Multiplayer frustrations in NR2K3...

I've just recently moved to an area that I can now get adsl and I've started playing around with the multiplayer component of NR2K3. I've had some fun but it is difficult finding servers that'll let me join since I have no online racing history in this sim. That's not the big dilemma though. When I do get connected to a server and start turning some laps it seems that I last about 7 to 10 minutes and then I get kicked out of the server with an error message that says "Throughput fell to unacceptable levels... blah, blah, blah". Is there any tips on tweaking I can do to my game to keep this from happening? Is there any sites anyone can point me to that explain what is going on and how to fix it? I used to race online with GPL once in a while when I was stuck on a painful 28.8 dialup connection and this sort of thing never happened then. Any help much appreciated, Robin

Robin wrote in news:KUD7c.268082$Hy3.13331@edtnps89:

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> I've just recently moved to an area that I can now get adsl and > I've started playing around with the multiplayer component of > NR2K3. I've had some fun but it is difficult finding servers > that'll let me join since I have no online racing history in this > sim. That's not the big dilemma though. When I do get connected to > a server and start turning some laps it seems that I last about 7 > to 10 minutes and then I get kicked out of the server with an > error message that says "Throughput fell to unacceptable levels... > blah, blah, blah". Is there any tips on tweaking I can do to my > game to keep this from happening? Is there any sites anyone can > point me to that explain what is going on and how to fix it? I > used to race online with GPL once in a while when I was stuck on a > painful 28.8 dialup connection and this sort of thing never > happened then. Any help much appreciated, > Robin > > >

I am not an internet expert, but I have always understood that particular error message to be the result of your connection speed (or some component of it) to be less than the minumum specified by the server. If you look at the online races at Sierra, you will see a column labelled MLat (from memory, so it may be labelled something entirely different <g>). This is set by the host to prevent people with bad connections from making life difficult for others due to warping, etc. There isn't a lot you can do about it -- the bad connection. It is generally caused by either heavy bursts of traffic along some segment of the 'net between you and the host, or some sort of hardware failure somewhere on the 'net between you and the host. Of course, there are things you can do to optimize what little of the connection you _do_ control. You might start by going to sites such as www.dslreports.com and running their speed tests. Do this several times at different times of the day and compare the average with the rated speed that your ISP claims you should be getting. If it is well below the rated speed, check the recommendations on the site to see what they have to say about your RWin values. There is another parameter that you can change, but I can't for the life of me think of what it's called right now. If your tested speed is consistently low, you might want to have your ISP check into your line conditions and the distance from your nearest CO (I don't know if US phone companies call their switching offices where the equipment is located a "C.O." or not.) to ensure that you are getting the best speed for your situation. You might find some worthwhile info at the following sites as well. http://www.carricksolutions.com/tweaking.php http://cable-dsl.home.att.net/ Good luck. -- Darryl

I've seen this happened to many friends and all were issue with your ISP When you are on the race track press CTRL-C and you will see a window appear that monitors your connections L=latency Q=quality (packet loss) S=Syncronization good luck EL "Robin" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:KUD7c.268082$Hy3.13331@edtnps89... > I've just recently moved to an area that I can now get adsl and I'vestarted > playing around with the multiplayer component of NR2K3. I've had some fun > but it is difficult finding servers that'll let me join since I have no > online racing history in this sim. That's not the big dilemma though. WhenI > do get connected to a server and start turning some laps it seems that I > last about 7 to 10 minutes and then I get kicked out of the server with an > error message that says "Throughput fell to unacceptable levels... blah, > blah, blah". Is there any tips on tweaking I can do to my game to keepthis > from happening? Is there any sites anyone can point me to that explainwhat > is going on and how to fix it? I used to race online with GPL once in a > while when I was stuck on a painful 28.8 dialup connection and this sortof > thing never happened then. > Any help much appreciated, > Robin > >

Thanks for the info... I'll check the throughput tonight later when I normally do the online thing... when the rest of the fam is asleep. I thought of something else that might be in the mix here as well. When I got the adsl I also bought a SMC wireless barricade router to serve the internet connection to the the rest of the house and to use the firewall capabilities to keep the baddies out (hopefully). Anyway, there is a setting under the WAN menu when I login to the router to configure it that has a "More Configuration" button under the PPPoE settings. In that menu it lists "Maximum Idle Time = 10 minutes" with a check box under it labled "Auto Reconnect" that is checked. Could this setting have anything to do with getting kicked off the server approx. every 10 minutes? I've never timed it before... I've always just noticed that it is around 7 to 10 minutes or so. Just to add... I've never noticed any problems dl'ing big files with the connection halting after 10 mins. or so... not sure, just thought it might be relevant. Thanks, Robin "Eric Leblanc" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:HDF7c.19265$[email hidden]...

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> I've seen this happened to many friends and all were issue with your ISP > > When you are on the race track press CTRL-C and you will see a window > appear > that monitors your connections > > L=latency Q=quality (packet loss) S=Syncronization > > good luck > > EL > > > > "Robin" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:KUD7c.268082$Hy3.13331@edtnps89... >> I've just recently moved to an area that I can now get adsl and I've > started >> playing around with the multiplayer component of NR2K3. I've had some fun >> but it is difficult finding servers that'll let me join since I have no >> online racing history in this sim. That's not the big dilemma though. >> When > I >> do get connected to a server and start turning some laps it seems that I >> last about 7 to 10 minutes and then I get kicked out of the server with >> an >> error message that says "Throughput fell to unacceptable levels... blah, >> blah, blah". Is there any tips on tweaking I can do to my game to keep > this >> from happening? Is there any sites anyone can point me to that explain > what >> is going on and how to fix it? I used to race online with GPL once in a >> while when I was stuck on a painful 28.8 dialup connection and this sort > of >> thing never happened then. >> Any help much appreciated, >> Robin >> >> > >

Everything Daryl Johnson said, but here's another site to test your connection speeds... http://www.pcpitstop.com/internet/default.asp Robin wrote:

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> I've just recently moved to an area that I can now get adsl and I've > started playing around with the multiplayer component of NR2K3. I've > had some fun but it is difficult finding servers that'll let me join > since I have no online racing history in this sim. That's not the big > dilemma though. When I do get connected to a server and start turning > some laps it seems that I last about 7 to 10 minutes and then I get > kicked out of the server with an error message that says "Throughput > fell to unacceptable levels... blah, blah, blah". Is there any tips > on tweaking I can do to my game to keep this from happening? Is there > any sites anyone can point me to that explain what is going on and > how to fix it? I used to race online with GPL once in a while when I > was stuck on a painful 28.8 dialup connection and this sort of thing > never happened then. > Any help much appreciated, > Robin

More Immediate problem, is usually A ROGUE or even Microsoft Process or program running in the background. See 98 & XP can suddenly decide that "it" aint doing nothin, because you havent hit the mouse or a key in a while, so I could decide to go on and do somethings, Like: 1 Windows Update Checks 2 Virus-Update if you have antivirus stuff. 3 Quicktime, Realplayer, or any of the plethera of crap out there checking in, so to speak. 4 Worse is some Hijacking or Virus worm types, all I can say if you have XP, read this page find out how to cut a bunch of background processes that arent ever or seldom used to OFF. http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm Search Google for startup lister like (hijackthis.exe) so you can see if crap is running that needn't be Good Luck! Darryl Johnson wrote:

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> Robin wrote in news:KUD7c.268082$Hy3.13331@edtnps89: > >> I've just recently moved to an area that I can now get adsl and >> I've started playing around with the multiplayer component of >> NR2K3. I've had some fun but it is difficult finding servers >> that'll let me join since I have no online racing history in this >> sim. That's not the big dilemma though. When I do get connected to >> a server and start turning some laps it seems that I last about 7 >> to 10 minutes and then I get kicked out of the server with an >> error message that says "Throughput fell to unacceptable levels... >> blah, blah, blah". Is there any tips on tweaking I can do to my >> game to keep this from happening? Is there any sites anyone can >> point me to that explain what is going on and how to fix it? I >> used to race online with GPL once in a while when I was stuck on a >> painful 28.8 dialup connection and this sort of thing never >> happened then. Any help much appreciated, >> Robin >> >> >> > > I am not an internet expert, but I have always understood that > particular error message to be the result of your connection speed > (or some component of it) to be less than the minumum specified by > the server. If you look at the online races at Sierra, you will see a > column labelled MLat (from memory, so it may be labelled something > entirely different <g>). This is set by the host to prevent people > with bad connections from making life difficult for others due to > warping, etc. > > There isn't a lot you can do about it -- the bad connection. It is > generally caused by either heavy bursts of traffic along some segment > of the 'net between you and the host, or some sort of hardware > failure somewhere on the 'net between you and the host. > > Of course, there are things you can do to optimize what little of the > connection you _do_ control. You might start by going to sites such > as www.dslreports.com and running their speed tests. Do this several > times at different times of the day and compare the average with the > rated speed that your ISP claims you should be getting. If it is well > below the rated speed, check the recommendations on the site to see > what they have to say about your RWin values. There is another > parameter that you can change, but I can't for the life of me think > of what it's called right now. > > If your tested speed is consistently low, you might want to have your > ISP check into your line conditions and the distance from your > nearest CO (I don't know if US phone companies call their switching > offices where the equipment is located a "C.O." or not.) to ensure > that you are getting the best speed for your situation. > > You might find some worthwhile info at the following sites as well. > http://www.carricksolutions.com/tweaking.php > http://cable-dsl.home.att.net/ > > Good luck.

In article <q3K7c.334$wg1.152@edtnps84>, "Robin" <[email hidden]> writes:

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>Thanks for the info... I'll check the throughput tonight later when I >normally do the online thing... when the rest of the fam is asleep. I >thought of something else that might be in the mix here as well. When I got >the adsl I also bought a SMC wireless barricade router to serve the internet >connection to the the rest of the house and to use the firewall capabilities >to keep the baddies out (hopefully). Anyway, there is a setting under the >WAN menu when I login to the router to configure it that has a "More >Configuration" button under the PPPoE settings. In that menu it lists >"Maximum Idle Time = 10 minutes" with a check box under it labled "Auto >Reconnect" that is checked. Could this setting have anything to do with >getting kicked off the server approx. every 10 minutes? I've never timed it >before... I've always just noticed that it is around 7 to 10 minutes or so. >Just to add... I've never noticed any problems dl'ing big files with the >connection halting after 10 mins. or so... not sure, just thought it might >be relevant. >Thanks, >Robin

I've heard of several cases where someone's dial-up timed out because it didn't think anything was going on. Or someone having a problem with their screen saver kicking in at an inopportune monent. Even in an online game, go figure. Apperently, it appears to the computer that you aren't doing anything but looking at an empty screen. So, you may have found your own problem. I assume that you've never run on the ADSL without the router, but you might try changing the timeout and see what happens. Good luck! Eldred -- http://www.umich.edu/~epickett Screamers League IICC League GPLRank -6.0 MoGPL rank +267.80 Ch.Rank +52.58 MoC +741.71 Hist. +82.34 MoH:na N2k3 rank:in progress Slayer Spektera lvl 72 assassin Slayer Spectral_K lvl 38 Necro US East

"EldredP" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> In article <q3K7c.334$wg1.152@edtnps84>, "Robin" > <[email hidden]> writes: > >>Thanks for the info... I'll check the throughput tonight later when I >>normally do the online thing... when the rest of the fam is asleep. I >>thought of something else that might be in the mix here as well. When I >>got >>the adsl I also bought a SMC wireless barricade router to serve the >>internet >>connection to the the rest of the house and to use the firewall >>capabilities >>to keep the baddies out (hopefully). Anyway, there is a setting under the >>WAN menu when I login to the router to configure it that has a "More >>Configuration" button under the PPPoE settings. In that menu it lists >>"Maximum Idle Time = 10 minutes" with a check box under it labled "Auto >>Reconnect" that is checked. Could this setting have anything to do with >>getting kicked off the server approx. every 10 minutes? I've never timed >>it >>before... I've always just noticed that it is around 7 to 10 minutes or >>so. >>Just to add... I've never noticed any problems dl'ing big files with the >>connection halting after 10 mins. or so... not sure, just thought it might >>be relevant. >>Thanks, >>Robin > > I've heard of several cases where someone's dial-up timed out because it > didn't > think anything was going on. Or someone having a problem with their > screen > saver kicking in at an inopportune monent. Even in an online game, go > figure. > Apperently, it appears to the computer that you aren't doing anything but > looking at an empty screen. So, you may have found your own problem. I > assume > that you've never run on the ADSL without the router, but you might try > changing the timeout and see what happens. Good luck! > > Eldred > -- > http://www.umich.edu/~epickett > Screamers League > IICC League > GPLRank -6.0 MoGPL rank +267.80 > Ch.Rank +52.58 MoC +741.71 > Hist. +82.34 MoH:na > N2k3 rank:in progress > Slayer Spektera lvl 72 assassin > Slayer Spectral_K lvl 38 Necro > US East

Eldred, I tried playing around with the setting I noted in the router configuration and it still kicked me out randomly... about every 7 to 10 minutes. So, I guess that setting had nothing to do with this problem. You are right though, I've never tried the adsl without the router so I might try that just to take it completely out of the mix and try to eliminate that as a source of the problem. I've printed out the settings from Black Viper's page over a year ago and had the services that weren't necessary shut off since I installed windows xp. I also don't have any anti-virus software installed at all on my system because it just isn't used for any internet activity other than dl'ing updates and add-ons to racing sims or online racing. I've seen av software slow a system just by being installed and I need on the framerate I can get on my budget. Current system: Athlon XP 2000+ Abit KT7A-Raid mobo 256mb sdram ATI 9500 Radeon 80 Gig Maxtor SBLive! I'm currently looking into upgrading the mobo and ram to an NF2 based mobo and trying to get a little more out of the proc. I guess I'll try unhooking the router tonight and try that... if that doesn't prove to be the source of the trouble I'm not sure what to do next. I checked in the game itself last night my ping rate was as low or lower than the average person in the server... about 111 or lower. I think there's something else going on here but I'm not sure what. Thanks for the help so far, Robin

Robin wrote in news:yLZ7c.2496$Ct5.2229@edtnps89: <snip>

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> > Eldred, > I tried playing around with the setting I noted in the router > configuration and it still kicked me out randomly... about every 7 > to 10 minutes. So, I guess that setting had nothing to do with > this problem. You are right though, I've never tried the adsl > without the router so I might try that just to take it completely > out of the mix and try to eliminate that as a source of the > problem. I've printed out the settings from Black Viper's page > over a year ago and had the services that weren't necessary shut > off since I installed windows xp. I also don't have any anti-virus > software installed at all on my system because it just isn't used > for any internet activity other than dl'ing updates and add-ons to > racing sims or online racing. I've seen av software slow a system > just by being installed and I need on the framerate I can get on > my budget. > > Current system: > Athlon XP 2000+ > Abit KT7A-Raid mobo > 256mb sdram > ATI 9500 Radeon > 80 Gig Maxtor > SBLive! > > I'm currently looking into upgrading the mobo and ram to an NF2 > based mobo and trying to get a little more out of the proc. > I guess I'll try unhooking the router tonight and try that... if > that doesn't prove to be the source of the trouble I'm not sure > what to do next. I checked in the game itself last night my ping > rate was as low or lower than the average person in the server... > about 111 or lower. I think there's something else going on here > but I'm not sure what. Thanks for the help so far, > Robin >

It sure sounds like it is not your connection that is causing the problem. And your system is capable of running the game, although perhaps not in 1600 X 1200 resolution. <g> I would go looking through the computer to see what is running (both programs and services) that might be triggered at such regular intervals. Mail programs are an obvious answer, but I believe you've eliminated that. Do you have disk indexing turned on in XP? Do you have XP's built-in firewall turned on? (Although I would think that would either allow you to join or not, and not be interfering once you had joined.) To see the services that may be running (and interfering with your gameplay), Select "Adminsitrative Tools" from Control Panel. Then select "Services". Unles you're a computer geek, many of these are going to be just confuse you, but some reading of the help files and the descriptions may allow you to shut down some of the services that you just don't need. HTH, -- Darryl

"Darryl Johnson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:gHh8c.18825$[email hidden]...

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> Robin wrote in news:yLZ7c.2496$Ct5.2229@edtnps89: > > <snip> >> >> Eldred, >> I tried playing around with the setting I noted in the router >> configuration and it still kicked me out randomly... about every 7 >> to 10 minutes. So, I guess that setting had nothing to do with >> this problem. You are right though, I've never tried the adsl >> without the router so I might try that just to take it completely >> out of the mix and try to eliminate that as a source of the >> problem. I've printed out the settings from Black Viper's page >> over a year ago and had the services that weren't necessary shut >> off since I installed windows xp. I also don't have any anti-virus >> software installed at all on my system because it just isn't used >> for any internet activity other than dl'ing updates and add-ons to >> racing sims or online racing. I've seen av software slow a system >> just by being installed and I need on the framerate I can get on >> my budget. >> >> Current system: >> Athlon XP 2000+ >> Abit KT7A-Raid mobo >> 256mb sdram >> ATI 9500 Radeon >> 80 Gig Maxtor >> SBLive! >> >> I'm currently looking into upgrading the mobo and ram to an NF2 >> based mobo and trying to get a little more out of the proc. >> I guess I'll try unhooking the router tonight and try that... if >> that doesn't prove to be the source of the trouble I'm not sure >> what to do next. I checked in the game itself last night my ping >> rate was as low or lower than the average person in the server... >> about 111 or lower. I think there's something else going on here >> but I'm not sure what. Thanks for the help so far, >> Robin >> > It sure sounds like it is not your connection that is causing the > problem. And your system is capable of running the game, although > perhaps not in 1600 X 1200 resolution. <g> > > I would go looking through the computer to see what is running (both > programs and services) that might be triggered at such regular > intervals. Mail programs are an obvious answer, but I believe you've > eliminated that. Do you have disk indexing turned on in XP? Do you > have XP's built-in firewall turned on? (Although I would think that > would either allow you to join or not, and not be interfering once > you had joined.) > > To see the services that may be running (and interfering with your > gameplay), Select "Adminsitrative Tools" from Control Panel. Then > select "Services". Unles you're a computer geek, many of these are > going to be just confuse you, but some reading of the help files and > the descriptions may allow you to shut down some of the services that > you just don't need. > > HTH, > -- > Darryl > >

Darryl, I've run through the services and used Black Viper's suggestions from his site to eliminate all services that can be shut off safely for my system. No, the built in firewall is not turned on and I don't have indexing turned on either. Last night I tried just turning on the built in firewall and plugging the adsl modem (Dlink) into the back of my system directly and bypassing the SMC router all together. Turns out it must be the router that is causing this behaviour because I was able to stay connected for over an hour without the router hooked up. I've gone through SMC's online support site but everything they suggest for staying connected just hasn't worked. This is wierd... I really want to keep the router in the mix as it broadcasts my internet access to the other computers in my house (althought, when I'm sim racing the rest of the family is long in bed) and I really like the safety blanket aspect of the built in hardware firewall. I'm going to email SMC today and see if there is anything they can suggest that isn't readily apparent in the online docs and faqs. I'm not sure how long it'll take them to get back to me so if you have any experience in this area or any suggestions I'm more than willing to listen, learn, and try. Robin

"Robin" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<q3K7c.334$wg1.152@edtnps84>...

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> Thanks for the info... I'll check the throughput tonight later when I > normally do the online thing... when the rest of the fam is asleep. I > thought of something else that might be in the mix here as well. When I got > the adsl I also bought a SMC wireless barricade router to serve the internet > connection to the the rest of the house and to use the firewall capabilities > to keep the baddies out (hopefully). Anyway, there is a setting under the > WAN menu when I login to the router to configure it that has a "More > Configuration" button under the PPPoE settings. In that menu it lists > "Maximum Idle Time = 10 minutes" with a check box under it labled "Auto > Reconnect" that is checked. Could this setting have anything to do with > getting kicked off the server approx. every 10 minutes? I've never timed it > before... I've always just noticed that it is around 7 to 10 minutes or so. > Just to add... I've never noticed any problems dl'ing big files with the > connection halting after 10 mins. or so... not sure, just thought it might > be relevant. > Thanks, > Robin

What happens if you uncheck this? What I see is that the firewall is calling the connection "done" after 10 minutes, then more or less hanging up. Thanks to PPOE, DSL does this. you might have to dig deeper but you want to disable "Max Idle time" or set it to many hours, if you can. Try a better router... that is one thing that bites about DSL, the PPOE works similiar to dialup, as the server loans you an IP for a set amount of time, but your router is saying, "hey Im done, goodnight" then haivng to go, "hey I need one right quick... Course the isp just gives you the next one, but the games are trying to send to that one you had and wont accept that you have the new one, until you relogon to the Siera stuff again.

In article <SOk8c.6845$Ct5.642@edtnps89>, "Robin" <[email hidden]> writes: >I'm not sure how long it'll >take them to get back to me so if you have any experience in this area or >any suggestions I'm more than willing to listen, learn, and try. Sorry, I'm out of ideas. I don't have much experience with XP... Eldred -- http://www.umich.edu/~epickett Screamers League IICC League GPLRank -6.0 MoGPL rank +267.80 Ch.Rank +52.58 MoC +741.71 Hist. +82.34 MoH:na N2k3 rank:in progress Slayer Spektera lvl 72 assassin Slayer Spectral_K lvl 38 Necro US East

"Sting32" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> "Robin" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:<q3K7c.334$wg1.152@edtnps84>... > > > What happens if you uncheck this? > > What I see is that the firewall is calling the connection "done" after > 10 minutes, then more or less hanging up. Thanks to PPOE, DSL does > this. > > you might have to dig deeper but you want to disable "Max Idle time" > or set it to many hours, if you can. Try a better router... that is > one thing that bites about DSL, the PPOE works similiar to dialup, as > the server loans you an IP for a set amount of time, but your router > is saying, "hey Im done, goodnight" then haivng to go, "hey I need one > right quick... Course the isp just gives you the next one, but the > games are trying to send to that one you had and wont accept that you > have the new one, until you relogon to the Siera stuff again.

I have unchecked the "Auto-reconnect" checkbox and I've set the Max Idle Time to 0 as the SMC support site suggested... neither of these solutions has worked. I have an email response pending from their tech support outlining my problem and I'm hoping to get a little more than a scripted response from the help file built into router... that might be asking too much. I'm not in a position to just junk this router and buy a new one... money is a little tight and I'd just like to sort this problem. Worst case scenario is I plug the modem into the ethernet port directly when sim racing... I'll exhaust all avenues before I resort to that. Keep the suggestions coming... never know when something is gonna' work. Robin

(finally my isp's news is up) Hey, I know about money being tight, and darn I guess the warranty is up on that router then, I thought you just got it. if it wasnt for the fact that your fine, when router is not involved, I cant say there is much "hope" unless you get support to help iron this out. Id sure like to know the make and model of that thing, so that I can add to my list of things to be wary of... I just might get DSL soon it seems... Robin wrote:

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> "Sting32" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:[email hidden]... >> "Robin" <[email hidden]> wrote in message >> news:<q3K7c.334$wg1.152@edtnps84>... >> >> >> What happens if you uncheck this? >> >> What I see is that the firewall is calling the connection "done" >> after 10 minutes, then more or less hanging up. Thanks to PPOE, DSL >> does this. >> >> you might have to dig deeper but you want to disable "Max Idle time" >> or set it to many hours, if you can. Try a better router... that >> is one thing that bites about DSL, the PPOE works similiar to >> dialup, as the server loans you an IP for a set amount of time, but >> your router is saying, "hey Im done, goodnight" then haivng to go, >> "hey I need one right quick... Course the isp just gives you the >> next one, but the games are trying to send to that one you had and >> wont accept that you have the new one, until you relogon to the >> Siera stuff again. > > I have unchecked the "Auto-reconnect" checkbox and I've set the Max > Idle Time to 0 as the SMC support site suggested... neither of these > solutions has worked. I have an email response pending from their > tech support outlining my problem and I'm hoping to get a little more > than a scripted response from the help file built into router... that > might be asking too much. I'm not in a position to just junk this > router and buy a new one... money is a little tight and I'd just like > to sort this problem. Worst case scenario is I plug the modem into > the ethernet port directly when sim racing... I'll exhaust all > avenues before I resort to that. > Keep the suggestions coming... never know when something is gonna' > work. Robin

SMC Barricade 2804 Wireless Router... 802.11g, it's got a great feature list (parental controls for internet, firewall, nat, web address blocking, MAC filtering...) and it works flawlessly other than this one thing with getting kicked off with the "Receive throughput fell..." error from the Sierra servers. As a matter of fact, if it wasn't for that I wouldn't have even known it was dropping the connection because I've dl'd some Linux distros (Red Hat9, Yellow Dog, Mandrake...) and it never halted once on me. I have noticed that sometimes Winamp will "loose" an internet radio station transmission but I thought that was just the traffic on the radio station (congestion) getting to be too much. Now I'm wondering if it's the router dropping the connection with the internet and then resetting. I will post if SMC tech support comes up with a solution... maybe firmware upgrade that they don't have listed on their web site yet or something. No word from them yet but I'll keep the group posted if there is interest. Robin "Sting32" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> (finally my isp's news is up) > > Hey, I know about money being tight, and darn I guess the warranty is up > on > that router then, I thought you just got it. > > if it wasnt for the fact that your fine, when router is not involved, I > cant > say there is much "hope" unless you get support to help iron this out. > > Id sure like to know the make and model of that thing, so that I can add > to > my list of things to be wary of... I just might get DSL soon it seems... > > Robin wrote: >> "Sting32" <[email hidden]> wrote in message >> news:[email hidden]... >>> "Robin" <[email hidden]> wrote in message >>> news:<q3K7c.334$wg1.152@edtnps84>... >>> >>> >>> What happens if you uncheck this? >>> >>> What I see is that the firewall is calling the connection "done" >>> after 10 minutes, then more or less hanging up. Thanks to PPOE, DSL >>> does this. >>> >>> you might have to dig deeper but you want to disable "Max Idle time" >>> or set it to many hours, if you can. Try a better router... that >>> is one thing that bites about DSL, the PPOE works similiar to >>> dialup, as the server loans you an IP for a set amount of time, but >>> your router is saying, "hey Im done, goodnight" then haivng to go, >>> "hey I need one right quick... Course the isp just gives you the >>> next one, but the games are trying to send to that one you had and >>> wont accept that you have the new one, until you relogon to the >>> Siera stuff again. >> >> I have unchecked the "Auto-reconnect" checkbox and I've set the Max >> Idle Time to 0 as the SMC support site suggested... neither of these >> solutions has worked. I have an email response pending from their >> tech support outlining my problem and I'm hoping to get a little more >> than a scripted response from the help file built into router... that >> might be asking too much. I'm not in a position to just junk this >> router and buy a new one... money is a little tight and I'd just like >> to sort this problem. Worst case scenario is I plug the modem into >> the ethernet port directly when sim racing... I'll exhaust all >> avenues before I resort to that. >> Keep the suggestions coming... never know when something is gonna' >> work. Robin > >

"Robin" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<KUD7c.268082$Hy3.13331@edtnps89>... > That's not the big dilemma though. When I > do get connected to a server and start turning some laps it seems that I > last about 7 to 10 minutes and then I get kicked out of the server with an > error message that says "Throughput fell to unacceptable levels... blah, > blah, blah". Is there any tips on tweaking I can do to my game to keep this > from happening? That sounds exactly like what happened to a member of our league ( www.V8Thunder.com plug plug!). I put it to our resident tech expert over at our ISP partner and he said "he's using a wireless router, isn't he". I asked said member - lo and behold he was. This guy protested that he didn't think there was any way that it could be the wireless rig as all other games have no issues, but our ISP bod was adamant ("N2003 is different..."). We ran some tests - I followed him on track and every few laps he'd blink out for a few seconds. He connected a network cable from PC to router and his issue was solved immediately - and it has never returned. I will not pretend that I know why this worked, but it did... Hope this helps, Mark Davison http://www.v8thunder.com http://www.torquespeed.com

"Mark" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> "Robin" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:<KUD7c.268082$Hy3.13331@edtnps89>... >> That's not the big dilemma though. When I >> do get connected to a server and start turning some laps it seems that I >> last about 7 to 10 minutes and then I get kicked out of the server with >> an >> error message that says "Throughput fell to unacceptable levels... blah, >> blah, blah". Is there any tips on tweaking I can do to my game to keep >> this >> from happening? > > That sounds exactly like what happened to a member of our league ( > www.V8Thunder.com plug plug!). > > I put it to our resident tech expert over at our ISP partner and he > said "he's using a wireless router, isn't he". I asked said member - > lo and behold he was. This guy protested that he didn't think there > was any way that it could be the wireless rig as all other games have > no issues, but our ISP bod was adamant ("N2003 is different..."). We > ran some tests - I followed him on track and every few laps he'd blink > out for a few seconds. He connected a network cable from PC to router > and his issue was solved immediately - and it has never returned. I > will not pretend that I know why this worked, but it did... > > Hope this helps, > > Mark Davison > http://www.v8thunder.com > http://www.torquespeed.com

Thanks for the tip Mark, yes, it is a wireless router but it is connected by ethernet cable to my gaming pc... only my wife's system upstairs, my daughters system, and my laptop access the router/internet via wireless. The other thing is that it has great stats while it's connected... I pressed Crtl-C while on track to bring up the network connection stats display and everything is great until about 10 sec. before I get kicked ... just as that's about to happen the Q (Quality?) bar goes from nothing and climbs to full red. Like I said, takes about 10 sec to do this and then I'm off. Happens repeated everytime like that but from the best I can tell it's never exactly the same amount of time... varies anywhere from as short as 5 min. to 10 at the most before I'm kicked with the "Receive throughput fell..." error. Keep those suggestions coming... Robin

Okay, update time... I ran a few laps at different tracks this afternoon and I had a stop watch handy so I thought I check to see if there was any consistency to the Receive throughput fell error. I ran two sessions that both lasted 7:10 or so at Daytona, switched to Rockingham... two sessions that both lasted about 4:30, switched to Atlanta for two sessions... both lasted about 6:00, switched to Bristol for two sessions... both lasted 4:30, switched to Daytona for a session... lasted 6:00. That's minutes:seconds, btw... and it was timed from when I joined a practise session and the "Welcome" box comes up until I was kicked with the error message. Not sure what this means but I did get an interesting reply from SMC tech support today with a couple of suggestions that aren't in the help files or faqs... I'll try tonight and post the results. Robin

Weanie.... :) -Larry "EldredP" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> In article <SOk8c.6845$Ct5.642@edtnps89>, "Robin" > <[email hidden]> writes: > Sorry, I'm out of ideas. I don't have much experience with XP... > > Eldred > -- > http://www.umich.edu/~epickett > Screamers League > IICC League > GPLRank -6.0 MoGPL rank +267.80 > Ch.Rank +52.58 MoC +741.71 > Hist. +82.34 MoH:na > N2k3 rank:in progress > Slayer Spektera lvl 72 assassin > Slayer Spectral_K lvl 38 Necro > US East

In article <5q09c.2598$pM1.1740@lakeread06>, "Larry" <[email hidden]> writes:

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>Weanie.... > >:) > >-Larry > >"EldredP" <[email hidden]> wrote in message >news:[email hidden]... >> In article <SOk8c.6845$Ct5.642@edtnps89>, "Robin" >> <[email hidden]> writes: > >> Sorry, I'm out of ideas. I don't have much experience with XP...

Wa wa what?!? :-) Hey, I simply don't see a need to upgrade to XP yet. Nothing about it gets my heart racing... Eldred -- http://www.umich.edu/~epickett Screamers League IICC League GPLRank -6.0 MoGPL rank +267.80 Ch.Rank +52.58 MoC +741.71 Hist. +82.34 MoH:na N2k3 rank:in progress Slayer Spektera lvl 72 assassin Slayer Spectral_K lvl 38 Necro US East

"EldredP" wrote... > > <snip> > Hey, I simply don't see a need to upgrade to XP yet. > Nothing about it gets my heart racing... I wasn't looking forward to it either, but I have to say the transition went smoother than I expected and, IMO, it does piss on Win98 from a great height. Jan. =---

Just a final update to let anyone who is interested know that I finally have a resolution to the problems with my SMC Barricade router and NR2K3. I did the email tech support dance with SMC for the last couple of weeks and finally when they had exhausted all ideas on different settings to try they tried to tell me that it was Sierra's fault. I went ballistic in a reply email because I had borrowed an old 802.11b router from a buddy and it worked great (different brand, of course). They replied that they were sorry and that I should call their tech support centre for a "voice" consultation. Soon as I call I get a guy who verifies my email tech history with them and then asks me to describe the problem again... after I'm done he says "There's new firmware that was just uploaded today. Download it and upgrade your router... try it and see if the problem persists.". Well, holy crap! It works flawlessly now. So, did my pestering get them to fix the firmware or did they know there was a problem all along and just strung me along until they had a fix? I'm just happy it works like it was supposed to out of the box now. Thanks to all who tried to help, Robin

"Robin" <[email hidden]> wrote in news:mYscc.11691 $J56.7638@edtnps89: > Thanks to all who tried to help, > Robin They should have called the firmware update the Robinupgrade. Glad to hear things are ok now. dh

In article <mYscc.11691$J56.7638@edtnps89>, "Robin" <[email hidden]> writes:

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>"There's new firmware that was just uploaded today. Download it and upgrade >your router... try it and see if the problem persists.". Well, holy crap! It >works flawlessly now. So, did my pestering get them to fix the firmware or >did they know there was a problem all along and just strung me along until >they had a fix? I'm just happy it works like it was supposed to out of the >box now. >Thanks to all who tried to help, >Robin

Brave Sir Robin... :-) Eldred -- http://www.umich.edu/~epickett Screamers League IICC League GPLRank -6.0 MoGPL rank +267.80 Ch.Rank +52.58 MoC +741.71 Hist. +82.34 MoH:na N2k3 rank:in progress Slayer Spektera lvl 72 assassin Slayer Spectral_K lvl 38 Necro US East

"EldredP" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> In article <mYscc.11691$J56.7638@edtnps89>, "Robin" > <[email hidden]> writes: > >>"There's new firmware that was just uploaded today. Download it and >>upgrade >>your router... try it and see if the problem persists.". Well, holy crap! >>It >>works flawlessly now. So, did my pestering get them to fix the firmware or >>did they know there was a problem all along and just strung me along until >>they had a fix? I'm just happy it works like it was supposed to out of the >>box now. >>Thanks to all who tried to help, >>Robin > > Brave Sir Robin... :-) > > Eldred > -- > http://www.umich.edu/~epickett > Screamers League > IICC League > GPLRank -6.0 MoGPL rank +267.80 > Ch.Rank +52.58 MoC +741.71 > Hist. +82.34 MoH:na > N2k3 rank:in progress > Slayer Spektera lvl 72 assassin > Slayer Spectral_K lvl 38 Necro > US East

Oh oh... you're turning this into a Python thread... What's the next line? Anyone? Robin

>Oh oh... you're turning this into a Python thread... What's the next line? >Anyone? > >Robin > Goy? Eldred -- http://www.umich.edu/~epickett Screamers League IICC League GPLRank -6.0 MoGPL rank +267.80 Ch.Rank +52.58 MoC +741.71 Hist. +82.34 MoH:na N2k3 rank:in progress Slayer Spektera lvl 72 assassin Slayer Spectral_K lvl 38 Necro US East