[setotitan]

alright i've put in my 2 hours searching and trying to fix it myself. time to break down and ask for help...

for some reason my ie and firefox are running slow. not unbearable but slower than they should be. usually pages just pop right up. but lately they're slowly just bringing up chunks a piece at a time, reminiscent of dial up {shudder} anyways i've done the norm, run my Kaspersky AV scanner, Adaware, Spybot, cleaned out all my temp files and cookies, i even went so far as to reinstall firefox but no luck and it's not my connection because i'm still banging out a steady 10mb-11mb on uTorrent and speedtest.com so i'm hoping someone here will spot this and be able to help. thanks!

[johan851]

Have you done anything with your display driver lately?

[redduc900]

Which versions of IE and Firefox?
Which OS are you running, including any SP installed (if a Windows installation)?
What are your system spec's?
How are you accessing the Internet?
What version of NIC drivers?
... and any other information you're able to provide.

[setotitan]

RE: johan851

i have an ATI card, and it has a program called Catalyst that auto starts. from what i can tell is it's just a short cut to the preferences and when it loads it doesn't actually do anything. it just sits their as an extra icon in my sys tray waiting for me to tweak settings. so i disabled in in msconfig because somehow every time i booted up my computer it was scattering my icons in random places. as soon as i disabled that stopped. but i cant remember if i that's when the slowness started. when i have a chance i'll reactivate it post the results.

RE: redduc900

i'm accessing the net via cable modem directly plugged into router at 10mb, however i don't know how to check what version my NIC driver's are. i did however get a sys summary from everest..

Computer:
Computer Type ACPI Multiprocessor PC
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Professional
OS Service Pack Service Pack 3
Internet Explorer 7.0.5730.13 (IE 7.0)
Mozilla Fire Fox Version 3.5.2
DirectX 4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)
Date / Time 2009-09-10 / 20:41

Motherboard:
CPU Type Intel Xeon, 3000 MHz (15 x 200)
Motherboard Name Dell Precision WorkStation 670
Motherboard Chipset Intel Tumwater E7525
System Memory 3072 MB (DDR2-400 Registered ECC DDR2 SDRAM)
DIMM1: Kingston 512 MB DDR2-400 ECC DDR2 SDRAM (4-3-3-8 @ 200 MHz) (3-3-3-8 @ 200 MHz)
DIMM2: Kingston 512 MB DDR2-400 ECC DDR2 SDRAM (4-3-3-8 @ 200 MHz) (3-3-3-8 @ 200 MHz)
DIMM3: Infineon 72T64000HR5A 512 MB DDR2-400 ECC DDR2 SDRAM (5-3-3-8 @ 200 MHz) (4-3-3-8 @ 200 MHz) (3-3-3-8 @ 200 MHz)
DIMM5: Kingston 512 MB DDR2-400 ECC DDR2 SDRAM (4-3-3-8 @ 200 MHz) (3-3-3-8 @ 200 MHz)
DIMM6: Kingston 512 MB DDR2-400 ECC DDR2 SDRAM (4-3-3-8 @ 200 MHz) (3-3-3-8 @ 200 MHz)
DIMM7: Infineon 72T64000HR5A 512 MB DDR2-400 ECC DDR2 SDRAM (5-3-3-8 @ 200 MHz) (4-3-3-8 @ 200 MHz) (3-3-3-8 @ 200 MHz)
BIOS Type Phoenix (03/15/06)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM1)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM2)
Communication Port ECP Printer Port (LPT1)

Display:
Video Adapter ATI Radeon HD 3800 Series (512 MB)
Video Adapter ATI Radeon HD 3800 Series (512 MB)
3D Accelerator ATI Radeon HD 3870 (RV670)
Monitor Dell E176FP [17" LCD] (641805BF0RQC)
Monitor Dell E176FP [17" LCD] (641805CK06JL)

Multimedia:
Audio Adapter Analog Devices AD1981B(L) @ Intel 82801EB ICH5 - AC'97 Audio Controller [A-2/A-3]
Audio Adapter ATI Radeon HDMI @ ATI Radeon HD 38xx - High Definition Audio Controller
Audio Adapter Creative EMU10K2 Audigy Audio Processor

Storage:
IDE Controller Intel(R) 82801EB Ultra ATA Storage Controllers
IDE Controller Intel(R) 82801EB Ultra ATA Storage Controllers
Storage Controller MagicISO SCSI Host Controller
Storage Controller NoteBurn Virtual CD-RW SCSI Controller
Storage Controller SCSI/RAID Host Controller
Floppy Drive Floppy disk drive
Disk Drive Maxtor 7L250S0 (250 GB, 7200 RPM, SATA)
Disk Drive Maxtor 7L250S0 (250 GB, 7200 RPM, SATA)
Optical Drive _NEC DVD+-RW ND-3530A (DVD+R9:8x, DVD+RW:16x/8x, DVD-RW:16x/6x, DVD-ROM:16x, CD:48x/32x/48x DVD+RW/DVD-RW)
Optical Drive CD-ROM Drive
Optical Drive MagicISO Virtual DVD-ROM0000
Optical Drive SONY CD-RW CRX217E (48x/32x/48x CD-RW)
Optical Drive TC0405Z GXJ101A SCSI CdRom Device
SMART Hard Disks Status OK

Partitions:
C: (NTFS) 238409 MB (40787 MB free)
Total Size 232.8 GB (39.8 GB free)

Input:
Keyboard Logitech HID-Compliant Keyboard
Mouse HID-compliant Bluetooth Mouse
Mouse Logitech HID-compliant Cordless Mouse

Network:
Primary IP Address 192.XXX.X.XXX
Primary MAC Address XX-XX-XX-XX-XX-XX
Network Adapter Intel(R) PRO/1000 MTW Network Connection (192.168.1.101)

Peripherals:
Printer Adobe PDF
Printer Auto Send To OneNote 2007 on SETOTITANPC
Printer CutePDF Writer
Printer HP Photosmart C3100 series
Printer Lexmark T644 XL V
Printer Microsoft XPS Document Writer
Printer Send To OneNote 2007
FireWire Controller Creative Audigy IEEE1394 Firewire Controller (PHY: TI TSB41AB1/2)
FireWire Controller Texas Instruments TSB43AB22 1394A-2000 OHCI PHY/Link-Layer Controller (PHY: TI TSB41AB1/2)
USB1 Controller Intel 82801EB ICH5 - USB Controller [A-2/A-3]
USB1 Controller Intel 82801EB ICH5 - USB Controller [A-2/A-3]
USB1 Controller Intel 82801EB ICH5 - USB Controller [A-2/A-3]
USB1 Controller Intel 82801EB ICH5 - USB Controller [A-2/A-3]
USB2 Controller Intel 82801EB ICH5 - Enhanced USB2 Controller [A-2/A-3]
USB Device Generic USB Hub
USB Device USB Composite Device
USB Device USB Human Interface Device
USB Device USB Human Interface Device
USB Device USB Human Interface Device
USB Device USB Human Interface Device
USB Device USB Printing Support

DMI:
DMI BIOS Vendor Dell Inc.
DMI BIOS Version A07
DMI System Manufacturer Dell Inc.
DMI System Product Precision WorkStation 670
DMI System Version
DMI System Serial Number CWB0691
DMI System UUID 44454C4C-57001042-8030C3C0-4F363931
DMI Motherboard Manufacturer Dell Inc.
DMI Motherboard Product 0MG024
DMI Motherboard Version
DMI Motherboard Serial Number ..CN1374054E00E7.
DMI Chassis Manufacturer Dell Inc.
DMI Chassis Version
DMI Chassis Serial Number CWB0691
DMI Chassis Asset Tag
DMI Chassis Type Mini Tower

[johan851]

How about we just blame the Dell?

Did you do a fresh install of Windows when you got the computer? Have you tried completely uninstalling Firefox, then reinstalling? Can you install Chrome and see if it also produces slowness? Last of all, can you go to the command prompt and type in "tracert www.google.com" without quotes?

[setotitan]

Originally Posted by johan851

How about we just blame the Dell?

Did you do a fresh install of Windows when you got the computer? Have you tried completely uninstalling Firefox, then reinstalling? Can you install Chrome and see if it also produces slowness? Last of all, can you go to the command prompt and type in "tracert www.google.com" without quotes?

yeah it's very weird! and yes I did do fresh install of XP, about 7 months ago. i also completely uninstalled Firefox, haven't tried Chrome, I'm heading out the door, will do when i get home. but here's a screen from the trace i ran...

[johan851]

The trace looks fine. I get similar latencies here, but a few less hops. I guess I should expect a few less if I'm running the tracert from Google's main offices, though.

So it's not your connection, probably not the Dell being a Dell...exactly how slow are we talking here? Really abnormally slow, or just sort of lazy?

[setotitan]

Originally Posted by johan851

The trace looks fine. I get similar latencies here, but a few less hops. I guess I should expect a few less if I'm running the tracert from Google's main offices, though.

So it's not your connection, probably not the Dell being a Dell...exactly how slow are we talking here? Really abnormally slow, or just sort of lazy?

it's hard to quantify.. all i know is before i'd click a page like Amazon.com it would think about it for a sec maybe two then BAM the whole page loaded. now it's like i click Amazon.com and the header loads, then a sec or two later the adds on the right hand side, then a sec or two later the adds on the left hand side, then a sec or two then the main body of the page. so pages that used to load in under 2 seconds now take closer to 10. i know it sounds trivial but watch the hands on a clock for 2 seconds and 10 seconds and think about that relative to a page loading and it's significant. esp when i usually have 5-6 tabs running popping around all over the place. i mean i guess i can live with it the way it is, it's just it wasn't like this before and i'm not the type of person to say "oh well". there has to be a reason that one day it's fine and the next it's slower. and were talking overnight, not a gradual drop off.

if you think maybe positing in another area could help please lemme know.

*** UPDATE: I just installed Chrome and I'm moving like grease lightning. So it is a browser issue. But I uninstalled and reinstalled Firefox so what else could I do?

[johan851]

Try downloading CCleaner and using it to flush out all of your temporary files and other crap. Uninstall Firefox first, I guess, and then clean it all out.

Otherwise, I don't know...I'm just making this all up.

[jgv115]

Maybe it's the website's fault? I don't know, just a suggestion....