How could i check if my internet connection got errors?

jekylhyde

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May 28, 2010
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Hi
How could i check if my internet connection got errors? (packets don't download ok or something?)
i ask this because a lot of files that i download got bad hash.
(i was thinking that maybe my hard disk is faulty but i tested it & its ok).
is there a way do test the line?
something else?
thanks
 
Solution
I general agree what others have said... but I suggest the following:

You can check for errors by going into the Modem, but interpreting the status screen is a whole other ball of wax, some errors are normal.

If serviced by DSL, you can ask carrier to configure your link for INTERLEAVING, rather than FAST PATH, this induces extra error correction in exchange for a somewhat slower performance. If u are lucky this setting is on modem and you are allowed to changed it yourself.
Networks work differently than storage. If the communication between the 2 devices get errors anyplace in the path the traffic just discarded. The data packet is discarded and the application software never even sees it. The application software should detect this missing data and ask it be retransmitted.
 
Packet loss will not cause bad hash in files unless the application that is doing the downloading ignores the loss. The end application should request the lost data be re transferred. Even if you had loss in the network the problem would be the application not the network itself.

Data loss in the network is actually a expected thing when you are fully utilizing a connection. Their is no way for network to know how much bandwidth exists between 2 locations. The way it generally works is data will be attempted to be transferred faster and faster until loss occur. It will then slow down a bit but since it assumes this is temporary it will again try to run faster until it gets loss.

If you really want to know how this work go read about tcp window size.

Still this loss will not cause file corruption. The worst than can happen is the loss gets so bad that the connection is terminated.

Pretty much you could have 50% data loss on your internet and all it would do is make things run slower it would not cause bad data transfer. If you get bad files the application transferring the files has a problem...maybe it does not tolerate any data loss but that is not a network problem since it MUST tolerate data loss since networks are designed to have loss.

 
Try other download programs?

All I can tell you it is not a network issue causing file corruption. It has to be the program doing the downloading....the network does not write to disks and the application should check the transfer for being correct before it writes it.
 
I general agree what others have said... but I suggest the following:

You can check for errors by going into the Modem, but interpreting the status screen is a whole other ball of wax, some errors are normal.

If serviced by DSL, you can ask carrier to configure your link for INTERLEAVING, rather than FAST PATH, this induces extra error correction in exchange for a somewhat slower performance. If u are lucky this setting is on modem and you are allowed to changed it yourself.
 
Solution


But he is not complaining about performance he is complaining that the files he transfers are corrupted. Data loss in the network will not corrupt files it will just make the transfer slower or fail the transfer.