Serious Board Problem?

[MistressValerie1]

For the last several weeks, every time I visit this board using Firefox (w/ AOL dial-up and USB modem), my AOL connection breaks approximately every five minutes. Unfortunately, the board is extremely slow in IE.

Has anyone else experienced repeated broken connections when logged into this board? I have reinstalled AOL a total of six times and reinstalled the modem once, all to no avail.

Regards,

 

[MistressValerie1]

I noticed that IE hung and took about two minutes to make this post, whereas Firefox would have done it in 20 seconds.

 

[nessonite1]

I don't use IE but I've had no problems. The occasional lag time hasn't been a problem in the last week or so.

 

[MistressValerie1]

Hi, Ness,

I think this is some kind of weird problem between Firefox, my ISP (which uses a Firefox-like component in its default browser) and this site, since almost all the disconnects occur when I am here.

I have changed some Firefox settings and will test it to see if that helps. If anyone else is having unexpected connection drops when visiting this board, please let me know with as much detail as possible.

Thanks,

 

[His Divine Shadow]

Firefox has had no issues for me at the TT or any other website. I refuse to use IE unless the situation requires it. 😛 I suspect the problem is your internet. My advice: flee AOL as swiftly as possible.

 

[maxamum_sumthin1]

Firefox has had no issues for me at the TT or any other website. I refuse to use IE unless the situation requires it. 😛 I suspect the problem is your internet. My advice: flee AOL as swiftly as possible.

firefox, no problems for me either. and i whole heartly agree; flee AOL AOL=Sin!

 

[MistressValerie1]

AOL just crashed again just now, 10 minutes after I logged in here with Firefox 1.0.1. I will have to use IE, but every page takes 2 to 3 minutes to load, plus I lose tabbed browsing.

I have reinstalled AOL a total of 6 times in 6 weeks, and updated modem drivers. I even made adjustments to Firefox settings to reduce the CPU load.

I want to change providers, but it's hard to find something I can afford that is available locally. Any suggestions for a good ISP are welcome.

 

[His Divine Shadow]

There is always Verizon Pacifica. http://www.vzpacifica.net/adslguam.cfm

 

[chode]

Maybe aol just sucks ass.

 

[MistressValerie1]

Thanks, HDS -- I'll check into it 🙂

LOL, Yjgfn; AOL was recently rated last place in customer satisfaction with the ten largest ISPs, with a 29% approval rating. AOL officially sucks 😀

 

[Celtic_Emperor]

Yeah, it must suck when pretty recent companies like netzero get better ratings.

 

[chode]

I suggest, if its in your budget. To get time warners road runner or an equivilant. I have it and i love it. I used to have aol and it drove me nuts. So check it out. Ya cant beat hi speed cable.

 

[Celtic_Emperor]

Actually, its really a matter of balancing one's budget. I didn't think I'd be able to afford DSL, but it turns out I can if I put a little bit aside every week and don't touch it.

People really can afford things if they create a budget and relocate where their money is going as far as extra expenditures are concerned.

 

[AphroditeRabbit]

I don't use aol and it's been happening with mine too. Usually now if I post something the post will load, however when it tries to show me the new window with my freshly added post...It won't. It freezes up and it "pretends" as though it's loading and sits there dead. My entire loading session with any other web pages and sites I have open also slow down and eventually freeze until I close the TT window. Then magically everything returns to normal on my computer. It also ocassionally happens when I click to see the next page of a thread, it will start to load, bring up the bare bones of the next page (no text, pictures, or anything else show...just the framing and blue area of the site) and then "pretend" to load and never load. I could leave the TT page open for an hour and it would still be "loading". I have to exit that entire page, and bring open a new window and come into TT all over again. I never started having this problem until the last 2 months or so I believe. And it has to be TT because no other web pages I load anywhere online do this to me. Just TT. And it freezes pages I normally visit until I close the window...then everything returns to normal.

 

[cosquillero1]

For the last several weeks, every time I visit this board using Firefox (w/ AOL dial-up and USB modem), my AOL connection breaks approximately every five minutes. Unfortunately, the board is extremely slow in IE.

Has anyone else experienced repeated broken connections when logged into this board? I have reinstalled AOL a total of six times and reinstalled the modem once, all to no avail.

Regards,

I don't know Val, i have used IE 6 without any trouble, i haven't pop-ups or hang up, i always have my Firewall on and my Antivirus updated. I never have had slow down access, but i have cable-modem instead of dial-up. I wish you better luck with this issue.

 

[His Divine Shadow]

AR,

Do you use Internet Explorer? If so, I suggest you try switching to Mozilla Firefox http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/. If you DON'T use Internet Explorer, it might be one of several problems. You could have Spyware/Adware in your computer, you could have an old version of Java that is unhappy with vbulletin, or any number of other reasons. If you use DSL/Cable, your modem may need a restart.

 

[MistressValerie1]

I just updated to FF 1.0.2 today, and am "crash-testing" at TT to see if the problem has been fixed. I suspect it was a unique combination of AOL, Firefox, and something in the coding of this board that was causing the disconnects.

With IE, I noticed that although my connection never crashed, the board ran extremely slow, and oddly, my firewall always told me that there was 0 bytes/sec being recieved, even while the pages were loading. Using FF, even when it was crashing, the firewall indicates a normal data speed.

 

[His Divine Shadow]

I don't know if this is exactly what you mentioned, but in the last week or so I have noticed the board become completely unresponsive for periods of five to seven minutes at a time, multiple times a day. Most perplexing.

 

[nessonite1]

I've experiencesd a couple of down times as well, similiar to what HDS mentioned.

 

[MistressValerie1]

I've encountered the same problem as HDS describes, though not recently.

Regarding the original problem, I have only had one connection drop since upgrading to Firefox 1.0.2, so it was clearly a conflict with 1.0.1. I would love to know exactly why the connection would break only when I was visiting this board, and only with that one particular browser version.

 

[His Divine Shadow]

Well, I do run Firefox 1.0.2, so it isn't the 1.0.1 problem Missy Val seemed to have.

 

[girls_tickle_me1]

The problem is AOL Dialup itself and the various bottlenecks imposed from net traffic here because of such a slow connection. My best advice would be to ditch AOL and go for one of those cheaper $10 month dialup providers like NetZero or Earthlink. These lower end providers provide the same basic connection speed without all the nice fluffy content, menus and advertising that AOL gives you (that's what you pay the most for). If you still wish to stick with AOL Dialup then by all means, uninstall all your current versions and downgrade to AOL version 7 or 8 to connect. I found too many bugs with the "new and improved" version 9 and 10. The new AOL 9 or 10 install CD's actually do have the older 7 and 8 versions hidden in subfolders on the cd itself. You will need to show all files and folders ("un-hide") when browsing the cd in Windows Explorer. As for the browser issue, stick with Firefox or Mozilla (any version) instead of IE.

 

[MistressValerie1]

Thanks for the info, GTM. I am using AOL 7.0, and only for an Internet connection. I never use the horrendous AOL browser nor the crappy "premium" content that I'm paying extra for, so I will most likely choose a budget provider once I can find one that has local access numbers and an acceptable privacy policy.

(An interesting note: the AOL browser is unable to log in to any vBulletin, IPB, or phpBB message board, even though it is supposedly Mozilla-based!)

 

[jrubicante]

The problem is AOL Dialup itself and the various bottlenecks imposed from net traffic here because of such a slow connection. My best advice would be to ditch AOL and go for one of those cheaper $10 month dialup providers like NetZero or Earthlink. These lower end providers provide the same basic connection speed without all the nice fluffy content, menus and advertising that AOL gives you (that's what you pay the most for). If you still wish to stick with AOL Dialup then by all means, uninstall all your current versions and downgrade to AOL version 7 or 8 to connect. I found too many bugs with the "new and improved" version 9 and 10. The new AOL 9 or 10 install CD's actually do have the older 7 and 8 versions hidden in subfolders on the cd itself. You will need to show all files and folders ("un-hide") when browsing the cd in Windows Explorer. As for the browser issue, stick with Firefox or Mozilla (any version) instead of IE.

No matter what kind of dial-up you get it's still dial-up... an obviously inferior form of internet connection, liable to quit on you at any moment. Phone lines were not built to routinely handle conversations of the length that some people spend on the internet. Some day we will all at least have cable. I'm not offering any kind of helpful advice for people who currently can only afford dial-up... just musing...

You get what you pay for.

 

[AphroditeRabbit]

My plight is sad indeed as I live in the woods so cable and DSL are not options as we don't get any sort of cable where I am (Apparently too far out to get something like that) and I don't have a clear view of ANY direction of the sky for DSL. My problem hasen't occured lately on TT and I have been using the same provider, which would be earthlink. My problems happened when using earthlink, so it wasen't the provider being the issue in my case. Ironically the first time it happened I clicked on this link to see what problems people were having. However, it's stopped for now so risking being jinxed yet again, I will not speak of those demon days again.....