NIC/modem/cable lag spikes?

[droner]

So whenever I play a game ( doesn't matter the game - could be L4D2, TF2, HoN, APB, etc ), I sporadically get enormous spikes in ping ( vent, for example, momentarily shoots from a cool 31 to an outrageous 18000 or so ) and I'll experience a complete halt of the game. Everything freezes, then rubberbands and catches up. It's really quite annoying, and thus far I've tried three separate routers and have changed out all the cables ( from modem -> router and from router -> computer ).

Right now I'm thinking either I need to get a separate NIC card ( currently using the onboard ), check the modem, or call my ISP and see if its potentially on their end. Or, perhaps, there's a program that's somehow eating up my bandwidth randomly, and only momentarily. Any suggestions on how to check? I kept my Network tab open during a game and captured what happens ( lag occurs in red ):

Any recommendations?

 

[jaqie]

NetMeter is freeware and will tell you what's using bandwidth when. best to check things for a bit with that first, and then start testing your parts...

though personally the first thing I would do is order a WRT54GL and intel 1Gbps network card, flash the WRT54GL with DD-WRT and set up QoS, and be happy.

 

[droner]

NetMeter is freeware and will tell you what's using bandwidth when. best to check things for a bit with that first, and then start testing your parts...

though personally the first thing I would do is order a WRT54GL and intel 1Gbps network card, flash the WRT54GL with DD-WRT and set up QoS, and be happy.

I'll download NetMeter and give it a go, thanks.

I actually have a WRT54GL, but it's flashed with Tomato, not DD-WRT. Would you recommend DD-WRT over Tomato?

Thanks again.

 

[jaqie]

Yes, I would, for one reason: Every time I ever tried it, it was *DOG* slow compared to DD-WRT with or without QoS set up... so much so that I found myself yelling at the internet sites to load when tomato was on my wrt54gsv2 (the highest spec of all the WRT54G series).

And you're very welcome. 🙂

 

[droner]

Well I flashed DD-WRT over ( it definitely feels faster, thanks ), gave Net Meter a download and monitored it while playing some TF2. About an hour in, the spike occurred, though this time it looked like this:

I'm not really sure how to monitor program bandwidth consumption with Net Meter, but when I glanced over to it during the spike, it didn't look like anything was taking up egregious amounts of bandwidth. I feel like my NIC is the culprit, but I'm not sure if a poorly performing NIC could cause something like this.

Any suggestions are welcome and appreciated.

 

[droner]

I gave PingPlotter a download and, oddly, I'm getting 100% packet loss at hop 10.

Target Name: www.google.com
IP: 74.125.157.99
Date/Time: 7/1/2010 6:00:22 PM to 7/1/2010 6:00:42 PM

1 N/A N/A 0 ms 0 ms 0 ms 0 ms 0 ms 0 ms 0 ms 0 ms unknown [192.168.1.1]
2 N/A N/A 9 ms 10 ms 7 ms 8 ms 10 ms 11 ms 9 ms 9 ms ip70-187-18-1.om.om.cox.net [70.187.18.1]
3 N/A N/A 11 ms 10 ms 7 ms 7 ms 9 ms 10 ms 8 ms 9 ms [68.13.9.145]
4 N/A N/A 23 ms 15 ms 7 ms 7 ms 10 ms 10 ms 8 ms 8 ms [68.13.9.241]
5 N/A N/A 10 ms 10 ms 8 ms 8 ms 28 ms 10 ms 8 ms 21 ms mtc1dsrj02-ge210.0.rd.om.cox.net [68.13.14.13]
6 N/A N/A 37 ms 93 ms 23 ms 23 ms 25 ms 26 ms 23 ms 153 ms dalsbprj01-ae0.0.rd.dl.cox.net [68.1.0.142]
7 N/A N/A 21 ms 21 ms 23 ms 87 ms 25 ms 26 ms 23 ms 24 ms [72.14.233.67]
8 N/A N/A 45 ms 45 ms 42 ms 42 ms 56 ms 44 ms 43 ms 43 ms [72.14.233.87]
9 N/A N/A 57 ms 44 ms N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 44 ms [72.14.239.127]
10 N/A N/A * * * * * * * N/A [209.85.252.66]
11 N/A N/A 46 ms 46 ms 43 ms 43 ms 57 ms 45 ms 43 ms 44 ms gy-in-f99.1e100.net [74.125.157.99]

Ping statistics for www.google.com
Packets: Sent = 8, Received = 8, Lost = 0 (0.0%)
Round Trip Times: Minimum = 43ms, Maximum = 57ms, Average = 45ms

It varies, however. Sometimes the packet loss will be 77%, sometimes 16%, sometimes it's somewhere else ( though predominantly 100% at hop 10 ). I also ran the trace on www.pingplotter.com, and it has a 100% drop on the 8th hop ( second to last ). Is this any cause for immediate concern? Could this, potentially, be the issue I'm experiencing while gaming?

 

[imagoon]

That is ICMP loss not 100% packet loss. Some routers are simply set to not reply to ICMP or at a very low priority. My guess would be the internet connection btw.

 

[jaqie]

check out ping gadget if you have vista or 7 to help diagnose if this is an intermittent network (including internet) problem
http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=9bf4a2ae-7103-463e-956d-0f83206cd6bf

If the pings skyrocket during the problem areas then it could be the nic or your net.

BTW you're quite welcome about the DDWRT tip 🙂 it's amazing how much of a difference it makes.

 

[droner]

check out ping gadget if you have vista or 7 to help diagnose if this is an intermittent network (including internet) problem
http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=9bf4a2ae-7103-463e-956d-0f83206cd6bf

If the pings skyrocket during the problem areas then it could be the nic or your net.

BTW you're quite welcome about the DDWRT tip 🙂 it's amazing how much of a difference it makes.

Thanks, gave that a shot and during the spike it completely drops out and the ping shows "null".

The flatline is the spike. I really have no idea what could cause this.

 

[jaqie]

the nic, a bad cable, wifi (if youre linked via wifi) cutting out, your ISP cutting out, your dsl or cable modem cutting out...

I personally would replace the nic with either a used PCI intel PRO/100S you can get anywhere used stuff is sold for $5ish or a new $30ish intel "desktop" gigabit card (which really can do all a server card can, its insanely good)

and while I'm at it I would get a couple good cat5e cables to replace the ones between modem and router, and router and pc.