Tag Archives: 3G

WoW dropouts over a 3G wireless connection

Computer Aid Posted on by

Customer asks me to try to find the cause of World of Warcraft (WoW) dropouts.

The last time I saw him (about 2 years ago), I installed a video card, as the built-in video wasn’t compatible with WoW.

He thinks that the video card might need an upgrade.

Once on site, I see he gets to the internet using a telstra nextG 7.2 USB wireless dongle.

I’m suspecting network dropouts, but I install a more modern video card so I can rule it out.

He still notices some dropouts (less often than before), but they still happen.

I also get to see what he means by dropout: his WoW character will continue to move about, but all other characters stop moving. if he leaves the session and then re-connects, then his character restarts from where the “dropout” happened.

I still suspect that the nextG network is at fault… he gets good signal strength, but I tell him that I have no way of knowing what happens at the wireless network level… it is possible that the occasional WoW network packet is “invisibly” delayed long enough (by the wireless network) to cause a dropout from the WoW server.

I try a ping test (although ping is not a great test), but the pings seem to work perfectly for at least 1 minute.

In the end he is happy to keep the newer video card, and I suggest he take the PC to a friend or relative that has ADSL… This should confirm or deny if the network type is causing the dropouts.

very messed up XP system (firewall: some settings are controlled by group policy)

Computer Aid Posted on by

A new customer called, wanting a price for Service Pack 2 for windows XP.

It seemed a bit odd, but since I didn’t take the call, and the customer was on my way home, I told Mandy to relay a price of $10, and that I’ll be there in about 30 minutes.

Turns out he had just reinstalled XP, but needed SP2 before he could connect to the internet via a USB 3G connection. So I copy it onto the laptop, and also write down the names of programs he should download and install (once SP2 is complete).

I know there is a bit more to reinstalling XP than just running the installation / recovery CD (install drivers, security, defrag, setup MS office (or openoffice), do all the MS updates, etc). But I don’t mention any of that… I don’t know the customers technical expertise, so I just leave it at that.

Well, a few days later, the customer calls back, saying he still cannot connect to the internet, and would I be able to fix his non-working USB ports.

Seems like I need to complete the XP reinstallation… so I fix most of the drivers (he doesn’t have a driver CD, and there is no recovery partition on the HDD.

After that, I notice a few strange things: the XP firewall is off (and is greyed-out… so it cannot be enabled). There are some strange programs that startup, and usb drives work correctly, but not his USB 3G modem.

I remove the HDD, and scan it from the office PC… and it detects about 30 infected files… I remove the infected files, and put the HDD back in the laptop.

I ring the customer, but he doesn’t know how he reinstalled windows… OK, he probably did a repair install, and so the prior infection lingered on.

But even after I removed all the nasties from the laptop, it still behaved strangely: firewall still wouldn’t switch on; some important services were off (and wouldn’t switch on); once on the internet, I could ping, but not get any web pages (neither ie7, nor firefox!).

So I go through the laborious task of enabling the appropriate services.

And when they wouldn’t start, find a fix on the net (usually a registry setting).

Same with the firewall: when trying to start the firewall service, it would fail with: some settings are controlled by group policy.

A long search of the net finds about 3 different ways to fix this… I find I need to try all 3 before the firewall finally switches on.

Once the firewall is on, everything else starts to fall into place: I can perform windows updates, I can view websites, the 3G modem starts working correctly, etc.

Funny how customers can make a simple request (fix my usb ports), but its actually the tip of an iceberg (of work!)