I've been using Road Runner for close to a year now with no problems. Until now. My download and upload speeds have slowed to one third of what they were a few weeks ago.
I'm fairly new to cable tweaking and I was wondering if there's anything I can do to get my old speeds back.
I do a spyware scan using both Search & Destroy and Ad Aware ever two or three days. I also clean my cache every two or three days.
My system specs are as follows:
Pentium III 800MHz, Windows ME, IE 6.0 (fully patched), NAV 2003, Zone Alarm
I ran the analyzer and this is my results:
TCP options string = 020405b401010402
MTU = 1500
MTU is fully optimized for broadband.
MSS = 1460
Maximum useful data in each packet = 1460, which equals MSS.
Note: Under Windows 9x, if you have RWIN set to any other value, and the Analyzer reports 65535 you might need to install the MS Vtcp386 fix.
For optimum performance, consider changing RWIN to a multiple of MSS.
Other values for RWIN that might work well with your current MTU/MSS:
513920 (MSS x 44 * scale factor of 8)
256960 (MSS x 44 * scale factor of 4)
128480 (MSS x 44 * scale factor of 2)
64240 (MSS x 44)
bandwidth * delay product:
Your RcvWindow limits you to: 2621.4 kbps (327.675 KBytes/s) @ 200ms
Your RcvWindow limits you to: 1048.56 kbps (131.07 KBytes/s) @ 500ms
MTU Discovery (RFC1191) = ON
Time to live left = 51 hops
TTL value is ok.
Timestamps (RFC1323) = OFF
Selective Acknowledgements (RFC2018) = ON
IP type of service field (RFC1349) = 00000000
Thank you for your reply. I did as suggested, here are the results of with the new settings:
TCP options string = 020405b401010402
MTU = 1500
MTU is fully optimized for broadband.
MSS = 1460
Maximum useful data in each packet = 1460, which equals MSS.
RWIN is a multiple of MSS
Other values for RWIN that might work well with your current MTU/MSS:
513920 (MSS x 44 * scale factor of 8)
256960 (MSS x 44 * scale factor of 4)
128480 (MSS x 44 * scale factor of 2)
64240 (MSS x 44)
bandwidth * delay product:
Your RcvWindow limits you to: 1985.6 kbps (248.2 KBytes/s) @ 200ms
Your RcvWindow limits you to: 794.24 kbps (99.28 KBytes/s) @ 500ms
MTU Discovery (RFC1191) = ON
Time to live left = 51 hops
TTL value is ok.
Timestamps (RFC1323) = OFF
Selective Acknowledgements (RFC2018) = ON
IP type of service field (RFC1349) = 00000000
I've been using Roadrunner for over two years now. My speeds have (in general) remained unchanged (although I must note that a few weeks ago RR had some serious network problems and ever since my traceroute and ping results have really gone bad). Speed-wise I was affected only for about a week - this resulted in speeds close to 1/2 of the regular caps (the caps depending on the area are set to 15000/384, 2000/384 or 2500/384 however network traffic can easily cause these numbers to fall OR (and here is something interesting) grow!)
My current speedtest results (using many different speed tests) look like this (I am currently using the settings provided by mnosteele52 in this thread):
TCP/Web100 Network Diagnostic Tool v5.2.0f
Checking for Middleboxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Done
running 10s outbound test (client to server) . . . . . 416.80Kb/s
running 10s inbound test (server to client) . . . . . . 1.99Mb/s
Your PC is connected to a Cable/DSL modem
Information: Other network traffic is congesting the link
click START to re-test
Before RR's network problems tests yielded:
2003-01-01 18:09:01 EST: 2262 / 351
Your download speed : 2262175 bps, or 2262 kbps.
A 276.1 KB/sec transfer rate.
Your upload speed : 351968 bps, or 351 kbps.
Seems like broadband .. above the 1mbit barrier!
2003-02-12 21:44:26 EST: 2198 / 352
Your download speed : 2198494 bps, or 2198 kbps.
A 268.3 KB/sec transfer rate.
Your upload speed : 352319 bps, or 352 kbps.
Seems like broadband .. above the 1mbit barrier!
2003-03-27 18:12:26 EST: 2160 / 364
Your download speed : 2160308 bps, or 2160 kbps.
A 263.7 KB/sec transfer rate.
Your upload speed : 364664 bps, or 364 kbps.
Seems like broadband .. above the 1mbit barrier!
2003-04-06 01:52:59 EST: 2131 / 368
Your download speed : 2131123 bps, or 2131 kbps.
A 260.1 KB/sec transfer rate.
Your upload speed : 368358 bps, or 368 kbps.
Seems like broadband .. above the 1mbit barrier!
2003-05-22 23:43:15 EST: 2062 / 351
Your download speed : 2062961 bps, or 2062 kbps.
A 251.8 KB/sec transfer rate.
Your upload speed : 351968 bps, or 351 kbps.
Seems like broadband .. above the 1mbit barrier!
2003-06-20 23:27:23 EST: 2066 / 352
Your download speed : 2066018 bps, or 2066 kbps.
A 252.1 KB/sec transfer rate.
Your upload speed : 352298 bps, or 352 kbps.
Seems like broadband .. above the 1mbit barrier!
2003-07-04 16:54:47 EST: 2030 / 357
Your download speed : 2030659 bps, or 2030 kbps.
A 247.8 KB/sec transfer rate.
Your upload speed : 357867 bps, or 357 kbps.
Seems like broadband .. above the 1mbit barrier!
And these were the original (and really nice) ping and traceroute results:
Ping Results:
PING 66.108.xxx.x (66.108.xxx.x) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 66.108.xxx.x: icmp_seq=1 ttl=137 time=16.0 ms
64 bytes from 66.108.xxx.x: icmp_seq=2 ttl=137 time=17.4 ms
64 bytes from 66.108.xxx.x: icmp_seq=3 ttl=137 time=16.6 ms
64 bytes from 66.108.xxx.x: icmp_seq=4 ttl=137 time=14.1 ms
64 bytes from 66.108.xxx.x: icmp_seq=5 ttl=137 time=15.7 ms
--- 66.108.xxx.x ping statistics ---
5 packets transmitted, 5 received, 0% packet loss, time 4036ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 14.189/16.018/17.453/1.095 ms
Traceroute Results:
1 63-217-30-94.sdsl.cais.net (63.217.30.94) 0.361 ms 0.232 ms 0.256 ms
2 bpr2-so-5-2-0.VirginiaEquinix.cw.net (208.173.50.245) 0.319 ms 0.335 ms 0.291 ms
3 bpr1-ae0.VirginiaEquinix.cw.net (208.173.50.254) 0.427 ms 0.406 ms 0.323 ms
4 cable-and-wireless-peering.VirginiaEquinix.cw.net (208.173.52.42) 0.515 ms 0.485 ms 0.463 ms
5 bb1-ash-P1-0.atdn.net (66.185.139.208) 1.802 ms 0.658 ms 0.579 ms
6 bb1-new-P6-0.atdn.net (66.185.152.49) 5.708 ms 5.622 ms 6.260 ms
7 pop1-new-P0-0.atdn.net (66.185.137.1) 7.635 ms 7.449 ms 7.476 ms
8 rr-queens.atdn.net (66.185.137.14) 8.136 ms 8.063 ms 7.988 ms
9 pos0-0-nycmnyc-rtr2.nyc.rr.com (24.29.97.18) 8.214 ms 8.122 ms 8.118 ms
10 pos1-0-nycmnyc-ubr7.nyc.rr.com (24.29.97.82) 8.399 ms 8.372 ms 8.270 ms
11 66-108-xxx-x.nyc.rr.com (66.108.xxx.x) 17.416 ms 16.466 ms 16.011 ms
During the time of RR's network problems the hops had been re-routed and both the ping and traceroute results yielded times close to 90-100ms! Luckily as of a few days ago - this problem seems to have been addressed by RR.
This is the current situation (even better). Speeds remain the same (as seen above):
Ping Results:
PING 66.65.xxx.xxx (66.65.xxx.xxx) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 66.65.xxx.xxx: icmp_seq=1 ttl=137 time=15.2 ms
64 bytes from 66.65.xxx.xxx: icmp_seq=2 ttl=137 time=15.6 ms
64 bytes from 66.65.xxx.xxx: icmp_seq=3 ttl=137 time=15.2 ms
64 bytes from 66.65.xxx.xxx: icmp_seq=4 ttl=137 time=16.2 ms
64 bytes from 66.65.xxx.xxx: icmp_seq=5 ttl=137 time=14.2 ms
--- 66.65.xxx.xxx ping statistics ---
5 packets transmitted, 5 received, 0% packet loss, time 4041ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 14.279/15.342/16.293/0.665 ms
Traceroute Results:
1 63-217-30-94.sdsl.cais.net (63.217.30.94) 0.415 ms 0.291 ms 0.430 ms
2 bpr2-so-5-2-0.VirginiaEquinix.cw.net (208.173.50.245) 0.318 ms 0.323 ms 0.352 ms
3 bpr1-ae0.VirginiaEquinix.cw.net (208.173.50.254) 0.353 ms 0.348 ms *
4 cable-and-wireless-peering.VirginiaEquinix.cw.net (208.173.52.42) 0.597 ms 0.414 ms 0.457 ms
5 bb2-ash-P2-0.atdn.net (66.185.148.210) 0.664 ms 0.517 ms 0.434 ms
6 bb1-nye-P3-0.atdn.net (66.185.152.86) 7.380 ms 7.208 ms 7.182 ms
7 pop2-nye-P0-0.atdn.net (66.185.151.65) 7.342 ms 7.243 ms 7.149 ms
8 rr-queens.atdn.net (66.185.151.74) 7.204 ms 7.253 ms 7.212 ms
9 pos5-0-nycmnyrdcrtr2.nyc.rr.com (24.29.97.2) 7.971 ms 8.315 ms 7.923 ms
10 pos0-0-nycmnyc-rtr2.nyc.rr.com (24.29.97.18) 8.028 ms 7.998 ms 7.975 ms
11 pos1-0-nycmnyc-ubr7.nyc.rr.com (24.29.97.82) 8.339 ms 8.945 ms 8.150 ms
12 66-65-xxx-xxx.nyc.rr.com (66.65.xxx.xxx) 16.300 ms 15.915 ms 16.067 ms
What I suggest you'd do is release and renew your IP (use ipconfig) info (hopefully this will give you a new IP since you're on a DHCP network), under TCP/IP settings for your connection: set static DNS servers (they are local to "your" RR network - find them here by running the "Resolve/Reverse Lookup" and "Get DNS Records" tools: http://www.speedguide.net/networktools.php )
You can also analyze the "Ping host" and "Traceroute to host" tool results - might hint at a local RR network problem). If behind a router make sure to specify the DEFAULT GATEWAY and set the METRIC to "1". For RR make sure NETBIOS is ENABLED and LMHOSTS Lookup is DISABLED. Append ONLY the primary and connection specific DNS suffixes. Uncheck everything else on the DNS tab. Make sure TCP/IP filtering is DISABLED and everything is PERMIT ALL (TCP ports/UDP ports/IP protocols).
Take this speed test - choose the one closest to you (and analyze the feedback of Statistics, More Details and the Report Problem buttons):
There is a ton of other things to do and try... see if these help and let us know. As a note - I want to add that mnosteele52's TCP Optimizer settings given in this thread are more than enough to get the most out of your/our connection. If they didn't help - the problem is elsewhere (maybe even on RR's side). You can always check the local status here:
http://help.rr.com/ - fill in the forms and enter the "Network Status" sub-page.
Thank you for the info. I will try out some of your tips tonight when I get home from work.
On the following section:
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What I suggest you'd do is release and renew your IP (use ipconfig) info (hopefully this will give you a new IP since you're on a DHCP network), under TCP/IP settings for your connection: set static DNS servers (they are local to "your" RR network - find them here by running the "Resolve/Reverse Lookup" and "Get DNS Records" tools: http://www.speedguide.net/networktools.php )
You can also analyze the "Ping host" and "Traceroute to host" tool results - might hint at a local RR network problem). If behind a router make sure to specify the DEFAULT GATEWAY and set the METRIC to "1". For RR make sure NETBIOS is ENABLED and LMHOSTS Lookup is DISABLED. Append ONLY the primary and connection specific DNS suffixes. Uncheck everything else on the DNS tab. Make sure TCP/IP filtering is DISABLED and everything is PERMIT ALL (TCP ports/UDP ports/IP protocols).
Take this speed test - choose the one closest to you (and analyze the feedback of Statistics, More Details and the Report Problem buttons):
==============================================
I know how to release the IP, but beyond that I think I may need some additional help. I am a bit of a novice when it comes to this kind of stuff
Thanks again for any help you (or anyone else) can provide.
No problem. I will be glad to help and walk you through it. Are you using a router? If not - things will be a bit easier (less work - fewer settings). Make sure to power-cycle the cable modem once you get home (unplug it from the wall socket for 3-5 minutes, reconnect, NOW (and ONLY now) turn on the PC). Release and renew your IP. Navigate to:
Check the first and the last two check-boxes (skip the WhoIs and Check Port boxes). Run the tests/tools. Post the results in this thread (make sure to x-out your IP - there will be many instances). I will walk you through the TCP/IP Settings and possibly the settings of your NIC once I see the specs these network tools with provide me with.
As a side-note I will tell you (you probably already know this) that Windows ME is NOT the best option (especially given your PC specs). How much installed RAM? HDD capacity/speed? No matter - I would recommend you switch to Windows 98SE (+ all patches) or IDEALLY Windows 2000 (SP4 + all patches). It took me a great deal of time and much tweaking to get everything out of ME (essentially make it work and respond like 98SE). The trade-off isn't/wasn't worth it and is fairly hard (time consuming) to replicate. ME is by far one of the biggest no-no's (OS-wise). I do understand that sometimes "FORMACT C:" isn't a reasonable solution and re-installing all of your programs, re-applying all of your favorite settings, etc. can be hard if not impossible (missing installations, compatibility, etc.). However I strongly urge you to consider switching to Windows 2000 (at least for the sake of your net connection). Think about it.
Thanks again. I did as you suggested with the following results:
Resolve/Reverse Lookup:
xx.xx.xx.xxx resolved to rduxx-xx-xxx.nc.rr.com
Ping Results:
PING xx.xx.xx.xxx (xx.xx.xx.xxx) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from xx.xx.xx.xxx: icmp_seq=1 ttl=51 time=26.3 ms
64 bytes from xx.xx.xx.xxx: icmp_seq=2 ttl=51 time=24.6 ms
64 bytes from xx.xx.xx.xxx: icmp_seq=3 ttl=51 time=24.2 ms
64 bytes from xx.xx.xx.xxx: icmp_seq=4 ttl=51 time=25.7 ms
64 bytes from xx.xx.xx.xxx: icmp_seq=5 ttl=51 time=25.1 ms
--- xx.xx.xx.xxx ping statistics ---
5 packets transmitted, 5 received, 0% packet loss, time 4041ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 24.251/25.236/26.363/0.760 ms
Traceroute Results:
1 63-217-30-94.sdsl.cais.net (63.217.30.94) 0.383 ms 0.263 ms 0.221 ms
2 bpr2-so-6-0-0.VirginiaEquinix.cw.net (208.173.50.181) 0.338 ms 0.339 ms 0.346 ms
3 bpr1-ae0.VirginiaEquinix.cw.net (208.173.50.254) 0.358 ms 0.323 ms 0.313 ms
4 cable-and-wireless-peering.VirginiaEquinix.cw.net (208.173.52.42) 0.501 ms 0.401 ms 0.419 ms
5 bb2-ash-P2-0.atdn.net (66.185.148.210) 0.541 ms 0.433 ms 0.486 ms
6 bb2-cha-P7-0.atdn.net (66.185.152.51) 12.572 ms 12.742 ms 12.466 ms
7 pop1-cha-P0-2.atdn.net (66.185.132.39) 12.575 ms 12.494 ms 12.409 ms
8 RR-Charlotte.atdn.net (66.185.132.46) 12.618 ms 12.623 ms 12.993 ms
9 pos8-0.rlghncrdc-rtr2.nc.rr.com (24.93.64.58) 17.956 ms 17.930 ms 17.874 ms
10 srp1-0.rlghnca-rtr2.nc.rr.com (66.26.33.180) 17.993 ms 19.603 ms 17.912 ms
11 srp6-0.rlghnca-rtr1.nc.rr.com (24.25.2.161) 18.013 ms 17.987 ms 17.930 ms
12 pos1-0.rlghnce-ubr1.nc.rr.com (24.25.1.34) 18.684 ms 30.553 ms 18.495 ms
13 xx-xx-xxx.nc.rr.com (xx.xx.xx.xxx) 24.356 ms 24.615 ms 26.197 ms
I've heard/read the same horror stories about Win ME. Thing is, I've been using it since day one with few of the problems that seem to be affecting everyone else. Sure, I get the occasional Blue Screen Of Death, but not as much as I experienced when I used Win 98SE. I have 256 megs of RAM and a 20GB (7200 RPM)hard drive (10GB free). I run scandisk every week and defrag every month. I also run a full virus scan every month and keep the definitions completely up to date. Finances permitting, I will be getting a new computer some time soon, but till then...
I hope you can make sense of all this and help me at least regain some of my speed.
The real difference (based on ping and traceroute results) seems to be in the routing used by your local RR branch. Notice how between hop 5 and 6 our traceroutes don't match (and this is the place where the pings of these specific servers - in your case - turn for the worse). Once past the 5-6 hop our paths separate since we are in two different states / on two different branch networks.
Mine:
5 bb2-ash-P2-0.atdn.net (66.185.148.210) 0.664 ms 0.517 ms 0.434 ms
6 bb1-nye-P3-0.atdn.net (66.185.152.86) 7.380 ms 7.208 ms 7.182 ms
Yours:
5 bb2-ash-P2-0.atdn.net (66.185.148.210) 0.541 ms 0.433 ms 0.486 ms
6 bb2-cha-P7-0.atdn.net (66.185.152.51) 12.572 ms 12.742 ms 12.466 ms
However, the results you've posted look good. A ping result of mid 20's and a traceroute with similar yields is more than ok. The problem has to be somewhere else. Thanks for the specs of your machine (Windows 2000 will be your best bet) and I do agree that a well maintained ME-equipped machine will work just fine. Yet, Windows 2000 is the system of choice for this setup. Especially since you can modify some AFD Buffers (and more TCP/IP Specific Parameters) which are not present in (or introducible to) the 9x/Me OS family.
Make sure you've installed Ad-aware 6.0, Spybot - S&D 1.2 and Spywareblaster 2.6.0 - download all the latest "definitions" and clean your system of all possible spy-ware. Second - tell me if we are dealing with a router or a NIC directly connected to the cable modem (can you tell me the brand and model of the modem)? Did you power-cycle the modem? Have you released and renewed the IP using winipcfg (since you're on ME)? If so (and once all of the above is completed we will move on to some advanced settings of your network connection (TCP/IP parameters, etc). I will need you to post a short summary of all the options (and their status: checked, unchecked, etc.) you see on each subsequent screen. I don't remember 9x/ME well enough to walk you through this out of my head... we will also use Cablenut (although the program functions differently under a 9x/ME environment and will give you different fields) to optimize your connection.
While looking through the settings of your network connection try and locate the fields I've talked about two posts above this one... see if you can follow and make the changes I've quoted. Good luck.
PS - We are also missing the results of the "Resolve/Reverse Lookup and Get DNS Records" tools from the network tools page. Please post those as well - we will need them if you're behind a Router (NAT) and when we try to enforce connection specific DNS addresses.
I updated the definitions for Search & Destroy and ran both that and Ad Aware. I also follwed your steps for releasing and renewing my IP. Interestingly, my IP remained the same as before. Is that normal? The make and model of my cable modem is Motorolla Surboard SB4200. The modem connects directly to my NIC, no router here!
Just as a sidenote, the reason I'm a little concerned at my drop in speed is that I used to run speed tests at Bandwidth Place http://bandwidthplace.com/speedtest/ and was constantly getting results in the 3.2 to 3.5 megabits per second range. It's now dropped to an average of 1.2 megabits per second. Quite a dip, and I have no idea why.
I'm still not 100% sure about what settings you're referring to in your post. I know, I'm not very bright!!
I ran another test, here are the results (with the DNS Lookup included):
Resolve/Reverse Lookup:
66.26.xx.xxx resolved to rdu26-xx-xxx.nc.rr.com
DNS Query Results:
rdu26-xx-xxx.nc.rr.com. 3600 IN A 66.26.xx.xxx
nc.rr.com. 3600 IN NS dns-sec-01.southeast.rr.com.
nc.rr.com. 3600 IN NS dns-pri-01.southeast.rr.com.
dns-pri-01.southeast.rr.com. 442 IN A 24.93.67.126
dns-sec-01.southeast.rr.com. 442 IN A 24.93.67.127
Ping Results:
PING 66.26.xx.xxx (66.26.xx.xxx) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 66.26.xx.xxx: icmp_seq=1 ttl=51 time=26.9 ms
64 bytes from 66.26.xx.xxx: icmp_seq=2 ttl=51 time=25.2 ms
64 bytes from 66.26.xx.xxx: icmp_seq=3 ttl=51 time=24.6 ms
64 bytes from 66.26.xx.xxx: icmp_seq=4 ttl=51 time=26.1 ms
64 bytes from 66.26.xx.xxx: icmp_seq=5 ttl=51 time=26.3 ms
--- 66.26.xx.xxx ping statistics ---
5 packets transmitted, 5 received, 0% packet loss, time 4043ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 24.672/25.870/26.959/0.834 ms
Traceroute Results:
1 63-217-30-94.sdsl.cais.net (63.217.30.94) 0.379 ms 0.325 ms 0.420 ms
2 bpr2-so-6-0-0.VirginiaEquinix.cw.net (208.173.50.181) 0.366 ms 0.324 ms 0.304 ms
3 bpr1-ae0.VirginiaEquinix.cw.net (208.173.50.254) 0.418 ms 0.373 ms 0.354 ms
4 cable-and-wireless-peering.VirginiaEquinix.cw.net (208.173.52.42) 0.594 ms 0.478 ms 0.390 ms
5 bb2-ash-P2-0.atdn.net (66.185.148.210) 0.623 ms 0.494 ms 0.484 ms
6 bb2-cha-P7-0.atdn.net (66.185.152.51) 12.654 ms 12.495 ms 12.480 ms
7 pop1-cha-P0-2.atdn.net (66.185.132.39) 12.624 ms 12.481 ms 12.442 ms
8 RR-Charlotte.atdn.net (66.185.132.46) 12.650 ms 12.747 ms 12.617 ms
9 pos8-0.rlghncrdc-rtr2.nc.rr.com (24.93.64.58) 17.948 ms 17.914 ms 17.908 ms
10 srp1-0.rlghnca-rtr2.nc.rr.com (66.26.33.180) 18.100 ms 17.970 ms 17.999 ms
11 srp6-0.rlghnca-rtr1.nc.rr.com (24.25.2.161) 18.092 ms 18.078 ms 18.028 ms
12 pos1-0.rlghnce-ubr1.nc.rr.com (24.25.1.34) 18.537 ms 18.686 ms 42.230 ms
13 rdu26-xx-xxx.nc.rr.com (66.26.81.162) 24.806 ms 28.420 ms 46.266 ms
No problem,
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dns-pri-01.southeast.rr.com. 442 IN A 24.93.67.126
dns-sec-01.southeast.rr.com. 442 IN A 24.93.67.127
These are your two (primary) DNS servers. Their IPs are quoted above as 24.93.67.126 and 24.93.67.126 - we need to get into the settings of your network connection and enter these manually (it's very unlikely that they will change - there is a good chance that if you repeat this DNS test sometime in the future - you might get more results - note the new IPs down and add them as well) into the TCP/IP Settings (the DNS Tab).
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66.26.xx.xxx resolved to rdu26-xx-xxx.nc.rr.com
This line (without the x's) give you your HOST NAME (rdu26-xx-xxx.nc.rr.com) and the DOMAIN NAME ("nc.rr.com"). These two "values" come in handy if using a router (most allow you to manually insert them at the setup screens). It is possible (but fairly unlikely) that your Network Card (NIC) will (look into the Device Manager, locate the NIC and access it's properties) allow you to enter for example the HOST NAME. Nevertheless, since you are not on a router - I wouldn't worry about it.
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Glad to hear your system is now clean of spyware (did you find any?). Download the MTUTool from DSLnuts:
Set your MTU to 1500 (make sure it's set to 1500 - even if it's there - reapply this value). If you decide to go with Cablenut I suggest you read the definitions for 9x/ME users (since they are different from the ones found under 2K/XP/2K3). I will not be able to walk you through the settings under cablenut since I don't remember the 9x/ME setup screens for Roadrunner and can't recall any settings that might do the trick.
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You should however download Cablenut here:
And get the update (once installed - both the program and the update - run cablenut, locate the folder where you extracted the update (hopefully under cablenut's directory) and search for some 9x/ME settings for cable and a cap of 2000/384 or possibly 2500-3000/384) Try these values, experiment, etc. If you unload all the values from cablenut and "save" such a blank setup into the registry you will go back (upon reboot) to ME's default settings.
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Don't worry about the fact that the speed tests you've been using give off strange results. It's possible that RR (just like every other ISP has signed some new deals and agreements) has re-routed their network so that speed tests that once gave you a great 3-3.5Mbit/s result will not result in 1/3 of those numbers. Besides more and more people have learned of these popular speed tests and that too has an effect. Unless your 3.2-3.5Mbit/s results were a thing of (let's say) a week or two ago and will once again resurface within a month (in which case we're dealing with a local or general RR network problem). I seriously doubt that will happen.
Keep in mind that most speed tests are unreliable the only one I would suggest for a Roadrunner user is this one (it's a blank file placed on RR's backbone-skeleton network). Make sure all IE windows are closed, you are not downloading or uploading anything else, turn off any P2P programs, IM programs, etc and wait until the download speed evens out (somewhere once you've downloaded about 50-55% of this file). Note the speed, it it's anywhere between 200-250KB/s you are more than OK (Ideally it should be around 230-250KB/s):
http://speedtest.rochester.rr.com/test.zro
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You can also try these (I assume you're from NC) but remember that a speed test (a local speed test) can only reassure you that your TCP/IP, NIC, Network Settings are good and that there are no RR problems... speed-wise we all surf the world-wide-web and not the NC or NY web so we are bound to come against slow servers, saturated nodes, faulty slow networks, etc. This is true in case of HTTPs and FTPs and everything else:
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Your cable modem is one of the best (if not the best) currently sold. I don't think it's causing a problem. The fact that your IP hasn't changed is normal since your IP-lease (based on DHCP settings) didn't expire before you reconnected the modem (sometimes it does just because the modem is power-cycled and taken off the RR network). This is not a problem but if you really want to "gain" a new IP (you might end-up on a different RR sub-network which might not give you the problems you're currently having) what you should do is release the IP and without renewing it, turn off the PC and finally turn the modem off for anywhere between 12-24 hours... reconnect it and see if renewing your IP will give you a different address (it should).
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Make sure you install, run and setup Spywareblaster! (I assume you don't have it). Try to locate the newest driver's for your NIC (install those). Windows ME already has all of the 9x/98SE fixes implemented so we won't have to go here. I will however need all the settings of your NIC and network connection (the screens that show up and info about what is checked, unchecked, specified, unspecified).
Let me also see what the local analyzer gives you:
... face to face conversation on public place ... WONDERFUL !
so(|too) many interesting: informations; details; advices
not easy to folow for me in first reading...
kip in mind that IF you ever decided post me:
... write me slooowly b|c I read sloooooooowly ...
No problem Andrzej. I'm glad you liked my posts. I think this will become a good help thread for Roadrunner users (and maybe - in general - all others). Moreover, I hope all that Polish-Summer heat didn't get to you (what's going on? a climate change?). My parents were in Warsaw this past weekend (currently taking care of business in Krakow) and they say it's "hot" (by Polish and US standards). I will do my best to write slowly - "thank you from the mountain" for all the respect. I've got less than a month of summer (still working) until school starts - Master's of Science in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science - here I come (only a year left - if all goes well). Wish me luck. Back to fitbabits...
Glad you're having a good time reading this thread. I wish I could say I was playing dumb so that this thread can be used as a resource in the future, but I'm afraid it's not the case. I really am a little bit in the dark when it comes to all this networking bobbins!
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Maxxi,
Thanks again for the post! I really appreciate all your help on this. This is by far the best message board I've ever been to, and I've been to many!
I found a bunch of spyware on my computer. Surprising, as I clean it up regularly and have installed a firewall. Anyway, all clean now!
I followed your suggestion on downloading the blank file and got a result of 243 KB/s once it had settled (around the 40% mark). I let it run through 80% and got as high as 249 KB/s at some points. Which leads me to my following question:
Is it at all possible that things have been fine all along? The reason I ask is that a lot of my fears were based on the results of the Bandwidth Place speed test. I have noticed some slowdown while browsing the web, but I wonder if your theory about RR re-routing their network is correct. Would that explain my recent 'problems'?
I ran the TCP/IP Analyzer, here are the results:
Browser/OS = Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows 98; Win 9x 4.90)
Notes: Read the Analyzer FAQ if the above is not your IP address.
TCP options string = 020405b40103030201010402
MTU = 1500
MTU is fully optimized for broadband.
MSS = 1460
Maximum useful data in each packet = 1460, which equals MSS.
RWIN is a multiple of MSS
Other values for RWIN that might work well with your current MTU/MSS:
513920 (MSS x 44 * scale factor of 8)
128480 (MSS x 44 * scale factor of 2)
64240 (MSS x 44)
bandwidth * delay product:
Your RcvWindow limits you to: 10278.4 kbps (1284.8 KBytes/s) @ 200ms
Your RcvWindow limits you to: 4111.36 kbps (513.92 KBytes/s) @ 500ms
MTU Discovery (RFC1191) = ON
Time to live left = 51 hops
TTL value is ok.
Timestamps (RFC1323) = OFF
Selective Acknowledgements (RFC2018) = ON
IP type of service field (RFC1349) = 00000000
The above looks decidedly different from my earlier results...
I'm going to follow the rest of your suggestions when I get home from work tomorrow, it's past my bed time right now!
Have a great day and I'll pop back round tomorrow.
Thanks for your nice comments on both the forum and my posts (I'm always happy if and when I can help someone - especially on my ISP's network). Roadrunner is really good - second best only to OOL (I can't stop drooling over the speeds my grandmother gets out in Lido Beach - she's got a 10000/1000 cable connection for checking email - help me). Oh well - I can't complain. I am more than happy with Roadrunner speeds (as long as there are no network problems, re-routes, etc.). I would skip a software firewall unless you're using SYGATE (in which case - lots of respect).
Just as I suspected - it seems that your speed test is/was the problem, the slow-down in web browsing could've resulted in the re-route (they might've fixed this by now or will probably do it soon enough). I hope you've learned (no pun intended) that speed tests are (for the most part) unreliable. The results you got on RR backbone test look very good (240-250KB/s is great for Roadrunner). Make sure to check for updates to these spyware programs on a regular basis (once a week seems fine) and run the tests... you'll be surprised (another deja vu).
It is possible that things were fine all along. However I would steer towards a hypothesis where RR's network had some serious problems, they re-routed to accommodate for these problems, caused lag, latency and slowdowns and have since worked things back to normal. Building on this theory I would say that it is more than likely that RR has signed some new deals (and allowed others to expire) which (in practical terms) means that the Bandwidth Place tests (at least on the server you've accessed) are no longer reliable (could be a question of the new route, amount of hops, pings at each hop, etc.).
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The settings you have right now look fine (I see you've used Cablenut) but you can always go back and give these a try. Going back to TCPOptimizer won't cause any problems. Cablenut and TCPOptimizer can be used hand in hand. The cablenut settings will thus be modified only partially - the "settings" we were looking to optimize (the one's that don't show up under TCPOptimizer) will still remain intact. What you might gain is a lower RWIN and a disabled RWIN scaling (both good for RR's caps and specs):
Settings tab:
select - cable modem
check - custom settings
network adapter selection - your NIC
check modify all adapters
maxmtu - 1500
TTL - 64
TCP Receive Window - 64240
MTU Discovery - yes
Black Hole Detect - no
Selective Acks - yes
Max Dup ACKs - 3
TCP 1323 Options - uncheck both boxes
Other Settings tab:
Max Connections per Server - 10
Max Connections per 1.0 Server - 20
Lan Browsing Speedup - optimized
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FOR FASTER WEB PAGE LOADING (mnosteele52's tip):
This tweak will help web pages load faster, it has no real effect on download speeds, just helps your pc look up websites faster thereby speeding up how fast the page loads and making web surfing more enjoyable.
Navigate to this registry entry and change the following settings:
To change the value right mouse click on the value and select modify and enter the values above once you have done all of them reboot to take effect and see how fast your pages load.
For 98 & ME they should all look like:
01 00 00 00
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Thanks for wishing me good luck (I'll need it). Based on your latest results I think we don't need to change anything else (no NIC-specific settings, no TCP/IP parameters and options, etc.). All looks well. You can experiment a little with the cablenut and TCPOptimizer settings - nevertheless, I am almost certain the settings quoted in this thread will do just fine.
Over & Out (for now),
Maxxi
PS - Don't worry about being "a little bit in the dark when it comes to all this networking boobins". To each his own - if everyone was a specialist/pro/guru in every field... my point exactly... besides compared to mnosteele52 I am nothing but a shadow... work-in-progress.
So, here I am at work with a spare five minutes and what do I do? Log on to the SG forum. To say that I'm enjoying the free education would be putting it lightly.
What the dickens is OOL? And is it widely available? I admit to being envious of your grandmother's speeds. I intend to uninstall Zone Alarm tonight and install Sygate in its place. Before I do, though, can you give me the pros and cons of Sygate versus Zone Alarm. I like to really know what I'm installing before I go ahead and do so.
Thanks again for bringing to my attention the possibility that the speed tests I was relying on previously (Bandwidth Place) could be misleading. You've no idea how soundly I will sleep now!
I'll tinker with your recommended settings for TCP Optimizer and see if there's any difference. I'll also try the registry fix suggested by mnosteele52 and let you know.
Actually, that brings to mind a point I forgot to mention in favor of Windows ME - System Restore. It's saved my bacon on more than one occasion. It's a shame that a poorly maintained system with Windows ME installed is prone to so many disasters, but there are more than a few plus points that often get forgotten about. Anyways...
Oh, and thank you for your kind words about my lack of networking knowledge. I may not know much about networking, but ask me ANYTHING about soccer and I'll give you an answer in a flash. I'm from Scotland and soccer (football, as we call it) is such a massive part of my life. Hence the odd-looking user name (say it slowly). Used to play till I tore my ACL. A whole other story.
The bottom line is as far as software solutions go - Sygate Personal Firewall (non-Pro/Pro) is the BEST - period.
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OOL is Optimum Online (a service of Cablevision). Currently it's the fastest cable-type internet one can have in the US (most areas are capped at 10000down/1000up). Even on an un-optimized connection downloads start around 1-1.5-2.0MB/s and level-off around 500-800KB/s. I can't get OOL since Time Warner (here in Manhattan) has a local monopoly and won't let Cablevision onto the island. Nevertheless within the next two years I will be moving and hopefully this will finally assure a switch to OOL (I can't wait and hope they won't change their caps).
Sleep tight! Don't worry about the speeds as long as downloading and web browsing seem fine. If you ever have second thoughts go back to a 56K dial-up connection for about a day... switch back to Roadrunner and you'll be happy all over again!
I'm from Poland (we too love football - and also call it the way it should be). On the other hand I have no clue (apart from watching the last your World Cups, playing FIFA Soccer) about football.
I'm glad to hear that System Restore was helpful. In most cases it causes more problems then it solves - but I have realized that a lot of people actually use, like and benefit from this feature. The same is true if we look at XP or 2K3 Server (can be added).
Road Runner question
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, first I would suggest uninstalling Zone Alarm and using Sygate instead, then do the following:
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