Severe system glitches when using the network

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Okay so i have a toshi portege 4010 laptop. Google for specs, i'm too p***ed to type them all in again. It has an intel-85529 based LAN adapter, using latest drivers off intel's website.

Problem is as follows:

When download speeds exceed 100-200KB/s, the whole system starts stuttering. The display (mouse cursor, windows), the audio, the disk accesses, EVERYTHING. I can't listen to music while doing your average transfer as it'll pause every few seconds. I can't even type a **** post properly as the text input pauses too.

The problem didn't exist in XP, so there must be something wrong with the network configuration in 98SE.

I have downloaded the intel utilities and set everything for the NIC to use as little resources as possible -> no change, just slower network speeds. I have set PCI latencies with PowerStrip and it seems to make zero difference. At one point i thought it worked as i was downloading with 400KB/sec from a http server, and having my torrent client uploading with 200KB/sec at the same time, with everything running smoothly. But a few minutes later the problem was back and it seems it's here to stay.

Could the toshiba bios be resetting the latencies after a while? By default everything was set to 64 and the video chip to 128, and it had the same settings in XP without causing any issues.

I'm about to throw this thing out the window. Anyway this goes, i swear i won't buy a toshiba product again. This notebook is kinda old indeed, and i didn't buy it new, but it had XP when i bought it and that worked. And honestly, when it cooperates it's a great little piece of hardware, but i find myself spending much more time fixing it rather than actually using it.

So is there any hope except going back to XP? Also, i can't install a modified version of XP as those don't have wininit.exe, and DOS-based install is the only way i can put an os on this thing, as it doesn't have a CD drive. And full-blown XP was just too slow for my taste, even with a lot of tweaks to it.

I had Linux on it. The video driver didn't quite cooperate. I have 98SE now. Nothing seems to cooperate.

Edit: Just fooling around in PowerStrip, i set video chip latency to 160, audio to 128 and everything else to 48. It just works... Just downloaded with 600KB/sec from Sourceforge and sound/video didn't exhibit a single glitch. Fired up my torrent client now but there's next to no activity going on with seeding, so i'll see tomorrow.

I sure hope this lasts more than a few minutes.

Later edit: Opened a big web page and *pause*. Again. Now there was another pause even though i was downloading at low speed. I'm seriously going to toss this piece of garbage out the window.

Oh yeah - wondering why there was no sound anymore - my music player just froze. ****. And it doesn't seem to want to work anymore. I think i'm going to sleep.

Edited March 28, 2008 by Th3_uN1Qu3

[Drugwash]

Don't worry, this happens to me too on my desktop. It's just a 400MHz Pentium II though, so no wonder it's got hiccups. If you wanna have a quick crash test, try latest version of FlashGet with a few parallel HTTP/FTP downloads and maybe a few torr3nts too (it can work as a torr3nt and eD2k client, if you didn't know it).

Currently I'm too busy (and also p!ssed off just like you) to try and fiddle with network settings and whatnot, but I'll keep an eye on your progress here. Oh and BTW, if you ever decide to throw that thing off the window, let me know your address first - I'll be outside tryin' to catch it.

Good luck with tweaking!

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Don't worry, this happens to me too on my desktop. It's just a 400MHz Pentium II though, so no wonder it's got hiccups. If you wanna have a quick crash test, try latest version of FlashGet with a few parallel HTTP/FTP downloads and maybe a few torr3nts too (it can work as a torr3nt and eD2k client, if you didn't know it).

For me Opera dl'ing from Sourceforge and uTorrent suffice. I never was a big fan of download managers. And i can just set up a FTP server on my other computer and access it via LAN, that is sure to cause some serious network usage.

My laptop's got a 933MHz PIII Tualatin, and it shouldn't have any problems. I'm 100% sure it's not the CPU, as its usage sits at 20% or less when i'm downloading. It's the network card running with high priority and clogging the PCI bus (stupid toshiba made everything share IRQ 11). But i found no way to change NIC priority till now, and the IRQs are hardwired.

Currently I'm too busy (and also p!ssed off just like you) to try and fiddle with network settings and whatnot, but I'll keep an eye on your progress here. Oh and BTW, if you ever decide to throw that thing off the window, let me know your address first - I'll be outside tryin' to catch it.

I also have an overclocked Pentium-MMX on an Asus board, running at the amazing speed of 292MHz stable. It's running 98SE too (boots it in 30 seconds B)), and has no problems transferring at high speeds. It has a 3Com card though, but i thought intel's NICs were better than 3Com's...

With the amount of work i put in this thing i can't just ditch it, but if i do, i'll send it flying your way.

[thydreamwalker]

It could be "intel driver's?"as i have older Chempc{acts and weighs like a 16#LaptopPC} w/450-500mhz -pentiumIII;but intel cannot correctly match any of my drivers ...so i try to mix and match from other systems and manufacturers!Win98se and MSFN are me only helpers in these areas so far. good luck-thydreamwalker

[Drugwash]

3Com NICs are excellent. Or at least used to be; I had a 10Mbit one in my old 200MHz MMX Pentium and it was just flying. Somehow I managed to fry it - some static electricity through the aerial network cables or something - and I so much regret it.

For the rest, that old MMX is still running fine, considering what a cocktail of dlls I stuffed into it. It's been my main machine until 1.5 years ago.

Regarding network issues, I'm thinking the 'optimization' I've done with TZ Connection Booster and TCP Optimizer may have added to the situation. I've set options to 'Extreme' in TCP Optimizer, which may be a tad too much for a 400MHz CPU with 256MB of PC133 RAM.

If you ever send that thing flyin', please whistle first - I've already got enough bumps on my head.

Cheers!

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

It could be "intel driver's?"as i have older Chempc{acts and weighs like a 16#LaptopPC} w/450-500mhz -pentiumIII;but intel cannot correctly match any of my drivers ...so i try to mix and match from other systems and manufacturers!Win98se and MSFN are me only helpers in these areas so far. good luck-thydreamwalker

I had the drivers downloaded from Toshiba's site and updated to the latest version from Intel's site. No change.

3Com NICs are excellent. Or at least used to be; I had a 10Mbit one in my old 200MHz MMX Pentium and it was just flying. Somehow I managed to fry it - some static electricity through the aerial network cables or something - and I so much regret it.

For the rest, that old MMX is still running fine, considering what a cocktail of dlls I stuffed into it. It's been my main machine until 1.5 years ago.

Regarding network issues, I'm thinking the 'optimization' I've done with TZ Connection Booster and TCP Optimizer may have added to the situation. I've set options to 'Extreme' in TCP Optimizer, which may be a tad too much for a 400MHz CPU with 256MB of PC133 RAM.

If you ever send that thing flyin', please whistle first - I've already got enough bumps on my head.

Cheers!

I've done my tweaking with CableNut a while ago, but it was stuttering before i did that, it didn't affect my computer in any negative way.

PS. The chip i have running at 292MHz is a 200MHz MMX too. Sitting tight under a modded Socket A cooler, with 96MB worth of SIMMs running rock solid at settings that shouldn't be possible, and a 13 gig Seagate HDD bringing the heat. Literally. B)

And be sure i won't throw the laptop without announcing first, as it might hit something pricey on the way.

Edited March 28, 2008 by Th3_uN1Qu3

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

In big bold caps: HELL YEAH!!!!!!! I decided to reinstall the whole thing today, taking care to dump everything else in first and the network drivers last.

So here i went. Clean install of 98SE -> SP 3.0 Beta -> DX9.0c -> IE6 SP1 -> 98SE2ME -> video, audio, blah blah, network and Toshiba utilities last -> RP7 -> KernelEx.

Runs like a dream. Downloaded Opera with 2MB/s from a local server while playing music with QMP (Quintessential Media Player), no stutter in anything. Yay!!!!!

Windows 98 sure is one temperamental OS. Anyway, i'm so glad it works now. Music and gaming, here i go!!!

Edited April 1, 2008 by Th3_uN1Qu3

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Heh... Wish it was all over. As soon as i started utorrent, bam. Stutters and skips. Again. Seems to have to do with multiple concurrent connections, and the higher the TCP RWIN value, the worse the stutters are. Unfortunately no matter how low i set it, the skips still occur. Toshiba sucks!!!

Going to install ME and see if that works. I sure hope it does, as i don't have a way to install a tweaked version of XP (no CD-ROM), and a full-blown one is just too slow.

[Tihiy]

Is DMA on?

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Is DMA on?

Yes, that's the first thing i turn on after i install 9x. Anyway, just finished tweaking up ME and all is fine and dandy, seems like 98 and my laptop just didn't like each other.

Going to install your Uberskin now.