovered that it's my Internet connection. I have Road Runner cable modem and my Desktop is great. My laptop (via wireless modem) is amazingly slow. I had noticed that sites are taking a long time to upload, but I thought it was just a sluggish phase. When I thought it was a problem with my email program, I tried to download Mozilla's THunderbird 4 different times and it's estimated time was 1 hour, 40 min. I was in disbelief. I then went to my desktop and est. download time was 1min. and some seconds. So there's something wrong with my internet connection on my laptop and it's been about 3 days. My Linksys signal says excellent, so I'm not sure what's going on. I've been trying to uninstall Incredimail these past few days, so I've been Crap Cleaining, RegSupreming and Clean Upping! my registry. Could that be the problem? My laptop's email program is completely unusable because of this, so I would love your input. Thanks, Stephanie

 

Don't know exactly when that was...though I constantly make Restore Points in my System Restore. Should I just go back 2 days and see if that does it? I'm worried about getting Incredimail back again - but I'd rather a fast internet. I have a feeling it was after Clean Up!

 

Okay, So I Restored to 3 earlier times. I'm sure that my internet was working at this point and yet, it's still super slow and I still can't receive emails. There's only one more point that I'm willing to go back to and it's right after I installed SP2. I'm going to wait to see if I should Restore one more time or see if there are any other options. Thank you, Stephanie

 

Um, I know it's a simple minded question, but have you unplugged your cable modem or tried the reset button if you have one?

 

Bill, The cable modem is working fine (my desktop - I'm on it right now, proves it). So I wouldn't think I need to reset the modem. If you think I should anyway, I certainly will.

MA, as for plugging it directly into my card - I don't know how to do that. I'll have to investigate tomorrow. Must sleep for now and I'll let you know what's going on.

 

I don't see a way to hook my Road Runner into my network card. I have a Linksys card that goes into a slot in my laptop and my Road Runner connects to my desktop tower via a phone jack mechanism. There is nothing available on my Linksys card that I can plug into. I'm I understanding you right re: this?

Could the installment of SP2 mess up my network?? I noticed when i click on My Network Places, some of my icons are missing. So I then clicked on Show UPnP Device Icons and it says that my firewall is blocking the UPnP Device from receiving information from the Network. This is necessary for displaying the icons. Then it asks me if I want the settings on my firewall to be changed so that I can receive this information. I click yes - but it says that it can't find the file to do so. Could this be the reason why my internet is super slow?? Let me know and thanks for helping me through this. It's very frustrating.

 

Sorry I have to add another email. I just noticed that my Network not only doesn't show some icons, but when I click on My Docs on my Desktop, I can't open them. I can't file/print share like I used to. This could've happened since I installed SP2. COuld SP2 cause a problem with my Network? I'm just confused since my Internet is working - albeit slow as molasses.

 

Just a passing question, have you defragged after all the cleaning and changing all the restore points?

 

Maybe you could save your stuff on your desktop, reformat your laptop. You could keep SP1 on there, and see if that did any good. Computers need reformated from time to time anyway, so it wouldn't hurt. I need to do this to my laptop as well... I'm so lazy >_<
I think what bill ment by plugging the cable into your laptop, was.. in the back of your laptop, do you have a plug for the cable, that would otherwise be plugged into the back of your desktop computer? I'm assumeing since you have cable your using a cat-5 cable to connect it to the modem on your desktop. Most computers these days come with Rj-45 ports for cat-5 cables. See if the plug fits into anything on the back of your laptop, and if so, check out your internet situation that way.

 

So many things to answer...No, I didn't defrag after I cleaned and restored. I will do that now. As for the cable modem, I plugged my Road Runner cable into my laptop (into the only space that it fit into) and it didn't work at all. I'm wondering if I needed to reconfigure anything? When I plugged it back into my Linksys router, it worked again - except still insanely slow. As for CPU usage - the rage is normal - between 1 and 6%. I'll let you know how the defrag goes. I'm very very hesitant to uninstall SP2 because if you've read my other thread, it took 2 very commited MGs to finally get it to successfully install. I would hate to undo that work. However, I've Googled "SP2, slow internet" and a lot of things came up. So it really may be SP2. All advice is welcome. Thanks, Stephanie

 

Hi Stephanie Okay being obvious again, have we considered looking at all settings on your browser (IE?). Could there be a privacy setting or any other bug upsetting the way IE goes through it's routines? Wish you could have downloaded firebird or any or the other browsers -- non-IE based -- from MG. You might try Opera , it's a very light footprint and might download faster than FF. I'd like to see if, by using an other-than-IE-based browser, things speed up. Anothre thought: Have you deleted Messenger? Sometimes that really slows down OE and , maybe, IE. <shrug> Who knows

 

I defragged and nothing changed. I have looked at my IE Options and all settings look the same. Is there something in particular I should note?? Re: my IE, I have used it forever and it worked fine and fast - except for the past week...which is when I installed SP2 (the network version logged on as Admin., since it was the only way possible.) I'm starting to feel that it's SP2. I remember having problems with my Network being slow after the installation. Is this possible? Will I risk a great deal if I don't have SP2?? THanks and again, all ideas are welcome.

 

Okay, let's look at what SP2 does. First, security: Firewall, AntiVirus, Security monitor, popup blocker. Are you using any of the above? If so, is there another firewall, popup blocker or AV running on your machine? If there are, might there be any software conflicts? Have you checked your modem settings and properties in control panel? Are there any leftovers from sp1 or 1a hanging around? SP2 seems to replace SP1 completely. At least SP1 and SP1a don't show up on Everest or any other diagnostic I have; just SP2, period. Have you checked your event log to see if any events arose after SP2 install? Also, are you running a screen saver? If so turn it off and see what happpens. I don't know why, but I have a feeling that it's something small that will make us go "Oh yeah, that." I don't know if _any_ of my thoughts are anywhere near correct, but at least this will bump you back to the top of the forum so the smart techs might be attracted to your prob.

 

Bill - thanks so much for your help. I have Norton AntiVirus AND Security on my laptop. I also have it on my desktop and that's working fine, so I never though it was the software. I know that in my hours of searching, I found the SP2 firewall and turned it on and now I can't find it again to turn it off. After reading other posts, I realized that I shouldn't have 2 firewalls on..but as I said - I can't find it again! I'll check my modem settings now and see if they match my desktop's. Re: SP1 remains - how do I find out if I have remains other than "Search" or RegSupreme/Clean up!? I've used the latter programs and I didn't see any remains. I don't know what Everest is - should I download it?? However, I've had a very hard time downloading things since it takes hours to on my laptop. If I definitely need it, I will download it on my desktop, burn it to a CD (since my file sharing is kaput as well) and install it that way. OK, I'm going to sound really stupid - but what is my "event log" and how do I check it to see if there were any events? I've been learning so many things here, so I would really appreciate your explainations of the above. I am running a simple screensaver, I'll turn it off and see what happens. On to the next round!! Stephanie

 

I found my Windows Firewall and turned it off and Screensaver and no change. I disabled my Norton programs, no change. I made sure everything was good with my modem/wireless connection - all fine. I still can't share files (the icon won't come up for my shared files on desktop) - yet I know that my wireless is working because I can get online and email - slow as molasses. I keep thinking I'll mention something that will cause an "aha!" moment for you tech pros.

 

Hi Stephanie Your event log is to be found at: control panel>performance and maintenance>administrative tools>event viewer. In event viewer there are four headings. Click on heading and it will show you your event logs for each heading. The red error messages and yellow warning signs (and pink hearts and green clovers and the rest of the lucky charms ) can be double clicked on for info on what they mean. Prbably nothing there, but you never know, might be worth a look . . .

 

Bill - I had lots of goodies in my Event Log. The ones that were interesting were in my SYSTEM heading. Everyday, I got the Error Dhcp and when I clicked on it it said:

The IP address lease 192.168.1.102 for the Network Card with network address 000C41C5C0CD has been denied by the DHCP server 0.0.0.0 (The DHCP Server sent a DHCPNACK message).

But then right above it would be 3 Tcpip's in a row saying that the network card was found and accessed. Other frequent errors were DCOM, Service Control Manager, Browser, and W32time. These occurred every day. A frequent warning was MrxSmb. Don't know if this makes sense to you or not... Did I enlighten anyone

 

Hi Stephanie. I'd google the entries and find out what I could about them. For example, a google about MrxSmb yielded this MrxSub article. I'd google the others for you but I hafta run this AM. Meantime maybe we can get the attention of one of the people who know what they're doing on your problem by bumping you back up to the top of the list. Anyone out there care to address her prob?

 

Another thought (and, yes, I do know it will probably be a pain to use what with your slooooow info flow) but, can you try the tests at broadband.com ? If you can put up with the wait, it might be worth the effort. The tests at this site are pretty conclusive for a lot of probs. Also the forums can be informative. I'd do as many of the tests as you can. Just getting another viewpoint mainly.

 

You have been wonderful, Bill. Thank you so much and I'll test my computer at that site. Thanks so much. If this doesn't work, I may need to hire a computer tech. I'll let you know. Stephanie

 

Thanks to all who helped me here. I finally got it running correctly. After countless hours thinking it was a Microsoft thing, I discoved it was a Linksys and they walked me through a re-connection procedure that worked perfectly. Also, my cordless phone (2.4ghz) was right next to my Linksys router (2.4ghz) so they constantly interfered with one another...which explains why my phone would sometimes go dead on me. A little FYI for those of you who didn't know that could happen. Stephanie

 

Glad you got it fixed Stephanie and kudos for your determination and smarts in getting it fixed. I was going to say next we'll check the router, but you figured it out. Again, kudos to a smart and savvy woman. (that's you )
Bill

 

Bill - *blush*. Thank you so much.