- May 16, 2001
- 278
- 0
- 0
Hi Everyone,
This is a long post, so I've highlighted the actual problem in bold letters.
I recently built a computer for my friend and he is now having problems with it.
First off, here are the specs of the computer:
ECS K7S5A Revision 3.1
AMD Athlon XP 2000+
Codegen 350W Power Supply
512MB Crucial PC2100 Memory (1 stick)
GeForce3 Ti200 Video Card
Maxtor 80GB 7200RPM Hard Drive
Verbatim 40x CD-RW
Lite-On 16x DVD-ROM
Windows XP Professional
SBC Pacbell DSL with SMC7004ABR Router
When I built the computer, I tested it before sending it to him. I used BurnInTest to do load testing on the CPU, memory, hard drive, 2D video, and 3D video. The computer ran stable for almost 10 hours.
I also tested Grand Theft Auto III, which is a pretty video card intensive game, and it ran smoothly. I hooked the computer up to my internet connection (cable) and everything seemed fine.
However, I did not try playing any games over the internet. Now my friend is having problems playing Warcraft III on Battle.net. As soon as he gets into a game, it will start lagging. The video will become choppy and his screen will freeze. The game will continue, but he will have to wait for it to "catch up." Everything works fine on single player mode, so we assumed it has something to do with the onboard LAN. Normal surfing, chatting, and downloading seem just fine.
Solutions we have tried:
1) Latest Nvidia drivers, (40.72) and latest stable drivers (30.82)
2) Latest drivers from ECS and SiS website. (SiS900 1.15 LAN driver, 1.10 and 1.11 AGP driver, UDA028 C-Media 9738 sound driver)
3) Latest ECS K7S5A BIOS
4) Manually setting the MAC address
5) Testing other 3D intensive games
6) Followed SMC instructions for installing router on Windows XP
7) Playing MP3's while downloading a file (to see if sound had any effect on LAN)
One odd symptom that he has had twice was that the sound went away for no reason and he had to restart his computer to get it back. I don't know if that is related to his Warcraft III problem, but just thought I'd mention it.
One thing that we have tried unsuccesfully is installing the software that comes with his cable modem service. For some reason the software cannot detect an NIC. However, I doubt this has anything to do with our problem because if we really need to install the software, we probably wouldn't even be able to get on the internet. Correct assumption? The installation software does require some sort of login though. Is it possible to configure Windows or the router to automatically login?
Perhaps it is some sort of driver or hardware conflict? We have been very frustrated by this problem, and we have tried many solutions. Any help is appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
1) Sound has nothing to do with the lagging. We tried disabling the onboard sound while playing Warcraft 3 and it still lags.
2) He has a very high ping time, over 200 ms.
Update 2 - Problem Solved:
Turns out the problem was that SBC Pacbell uses PPPoE, so you have to login to the service. My friend had never set up the router to automatically login for us so his connection was always a little quirky. Once he called SBC Pacbell, got the information, entered it into the router, the internet (and Warcraft 3) worked like a charm. No more high latency or lag.
Thanks for all your suggestions!
Update 3 - Problem Back:
Dammit, the problem is back. However, we have confirmed that his roommate is also having this problem, so there's probably nothing wrong with the motherboard. He called his ISP and they basically told him that they couldn't help him. SBC Pacbell does not guarantee speeds, they only guarantee that you get internet connection.
However, one odd phenomenon is that once we reset the router settings, internet will be fast for a while. However, it will suddenly become super slow again. [/b}
This is a long post, so I've highlighted the actual problem in bold letters.
I recently built a computer for my friend and he is now having problems with it.
First off, here are the specs of the computer:
ECS K7S5A Revision 3.1
AMD Athlon XP 2000+
Codegen 350W Power Supply
512MB Crucial PC2100 Memory (1 stick)
GeForce3 Ti200 Video Card
Maxtor 80GB 7200RPM Hard Drive
Verbatim 40x CD-RW
Lite-On 16x DVD-ROM
Windows XP Professional
SBC Pacbell DSL with SMC7004ABR Router
When I built the computer, I tested it before sending it to him. I used BurnInTest to do load testing on the CPU, memory, hard drive, 2D video, and 3D video. The computer ran stable for almost 10 hours.
I also tested Grand Theft Auto III, which is a pretty video card intensive game, and it ran smoothly. I hooked the computer up to my internet connection (cable) and everything seemed fine.
However, I did not try playing any games over the internet. Now my friend is having problems playing Warcraft III on Battle.net. As soon as he gets into a game, it will start lagging. The video will become choppy and his screen will freeze. The game will continue, but he will have to wait for it to "catch up." Everything works fine on single player mode, so we assumed it has something to do with the onboard LAN. Normal surfing, chatting, and downloading seem just fine.
Solutions we have tried:
1) Latest Nvidia drivers, (40.72) and latest stable drivers (30.82)
2) Latest drivers from ECS and SiS website. (SiS900 1.15 LAN driver, 1.10 and 1.11 AGP driver, UDA028 C-Media 9738 sound driver)
3) Latest ECS K7S5A BIOS
4) Manually setting the MAC address
5) Testing other 3D intensive games
6) Followed SMC instructions for installing router on Windows XP
7) Playing MP3's while downloading a file (to see if sound had any effect on LAN)
One odd symptom that he has had twice was that the sound went away for no reason and he had to restart his computer to get it back. I don't know if that is related to his Warcraft III problem, but just thought I'd mention it.
One thing that we have tried unsuccesfully is installing the software that comes with his cable modem service. For some reason the software cannot detect an NIC. However, I doubt this has anything to do with our problem because if we really need to install the software, we probably wouldn't even be able to get on the internet. Correct assumption? The installation software does require some sort of login though. Is it possible to configure Windows or the router to automatically login?
Perhaps it is some sort of driver or hardware conflict? We have been very frustrated by this problem, and we have tried many solutions. Any help is appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
1) Sound has nothing to do with the lagging. We tried disabling the onboard sound while playing Warcraft 3 and it still lags.
2) He has a very high ping time, over 200 ms.
Update 2 - Problem Solved:
Turns out the problem was that SBC Pacbell uses PPPoE, so you have to login to the service. My friend had never set up the router to automatically login for us so his connection was always a little quirky. Once he called SBC Pacbell, got the information, entered it into the router, the internet (and Warcraft 3) worked like a charm. No more high latency or lag.
Thanks for all your suggestions!
Update 3 - Problem Back:
Dammit, the problem is back. However, we have confirmed that his roommate is also having this problem, so there's probably nothing wrong with the motherboard. He called his ISP and they basically told him that they couldn't help him. SBC Pacbell does not guarantee speeds, they only guarantee that you get internet connection.
However, one odd phenomenon is that once we reset the router settings, internet will be fast for a while. However, it will suddenly become super slow again. [/b}