Saoirse04
asked on
Packet loss with any online game
I'm currently using Pipex internet for my ADSL on a 1 meg connection, about 3/4 of the time I online game, everything works fine the rest of the time every single game I play, e.g. Battlefield 1942, Medal Of Honour, Call Of Duty, Unreal Tournament 2K3 and 2K4 etc is completely unplayable due to what appears to be lag, my ping however is still quite low at around 50ms but the "lagometer" in Medal of Honour shows lots of spikes, which unfortunately totally ruins the game, this happens on every server (I've tried around 20 tonight and several in various other games and the same problem occurs). I've tried pinging various web site's with various different packet sizes but never seem to replicate the problem, get constant replies of less than 30ms, I've also tried tracerts to various site's and still can't replicate it .. so that leaves me in the unenviable position of my ISP deciding that they are not going to fix my problem because their little manual which tells them what to ask customers to test doesn't cover my predicament :( Any ideas?
Have you tried having someone else ping your public IP address? If it drops packets or is really low, you may need to replace your ADSL m
Sorry about that, i ment "ADSL modem."
ASKER
It's not the ADSL modem, I recently replaced it (twice) with totally different brands to try and cure this problem. Somehow the packet loss only appears to occur (that I notice) with online games, i.e. UDP
Are you running your network through a router or are you directly connected with the modem? If you're running through a router, try bypassing it by hooking your computer directly into your computer.
ASKER
It's a router with a built in modem, directly connecting via ethernet makes no difference, setting the router into modem mode also makes no difference.
It could be spyware hogging your bandwidth (I assume you close any P2P file sharing programs before playing).
Try scanning with these utilities, but update them all first:
AdAware: http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/
Spybot Search and Destroy: http://www.safer-networking.org/
CWShredder: http://www.soft32.com/download_19014.html
Try scanning with these utilities, but update them all first:
AdAware: http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/
Spybot Search and Destroy: http://www.safer-networking.org/
CWShredder: http://www.soft32.com/download_19014.html
ASKER
It's not spyware, it's not adware, it's not a virus, here is a list of the things I've already checked/done:
1) New router
2) New cables (ethernet and telephone)
3) New firmware for routers
4) New Filters
5) Resintalled OS
6) Checked for spyware
7) Ran full virus scan with 2 up to date scanners
8) Connected laptop up, same problem
9) removed all other devices from telephone sockets
10) defragged both drives
The problem is UDP related somehow as ICMP pings are responded to with no problem.
1) New router
2) New cables (ethernet and telephone)
3) New firmware for routers
4) New Filters
5) Resintalled OS
6) Checked for spyware
7) Ran full virus scan with 2 up to date scanners
8) Connected laptop up, same problem
9) removed all other devices from telephone sockets
10) defragged both drives
The problem is UDP related somehow as ICMP pings are responded to with no problem.
Wow, looks like you've eliminated just about everything! I'm thinking its a problem with your ISP...
Try these to check your connection speed:
http://bandwidthplace.com/
http://www.fifi.org/services/ping
Try these to check your connection speed:
http://bandwidthplace.com/
http://www.fifi.org/services/ping
ASKER
they are TCP/ICMP tools, as mentioned, the problem only occurs on UDP connections to online games.
Right, but it might be helpful to try the bandwidth test, just to make sure that its not a connection speed issue...
At this point, the only thing I can think of is that your ISP has problems. You can try talking to them, but that's not easy.
At this point, the only thing I can think of is that your ISP has problems. You can try talking to them, but that's not easy.
ASKER
The speed tests show no problems, that was one of the first things I tried, along with ICMP pings and trace routes, as the problem only occurs when I game online (with any game) I've isolated it down to UDP, my ISP has only suggested what has been suggested on here so far and doesn't seem to have much of a clue. What I really need is some kind of UDP ping utility to either ping me repeatedly to check for packet loss, or to allow me to ping a gaming server so I can send them a log of the packet loss.
I'm unfamiliar with this, but you might try this program: http://freshmeat.net/projects/uplog/
But even if you figure something out, its still probably going to be an issue with your ISP.
But even if you figure something out, its still probably going to be an issue with your ISP.
ASKER
OS = WinXP Pro :D Not *nix
Good point, I missed that!
But as I said, testing your ports will probably not help us much, you need to talk to your ISP.
But as I said, testing your ports will probably not help us much, you need to talk to your ISP.
ASKER
And as inferred previously, I need proof of the problem first, hense requiring some form of tool (windows based) to show the packet loss over UDP.
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