Cable is incredibly slow

[JordanSummers]

I switched from DSL to cable about a month ago. I'm using ATT- BI with a Linksys modem and ethernet card. I also added 128 mb of ram to speed up my AMD 533 - total is now 384 mb.

My problem is this :

-I have never had slower service - not since a 56k dial up - and it is happening at all daytime hours. Mainstream sites don't load, can't be found, or load so slowly. It is definitely not like switching channels.

-I also get consistent fatal errors when I'm using Outlook Express for my newsgroup reader. I have a list of about 10 different VxD errors. Any help deciphering these will help.

-My computer locks up when the modem is working or stuck on some other task (about 10% of my downloads have to be restarted) and I have to restart the computer. This happens hourly.

What I've done:

*uninstalled OE and reinstalled the new version with IE6.0.
Still get fatal errors.

*uninstalled the modem and ethernet card and reinstalled them - also checked for latest drivers.
No change.

*removed the RAM and reversed the order (Presario allows up to 2x256 mb) I have 1-128 & 1-256.
There doesn't seem to be any difference in speed.

Note: when I added RAM, I got message on first startup that merely flashed and quickly disappeared. It said "164 mb memory error" and then continued to startup. Checking the system status says 384 MB Ram and resources are usually 68%-77% utilized.

That's it. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Jordan

[suprsheep2]

it's most likely your cable provider. Find out what your line speed is supposed to be, and then test your line speed at www.dslreports.com under dsl tools

[JordanSummers]

well, i did check the line speed and I am obviously hard to satisfy! thanks for that info.

the other conditions still persist and they may be tainting my experiences.

[kb5zue]

The problem could lie within your ram. As you said, you got a very quick error message concerning your ram. Take note, COMPAQ computers are EXTREMELY proprietary. If it doesn't like it, it doesn't like it, and there isn't any changing his mind.

My first attempt at a fix would be to check your ram to see if they were the same bus speed. The COMPAQ computers here at my house will take nothing but PC100, NOT PC133. If you have mixed speed ram, that could/will cause problems.

Another thing would be to drop the 128 for another 256 for a total of 512. Sounds like a Compaq 5035 but just guessing here. Compaqs are no fun to work with. If your resources are running upwards of the 70-75 percent level, then you could be overworking the machine. Increasing the amount of ram on the motherboard will be a big help.

Ultimately, to help the problem, I would max out the ram possible. If that means just 2x256, hey, then that's all you can do. Also, make sure that you perform system maintenance fairly regularly. I use Norton SystemWorks and I don't have any problems at all. Running the "scandisk" and "defrag" functions will also help improve performance.

Most of all, remember that you have a 533MHz processor. You're not going to get 1.8GHz speed out of it, but you want to get all you can without burning up the machine. Next time you vacuum the room where the computer is located, open the case and vacuum the cobwebs and dust-balls from the inside. Just make sure the machine is turned off, unplugged, and you are grounded against the side of the case when you do. Moving air creates static electricity just like airplanes do while flying. I use a shop-vac on mine.

I hope I have been of some help here. If you have any questions, feel free to drop an email to "kb5zue@cox.net":)

[araaraara]

I would first investigate you stability problem first. Try running you computer without the modem for a while and see if it crashes. I mean some heavy games and stuff. Then open and close Outlook and IE a bunch of times and see if those still crash. If your system still crashes without the modem, then it is probably the ram you added. Take it out and run with the stocker. If your computer doesn't crash when the modem is unplugged, then then your modem is causing the problem.
Hopefully after trying my suggestion you will be able to narrow you problem down to either your computer or the cable modem being at fault. Then we can work on the problem further.

I have a K6-2 550 at home on DSL and it flys on the internet, it can even play online games. 500mhz is plenty of power for web browsing and email. I realize that some stores will try and sell you a P4 and say that you NEED it to browse the web and email(two of the most intensive things you can do appearently ;) ). Also, because you say that it used to work fine before on DSL indicates that your cable modem isn't setup correctly. You probably need to tweak/customize your cable modem as it uses different settings than you DSL modem did.