Really frustrating hangs/waiting-fors/endlessly-spinning-twiddlers or other network constipation

[RobHunt]

OK, so I'm using Chrome on a 12-yr old WinXP machine on a newly-installed (day-3) FiOS residential net.

I am CONSTANTLY running into sites that won't load, pages that hang ("waiting for xyx…) or twiddler gifs that spin endlessly.

WHY?  These things didn't happen with Comcast and now they're happening with FiOS.  WHY??

It's hard to consistenly reproduce any given issue as tweaks, reboots, and the like seem to fix some things but yet I continue to encounter these "denial of service" (not the eponymous "attack", just lack of response from browser/site/page/widget) issues.

I have noticed some consistencies:

• https/ssl seems to be a factor
• accessing same web object (site/page/widget) from iPad or other newer OS machine in home does NOT produce the same blockage.

So, why would WinXP client experience so much internet constipation on FiOS and NOT on Comcast?

I'd really, REALLY like to know.

[RobHunt]

Prime example: https://twitter.com/verizonsupport

browser: "waiting for twitter.com…" — and then times out

enter url a second time — success!

Why?

—————————————————————

OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 3 Build 2600
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 15 Model 1 Stepping 2 GenuineIntel ~1694 Mhz (I know, sad)

—————

Ethernet adapter FiOS (LAN-usb):

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : home
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : LAN7500 USB 2.0 to Ethernet 10/100/1000 Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : {edited for privacy}
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.0.11
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : fe80::200:baff:fe20:1e28%5
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.0.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.0.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.0.1
fec0:0:0:ffff::1%1
fec0:0:0:ffff::2%1
fec0:0:0:ffff::3%1
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, August 22, 2013 11:15:45 AM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Friday, August 23, 2013 11:15:45 AM

—————

Chrome: 29.0.1547.57 m

—————

[RobHunt]

Even now, posting this msg via iPad/Chome while browser sits "waiting for www.verizon.com"

Can ping and run tracert on www.verizon.com just fine.

And yet the browser sits...

Even canceling and re-loading page doesn't work.

[somegirl]

Have you tried with another browser on the same machine? You don't list what browser you are using, so I'm assuming IE. If you try Chrome or Firefox, do you have the same issues?

[RobHunt]

I'm using Chrome v29.0.1547...

Yes, have tried same URLs in MS-IE.  Same constipation.

[viafax999]

did you run the fios optimizer?

[RobHunt]

---

viafax999:

did you run the fios optimizer?

---

Yes.  No change in intermittent-hang behavior.

The question remains, what's the (technical connectivity) difference between FiOS and Commiecast?  To the WinXP box, it's just an Ethernet connection, the former running faster than the latter.

[RobHunt]

Still experiencing strange, intermittent hangs on old WinXP machine while newer devices aren't affected at all.

• 8/23 12:00a: attempting to access forums.verizon.com, Chrome stuck "waiting for www.verizon.com"
  
  
• 8/23  9:00a: http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/offbeat/2013/08/22/tsr-moos-russian-hovercraft-storms-beach....
  
  Page mostly loads, but then stops and popup declares "there was a problem playing this video."
  Page and video load fine on a blazingly fast Win7 box.

Got Chrome to belch a debug log, but wading through the voluminous log, there's nothing that's obviously a big problem.  (And if I can figure out how to attach a file to this post, I'll upload it.)

Gonna unplug the XP box from FiOS and put it back on Comcast and see if the problems persist.

From a TCP/IP though, what's truly the diff between FiOS and Comcast (other than throughput speed)?  Why is that affecting this WinXP machine?

[RobHunt]

Update from the land of XP:

• switch back to Comcast;
  yes, noticeably slower connection, but NO hangs
  
  
  
• switched back from USB-2-ether (10/100/1000) dongle to good ol' 10/100 PCI card;
  better, but still get occasional, (but frequent enough) hangs/drops
  
  
  
• forced Actiontec router to use Google DNS servers;
  noticeably faster name resolution
  
  
  
• reset TCP/IP params to original state (using MS Fix-it tool);
  no improvment/change (other than throughput performance)
  
  

I suspect there's a low-level tcp/ip handshaking issue that's time sensitive where FiOS's blazing speed causes something  to be overlooked/dropped/missed by the either the ethernet card, the driver or WinXP's tcpip stack.

[RobHunt]

BTW, system's nic is a very old CNet PRO200WL card (circa 2001) with these driver-configurable items:

• Connection Type
  ✔Auto Sense
  10Mbps
  10Mbps-full-dup
  100Mbps
  100Mbps-full-dup
  
  
• Store and Forward
  ✔disabled
  enabled
  
  
• Transmit Threshold
  ✔512 byes
  [options of 72 bytes through 1024]