simplefranco

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Oct 9, 2010
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Hi everyone.
I've been having this weird brief lag spikes for a long time now. I only notice them when I'm playing on-line games, as I lose control of my character for a few seconds, and then everything runs smoothly again.

One thing I noticed (this after a long time with this issue) was that it apparently triggers at either an half-hour, or a specific hour; I mean, I started checking the time and to my surprise it was always either xx:30, or xx:00, like 19:30, 22:30, 00:00.

I thought it could be some sort of auto-update feature, but I've had a hard time finding what is causing this! I messed with the task scheduler and I removed some Google update crap (not saying this was the reason) but the problem still persists.

Now, I don't even know if these lag spikes are caused by my own machine, so I feel lost here. Is there anything that I can do to at least have an idea of what's causing this issues?

I have a 30/3.5 Mbps (D/U) connection and get very decent latency (around 75ms on, say, League of Legends and 50ms on BF3).

As for my home setup, it goes something like:
Modem-router (living room) » Router (my room) » localhost

Thanks in advance, everyone!
 

simplefranco

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Oct 9, 2010
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Allright, so I've done some digging and tweaked around with my connection setup and I think I may have done some progress which means maybe you guys can help me out.

I plugged my computer straight into the modem router (which means my Sitecom WL-340 was disconnected) and even though it was a short time (like 2, 3 hours) I didn't get those weird lag spikes that I usually have.

So I thought it could only be related to this router (the moment I thought this, I was even more assured, as even with another ISP, I remember having the exact same sympton) and I decided to check on the router's event log and there are some patterns!

My modem syncs to somewhere (which I believe to be a time server) every now and then, and again, always at that specific half-hour, as I mentioned above (either at 16:30, 19:30, 22:30, etc) and I think that's what's causing the trouble! Then again, I have my doubts, as I wonder why a very quick sync is hunging my connection for about 2, 3, sometimes even 5 seconds.

Here's a portion of my log:

[Wan]:WAN DHCP Client Connected IP 192.168.1.72 : Thu, 2012-11-01 16:14:45
[ntp]:Send out NTP request to europe.pool.ntp.org Thu, 2012-11-01 16:30:42
[ntp]:Receive NTP Reply from europe.pool.ntp.org Thu, 2012-11-01 16:30:42
[Wan]:WAN DHCP Client Connected IP 192.168.1.72 : Thu, 2012-11-01 16:44:45
[Wan]:WAN DHCP Client Connected IP 192.168.1.72 : Thu, 2012-11-01 17:14:45
[Wan]:WAN DHCP Client Connected IP 192.168.1.72 : Thu, 2012-11-01 17:44:45
[Wan]:WAN DHCP Client Connected IP 192.168.1.72 : Thu, 2012-11-01 18:14:45
[ntp]:Send out NTP request to europe.pool.ntp.org Thu, 2012-11-01 18:30:48
[ntp]:Receive NTP Reply from europe.pool.ntp.org Thu, 2012-11-01 18:30:48
[Wan]:WAN DHCP Client Connected IP 192.168.1.72 : Thu, 2012-11-01 18:44:45
[Wan]:WAN DHCP Client Connected IP 192.168.1.72 : Thu, 2012-11-01 19:14:45
[Wan]:WAN DHCP Client Connected IP 192.168.1.72 : Thu, 2012-11-01 19:44:45
[Wan]:WAN DHCP Client Connected IP 192.168.1.72 : Thu, 2012-11-01 20:14:45
[ntp]:Send out NTP request to europe.pool.ntp.org Thu, 2012-11-01 20:30:53
[ntp]:Receive NTP Reply from europe.pool.ntp.org Thu, 2012-11-01 20:30:54


All help appreciated; thanks in advance!
 

john-b691

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Sep 29, 2012
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What do you have the dhcp timeout value set to. The DHCP client will renew its request at 1/2 the lease time. Not sure this would actually make a difference as long as it is successful. I would set the lease time in a home environment to be at least a day if not a week.

I would suspect you could disable the NTP if you wanted but it should have no effect
 

simplefranco

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Oct 9, 2010
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Hi john!
Thanks for your reply.

I checked my DHCP (I have no idea what this is) timeout and it is set to "Forever".
This is a home environment so I will take your advice and change it to a once a week.

From my understanding you believe that the NTP is not what's causing the issue, so I shouldn't be bothered to tweak it. Is this correct?
 

john-b691

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Sep 29, 2012
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I guess it depends what the client connected message means. If that is just the client renewing that may be ok. If it is the client actually reacquiring the address that is a huge problem.

Maybe the event viewer will show you something on the PC. Normally the PC will not reacquire it address unless it thinks the interface went completely down.

I won't think it matter either way if you mess with NTP or not. It would be a bug in the router if it somehow affect the operation of the router. All it does is keep the router clock in sync but does it matter if the clock is a little off in a router.