Kitz Forum
Computers & Hardware => PC Hardware => Topic started by: Bayardo on March 21, 2012, 03:52:34 PM
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When I boot my laptop (Dell 1750) up & run Firefox my homepage can take ages, (and I mean minutes) before my homepage is displayed.
It can then take another age after entering my password before my I can log in to the site.
Eventually things come right and I can use it normally most of the time. When I try to access one of my bookmarked sites I occasionally
get told by Firefox that it cannot find the server, and this can happen several times. I then go to another site & that comes up. Ehen I revert to the previous site that I was originally asking for it normally comes up.
I get similar problems occasionally with some of the search engines I use, (Startpage, Ixquick etc).
I had thought it might be a DNS issue as I was running on the default servers from my ISP who use their own. I changed to a different DNS after running the speed checked from DNSBench but this has made no difference.
I think it could well be a problem with the laptop as I don't seem to have the same amount of trouble on my desktop, although, from time to time, Firefox will say it can't find the relevant site.
Needless to say I'd rather not have to do a re-install of Win7 as it's too much of a pain to put everything back, so any ideas/fixes
will be gratefully received and appreciated.
Thanks
Bayardo
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Needless to say I'd rather not have to do a re-install of Win7 as it's too much of a pain to put everything back, so any ideas/fixes
will be gratefully received and appreciated.
A bootable Linux Live CD always comes in handy for eliminating problems caused by Windows.
It's very easy, and non-destructive..
Download the ISO image for the Linux Live CD: http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/download
Burn image to a blank CD.
If necessary, modify the BIOS boot order, so it tries to boot first from CD, if one is found.
boot Linux from CD..
cheers, a
p.s. you may well decide not to boot Windows ever again :angel:
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The anti-IE Firefox proponents won't admit it, but FireFox has its share of "issues".
Try using "SpeedyFox" - you'll find it easily with Google.
(It's more likely to be your browser, which in that case isn't actually made by Microsoft, than Windows 7.)
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Thanks ASBO & HP
I'm doubtful about my abilities with LINUX so I'll have to give that some thought, but I'll have a go with SpeedyFox for sure.
I can't remember when this problem first started up, but I'm on Firefox 11 now, so it might have been some time around the time
that I was on FF9.
As an afterthought, the problem occurs not only after boot up, but also do it after the Laptop has been on sleep or hibernate.
Thanks folks
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Thanks ASBO & HP
I'm doubtful about my abilities with LINUX so I'll have to give that some thought, but I'll have a go with SpeedyFox for sure.
I can't remember when this problem first started up, but I'm on Firefox 11 now, so it might have been some time around the time
that I was on FF9.
As an afterthought, the problem occurs not only after boot up, but also do it after the Laptop has been on sleep or hibernate.
Thanks folks
Please try and give one of those Linux Live CDs a go.. They are very easy to use, and they have all the usual diagnostic tools that are missing from Windows :)
It sounds as if there's an "IP addressing issue" :P
since the connectivity fault is present on a cold boot of the laptop, or when emerging from hibernate, that probably pins it down a bit.
The most important connectivity tests can be done with Windows..
Internet name resolution (DNS) can be tested with the 'ping' tool from the Windows shell. Simply ping a site by its host name:
C:\> ping www.google.com
If www.google.com is resolved to a dot-quad notation IP address.. (e.g. 173.194.66.147), then internet name resolution is working okay, as illustrated below.
We can see that www.google.com resolved to 173.194.66.147... so DNS works okay on this machine..
C:\> ping www.google.com
PING www.l.google.com (173.194.66.147) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from we-in-f147.1e100.net (173.194.66.147): icmp_req=1 ttl=46 time=44.7 ms
64 bytes from we-in-f147.1e100.net (173.194.66.147): icmp_req=2 ttl=46 time=54.4 ms
64 bytes from we-in-f147.1e100.net (173.194.66.147): icmp_req=3 ttl=46 time=52.9 ms
^C
If the above test fails, then try pinging a remote computer by its IP address, rather than by its host name. That bypasses the DNS system..
$ ping 173.194.66.147
PING 173.194.66.147 (173.194.66.147) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 173.194.66.147: icmp_req=1 ttl=46 time=45.6 ms
64 bytes from 173.194.66.147: icmp_req=2 ttl=46 time=44.7 ms
^C
And if that fails, then it's probably a routing problem..
When you turn on the laptop, it presumably gets its local IP address from the internet router (using the DHCP protocol). It could be a problem in that operation.
The 'ipconfig' tool will show whether IP address allocation (DHCP) is working properly.
cheers, a
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I'm doubtful about my abilities with LINUX
Best to ignore it. The Linux Fanbois love to slag off Windows and their first (and only) suggestion is to "jump ship", but W7 really is quite good.
The system you have "should" have 4GB of RAM and "should" be very quick.
If it's slow it could be Malware of some sort or possibly a corrupted/damaged antivirus program (what do you use?) but a "damaged" browser is most consistent with what you've described.
DNS problems wouldn't give those symptoms, and if they did it would be the same with any OS anyway.
And of course there are loads of other (rarer) causes........
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Thanks HP.
I've twice run checks with MSE, Malwarebytes & Spybot & they all come back clean.
I do have 4gb and it is normally quite fast but does have these "startup" problems too often.
I've installed SpeedyFox & am using it now. Will see if it helps.
Thanks
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Thanks HP.
I've twice run checks with MSE, Malwarebytes & Spybot & they all come back clean.
I do have 4gb and it is normally quite fast but does have these "startup" problems too often.
I've installed SpeedyFox & am using it now. Will see if it helps.
Thanks
FF certainly runs faster now but I've had it in sleep mode twice & I still have the page display lag when I open up again.
My home page is www.moneyam.com with a a java logo surrounded by a rotating pattern. After the initial lag the java logo screen is
displayed and the pattern can rotate for a long time as well before I can get in to the site proper.
Once there everything is (normally) fine.
I think I'll have to take a look at the IP matters and also the ping angle.
Thanks HP
Just had an after thought.
I could be that Thunderbird is also be affected, as when FF is playing up,will not check for & download any messages
waiting.
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Just had an after thought. It could be that Thunderbird is also be affected, as when FF is playing up,will not check for & download any messages waiting.
The smoking gun! Two different internet clients exhibit same problem.. Ergo, issue is indeed with Windows (aka billygatesware).
Best to ignore the Microsoft merchants - their first (and only) suggestion is to upgrade (at great cost) to a newer version of Windozzzzze! :P Ker-ching! >:D
cheers, a
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Without the distraction of needing to learn a new OS - can you do the following series of things please, and after each in turn, just see if your problem is solved:
1. Change your home page on FF to something new, like google.co.uk - it could be the current home page that is giving you heartache
2. Check that your AV program is fully up to date and not stuck in a loop trying to update but not finding the site, or the site is too busy
3. Ensure that you have applied successfully any Windows updates and the OS isn't going in circles trying again and again to update
4. Ensure that you have applied all updates for java
5. Last of all, have you recently installed any program that checks that your software is up-to-date - these can sometimes take an awful long time to do their work, before releasing the PC to you.
If nothing I have suggested solves the problem, do come back and we can suggest other solutions.
Colin (been there before)
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Without the distraction of needing to learn a new OS - can you do the following series of things please, and after each in turn, just see if your problem is solved:
1. Change your home page on FF to something new, like google.co.uk - it could be the current home page that is giving you heartache
I'd also add, try a different browser instead of FF and see if it gives the same symptoms. Chrome, IE9, whatever you want or already have installed.
Out of interest that web site loads quite quickly on my W7x64 system in IE9.
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The smoking gun! Two different internet clients exhibit same problem.. Ergo, issue is indeed with
Q. With what?
A. MOZILLA (who produce both clients: Firefox and Thunderbird)
Not Microsoft who produce neither?
Logic beats prejudice. 8) And prejudice will destroy the logic that will solve the problem. ;)
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Without the distraction of needing to learn a new OS - can you do the following series of things please, and after each in turn, just see if your problem is solved:
1. Change your home page on FF to something new, like google.co.uk - it could be the current home page that is giving you heartache
I'd also add, try a different browser instead of FF and see if it gives the same symptoms. Chrome, IE9, whatever you want or already have installed.
Out of interest that web site loads quite quickly on my W7x64 system in IE9.
I have Ghostery on my machine and therefore any timing I did here wouldn't be representative. Thanks though for the confirmation on the site speed to load. Bayardo may just have something that slows down the load though.
Colin
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I've twice run checks with MSE, Malwarebytes & Spybot & they all come back clean.
That doesn't necessarily prove anything as much malware can hide from such programs, especially if already installed as they detect and hijack the protection!
The risk of that can be slightly reduced by booting into "Safe Mode with Networking" and then downloading and reinstalling Malwarebytes for example.
I'd also run Trend Micro Housecall as another "downloaded not-installed" malware check; can't recall offhand if it runs in safe mode though.
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When I boot my laptop (Dell 1750) up & run Firefox my homepage can take ages, (and I mean minutes) before my homepage is displayed.
Have a look at this problem that has been documented; it actually says there is a subtle error in the web site structure in this example:
http://www.wwco.com/~wls/blog/2008/03/28/firefox-slow-page-load-solved/
Now I'm absolutely NOT saying this is your problem (though it could be), but it's an example of what can go wrong.
And if you're bored, and are capable of doing it, it's a tweak you might want to test.
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My suggestion is to remove both Firefox and Thunderbird from the system before performing any recommended system "purification".
If at all possible, make use of IE to download a different browser. Then try an alternate browser. Finally download and install the latest (considered stable) version of Firefox and start it with all plugins, etc, disabled.
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You are all starting to blow my mind :) ;). I'm working backwards at the moment from HPs suggestion of changing
the setting of network.http via about:config (that's within my capability :( ) and I'll use IE9 for a while to see how it goes.
Home page has been changed as well.
I have Ghostery & a load of other add-ons running, but disabling them seems to make no difference.
Thanks again all
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I have just pinged google & facebook - results attached
IE9 has been slow to open my home page, but not as slow as FF. The screen within the site (stock watch which provides
prices via Java) was slow to load, the Java logo & rotating pattern loaded a bit better than FF but still not instant as it should be.
One site I visit has been subject to the IE9 version of FFs "can't find what you're asking for", but displayed it on a second attempt,
which FF will often not do despite more than 2 attempts (I have to get another site & then return to my 1st choice).
I have come back across to FF to write this up & FF wouldn't initially put the site up & then gave me the same result when trying to get in to the forum.
[attachment deleted by admin]
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Those slower ping sites are similarly slow for me. What ISP are you on?
Just one thing to check in IE9 is the temporary internet files settings which can really slow it up as they are all loaded first. This can be set to a very large number sometimes but I always set it low - typically 25MB.
(Tools, Internet Options, General Tab, browsing history settings)
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I have just pinged google & facebook - results attached
The tests need to be performed immediately after booting or bringing the laptop out of sleep.. i.e. when Firefox is "playing up"...
IE9 has been slow to open my home page, but not as slow as FF. The screen within the site (stock watch which provides
prices via Java) was slow to load...
Off-topic, but guess you've heard that Google is starting a real-time price feed from the London Stock Exchange?
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/21/us-londonstockexchange-idUSTRE81K0FI20120221
the Java logo & rotating pattern loaded a bit better than FF but still not instant as it should be.
One site I visit has been subject to the IE9 version of FFs "can't find what you're asking for", but displayed it on a second attempt,
That's not normal.. so two different browsers exhibit similar symptoms.. which vindicates FireFox, no?
Personally, I would use a Linux Live CDs now to isolate the problem a bit more..
http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/download
Booting Linux from CD will confirm whether Windows is at fault. And if not, you could then look at the PC hardware and the router. Hunch does suggest Windows though.
cheers, a
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I have just pinged google & facebook - results attached
The tests need to be performed immediately after booting or bringing the laptop out of sleep.. i.e. when Firefox is "playing up"...
IE9 has been slow to open my home page, but not as slow as FF. The screen within the site (stock watch which provides
prices via Java) was slow to load...
Off-topic, but guess you've heard that Google is starting a real-time price feed from the London Stock Exchange?
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/21/us-londonstockexchange-idUSTRE81K0FI20120221
the Java logo & rotating pattern loaded a bit better than FF but still not instant as it should be.
One site I visit has been subject to the IE9 version of FFs "can't find what you're asking for", but displayed it on a second attempt,
That's not normal.. so two different browsers exhibit similar symptoms.. which vindicates FireFox, no?
Personally, I would use a Linux Live CDs now to isolate the problem a bit more..
http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/download
Booting Linux from CD will confirm whether Windows is at fault. And if not, you could then look at the PC hardware and the router. Hunch does suggest Windows though.
cheers, a
Thanks
I prefer to stay away, as much as possible, from Google with the occasional use of Google Earth to verify the existence
or otherwise of a particular place.
Ubuntu hasn't been ruled out yet!!
On IE( I'm now getting: "DB Error: connect failed"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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"DB Error: connect failed"
That's presumably an error message from the web site.
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Could be. It was ok afterwards.
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The problem is not FF specific - IE9 is just as slow to open up my home page
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Ubuntu hasn't been ruled out yet!!
Yeah, do give it a spin! For the price of a CD blank, there's not a lot to lose..
Ubuntu Linux has the biggest userbase (good for community help) but Linux Mint is supposed to be nice as well.
http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php
http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/download
cheers, a
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Those slower ping sites are similarly slow for me. What ISP are you on?
Just one thing to check in IE9 is the temporary internet files settings which can really slow it up as they are all loaded first. This can be set to a very large number sometimes but I always set it low - typically 25MB.
(Tools, Internet Options, General Tab, browsing history settings)
Hi hp
I'm with ICUK
The problems I'm having are not restricted to my laptop. They do extend, but to a lesser extent, to my desktop
which I use in the evening. (It's in a bedroom out of the way of the cr*p that comes out of the TV!!!).
I'm starting to think that it's down to something on the line somewhere. I never had this sort of problem when I was with the illustrious TalkTalk on LLU, (I must be 1 of the very few of their customers who never had a problem with them).
I frequently run CCleaner to clear out the accumulation of temporary files etc
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I'm with ICUK
I don't know them but they appear to have download limits and traffic management.
What package are you on? Could you have hit a limit and be throttled?
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http://www.icukhosting.co.uk/broadband/home_adsl.asp
I don't think they have traffic management.
The do have download limits, but only effective from 0800 to 2000. 100gb per month from 2000 to 0800.
I'm on 20gb per month, but so far have not even got anywhere near 10, so throttling isn't even on the horizon.
(I'm giving it another month to see how things go & I'll probably downgrade to 10gb and save £4 per month)
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Ubuntu hasn't been ruled out yet!!
Yeah, do give it a spin! For the price of a CD blank, there's not a lot to lose..
Ubuntu Linux has the biggest userbase (good for community help) but Linux Mint is supposed to be nice as well.
http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php
http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/download
cheers, a
As a result of your enthusiasm ;) for Ubuntu I downloaded it, but extracting an ISO file is something I haven't done
before & I'm wondering how I get it on to a CD.
Going back to the original reason for this thread, when I booted up this morning it all went like a rocket with out any delays.
Maybe there is something in my suspicion that it was down to the service rather than W7 etc?
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this morning it all went like a rocket with out any delays.
Maybe there is something in my suspicion that it was down to the service rather than W7 etc?
You can get some very strange performance effects from electrical interference of an "intermediate" level but not high enough to actually cause a broadband disconnection.
What sort of router do you have and are you able to extract any meaningful statistics from it?
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As a result of your enthusiasm ;) for Ubuntu I downloaded it, but extracting an ISO file is something I haven't done
before & I'm wondering how I get it on to a CD.
You don't have to extract it, you just write it to a CD as an image (not as a data file). Most CD writing programs have this capability.
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this morning it all went like a rocket with out any delays.
Maybe there is something in my suspicion that it was down to the service rather than W7 etc?
You can get some very strange performance effects from electrical interference of an "intermediate" level but not high enough to actually cause a broadband disconnection.
What sort of router do you have and are you able to extract any meaningful statistics from it?
I was running for a while on my Netgear DGN1000, but switched back recently to my Billion 7300n. Things were the same with both.
I "rebooted" from hibernate a short while ago and the problem was back. It took ages to get the moneyam.com front page to load, and
then for the page I wanted after logging in to come up.
I did a tracert (below) at the same time
[attachment deleted by admin]
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Seems that my problem could be with my ISP. There is, on ISPreview, a review by another ICUK customer reporting that
he/she has trouble with "cannot find server...." as I do.