Strange Internet Issues

processor93

Registered
G4 laptop, 1.5 GHz/512 MB, OS 10.3.9
========================

Since last week I've been experiecing sudden internet outages or extreme slowdown/hangups. For anywhere from 1 to 15 minutes, none of my net programs will find their hosts. Sometimes it begins with a page not loading 100% (as I type this the address bar is still mostly blue and the status bar reads "completed 81 of 82 items"). Then pages may load up only about 10%. Sometimes reloading will solve this (or just get it to load a bit further), often not. Sometimes in the status bar I see "loading from [hostname]...", sometimes "resolving host [hostname]..." (the latter message seems to be more serious). I have also rebooted and run Disk Utility with little or no difference.

Of course my first suspect was the DSL connection so I called Verizon, who tested my modem and line remotely and told me everything was fine, twice.

My next suspect was my Ethernet cable, which has a semi-broken clip on one end, meaning it does not "snap" in perfectly. It's been like this for a few weeks/months though, and this issue only started Friday. Still, I thought it was worth testing, so I pulled it out and connected via a nearby Wireless network (not mine). At first this seemed to solve the issue. However now the same thing will happen on this other network. Which theoretically eliminates the problem from being located either in my modem/line or in my ethernet cable.

I was also able to connect to the modem's gateway through Safari (1.3 v312) one time but NOT another time - which made me wonder if the issue is somehow internal. There have also been instances of Safari connecting but not Netscape or vice versa.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this? I know there have been a few OSX viruses, so I wonder if this could be some kind of worm that periodically eats away at intgernet prefs files or is using my connection to do something else. This sounds ridiculous to me since I've never had virus issues since switching to OSX 2 years ago but I just wonder.

Or could there be a few simple prefs files I need to trash or reinstall to "refresh" my internet software?

On a (possibly) unrelated note, I have also lately been having weird things happen to my display. several times I've seen the menubar disappear entirely, only to have the elements reappear but without the bar, slowly, sometimes only if I pass my mouse over them. Last night many characters in every program and display disappeared from the screen, leaving holes. e.g. the phrase above would have looked like this:
"m ny ch r cters in eve y pr gram nd d splay dis ppea ed"

This was only visible to me, as I was in Yahoo IM at the time and the other person saw all the letters I typed. Rebooting cleared the issue.

Any suggestions would be massively helpful as I'm very frustrated with this.
 
...sometimes "resolving host [hostname]..." (the latter message seems to be more serious).

No, that is not serious. Resolving the host is what we call it when the browser takes a domain name address (eg: macosx.com) and contacts your DNS server to get it resolved into a network IP address (eg: 12.34.234.125). It should normally only take an instant, a jiffy at most.

It sounds like something is disrupting or using up your network bandwidth. When it next happens, while the problem is in effect, take a look at all open network processes by doing this:
- Go into Applications/Utilities and run Terminal.
- Type in netstat
- Copy/Paste the output back to us here in this thread, so we can take a look at it.

Also, do you have any other network equipment, computers or devices connected onto your internet connection? Are you running any other software when the problem occurs?

As for the problem with characters disappearing, is that only in Yahoo IM?
 
No, that is not serious. Resolving the host is what we call it when the browser takes a domain name address (eg: macosx.com) and contacts your DNS server to get it resolved into a network IP address (eg: 12.34.234.125). It should normally only take an instant, a jiffy at most

Right, I know that...but usually that takes so little time I would never even see that message. What I meant by "serious" was, if I get that message, I will not even get a partial page loaded. Of course becuase it hasn;t even found the host much less the page.

It sounds like something is disrupting or using up your network bandwidth.

How is that possible when it happens even when it's not "my" bandwidth (e.g. someone else's wireless)?


When it next happens, while the problem is in effect, take a look at all open network processes by doing this:
- Go into Applications/Utilities and run Terminal.
- Type in netstat
- Copy/Paste the output back to us here in this thread, so we can take a look at it.

Here it is. This was while trying to connect to a Yahoo site. I've replaced my local IP address with X's because i didn't feel comfortable posting them here.

Active Internet connections
Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address Foreign Address (state)
tcp4 0 XXXXX XXX.XXX.X.XXX.XXXXX f632.mail.vip.re.http ESTABLISHED
tcp4 0 0 localhost.49935 localhost.ipp CLOSE_WAIT
tcp4 0 0 localhost.49934 localhost.ipp CLOSE_WAIT
tcp4 0 0 localhost.netinfo-loca localhost.990 ESTABLISHED
tcp4 0 0 localhost.990 localhost.netinfo-loca ESTABLISHED
udp4 0 0 *.mdns *.*
udp4 0 0 *.49796 *.*
udp4 0 0 *.49795 *.*
udp4 0 0 *.svrloc *.*
udp4 0 0 *.* *.*
udp4 0 0 *.* *.*
udp4 0 0 localhost.49160 localhost.1022
udp4 0 0 localhost.49159 localhost.1022
udp4 0 0 localhost.1022 *.*
udp4 0 0 localhost.49158 localhost.1023
udp4 0 0 localhost.1023 *.*
udp4 0 0 *.ipp *.*
udp4 0 0 *.bootpc *.*
udp4 0 0 localhost.netinfo-loca *.*
udp4 0 0 *.syslog *.*
udp6 0 0 *.514 *.*
icm6 0 0 *.* *.*
icm6 0 0 *.* *.*
Active LOCAL (UNIX) domain sockets
Address Type Recv-Q Send-Q Inode Conn Refs Nextref Addr
1a0b8c0 stream 0 0 1f21be8 0 0 0 /tmp/slp_ipc
1a0b6c8 stream 0 0 0 1a0b770 0 0
1a0b770 stream 0 0 0 1a0b6c8 0 0
1a0b700 stream 0 0 0 1a0ba10 0 0
1a0ba10 stream 0 0 0 1a0b700 0 0
1a0b9d8 stream 0 0 0 1a0b5b0 0 0
1a0b5b0 stream 0 0 0 1a0b9d8 0 0
1a0bf18 stream 0 0 20b84e0 0 0 0 /tmp/icssuis501
1a0b7a8 stream 0 0 0 1a0b7e0 0 0
1a0b7e0 stream 0 0 0 1a0b7a8 0 0
1a0b888 stream 0 0 0 1a0b8f8 0 0
1a0b8f8 stream 0 0 0 1a0b888 0 0
1a0ba48 stream 0 0 0 1a0bb28 0 0
1a0bb28 stream 0 0 0 1a0ba48 0 0
1a0baf0 stream 0 0 0 1a0bab8 0 0
1a0bab8 stream 0 0 0 1a0baf0 0 0
1a0ba80 stream 0 0 20611e0 0 0 0 /tmp/com.stuffit.avr.IPC
1a0bb98 stream 0 0 1dd75f8 0 0 0 /var/run/mDNSResponder
1a0bdc8 stream 0 0 1d42a18 0 0 0 /var/run/pppconfd
1a0bea8 dgram 0 0 0 1a0bfc0 0 1a0b818
1a0b930 dgram 0 0 0 1a0b690 1a0b690 0
1a0b690 dgram 0 0 0 1a0b930 1a0b930 0
1a0b968 dgram 0 0 0 1a0b738 1a0b738 0
1a0b738 dgram 0 0 0 1a0b968 1a0b968 0
1a0b818 dgram 0 0 0 1a0bfc0 0 1a0b850
1a0b850 dgram 0 0 0 1a0bfc0 0 1a0bb60
1a0bb60 dgram 0 0 0 1a0bfc0 0 1a0bc40
1a0bc40 dgram 0 0 0 1a0bfc0 0 1a0bcb0
1a0bcb0 dgram 0 0 0 1a0bfc0 0 1a0bc08
1a0bc08 dgram 0 0 0 1a0bfc0 0 1a0bc78
1a0bc78 dgram 0 0 0 1a0bfc0 0 1a0bce8
1a0bce8 dgram 0 0 0 1a0bfc0 0 1a0bd90
1a0bbd0 dgram 0 0 0 1a0bd20 1a0bd20 0
1a0bd20 dgram 0 0 0 1a0bbd0 1a0bbd0 0
1a0bd90 dgram 0 0 0 1a0bfc0 0 1a0be00
1a0bd58 dgram 0 0 0 1a0bee0 1a0bee0 0
1a0bee0 dgram 0 0 0 1a0bd58 1a0bd58 0
1a0be00 dgram 0 0 0 1a0bfc0 0 1a0bf88
1a0bf88 dgram 0 0 0 1a0bfc0 0 1a0be38
1a0be38 dgram 0 0 0 1a0bfc0 0 1a0be70
1a0be70 dgram 0 0 0 1a0bfc0 0 1a0bf50
1a0bf50 dgram 0 0 0 1a0bfc0 0 0
1a0bfc0 dgram 0 0 1a42578 0 1a0bea8 0 /var/run/syslog

Also, do you have any other network equipment, computers or devices connected onto your internet connection? Are you running any other software when the problem occurs?

No, the ethernet cable goes directly into my Westell modem. I did notice the "Wireless" light is on on the modem which is strange because I'm not using it wireless. However, if this was simply a case of the bandwidth on my DSL line being stolen by a nearby wireless user, why would I have the same problem when using someone else's wireless?

Sometimes I've been running both Safari and Netscape. Sometimes Photoshop or Tex-edit may be open...sometimes not. More or fewer apps open seems to have no effect. Besides I have done all these things before and never had these issues. Even loaded up tab after tab of webpages in Netscape and Safari before letting the last one finish, and all pages loaded fine and quickly.

As for the problem with characters disappearing, is that only in Yahoo IM?

No, I just happened to have that up at the time. The characters were missing in the Finder menubar as well as files sitting on the desktop.

Thanks for your help.
 
Back
Top