High ping in certain servers

[wap]

After last month's ladle, I faced problems in a certain server again today. A few weeks ago it was Light's server in which my ping fluctuated around 1000, now it was CT USA where the same happened. All servers seem to be fine, except for the ones I mentioned. Is there something wrong with my connection/laptop or is caused by the servers? What can I do about it?

Thanks

[takburger]

Hey,

You should do some trace routes on the servers ip. To see about it.

I had some ping trouble with GA1 where I switched from 130 ping to 250 ping suddenly with no reason.

What happened was that the route used by my connection changed and was worse. So I called my ISP, they explained me they could do nothing, because the routes are negotiated internationally and may change.

But for that kind of change, which is quite big, you may have a call to your ISP because it is really too much.

[delinquent]

The route that your traffic takes is dynamic. At any point it can change depending on how much traffic there is over a certain route at any one time.

That said, this is unlikely to be the root of your problem, given the length of the ping you describe.

- Make sure you aren't running a vpn or behind a proxy
- Make sure that the firewalls running on your PC and router are working properly
- Make sure there isn't another program accessing the internet from your network
- Check to see if anyone is illicitly accessing your internet connection. Most routers have a page where one can view connected devices.
- Go to http://www.pingtest.net and test your latency
- If you're using a WiFi connection, switch to a cable and see if that makes a difference
- Check your network adaptors. Do they have the right firmware installed? Are they seated correctly? Are you using a cable thats in good condition?
- Restart your computer
- Check the quality of your cable between the router and the wall socket

There's other things you can do, but this is a basic checklist.

[takburger]

The route that your traffic takes is dynamic. At any point it can change depending on how much traffic there is over a certain route at any one time.

That said, this is unlikely to be the root of your problem, given the length of the ping you describe.

- Make sure you aren't running a vpn or behind a proxy
- Make sure that the firewalls running on your PC and router are working properly
- Make sure there isn't another program accessing the internet from your network
- Check to see if anyone is illicitly accessing your internet connection. Most routers have a page where one can view connected devices.
- Go to http://www.pingtest.net and test your latency
- If you're using a WiFi connection, switch to a cable and see if that makes a difference
- Check your network adaptors. Do they have the right firmware installed? Are they seated correctly? Are you using a cable thats in good condition?
- Restart your computer
- Check the quality of your cable between the router and the wall socket

There's other things you can do, but this is a basic checklist.

It would be a correct checklist if it wasn't for the fact that his issue is on special IP and not for all. Which means he has problem on one server and not on another, which means it is not his connection but on the way to the server.

But you are right, to check all that can cross off the list a possibility of lag origin.

Or maybe wap got ddosed during competition jk

[delinquent]

His IP makes no difference. If there is heavy traffic somewhere along the route, no matter where he started from, his ping is still going to be high.

[takburger]

His IP makes no difference. If there is heavy traffic somewhere along the route, no matter where he started from, his ping is still going to be high.

It is not his IP, but the IP of the server he has trouble to get good traffic with.

So on the route, from his most probably okay connection (as other servers are fine, his connection is ok), on the route to that 2 particular servers, there is a trouble. And it has to be found.

[delinquent]

Which is the point I'm trying to make. No matter what circumstance, at some point in the journey from wap to server there is an issue. It doesn't matter what wap's IP address is, nor what server he is trying to access.

All of this is besides the point anyway. Modern traffic routing is usually fairly reliable from a consumer point of view. I still suspect a problem at wap's end.

[wap]

Thanks for your answers guys

- Make sure you aren't running a vpn or behind a proxy
- Make sure that the firewalls running on your PC and router are working properly
- Make sure there isn't another program accessing the internet from your network
- Check to see if anyone is illicitly accessing your internet connection. Most routers have a page where one can view connected devices.
- Go to http://www.pingtest.net and test your latency
- If you're using a WiFi connection, switch to a cable and see if that makes a difference
- Check your network adaptors. Do they have the right firmware installed? Are they seated correctly? Are you using a cable thats in good condition?
- Restart your computer
- Check the quality of your cable between the router and the wall socket

There's other things you can do, but this is a basic checklist.

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but how would any of these things affect my ping in just one or two servers, and not in any others?


I think my connection is good enough to play armagetron, plus I'm also using a cable. It's just when I join these two specific servers, from the moment I enter it already takes like 10 seconds for the grid to appear and everything after that is delayed and stuttering heavily.

About that 10-second moment before the grid and chat actually appear, I think I took a screenshot of what happened in that time. However, I'm not sure if this was taken in one of those two servers, it's from quite some time ago. The only thing I'm sure of is that this doesn't usually happen. Maybe it's helpful?

http://i.imgur.com/5kGwGCP.png

[ConVicT]

I don't know if this will help but try going to Armagetron\resource\automatic and delete both "kyle", and "Light" folders.
Then go back in to their servers and it will download them again.
Since it's just their servers you're having trouble with, it's the only thing I can suggest. It's worth a shot.


Edit: Is there anything you can think of that are different about those two specific servers that other servers don't use?
Since one is Light's, and he's usually quite active, maybe he'll have some ideas.

It's happened to me quite a few times but it's never specific to a certain server, when it's happening, it's happening in all servers, so obviously that's my problem. Even although sometimes I can find no problems at all and resort to restarting my computer.

[delinquent]

wap... that output bothers me. I can't put my finger on it, but it bothers me.

In all honesty, the checklist I posted probably won't have any effect in the format that you describe. It does, however, rule out the basics.

Open up terminal and ping both servers. If they respond to icmp requests*, then we have a client or server problem.

Do me a favour too, run a traceroute to both servers. Also, install another version of the client and tell me if that has the same problem.

*Edit: Within a respectable timeframe

[dlh]

As suggested before, open Terminal.app and run:

Code: Select all

traceroute lightron.org

Level3.net seems to be blocking ICMP messages, but that doesn't necessarily indicate a problem. There's probably a ton of hops and/or a bad router in between Light's server and your connection, wap.

[wap]

As suggested before, open Terminal.app and run:

Code: Select all

traceroute lightron.org

I did this, the 'ms' varies from 30 to approximately 170, not too bad right?


The strange thing is guys, yesterday morning and today again, I checked both Light's Server and CT USA to see if the problem was still there, and it seems it wasn't. Ping was normal again.

So strange that this only happened on tournament days

[delinquent]

not too bad right?

That's terrible, actually. You should reasonably expect a variation of about 40ms in your ping, depending on the quality of the packet route. A variation of 140ms is... diabolical. Sometimes, though, it happens. Run a few more ping requests and see if the fluctuation is a common theme or a one time occurrence.

[takburger]

As suggested before, open Terminal.app and run:

Code: Select all

traceroute lightron.org

I did this, the 'ms' varies from 30 to approximately 170, not too bad right?


The strange thing is guys, yesterday morning and today again, I checked both Light's Server and CT USA to see if the problem was still there, and it seems it wasn't. Ping was normal again.

So strange that this only happened on tournament days

Can you paste us the result? (you can blurr your ip (the first one).

Maybe it happened only on tournament days... I usually lag more during tournaments (I guess spectators as well as sunday night) but nothing like you... Maybe you got targeted ? :O (in this case your whole connection would have been affected and if it happens then just go to the command line and do ping www.google.com and ping lightron.org. If both bad then it means your connection is affected, if only one bad then it is something else).

[wap]

This is what I get when I traceroute to lightron.org:

Code: Select all

MacBook-Pro-van-*****:~ *****$ traceroute lightron.org
traceroute to lightron.org (174.140.113.192), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets
 1  192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1)  0.847 ms  0.553 ms  0.456 ms
 2  s53756701.adsl.online.nl (**.***.***.*)  25.134 ms  119.302 ms  25.655 ms
 3  v3084.har1-gn-c.nl.euro.net (194.134.19.175)  189.791 ms  164.166 ms  140.666 ms
 4  v3085.har1e-gn-z.nl.euro.net (194.134.19.177)  171.216 ms  27.060 ms  25.891 ms
 5  194.134.19.178 (194.134.19.178)  29.465 ms  29.248 ms  28.529 ms
 6  ae3.cr1-asd6.nl.euro.net (194.134.161.229)  29.044 ms  29.485 ms  28.743 ms
 7  ae0.br1-asd6.nl.euro.net (194.134.161.217)  29.804 ms  29.668 ms  29.946 ms
 8  te2-7.ccr01.ams05.atlas.cogentco.com (149.11.80.57)  30.081 ms  29.909 ms  29.507 ms
 9  te0-1-0-28.ccr41.ams03.atlas.cogentco.com (130.117.2.105)  30.317 ms
    te0-7-0-28.mpd22.ams03.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.72.54)  30.339 ms  29.535 ms
10  be2275.ccr21.lon13.atlas.cogentco.com (130.117.51.253)  37.953 ms  37.483 ms
    be2185.ccr22.lpl01.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.37.106)  40.892 ms
11  be2386.ccr21.bos01.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.44.161)  105.666 ms
    be2387.ccr22.bos01.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.44.165)  105.516 ms  106.585 ms
12  te0-3-0-5.ccr21.alb02.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.30.17)  115.690 ms
    te0-0-0-5.ccr21.alb02.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.43.10)  114.457 ms
    te0-7-0-5.ccr21.alb02.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.27.153)  111.488 ms
13  te8-8.ccr01.buf02.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.27.178)  119.761 ms
    te3-8.ccr01.buf02.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.42.241)  117.195 ms
    te8-8.ccr01.buf02.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.27.178)  117.838 ms
14  te0-5-0-2.ccr21.cle04.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.31.237)  122.802 ms
    te0-2-0-2.ccr21.cle04.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.27.86)  125.508 ms
    te0-1-0-2.ccr21.cle04.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.43.117)  125.112 ms
15  te7-8.ccr01.pit02.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.83.174)  367.932 ms
    te7-7.ccr01.pit02.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.83.170)  176.182 ms
    te4-2.ccr01.pit02.atlas.cogentco.com (154.54.30.10)  173.831 ms
16  38.104.120.114 (38.104.120.114)  130.911 ms  128.166 ms  130.611 ms
17  * * *