Weird internet connection problem
When I'm surfing on the net Firefox often gives the "server taking too long to respond" error on some domains (which timeout on IE too then). After that I can't access anything on that specific domain (IP actually) for a while. Some sites do it more often than others and some can't be accessed at all most of the time (it just loads the basic HTML but not any images etc. and refresh results in the same error).
This problem appeared after I changed to a new router, but I've been having problems with the previous one too, just not anything like this. Also after I changed to the new router my WLAN started working perfectly and this problem doesn't affect it at all.
This computer is connected to the router with a 10m ethernet cable. I thought the cable could be worn, since it goes through the house, but I don't know if that can cause problems like this.
So any ideas what could be causing it or how to fix it? It's getting really annoying not being able to access some sites when I'd need to.
EDIT: Tried pinging a domain that's inaccessible and it timeouts too.
Oh and this computer has 32bit Win XP SP3. The router is A-Link. Must be something computer or cable specific since WLAN works fine. I'll try with some other computer connected with cable too.
One more thing I remembered: established connections work fine. For example I can download a torrent with my maximum speed of 2MB/s without any problems.
Mouzi wrote: When I'm surfing on the net Firefox often gives the "server taking too long to respond" error on some domains (which timeout on IE too then). After that I can't access anything on that specific domain (IP actually) for a while. Some sites do it more often than others and some can't be accessed at all most of the time (it just loads the basic HTML but not any images etc. and refresh results in the same error).
My first thought after reading this was either something with router, or a trojan. Have you checked your router settings, and access logs etc.?
Strange thing is that as you say WLAN works (is it with the same box, you have the LAN problem?), which kind of excludes any router problem.
What about your firewall, what do you use, have you changed your settings recently?
I would say that cable problem is unlikely, but that is quite easy to test, so have a go with a different computer and see.
Still my guess would be some piece of malware, or trojan. Did you scan the box against infection? Maybe running hijackthis wouldn't be a bad idea…
I did think about malware too and I have tried scanning the whole computer but didn't find anything. I keep good track of what processes are running, though, of course it could be embedded in some of them or run in memory, but my anti-virus should prompt for permission for that kind of things. I could check hijacthis too but I don't have it on this computer and the site just went inaccessible :P have to wait a few minutes.
… I pinpointed the cause to be my Firefox -.- and ONLY with my settings / extensions. I tried with an empty profile and couldn't get any page to error. IE doesn't seem to be able to cause it either. I'm not sure if it's Firefox alone though because it started doing it right after I changed my router or then it was perfect timing. I still wonder what in my Firefox configuration is causing it and how :S