OT: A computer annoyance - help wanted!

[Renegade 13]

For reasons unbeknownst to me, sometimes (but not always) when I connect my computer to the internet via my dial-up modem, it will "lock out" any other programs from opening for a random amount of time. By this I mean once the internet has actually finished dialing and connecting, no other programs will open, then, after a certain (random) amount of time passes, the programs will all open that I had told to open anywhere from minutes to hours ago. In addition, I can tell my computer to shut down, but it will not do so until it decides everything's fine again and ready to work.

Note that this is NOT a general computer lock up. If I open a program (say, Firefox) before the internet establishes its connection, everything's fine and dandy for whatever reason, same goes with any other program.

This problem also doesn't always occur, sometimes I can connect and programs will open immediately. It has me stumped.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to cause or possible solutions? If so, it would be greatly appreciated if you shared 'em! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif Thanks!

[Raapys]

Ah, computers. Will we ever fully understand them?

[AgentZero]

My first thought is there might be something naughty on your computer that start chewing up your CPU as soon as it detects a network connection. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/eek.gif

[Renegade 13]

AgentZero said:
My first thought is there might be something naughty on your computer that start chewing up your CPU as soon as it detects a network connection. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/eek.gif

As far as I know (and I've done virus scans... though with Norton) there's nothing unauthorized on my computer http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif If there is, it's been here a loooong time, since it's been messing around like this for months and months, with this being the only symptom.

Also, I've checked CPU performance while it's refusing to load any programs, and it's at minimal levels, with no processes running that aren't "usual".

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Raapys said:
Ah, computers. Will we ever fully understand them?


Ten seconds before the Machine War.

[Renegade 13]

narf poit chez BOOM said:

Raapys said:
Ah, computers. Will we ever fully understand them?


Ten seconds before the Machine War.


Or... is that when they will understand US? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Renegade 13 said:

narf poit chez BOOM said:

Raapys said:
Ah, computers. Will we ever fully understand them?


Ten seconds before the Machine War.


Or... is that when they will understand US? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif


Too late.

But I think the guy wants a real answer.

[capnq]

My suggested solution is to look into upgrading to broadband. My new DSL account is actually cheaper than what I was paying for dialup.

[Raapys]

I've had some similar experiences, but how I solved it or even if I did is unknown to me. That said, a reinstallation of Windows usually fixes such things, although that's often not a fun thing to do. Suppose you could try to update the modem drivers, though.

[Spoo]

Open the task manager before dialing in with the modem. Watch to see what is using 100% cpu.

[Xrati]

Also, while you have the task manager open check to see what processes are running and how much 'K' they're using. Mainly watch explorer.exe (not IEXPLORER.EXE, two different programs) explorer is gennerally the program responsible for your problem. As Raapys says a reinstall may be what you need. Try updating the modem drives too...

[narf poit chez BOOM]

'Also, I've checked CPU performance while it's refusing to load any programs, and it's at minimal levels, with no processes running that aren't "usual".'

[Atrocities]

Sounds like a network reallocation of resources issue to me. When you go from say DSL to dial up, your system has to reconfigure everything for that connection. Depending on your system that could cause a period of delay as your CPU is taxed to deal with the redistribution of network resources. Additionally depending upon who the dial up provider is, say net zero, their software, when activated, takes over your system and for a lack of a better term, has a party. Those dial up bastards need to make money so they build in malware and other "proprietary" software into their dial up software that when activated, start a tone of other programs that in turn swamp the cpu with resource demands.

[Renegade 13]

capnq said:
My suggested solution is to look into upgrading to broadband. My new DSL account is actually cheaper than what I was paying for dialup.

DSL isn't available in my area. Yep, I live in the stone ages.


Open the task manager before dialing in with the modem. Watch to see what is using 100% cpu.

Also, while you have the task manager open check to see what processes are running and how much 'K' they're using. Mainly watch explorer.exe (not IEXPLORER.EXE, two different programs) explorer is gennerally the program responsible for your problem.

As mentioned in my original post ( http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif ) I have done this without noticing anything out of the ordinary.


When you go from say DSL to dial up, your system has to reconfigure everything for that connection. Depending on your system that could cause a period of delay as your CPU is taxed to deal with the redistribution of network resources.

This might make sense if I was switching from DSL to dial-up, but I'm not; I'm always in dial-up, so nothing should need to be reconfigured. Also, I would presume that if this was the issue, it would take a roughly equivalent time each time to resolve its issues, whereas in reality it takes anywhere from a couple minutes to a few hours.

I will first off take a look at upgrading the modem drivers, thanks for the suggestion... shoulda thought of that myself!! I will also take another look at the processes running when the problem occurs, just in case I missed something last time. Thanks guy, and I'll keep you apprised http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/cool.gif

[aegisx]

Renegade 13 said:
For reasons unbeknownst to me, sometimes (but not always) when I connect my computer to the internet via my dial-up modem, it will "lock out" any other programs from opening for a random amount of time. By this I mean once the internet has actually finished dialing and connecting, no other programs will open, then, after a certain (random) amount of time passes, the programs will all open that I had told to open anywhere from minutes to hours ago. In addition, I can tell my computer to shut down, but it will not do so until it decides everything's fine again and ready to work.

Note that this is NOT a general computer lock up. If I open a program (say, Firefox) before the internet establishes its connection, everything's fine and dandy for whatever reason, same goes with any other program.

This problem also doesn't always occur, sometimes I can connect and programs will open immediately. It has me stumped.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to cause or possible solutions? If so, it would be greatly appreciated if you shared 'em! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif Thanks!



Interesting issue...

Is your CPU at 100% during this frozen time? Atro mentioned it, but I'm not sure if you answered.

My first thought is that the driver is causing the lockup, which is difficult to do anything about. The other guy would be explorer.exe as I believe he is responsible for spawning processes.

[Renegade 13]

aegisx said:
Is your CPU at 100% during this frozen time? Atro mentioned it, but I'm not sure if you answered.

My first thought is that the driver is causing the lockup, which is difficult to do anything about. The other guy would be explorer.exe as I believe he is responsible for spawning processes.

Nah, the CPU is at resting capacity, like... 3% or something like that.

I reinstalled the modem drivers (since I couldn't find any more recent drivers), and I'll see how that works.

[aegisx]

It sounds like some piece of code, in the kernel (driver) or explorer.exe is waiting on something.

[Renegade 13]

Update: Not the driver, as far as I can tell. It's still messing up after reinstalling 'em.

Any further suggestions? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Will]

If you have another computer, try using that to connect with the same modem. If it works in another computer, re-install windows.

Send off for a LiveCD, and try connecting via the modem with Linux. If it works through Linux, either use Linux or re-install windows.

If it still locks up, you can get modems for under $10; try replacing it.

[Baron Grazic]

Could it be something like the Anti-Virus software doing an update as soon as you go online and it halts other programs from loading while the upgrade takes place?
Could explain why it takes different amounts of time & no noticeable CPU usage.

[Xrati]

Try increasing the swap file size if it is not on auto. Its sounds more and more as if your going to have to reinstall. Something is using or limiting resources to the point where there is no noticable usage on the processor but the structure of the process has broken down into small packets being processed. Basically, it's the memory management or lack of it. Probably a corrupted file.

[Fyron]

Have you tried using an app like Process Explorer (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx) to see what is really going on? Lots of stuff can hide from Task Manager, or simply don't get reported in the normal course of things.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Baron Grazic said:
Could it be something like the Anti-Virus software doing an update as soon as you go online and it halts other programs from loading while the upgrade takes place?
Could explain why it takes different amounts of time & no noticeable CPU usage.


This makes sense.

[Renegade 13]

Baron Grazic said:
Could it be something like the Anti-Virus software doing an update as soon as you go online and it halts other programs from loading while the upgrade takes place?
Could explain why it takes different amounts of time & no noticeable CPU usage.

This is definitely possible, sounds like something Norton would do. Though I have it set to disable automatic updates... I hardly trust it to actually do so.


Fyron said:
Have you tried using an app like Process Explorer to see what is really going on? Lots of stuff can hide from Task Manager, or simply don't get reported in the normal course of things.


I have not, but shall do so. Thanks for the info http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

A wee bit off topic, but can anyone recommend a program that'll tell me exactly what traffic my internet is conducting at any given time? (My terminology is probably wrong, but I hope you get the picture)

[Raapys]

There's TCPView

http://technet.microsoft.com/nb-no/sysinternals/bb897437(en-us).aspx

[Fyron]

netstat can give you the basics as well, built into the OS.

[aegisx]

netstat -ab