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AR15.COM
3/7/2007 6:33:11 PM EDT
I am having a problem with an online video game. I felt this is more of a computer problem so Ill post here instead of the game forum.


Game :  COD2
Server ping (avg):  70
Current ping for the last 2 days: 120-660
VERY VERY unsteady ping

I didnt download anything or change any settings, it just happened all of a sudden.

Ive been on that server for months with 70-80 ping consistently.  not only that but all other servers have high ping also.

Ive run AVG virus scan AND spyware/malware Scan. Cleaned out what the spyware scanner found, still no change.

Any Ideas on what could make my ping jump so much?

AMD Athlon 64 Processor

3200+ 2.20 GHZ  768 MB of ram,  radeon 9600 series: 256 MB video card.

Everything is brand new and the game ran great until this happened.



3/7/2007 6:40:03 PM EDT
[#1]
ANY HELP on what would make the relation between the servers and my computer suddenly slow by over 100%?
3/7/2007 6:46:00 PM EDT
[#2]
I just had a similar effect.  A 2nd network connection was enabled (ethernet)
3/7/2007 6:51:01 PM EDT
[#3]
Only one computer is connected, directly to the dsl modem
3/7/2007 6:56:45 PM EDT
[#4]
network latency comes and goes. Your ISP might be acting up.

i recommend you run hourly speed tests while your on your system and get a trend for what your line speed is, do this over a period of days.

use this site to do it.
3/7/2007 6:59:12 PM EDT
[#5]
windows: tracert www.gameserver.com

Shows the time for each hop in the route from your machine to the destination. Because of firewalls you're unlikely to make it all the way to the destination these days but you'll have a good idea of where it's getting hosed.

Also, ping your first hop router. Are you seeing any dropped packets? What's the latency? The classic problem is a flakey cable or connector.

Unix:

skeg:~ mcgredo$ traceroute www.apple.com
traceroute to www.apple.com.akadns.net (17.254.0.91), 64 hops max, 40 byte packets
1  * * *
...
3/7/2007 7:19:41 PM EDT
[#6]

Quoted:
windows: tracert www.gameserver.com

Shows the time for each hop in the route from your machine to the destination. Because of firewalls you're unlikely to make it all the way to the destination these days but you'll have a good idea of where it's getting hosed.

Also, ping your first hop router. Are you seeing any dropped packets? What's the latency? The classic problem is a flakey cable or connector.

Unix:

skeg:~ mcgredo$ traceroute www.apple.com
traceroute to www.apple.com.akadns.net (17.254.0.91), 64 hops max, 40 byte packets
1  * * *
...


Thank you for your help. Could you go over taht in laymans terms? im not very computer savvy



EDIT: oh yeah, and the network is still reading in at 100mpps like it was before so i dont think thats it
3/7/2007 10:53:51 PM EDT
[#7]
When you contact another machine on the internet the information is passed through several intermediate machines. The total time for a piece of information to get from your box to the destination is the "latency", and that's what ping is showing you.

But you can also look at the latency to each of those intermediate machines as the information travels to its destination. That's what the traceroute (tracert on Windows) command does. It shows you the path through the network the information is taking to the destination and the time it takes to get to each intermediate step. If the latency takes a sudden increase somewhere in the middle of these intermediate machines, that's where your problem is.

If you use traceroute (tracert on windows) you'll see output like the below. in this case I deleted a few of the intermediate machines, as you can tell by the gaps in the numbers. This is from my Unix (Mac OS X) box. My comments in square brackets:

traceroute to a web site in Australia:

skeg:~ mcgredo$ traceroute www.abc.net.au
traceroute to www.abc.net.au (202.6.74.88), 64 hops max, 40 byte packets
1  * * *
[deleted a few intermediate machines here, steps 2-8]

9  ggr3-ge10.sffca.ip.att.net (12.122.82.57)  17.841 ms  13.684 ms  13.984 ms

[somewhere near SF, CA, taking about 15 ms]

10  192.205.33.178 (192.205.33.178)  18.170 ms  14.390 ms  14.092 ms
11  ae-0.r21.snjsca04.us.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.2.97)  19.398 ms  16.027 ms  14.941 ms

[San Jose, CA, taking about 15 ms to get there]

12  ae-0.r20.plalca01.us.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.4.118)  16.167 ms  15.661 ms  16.438 ms
13  xe-3-1.r03.plalca01.us.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.4.94)  19.864 ms  15.108 ms  16.480 ms
14  ge-0.tnzi.plalca01.us.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.10.74)  25.094 ms  26.188 ms  23.924 ms
15  * * *
16  so1-1-0.sybr4.global-gateway.net.nz (202.50.232.2)  173.468 ms  175.049 ms  175.088 ms

[made it to New Zealand. Notice that the time went from 25 ms to 175 ms. That's how long it took for the information to go across the undersea fiber optic cable. If it had gone across a satellite link the latency would have been even higher.]

17  connect1.sybr4.global-gateway.net.nz (203.96.120.122)  173.240 ms  269.075 ms  187.536 ms
18  gigabitethernet0-1.cor8.syd.connect.com.au (203.63.170.216)  177.170 ms  175.311 ms  175.023 ms

[made it from New Zealand to Australia]

19  dabc141265-1.gw.connect.com.au (210.8.2.249)  188.134 ms  218.774 ms  177.107 ms

[somewhere in Australia]
3/7/2007 10:55:42 PM EDT
[#8]
You need the appropriate technical manual: