Vista or Browsers or Router problem?

[russel]

I have a strange problem that I can't really understand why. I'm gonna list down everything as detail as possible.

My laptop is running on Vista Business 32bit with Firefox 3.0.3 installed and connected to a Belkin wireless router. Whenever I try to open certain sites FF, 50-80% of it will get network timeout. Moreover, sites like Facebook will take ages to load and stuck at Connecting to static.ak.fbcdn.net

Let me show you an example of how facebook will look like after it took ages to load.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y257/sissonne/FFFB.jpg



Even images.google.com is not loading up. All the images didn't load up after it took a minute or 2 trying to Connect to tbn0.google.com.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y257/sissonne/FFImage.jpg


The strange part is, this problem seems to be replicable at IE 7 and Google Chrome. And, I have another machine connected to the same wireless router which runs on XP SP3 and FF 3.0.3, I decided to test load those pages. It seems to load okay but just not on my Vista laptop. So which makes me think back, could it be due to Vista? However, Safari seems to perform slightly better than the rest with higher chance of successful loading the pages.

So now I'm pretty lost, I don't know where are the problems whether could it be the browsers or Vista? This network timeout problem is driving me crazy especially when I got to google for solutions with my other Firefox that is running on XP SP3 within the same home network.


I shall now compiled a list of what I've done and it DIDN'T help at all:

1. Disabled tcp autotuning.
2. Reset winsock and tcp stacks.
3. Flushed DNS.
4. Upgraded router to latest firmware.
5. Disabled IPv6 and teredo tunneling in registry.


Hmm...what did I missed out ? Or rather what can I do more ?

 

[Fumz]

Enabling or disabling IPv6 isn't going to anything for you since all US internet traffic is still IPv4; however, you'd like to keep it enabled so your networked Vista machines can talk. The first screenshot looks identical to what I would see when browsing to a page unfamiliar to NoScripts... and until I allowed the page to run the script, this is exactly what I see. Seems to me the issue is one of missing plugins and/or pop-up blocking or NoScripts? Hopefully something simple like that.

 

[russel]

Nah don't have any NoScripts addon running and don't think it's that simple
Okay found something different and new now.

I've tried to connect my Vista to another network that is connected to DLink wireless router and it seems to work perfectly alright ! No network timeout at all and everything is smooth.

So now seems that we've isolated the problem. Don't think its a browsers problem but more of router and Vista compatibility issue?

But I thought most of the routers have already patched up their drivers and especially we're talking about Belkin wireless router (with ADSL modem). Furthermore, I've upgraded the firmware for that Belkin router and Belkin brand was listed in Microsoft Vista's list of compatible routers/switches.

This still sucks though, which means that there is a high chance that my Vista wouldn't work perfectly whenever I roam to certain networks that are running on certain routers/switches that are not 100% compatible with Vista

 

[Fumz]

First off, please forgive the quote train. I do not do it to be insulting, rude or condescending... it's just that you had a few points, and, to the best of my ability, I'd like to address them each.

So now seems that we've isolated the problem. Don't think its a browsers problem but more of router and Vista compatibility issue?

Or, more likely, a router to router problem; D-Links do not really play nice with other routers. You mentioned having both a D-Link and a Belkin. If you could lay out the topology of the problem network (I assume home) that would be great.

But I thought most of the routers have already patched up their drivers and especially we're talking about Belkin wireless router (with ADSL modem).

Not necessarily. It's up to the user, most often, to upgrade the firmware. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong on this.

This still sucks though, which means that there is a high chance that my Vista wouldn't work perfectly whenever I roam to certain networks that are running on certain routers/switches that are not 100% compatible with Vista

Vista machines, given "working' routers and switches, use IPv6 to communicate with eachother. Again, given a "working" network, everything "should" be fine no matter where you go.

 

[russel]

No worries Fumz, your replies are greatly appreciated, at least someone is looking into it

Sorry that I didn't clarify on the different routers environment thingy. This problem first occured when I was connected to a Belkin wireless router at Home A. Later, I decided to give it a try with a different router which is the DLink at Home B. So two different locations

Lastly, I've patched to the latest firmware at Home A and seems to be happening still, so kinda weird and don't really know what to do next.

 

[Fumz]

Ok, two homes; thus, two networks, both with wireless. Network A is the d-link and network B is the Belkin. You've upgraded the firmware to network A (d-link) but not yet network B (Belkin). The problem you report is that on both networks, the http pages you view look identical; seen in your first post, right?

 

[russel]

Nope I didn't upgrade the firmware for DLink and it works
Belkin even after upgrade still didn't work.

The problem only seems to happen at network with Belkin only.
Therefore, the screenshot of the http pages only happen at that network with Belkin and NOT DLink.

Anyone else here with Belkin and Vista?

 

[Fumz]

Nope I didn't upgrade the firmware for DLink and it works
Belkin even after upgrade still didn't work.

The problem only seems to happen at network with Belkin only.
Therefore, the screenshot of the http pages only happen at that network with Belkin and NOT DLink.

Anyone else here with Belkin and Vista?

I love it when problems solve themselves. So, am I correct in assuming we've (you've) reduced the "problem" from 2 networks to 1? And so really, what we're taking about is a problem configuring the Belkin router?

 

[russel]

Well yea since now we've isolated the problems until this part, Belkin router vs Vista
Will be going there again this coming Friday, till then, I won't be able to provide any details on the Belkin's settings though.

Weird to me because another machine running on XP SP3 is working fine within that Belkin network. Just not Vista...zzz...

 

[Fumz]

It's really not a Vista problem. Vista is different, I'll cede that, but it's certainly not problematic, especially when it comes to networking. On the contrary, it's much easier to network than XP, and as far as the gui goes, Vista rocks XP...it's a friggen dream. Even nubcakes can network Vista.