How to find out where a download is stalling?

Hi all.

I use newsgroup binaries a lot and find that I'm getting timeout after
timeout. But I don't know where to find the problem.

Sometimes on downloading a single usenet text message the download can
halt, until it times out. 99% of the time it's OK though. If I try
to download a large binary, (made of several 1,00,000 or more text
line sections) it will only do one or two at the most before it stalls
and timeouts.

Can anyone point me to some software that will look at the data and
tell me where and when it stalls?

I have a 2 meg adsl line with a reputable company. (Andrews and
Arnold ISP), An Edimax AR6004 router, a high spec PC with an AMD 3200+
and 1 gig memory, XP pro SP2 and all patches.

I'm considering getting a new router in case that is the problem, but
how do I find out?

Thanks.

--
Regards from Mike, Jan and Master Alex Barnard.
South Coast, UK.

[To reply by email remove ".trousers" spamtrap from email address]
--
The Source For Premium Newsgroup Access
Great Speed, Great Retention
1 GB/Day for only $8.95

"Mike Barnard" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi all.
>
> I use newsgroup binaries a lot and find that I'm getting timeout after
> timeout. But I don't know where to find the problem.
>
> Sometimes on downloading a single usenet text message the download can
> halt, until it times out. 99% of the time it's OK though. If I try
> to download a large binary, (made of several 1,00,000 or more text
> line sections) it will only do one or two at the most before it stalls
> and timeouts.
>
> Can anyone point me to some software that will look at the data and
> tell me where and when it stalls?
>
> I have a 2 meg adsl line with a reputable company. (Andrews and
> Arnold ISP), An Edimax AR6004 router, a high spec PC with an AMD 3200+
> and 1 gig memory, XP pro SP2 and all patches.
>
> I'm considering getting a new router in case that is the problem, but
> how do I find out?

If you enter the address of your mail server into neotrace (while its
stalled) it should be able to tell you which node is dead. If it doesnt ping
any nodes then its your PC and/or router. Are you using wireless or anything
other than bog standard wired network?

>
> Thanks.
>
> --
> Regards from Mike, Jan and Master Alex Barnard.
> South Coast, UK.
>
> [To reply by email remove ".trousers" spamtrap from email address]
> --
> The Source For Premium Newsgroup Access
> Great Speed, Great Retention
> 1 GB/Day for only $8.95

On Mon, 30 Jan 2006 22:00:42 -0000, "Gutz" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>
>"Mike Barnard" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:(E-Mail Removed).. .
>> Hi all.
>>
>> I use newsgroup binaries a lot and find that I'm getting timeout after
>> timeout. But I don't know where to find the problem.
<snip>
>> I'm considering getting a new router in case that is the problem, but
>> how do I find out?
>
>If you enter the address of your mail server into neotrace (while its
>stalled) it should be able to tell you which node is dead. If it doesnt ping
>any nodes then its your PC and/or router. Are you using wireless or anything
>other than bog standard wired network?

How exactly will tracing the router to his mail server help? Even if
it was the mail server, not receiving ICMP echos doesn't indicate by
any means a hardware fault.

For the record, I'd have no clue where to start troubleshooting this,
except to assume the connection was dodgy

On 31-Jan-2006, Richard Sobey <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> For the record, I'd have no clue where to start troubleshooting this,
> except to assume the connection was dodgy

Assuming he knows WHERE he is downloading from (and if
possible the IP address) then WinXP has a Run box where
you enter pathping and the address, try
pathping www.google.com to see how it works.
When it stalls do the same.
Use a download manager with a resume and keep retrying
facility, then you won't keep starting from scratch, and downloading
all over again the part that you have already downloaded.
The latest versions of Internet Download Accelerator integrate into
Explorer and its task bar.
See if things work better after midnight or early morning, avoiding
the ISP's peak traffic times. If so try scheduling downloads for
the middle of the night.

In the dim and distant past on Mon, 30 Jan 2006 21:43:45 +0000
it was rumoured that Mike Barnard spake thus:

>Hi all.
>
>I use newsgroup binaries a lot and find that I'm getting timeout after
>timeout. But I don't know where to find the problem.
>
>Sometimes on downloading a single usenet text message the download can
>halt, until it times out. 99% of the time it's OK though. If I try
>to download a large binary, (made of several 1,00,000 or more text
>line sections) it will only do one or two at the most before it stalls
>and timeouts.
>
>Can anyone point me to some software that will look at the data and
>tell me where and when it stalls?
>
>I have a 2 meg adsl line with a reputable company. (Andrews and
>Arnold ISP), An Edimax AR6004 router, a high spec PC with an AMD 3200+
>and 1 gig memory, XP pro SP2 and all patches.
>
>I'm considering getting a new router in case that is the problem, but
>how do I find out?
>
>Thanks.

Make sure that your anti-virus software *isn't* checking NNTP traffic.
I use Avast antivirus and had to disable the NNTP checking because it
kept timing out when downloading headers from very active groups. To
disable the checking in Avast go to the on-access protection control
settings. Click on Internet mail, customise, NNTP and uncheck the
relevant boxes.

Obviously you will have to take more care when opening attachments since
AV checking has been removed.

HTH Dave