Battle.net isuues

[rraehal]

I tried battle.net tech support but they keep sending me the same email over and over which has been useless. I figured I would give you gurus a try.

System:
Win98 - Fully updated except .NET Framework
DirectX 9
Diablo 2 (not LOD)
Asus Aladdin 5 MOBO
256MB PC100 RAM
K6-2 350MHz
SB AudioPCI based on Ensoniq Chipset 8MB Waveset
USR External 56K Modem
GeForce 4 MX 440 64MB - 40.72 Drivers had 41.x but same issue

Problem:
I get on the net and surf forever no probs. If I try to use D2 to get on battle.net I do not pass the "Connecting to battl.net" screen. It will stop at "Contacting Gateway" or "Checking Versions". When I tab out of and into the game it will work.

I ran D2 in windowed mode and it works perfect. "C:\Program Files\Diablo 2\d2.exe -w"

I can play with no problems in Windowed mode. Only full screen mode - regardless of DirectDraw or Direct 3D video mode.

What can I check. I do not have issues with other games - I have not tried other Blizzard Titles on this PC.

[rraehal]

If i use a traceroute I do not get any timeouts. Wihen doing a ping I can use the -t option and send over 500 pings with 1 or 2 losses - but not everytime. - So i think my Internet connection is good.

tracert uswest.battle.net
ping -t uswest.battle.net

I recently was forced to reinstall my OS. I zeroed the drive before reinstalling. The same problem persists after the reformat.

I have tried both CD Drives and having D2 installed on both of my hard drives (Three partitions). (I killed linux when I zeroed my drive :( )

I switched dial-up numbers between 3 different cities.

All the above was done before the Windowed mode.

Does this appear to be direct play (Direct X 9) or another issue? My modem only has an INF that configures a default Win98 driver with proper setting. I usually connect at 49,333 bps and get 4K a second downloads. (I am super close to the Central Office for my city, but they do not have DSL ability :( )

[tony_j15]

I'm thinking it could be a DX9 issue. Try installing DX8 and see what happens.