Need modem help.. it's wierd

[AKSeaWulfe]

Okay, since 1.03 I've been having problems with Aces High---- only. Other games stay connected for hours.
System:
Celeron 466(not o/c)
320MB PC100 RAM
ZooM ISA 56K latest drivers.
Sb Live! w/liveware3.0(problem started b4 I installed liveware)
and that's really all that's relevant.

I've run trace programs while I play AH. No problem in the networking. I get sub 150ms pings all the way to alt.hitechcreations.com... 12 hops.

So here's the deal, I will sporadically get red beacons that last for about 15 seconds and then I get reconnected to the server. Now the wierd thing is, it's my entire internet connection. RW stops sending/recieving, as does AH, and even netscape doesn't do anything. This started with 1.03 and I had the modem before 1.03 came out working fine. Usually it happens within 1 hour and keeps doing it consistently about every 45 minutes. I have systray, rnaap(winbloz dial up), saitek stick config, and some SB Live! software running in the background. It's either Aces High, or my modem or the combination of the two. Except, get this!, I plugged up an external hayes 28.8... same results. hmmmm? Anyone got any ideas? I've tried error control(for some reason 56Ks don't connect to ISP without error control enabled), setting the FIFO buffers(min or max makes no dif), different drivers etc. I just find it an odd coincidence that this problem began with 1.03. *shrug*
Thanks!
-SW

[Pyro]

What is the rnaap dialup software?  I'm not familiar with that.



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Doug "Pyro" Balmos
HiTech Creations

[AKSeaWulfe]

rnaapp, it's windows DUN. it's the PPP setup that you configure in W98's DUN. Almost all dial-ups use it, unless you're on AOL! :-) ctrl-alt-del to shut it down and you lose your internet connection.
-SW

[AKSeaWulfe]

*PUNT* I need help here :-)
-SW

[SC-DeMutt]

Hiya SeaWolfe;
  I'm no expert, But I think your problem is related to the ISA Modem. Even with the PCI to ISA Bridge drivers, It seems that the modem just can't keep up with the system bus, And use the ram you have. [?]
  I'd try a PCI modem. And if that didn't help, I'd drop back to 196 megs on RAM.
  I know the latter sounds crazy, But I've seen it work (I went from 256 to 196), A tech friend of mine explained that sometimes you actually take a performance 'HIT' when running more than 128 meg.
  I wish I could explain better, But I dunno how  I just know that these soloutions were recommended by some well respected 'Propeller Heads' I know, And they worked for myself and others.
  Best of luck to ya {S!}

SC-DeMutt

[AKSeaWulfe]

Interesting Mutt, thanks for the info. Unfortunately cutting back to 196 won't cut it for me. I was running 196 and still experiencing the problems, and got a free PC100 128MB stick so I couldn't turn it down! ;-) Since I like to play Half Life, Unreal and other FPS games that take up horrendous amounts of RAM, I'll just deal with the 10 second red beacon for now. :-( However, I did plug in an external(using a serial port) Hayes Optima 28.8 and still got the same problem. That's the same modem I was running pre-1.03 and I know it worked before. Never had connection problems. 1.03 comes out, I get red beacons that happen irregularly but when they happen I know exactly how long to wait. There's no data loss either, which is really wierd. I lose my connx to RW as well as the HTC server(s) and when RW picks up again, I get a bunch of guys saying stuff all crammed into the same air time. I can run Counterstrike, QIII etc just fine, but AH 1.03, same problem.

Just dunno what's going on. Maybe something HT put in the code for optimzation that my PC doesn't like? *shrug*
Thanks Mutt!
-SW

[Vermillion]

AkSeaWulfe, are you absolutely sure its not a networking (ie the Internet) problem?

Because if your losing connection for about 10 seconds and then it comes back, that sounds to me like you have a problem with a router in the upstream portion of your ISP. IE on the way out to the internet your connection gets jammed up within the ISP.

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Vermillion
**MOL**, Men of Leisure
"Real Men fly Radials, Nancy Boys fly Spitfires"

[Pyro]

Nothing has changed in that area.  I tend to agree with Verm.  One thing to try is that as soon as the beacon happens, minimize AH and try running a trace.



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Doug "Pyro" Balmos
HiTech Creations

[indian]

Wrong info but found out rnaap can crash and take the computer with it if you are running win95 there is a rnaap.exe on the cdrom that you can run and it will fixx it for a while then just run it again.

[This message has been edited by indian (edited 08-24-2000).]

[AKSeaWulfe]

Well, no it's not my ISP or my network. Two different routes to get to the game server. The alt and the main. My ISP dumps off at two different points for both routes. Experience the same problem on both routes. Can't run a traceroute though Pyro, entire connection "shuts down" for about 15 seconds. Thing is, if it is my network, why would it only crash using the same route out on Aces High while I can play Counterstrike fine for hours on end without connx problems? What I mean is, the route out from my ISP takes me into VA then it dumps off somewhere to various routers and makes it way it across the countries to whatever server I'm on. So, I'm using the same route out for every game until I hit an interchange point at which point it leaves my ISP and goes on to other routers. The dump off points are different for both the main and alt routes, so it's strange it occurs with this game on two different routes? I'm running W98 not SE. It's hard to explain, but I hope you understand what I mean here?
Stange problem indeed, but I'll try Mutt said.
-SW