Network problems causing system slowdown?

[MheAd]

For the past few days I've been experiencing some major system slowdowns...
Like, when booting in Windows, sometimes it takes like 10 minutes before my AV-program is started in background and I gain access to the internet. Sometimes I even get that network problems message and sometimes it gets resolved if I push 'repair' button.

In Linux on the other hand, during system boot itself it can be very slow - especially daemons that are network based, can take several minutes to start, and generally, starting any and I mean any application, when this issue occurs, can take ages.

Browsing pages can be pain in the ass, especially when jumping to other dns addresses (while you are on the same website, the browsing of the links from the same server have normal speed) - that "looking for..." message can be shown on FF bottom screen for 10-15 seconds sometimes before I get to the page I look for. So there are really many different side effects here that people could be thinking I'm having a trojan or virus of some kind...but since this happens even in Linux environment, this should be instantly excluded as possible reason...

I'm pretty much convinced something is wrong with my network although I don't know where to start troubleshooting. Sometimes this happen (way TOO often in past 2-3 days) while it sometimes doesn't. But it's definitely caused by something on the network end. For instance, every time it happens, if I instantly reboot computer with my network cable unplugged, the system regains the speed and dynamics it used to have - but of course i have no internet then.

So basically, what could be causing this (in network) - network cable, modem (it's a cable modem), the cable between modem and wall socket, maybe ISP-related, or the network card inside of the computer. The problem is that I don't have any spare/extra part of the mentioned alternatives above so it's really hard to experiment when you cannot switch stuff.

So what would be your best guess of the things mentioned above? What should I start with (I mean, buying a spare cable/part and put it in and see what happens) ?

Thanks in advance!

[Anomonous Guy]

i really doubt it would be anything to do with the cables, and it seems very strange that it is happening in both windows and linux!

It kind of points to your network card messing something up somewhere down the line...

I would try borrowing one or buying a cheap one and seeing what happens...

Or if you have another PC or a friend with a PC, borrow theirs and see if any network slowdown issues occur and you can then at least determine whether it is your pc causing the problem or not.

I assume its not a firewall issue?

[MheAd]

No, not firewall issue. I don't even use one.

But still, don't underestimate the power of a simple cable.
Electronic issues and (microscopic) data transfer interruptions can cause all kinds of weird effects...

[Anomonous Guy]

hmmm, it is a possibility... but as u said yesterday, it may have been the ISP..

Is the problem fixed completely now?

[MheAd]

Well, the problem seem to have disapeared by itself.
It also turned out that the internet connectivity indeed had some problems, according to newsboard of my isp. It also makes sense that this more effected Linux than Windows, since Linux has network based daemons that probably keep hammering and trying to start (thus making system instable - slow) as the connection was messed up. However, all other experts I spoke to cant agree that only internet connection can cause this much instability. Yet, nothing seems to be wrong now so it must have been something with network. Even if not the ISP - then *something* in my network (hardware perhaps) may have gone wrong since, as I said earlier, disconnecting network cable (during slowdowns) would instantly get computers work normal speed (without internet). Anyway, I'll keep my eyes on the machine in upcoming few days, hoping it won't happen again...

 

[Mikhail_16]

While god only knows what happens during your windows boot linux is much easier to diagnose.

Basically if by any reason your network card doesn't come up properly during its initialization most of the network services you got will either fail to load or do very odd tricks on startup. Cables do go bad occasionally but much more often do the network cards themselves (on either the computer or the router/modem). I suggest you look around for faulty hardware somewhere. Try to eliminate variables one by one, router, cable, network card, etc. Also never hurts to check for duplicate IP addresses on your LAN just in case (though windows would complain it this was the case).

[MheAd]

Well, like I said - nothing really happens during Windows boot. But when problems were present, while in Windows, my Anti-virus wouldn't start for several minutes (neither Internet connection).

In Linux, on the other hand, problems were present during boot itself as it took very long time to complete and once it did - everything was 10x slower to perform.

Now, whatever the problem was (I'm suspecting that my PSU could be problem, due hard drive "hickups" that I was experiencing some time ago - described in this other problems). I'll monitor and see what happens. Right now, and for the past 3 days, everything is fine...

[Mikhail_16]

Arrite, backup your stuff just in case