Connectivity Problems

[nancylebov]

I've been having trouble with connecting to websites, and with dialing in, and with my telnet.

The websites are the worst--I'm getting a lot of "can't find the website" and "timed out" (after finding the website) for major sites like paypal and livejournal. For some reason, paulgraham.com (a writer for the New Yorker) has been easier to reach. I occasionally do get through, but reaching other parts of a website (say, comments to an lj post) isn't any easier than getting to the main site. On the other hand, I do sporadically reach the major sites.

I've rebooted the computer, which didn't help. I've gotten more dns numbers from my isp. This may have helped a little. I've reverted the drive with goback, but it doesn't seem to go back before the problem, and in fact only offered to go back an unnervingly few days before this problem started.

Even dialing in is unreliable, I get a lot of "can't reach that number" responses compared to actually getting through, and I'm getting more times when it seems as though I've gotten through (all the standard modem tones and the connected icon shows up) but then I can't connect to panix in my telnet screen.

I think this all started after I tried to do some big downloads (big for my 56K modem)--that bad kittens go to a Fat Boy Slim concert piece and the bouncing balls commercial (I got the smallest version, and ambitiously tried for the largest, which I don't seem to be able to get). On the other hand, I can't swear that I didn't try downloading something else at about the same time. That was last week. It's gotten worse over New Year's weekend (I wasn't home to use the computer then).

I might have a virus, but I'm pretty sure my computer isn't sending out spam. I assume that if it were, the red light would be flashing a lot whenever I was connected. The computer seems to operate ok by itself. The problem is all in the connectivity.

I have Windows 98.

In any case, I'd appreciate any advice. If you're willing to talk with me about this and I don't already have your phone number, plase email it to me--it may be hard for me to get at comments.

Comments

[demonspawnmom.livejournal.com]

You may want to use a cable modem, if it's available.

[kgbooklog.livejournal.com]

Today I've been having frequent problems with my browsers (Firefox, and (in desperation) IE) not being able to find sites including Google, LJ, and AoL. Xnews hasn't had any problems, or maybe it got lucky the first time and saved the numeric addresses.

I was assuming it was something I did, since I spent all of yesterday installing Windows security patches and ZoneAlarm and other stuff I need.

[penngwyn.livejournal.com]

My connectivity issues (56K dialup) got *MUCH* better when, on the advice of my ISP, I added a couple of commas to the end of the phone number. Each one becomes a 2-second pause, so the answering modem stabilizes before mine starts trying to negotiate a connection.

Yes, it seems to me that this should have manifested as a low-level connection problem rather than a higher-level can't-connect-to site problem, but it has been working for me....

[pyrzqxgl.livejournal.com]

If you're using the same line that you use for voice, has it been sounding any noisier than usual? (Or if it's a dedicated line, could you plug a phone into it to see if you're hearing static or other noise with the dial tone?) And are you connecting at the same speed as usual or is it coming up with a slower speed?

When I've seen that kind of thing it's been line trouble, which once was an outside phone company thing and once was that rats in the walls had chewed and presumably shorted the wires.

Otherwise you could try to isolate the problem -- call out from another phone line if possible, ditto for plugging a different computer (maybe a friend could bring a laptop over) into your usual phone jack.