Random Lag Spikes on Just 1 Computer

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Jamco

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Nov 22, 2013
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Hi all-

I have never not been able to troubleshoot a computer problem but this is baffling to me.

I have 3-4 computers that use wifi in this house. All run smoothly except my own. I will be playing a game and then ever 30-60 seconds I jump up to 400-500 ping. I tried all sorts of virus scans and cleaning tools. I eventually gave up and I have reformatted my computer entirely... still I get the lag. I tried resetting my router many times and still I get nothing. One thing I notice is if I log off windows then log back on for a short while my games will run regular. I tend to believe that it is just something with my machine. I can't figure it out. It's so frustrating and annoying. I don't know what to do anymore. Can anyone help me figure this out?
 
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arges86

arges86

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Aug 31, 2008
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I would check Event Viewer and see if there is anything going on at the same time as the lag.
It may be a sign that your network card is starting to go bad...
If your going over wireless, try running a network cable to the PC and see if that eliminates the high ping times and latency.
 
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J

Jamco

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Nov 22, 2013
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Thanks for your response. I really appreciate it. This has been frustrating for me as a gamer. I'll try those steps and post again once I find out more.
 
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arges86

arges86

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it certainly could be...
does the same thing occur when you use an Ethernet cable?

If your PC is a laptop, then you have some decent PC Card WiFi cards to choose from

If its a desktop, then you may have an extra PCI Express port to add a dedicated WiFi card to.
 
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Jamco

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Nov 22, 2013
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ok so i was using an external usb wireless internet adapter. i since installed one the goes right into my computer and plugs into my motherboard. i still have the issue. what do you mean by network card? is this different from these things?
 
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Jamco

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Nov 22, 2013
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is what i just installed a network card? if so it hasn't remedied my problem. this is really annoying. i put a password on my router so others cannot access it. still it works for a while with 50ish ping on my regular servers but then out of the blue i get the spikes up to 400-500 ping. it's ridiculous. i am at a loss.
 
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Jamco

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Nov 22, 2013
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i would like to try the ethernet cable but i dont have an extra one. my pc is not a laptop and it is upstairs. the wireless has always worked fine until about 3-4 weeks ago. i don't understand it.
 
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J

Jamco

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Nov 22, 2013
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can anyone help me on this? i added a wifi network card to my computer and it didnt help at all. this is the most annoying problem i have ever had with my computer. there seems to be no reason what so ever for this. could it be my router going? i am at a loss. i'm about to call comcast but i know they won't be able to do or tell me anything.

it just doesn't make sense. i have wiped my system clean, started over, used a new adapter to connect and still none of these fix my issue. could it be my router? i dont think i have this problem on any other computer here though. how can this all of a sudden start happening? it used to work great.
 
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Jamco

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Nov 22, 2013
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i know i literately juuusst posted but i went talking to others in my household and it seems they may be experiencing issues as well. this is leading me to believe it's my router and not me. FINALLY i have a lead. i will post one last time if a new router fixes my problem.
 
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arges86

arges86

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In a healthy system ping times between devices on the same LAN should be <1ms. Especially the gateway.
Ping times of 3-4 ms is fine.
If your experiencing 50ms, then there is an issue w/ something in the network.
Either something is causing a degraded signal and the lag, or packet collision with another device.
Try power cycling all network equipment, and leave it off for a minute or two.
Then only connect one device at a time and ping the gateway. As you add more devices, see if the results change at all
 
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J

Jamco

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Nov 22, 2013
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i shoudve been more clear when i said that. i pinged a group of servers located in atlanta. these servers i use to play an online game. on my wireless computers it lags much more than normal and i am getting 200-300 ping on a regular basis. it usually is 40-60 when running properly. i bought a whole new router and the problem persists. on my hardwired computers downstairs, i pinged the same servers, right when i was experiencing the problem upstairs and they had normal pings. they have always had normal pings throughout this whole ordeal. do you think that something in my house is interfering with my wireless connections and if so what could that be? it just doesn't make sense to me and i am running out of guesses as to what i could be. i'm about to call my isp this monday but if you could offer up and more ideas of things to try then that would be awesome. thank you for being the only one to respond to me throughout this whole thing. still trying to figure this out.

 
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Jamco

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Nov 22, 2013
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It's on multiple. My brother is one room over and he's getting the spikes too. It's affecting my web browsing from time to time as well. But the computers that are using an ethernet cable seem to fine so far. I'll try and check them more often when I am experiencing the spikes to confirm this but I am pretty sure they are unaffected.

No these computers are upstairs in the house. But they've always used wireless for the past 5 years with very little problems. This issue just started randomly about 4 weeks ago. We tried switching the router out and that didn't work. I think we are going to ask Comcast if they will give us a new modem to use and see if that changes anything but I am no exactly hopeful about that. I am still thinking there is some sort of interference that is happening but I'm not sure. What I might do is for a night I will try and run an ethernet upstairs to see if I get any lag. If I do then I know it's got to be coming from the connection but from what I've seen already from the hardwired connections is that there is no lag on them. Just wireless but it's on the 2 computers and I believe it's even on our kitchen laptop. There is about 5 different computer that use the internet in this house but this problem persists even when just one is being used and it used to run fine even if everyone was on it at once.
 
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J

Jamco

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Nov 22, 2013
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Just want to thank you for your help so far. I am trying different wireless channels on my router now and actually seeing some results. I haven't had enough time to play with it and try all the channels. I had it set to Auto and now I have it set to channel 9 and it seems a little better right now.

Do you have any suggestions for software that I could use to diagnose which channels are the best?
 
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arges86

arges86

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J

Jamco

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Nov 22, 2013
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10,510
Thanks for all your help man. Going to select your answer as my solution. My connection on channel 9 was running great for a long time. I noticed 1 spike earlier tonight and moved over to channel 11 and it's still going to strong. I might consider a 5.0 Ghz device to try and avoid these problems on this computer but it's good to know a good channel to set my 2.4 ghz to so that the other users my house can operate smoothly.


Thanks again I really appreciate you seeing this through and doing what you can to help. This has been a long process and I'm glad I've found something that's actually working.
 
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