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Slow. Just me?

Dec 14, 2011#1

DarkAudit

Since about 2am, the forums have been very slow to respond. Up to 25 seconds between clicks for the next page to load. Front page with the comic not affected, just the forums. Tested on Firefox and Chrome, logged in or not.

Dec 14, 2011#2

Dave

I'm seeing nothing out of the ordinary. Anyone else?
Added at: 09:30
Checked load averages and they are good.

Dec 14, 2011#3

Shegokigo

I'm flying through the site at usual speed. Not noticing any change.

Dec 14, 2011#4

DarkAudit

Some pages are responding immediately, as usual. But today the norm is up to 30 seconds of "waiting..." before the next page loads. Other sites are as fast as they usually are. I'll blame Comcast or something else in the chain between here and there.

Dec 14, 2011#5

Dave

Can you give specific pages? Does it always happen on the same pages or is it widespread?

Dec 14, 2011#6

Hylian

Everything seems to be running just fine for me.

FF 8.0

Dec 14, 2011#7

Just Me

Works fine for me and it's not my fault!

Dec 14, 2011#8

LittleKagsin

All the pages are pretty slow for me.
I'm not sure me being on my work computer has anything to do with it though..

Dec 14, 2011#9

MindDetective

It is hit or miss. Sometimes it times out completely. Sometimes it only loads the text. Sometimes it loads everything fine. This is all just this morning.

Dec 14, 2011#10

linglingface

Slow for iPad since this morning. I keep having to reload. I'm also with Comcast.

Dec 14, 2011#11

Dave

Damn you, Comcast!!

Dec 14, 2011#12

figmentPez

Slow here for me as well. Last night I was getting timeouts where the page wouldn't load at all.

Dec 14, 2011#13

linglingface

Earlier it loaded just text for me, but I opened a thread and it was just fine. And sometimes it takes a while to load, but once it's done loading it's all good. Hrmmm

Dec 14, 2011#14

DarkAudit

Widespread. Not for any specific pages.
Tapatalk is responding a lot faster over the AT&T network than it is via wifi and my Comcast connection. It's somewhere in the Comcast chain.

Dec 14, 2011#15

makare

the forum is slow a lot of the time for me. it gets really aggravating.

Dec 14, 2011#16

strawman

I get slowness from time to time. It's not consistent.

AT&T DSL for me.

Dec 15, 2011#17

DarkAudit

On wifi from work... FiberNet DSL. Much faster than Comcast at less than a quarter of the connection speed.

Dec 15, 2011#18

Proudly Autopowered

Any site can be slow from time to time.

Even more, I sometimes cannot even access some sites, including google.com, for quite a time while http://www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com/ shows they are up.

This can happen when, for example, a DDOD attack is coming from your area/direction (or vice versa), so datacenter (or ISP) of a site filters packets from your region

Dec 15, 2011#19

DarkAudit

It's just weird that I'm navigating the site faster with a 1.5Mbps DSL than with a 20Mbps cable connection. Same town, same computer, nearly the same time.

Dec 15, 2011#20

PatrThom

Not really. You probably can't tell how much other traffic you're competing with.

--Patrick

Dec 15, 2011#21

MindDetective

All other web pages load great for me. Here, I get time-outs and pages loading only as text. Something is definitely different with the site for me.

Dec 15, 2011#22

Dave

Well what the hell? My load times are great. Server is humming along normally.

Dec 15, 2011#23

PatrThom

I have no issues, either. Might want to either bench your DNS or find your ping times with tracert.

--Patrick

Dec 15, 2011#24

MindDetective

I'm going to try rebooting first.

Dec 15, 2011#25

Proudly Autopowered

MindDetective said:
I'm going to try rebooting first.

Formatting the hard disk is the most efficient and always works for me.

DarkAudit said:
It's just weird that I'm navigating the site faster with a 1.5Mbps DSL than with a 20Mbps cable connection. Same town, same computer, nearly the same time.

It doesn't depend on one end only (but on a broadband capacities of intermediate servers on the path), IMO...

Dec 16, 2011#26

DarkAudit

I'll cycle power on router and cable modem when I get home, but I can browse the forums far faster via the work connection than at home, in spite of the much slower total speed.

Dec 16, 2011#27

PatrThom

Tell your neighbors to lay off the Demonoid if you're on cable. DSL isn't as affected by what goes on next door.

--Patrick

Dec 16, 2011#28

figmentPez

I find it odd that some are suggesting that this must be a problem with individual computers/connections, when a number of people are having this same issue, starting at the same time.

Dec 16, 2011#29

PatrThom

It's the first step of the troubleshooting process. Find the similarities.

--Patrick

Dec 16, 2011#30

DarkAudit

PatrThom said:
It's the first step of the troubleshooting process. Find the similarities.

--Patrick

This. I need to eliminate the possibility that any of my own gear is at issue. I haven't restarted the modem or router in weeks, so flushing the pipes here couldn't hurt.

Dec 16, 2011#31

figmentPez

PatrThom said:
It's the first step of the troubleshooting process. Find the similarities.

Seems to me the similarities rule out at least one of your suggested fixes. It's only Halforums that's slow, I can browse other forums with no trouble, the same as others. That seems to rule out the possibility of another program/neighbor hogging bandwidth.

Dec 16, 2011#32

Shegokigo

isitslowforeveryoneorjustme.com

My still flying on the boards. No slowdown to speak of.

Dec 16, 2011#33

PatrThom

Now try a traceroute. Here's an example from my end (with some obfuscations).

Code:

traceroute to halforums.com (206.55.124.179), 64 hops max, 72 byte packets
1  192.168.0.1 (192.168.0.1)  0.910 ms  0.268 ms  0.210 ms
2  * * * (<-- I have my WAN IP address stealthed)
3  xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx.lightspeed.xxxx.sbcglobal.net (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx)  23.830 ms  31.469 ms  21.491 ms
4  75.26.64.98 (75.26.64.98)  21.956 ms  22.196 ms  22.377 ms
5  75.26.64.76 (75.26.64.76)  23.157 ms  26.082 ms  22.387 ms
6  12.83.32.129 (12.83.32.129)  21.982 ms  21.387 ms  21.265 ms
7  gar8.cgcil.ip.att.net (12.122.133.161)  30.936 ms  30.490 ms  30.340 ms
8  192.205.37.150 (192.205.37.150)  30.545 ms  30.801 ms  30.663 ms
9  vlan51.ebr1.chicago2.level3.net (4.69.138.158)  38.217 ms  38.547 ms  30.729 ms
10  ae-3-3.ebr2.denver1.level3.net (4.69.132.61)  62.858 ms  63.126 ms  87.643 ms
11  ae-4-4.car2.kansascity1.level3.net (4.69.135.237)  67.115 ms  67.603 ms  67.179 ms
12  layered-tec.car2.kansascity1.level3.net (4.53.34.58)  68.727 ms  67.384 ms  66.964 ms
13  te9-1.ocs2.atc.gsinetblock.net (64.57.221.86)  67.708 ms  68.037 ms  67.192 ms
14  206.55.124.179 (206.55.124.179)  67.744 ms  67.788 ms  67.779 ms

Notice it doesn't really start slowing down until it gets to Denver. Still sub-100, though.

You can also try going directly to http://206.55.124.179/xenforo/ and bypass DNS. If that link is amazingly faster than https://www.halforums.com/ then you know you probably have a DNS issue on your hands.

--Patrick

Dec 16, 2011#34

figmentPez

There were some time-outs and ping spikes in hops around Dallas. Nothing else unusual in the traceroute.

Also, your link with the IP address gives a 404. Going to the IP address gives a configuration page for Apache.

My ping times for Halforums are in the twenties.

Dec 16, 2011#35

Dave

Really the only thing I did in the past few days is to change the styles.

What styles do you guys all use? Maybe it's one of those.

Dec 16, 2011#36

Dave

I wonder if one of the addons aren't liking the new styles.

Dec 16, 2011#37

Dave

I just looked through the database and looked at who is using what style. I don't think it's a style issue.

I'm thinking about rebooting the server and seeing if that kills any processes that are holding stuff up.

Dec 16, 2011#38

PatrThom

figmentPez said:
Also, your link with the IP address gives a 404. Going to the IP address gives a configuration page for Apache.

Ah. That means Halforums shares that same IP address with other sites using something like Host Headers. So much for that workaround.

--Patrick

Dec 16, 2011#39

Dave

Rebooted. Let me know if that helps anything.

Dec 16, 2011#40

figmentPez

Dave said:
Rebooted. Let me know if that helps anything.

I have a feeling the problem is not with Halforums, but with the internet somewhere between certain posters and the Halforums server.

Dec 16, 2011#41

Jay

If you're having an issue do the following :

Press Windows Button + R.
Type cmd
In the black box type : tracert www.halforums.com
Let it work for a minute as it processes through the hops, stuff your face with cake.

When it is done, post the ENTIRE Black screen in here.

Dec 16, 2011#42

PatrThom

If on a Mac, find the Network Utility at /Applications/Utilities/Network Utility

Choose the "Traceroute" tab and enter www.halforums.com, then press the "Trace" button and post results.

--Patrick

Dec 16, 2011#43

MindDetective

Traceroute has started…

traceroute to halforums.com (206.55.124.179), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets
1 ******* 3.629 ms 0.577 ms 0.742 ms
2 ******* 8.973 ms 8.900 ms 9.620 ms
3 te-4-4-ur06.burien.wa.seattle.comcast.net (68.87.205.233) 7.474 ms 8.492 ms 8.002 ms
4 ae-9-0-ar03.seattle.wa.seattle.comcast.net (69.139.164.41) 54.218 ms 10.513 ms 10.488 ms
5 pos-1-11-0-0-cr01.seattle.wa.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.93.101) 15.778 ms
pos-1-4-0-0-cr01.seattle.wa.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.90.209) 14.086 ms
pos-1-10-0-0-cr01.seattle.wa.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.93.97) 12.511 ms
6 4.59.234.17 (4.59.234.17) 27.817 ms 27.362 ms 28.703 ms
7 ae-32-52.ebr2.seattle1.level3.net (4.69.147.182) 30.221 ms 34.232 ms 36.034 ms
8 ae-2-2.ebr2.denver1.level3.net (4.69.132.54) 37.537 ms 36.314 ms 37.216 ms
9 ae-4-4.car2.kansascity1.level3.net (4.69.135.237) 53.565 ms 54.567 ms 53.609 ms
10 layered-tec.car2.kansascity1.level3.net (4.53.34.58) 55.502 ms 55.485 ms 55.287 ms
11 te9-1.ocs2.atc.gsinetblock.net (64.57.221.86) 57.040 ms 57.071 ms 55.302 ms
12 * * *
13 * * *
14 * * *
15 * * *
16 * * *
17 * * *
18 * * *
19 * * *
20 * * *

Timed out on the first run.

Dec 16, 2011#44

figmentPez

Well, this isn't what happened with a tracert yesterday. (I have no idea how to copy/past from the command line window.)

Dec 16, 2011#45

MindDetective

Times out on every run through traceroute. I am amazed I get here at all.

Dec 16, 2011#46

PatrThom

Ping times look good in both cases (better than mine, even!), dunno what's going on with all the non-replying hosts in the middle.

--Patrick

Dec 16, 2011#47

MindDetective

Comparing my traceroute to Patr's, it is just the last hop that it is failing on. Why for us? I thought it might be that an IP was being blocked by the forum or something but that doesn't make sense now.

Dec 16, 2011#48

PatrThom

For all you know, Halforums' server hosting company might be treating traffic from your corner of the 'Net as suspicious for some reason.

--Patrick

Dec 16, 2011#49

figmentPez

Comcast does seem to be a commonality.

Dec 16, 2011#50

PatrThom

Right now, observable sample size=3. Not willing to check that box just yet, however tempting it may be.

--Patrick

Dec 16, 2011#51

DarkAudit

I've been able to check all my gear. It's not a style, and I doubt it's anything on the HF end. going through my home connection via Comcast, a 30 second lag is common on every link. No lag if I'm on my phone via AT&T instead of wifi. No lag on my laptop if I'm going through the hotel DSL at work overnight. Same hours on Monday and Tuesday nights at home was laggy as hell, so timing isn't at issue.

Comcast, fix your shit!

Dec 16, 2011#52

DarkAudit

I'm getting the same hangup in the tracert at the end at home and at work, but not the lag when trying to browse the forum from work. Fibernet uses the ntelos and sprintlink networks before handing off to Level3, Comcast doesn't. Once Level3 hits Dallas, the traces are the same. So the issue is in the first half before Level3 gets to Dallas.

(Edited. Comcast path goes to NYC where Level3 takes over. Sprintlink handles the traffic on the work connection until Dallas)

Dec 18, 2011#53

MindDetective

Well, I think I'll be closing my Halforums tab for a while. I can't handle the hit-or-miss of browsing the forums today.

Dec 18, 2011#54

Dave

I really wish I knew what to do to help out.

Dec 18, 2011#55

Rovewin

Its working again! At least for me. I was having the same trouble where it would take five minutes to load a page. I also have comcast. Now it seems to be loading at a decent speed again.

Dec 18, 2011#56

Zappit

Things are better today! Lots better!

Dec 18, 2011#57

DarkAudit

Much better this evening compared to this morning. Can finally browse at home again.

Dec 19, 2011#58

MindDetective

So far so good today.

Dec 19, 2011#59

MindDetective

Oddly enough, I have the same problem finishing the traceroute. The boards are loading much better today, though.

Code:

Traceroute has started…
 
traceroute to halforums.com (206.55.124.179), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets
1  192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1)  23.898 ms  0.834 ms  0.870 ms
2  73.98.176.1 (73.98.176.1)  16.485 ms  12.160 ms  54.824 ms
3  te-4-4-ur06.burien.wa.seattle.comcast.net (68.87.205.233)  43.365 ms  9.447 ms  44.102 ms
4  ae-9-0-ar03.seattle.wa.seattle.comcast.net (69.139.164.41)  42.151 ms  49.652 ms  56.697 ms
5  pos-1-13-0-0-cr01.seattle.wa.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.95.21)  13.208 ms
    pos-1-14-0-0-cr01.seattle.wa.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.90.85)  82.731 ms
    pos-1-12-0-0-cr01.seattle.wa.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.93.93)  41.761 ms
6  4.59.234.17 (4.59.234.17)  80.910 ms  129.478 ms  79.595 ms
7  ae-32-52.ebr2.seattle1.level3.net (4.69.147.182)  99.968 ms  65.866 ms  61.930 ms
8  ae-2-2.ebr2.denver1.level3.net (4.69.132.54)  97.541 ms  160.090 ms  106.914 ms
9  ae-4-4.car2.kansascity1.level3.net (4.69.135.237)  139.202 ms  104.373 ms  105.980 ms
10  layered-tec.car2.kansascity1.level3.net (4.53.34.58)  128.776 ms  114.291 ms  114.096 ms
11  te9-1.ocs2.atc.gsinetblock.net (64.57.221.86)  94.031 ms  148.671 ms  127.357 ms
12  * * *
13  * * *
14  * * *
15  * * *
16  * * *
17  * * *
18  * * *
19  * * *
20  * * *
21  * * *
22  * * *
23  * * *
24  * * *
25  *

Dec 19, 2011#60

figmentPez

Amorous Eyes said:
MD, DA, pez, and others who had trouble browsing the forums: Could you redo a tracert and post it? I'm curious if it was just a problem with one of the hops and not something on HF's end.

The forums stopped being slow for me today.

Dec 19, 2011#61

DarkAudit

Amorous Eyes said:
MD, DA, pez, and others who had trouble browsing the forums: Could you redo a tracert and post it? I'm curious if it was just a problem with one of the hops and not something on HF's end.

That's just the thing. It was slow at home, but not when I removed Comcast from the equation and browsed HF from hotel wifi at work (which is allowed

). That would tend to rule out HF as the problem.

Dec 19, 2011#62

PatrThom

Did a black hole open up between Comcast and HF someplace?

--Patrick

Dec 20, 2011#63

LittleKagsin

It's not slow for me anymore, by the way. I was all better yesterday.

Dec 20, 2011#64

Dave

It had to be a host issue. I hadn't changed anything for better or worse - and it happened to way too many people to be coincidence or all Comcast.

Dec 20, 2011#65

figmentPez

Dave said:
It had to be a host issue. I hadn't changed anything for better or worse - and it happened to way too many people to be coincidence or all Comcast.

Don't underestimate the crappiness of Comcast's service.

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