Strange warps

[Marcel Meessen]

Hi all,

first post here and I really hope someone can help me here. I've been having probs ever since I got my new PC. (see config below)
I'm a die-hard Nascar (Nascar 2003 Season) online racer and have been getting warps at certain intervals. I can almost set my clock to it. The proplem is that I always have a sort of mini disco after I've been online 1 hour and 20 minutes and following that always again 1h20m later. Everyone will disappear for about 5 seconds leaving me alone on the track. If this happens when I cross the finish line the server doesn't see me cross it and I lose a lap. (you can understand that that's not very amusing after 2 or 3 times) I've never ever discoed but this is really frustrating to say the least. I've already run some tests with auto-updates turned off but everything stayed the same. Also done a clean format on another HD with a new WinXP Home install and only the game installed but still the warps were there. I know a few people who have the same ISP and they have had no probs so that should be ok. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know, it would be greatly appreciated.

Configuration:
P4 3.06Ghz cooled by a Zalman CNPS5700D+Fan Mate
Transcend 512MB DDR RAM
ASUS P4S8x
ASUS GF4 Ti4200 128MB AGP8x
Maxtor 80GB 7200RPM ATA 133

Thanks
Marcel

[CrowdAds]

[SKI]

Have you loaded all the current XP critical updates? If you're not at least up to SP-1a that could be an issue. If you've already done that, havy you tried any of the "No Zero Config" work-arounds? Most rely on win2k drivers... search google for more info.

[Marcel Meessen]

Yup, I've run all Win updates but nothing changed. I'll check that No Zero Config out tho'. What exactly does it do?

[SKI]

Zero Config may be the disconnect culprit. It's easier to produce a stable wireless connection without it (or so they say). I wouldn't notice any prob, but I don't game over wireless links.

It's possible that this is a signal-related issue, too... FWIW, I'm going to move this htread over to Gaming, with a pointer from here, so we can see if the people who read that forum have any ideas.

[Marcel Meessen]

Maybe I should have said that in my first post but I'm using a solid (don't know the right word for it) ADSL connection. I'm not connected wireless. I do have a router on my network, could that also be the cause or not??

Thanks again
Marcel

[SubZero]

Welkom Marcel!!

Are you on ADSL or dial-up?

Could be as simple as a bug in the game. I assume you updated with the latest patches? Like SKI said, getting your OS updated first is very important.

[Marcel Meessen]

Hoi SubZero I'm on ADSL from xs4all and I've had it since about 6 months now. The game shouldn't be the problem because alot of others also run it and without problems. I've run with different installs of the game on different servers at different times but I always get these warps. I've run this game with ISDN a few months ago and all was fine. Problem now is that I switched to ADSL and my new PC at the same time so it's tough to figure out what the problem is. Think the next thing I could try is to get another PC from someone and see if that one also gets the warp. If yes it can't be the PC but has to be something with the connection, right?

Thanks
Marcel

[SubZero]

Strange thing but we'll solve the problem. Eventually..

Are you using a router?

Did you by any chance use any tweaking software for your system or internet connection? If so, try to revert back to the old situation. If not, try it! There are a number of freeware/shareware modem/connection tweaking software outthere which actually could do you some good.

Sounds like some sort of lagging after a certain period of time. I can't judge xs4all as a provider since I'm using Planet myself. I have mixed feeling about them. One of the things is like you said, would be to try it on another system with the same ADSL connection (yours).

Are you experiencing these hickups with any other on-line games (if you play any)?

On a sidenote: I've had very mixed experiences with my ADSL for the last couple of months... it has gone for fast to crawling and faster again without any apparent reason. I wouldn't be surprised if it was the ISP. Could be the case with your problem also.

[Marcel Meessen]

I am using a router (Netgear RP614) and someone suggested it could be a DHCP lease that expires after the given time intervals, causing these drops of about 5 seconds. Sounds pretty good, really hope that's it. Will try that asap because the router is one of the things I'm suspecting the most now.

About the ISP, I used Planet when I still had ISDN but changed to Xs4all for my ADSL. I've had a few bad experiences with Planet right when I was deciding about the ADSL connection so that's why I changed. (mainly hepdesk probs about the simplest of things) I've been very satisfied with Xs4all, connection is always good atleast as far as I know. They even set a server up for our online Nascar racing so for me they're the best.

Cya
Marcel

[SubZero]

Planet suxx... Whenever I'm able to switch I'll do it.

Their helpdesk is non-existent. They don't ever respond to e-mail. I only received a couple of responses in the beginning last november. I got 2 e-mail responses 3 weeks after I asked the question!!!

A number of times I receive e-mail that is not even addressed to me or any other mailbox I have!! :eek: How in the world is that possible?

I've had bad connection problems over the last months but that could also because I'm running 2k3.

Hope you find the sollution to the problem. I doubt if it is the DHCP lease though....

[Marcel Meessen]

That helpdesk sound familiar . I sent an email once and got the answer 6 weeks later, and it wasn't even a good answer but just a standard reply with info I didn't need.

Called the Xs4all helpdesk today and they were very helpfull, giving me several options. They also said the DHCP probably wasn't it, but it was worth the try. They said it could be some disturbence on the phone line which KPN should check out or maybe some sort of virus/someone or whatever that was sending me "the ping of death" at these certain times. Not sure about that last one but maybe it's just a simple thing that KPN can fix. Hope so....

Still searching
Marcel

[SubZero]

I noticed when doing traces to different websites the pings to some KPN carriers where really bad. I wouldn't be surprised if that is the culprit. More people using broadbrand is good but their equipment should be able to handle it. I doubt if that is the case.

I'll investigate my options of switching ISP's soon but I won't bother with the helpdesk again.

[Marcel Meessen]

Well, I had another race monday and I'm beginning to suspect the DHCP lease more and more. During normal browsing and watching a stream I had a net congestion for a few seconds. I checked the DHCP settings on the modem settings and found out there was 1h59m50s left on the lease. In other words, it had just given a new lease of 2 hours. During my race I again had a warp, I had checked the times carefully and knew that that warp was at 22.42 After the race was finished I checked the DHCP settings again and it listed the lease time left as 1h05m, so it had been running for 55minutes. Surprise surprise as I checked to see the time because it was exactly 23.37 So again, if calculated back, the warp happened when a new lease was handed out. Don't know why this is happening but now I'm going to try to make a new DHCP pool with a much longer lease time. Really hope this is it because if it isn't I really don't know what could be it.

Marcel

[Marcel Meessen]

Just to let you know; the DHCP lease was the problem. I've run 3 races now with a lease of 30 hours making sure I wouldn't get a new lease during a race. (I think) Because of this I haven't had a single warp all these races. Connection has been rocksolid, just like I like it.

Thanks for all the suggestions
Marcel