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Delay or freeze accessing Internet - TCP/IPv6 may be cause

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  • 28-10-2009 10:46am
    #1
    dowtchaboy
    Registered Users Posts: 1,486 ✭✭✭


    Symptom: laptop/netbook goes very slow or freezes when accessing a new page on the Internet. Chrome users will see a message on the bottom left saying "resolving host....." but the problem happens with IE and FireFox too with no helpful message.

    Occurs with XP (may occur with Vista) after an update and/or after running one of the Network wizards and/or Apple Bonjour.

    May be related to age of the router - same problem happens with 3 Eircom Netopia routers in my area (ahem!).

    There was a known problem with Chrome and "resolving hosts" with various solutions given out there on the 'net but the suggestions did not work on mine (a Samsung N130 netbook running XP and an Eircom Netopia 3347 router).

    What did work was - disabling TCP/IPv6. This is a new standard which will be important a few years down the road - but there are reports of problems between it, XP, sometimes Vista, and hardware that is not v6 aware - like routers more than 3 years old.

    In XP: go Network Connections, rightclick Wireless, properties, scroll down the section marked "this connection uses the following items", and look for "Microsoft xxx.. TCP/IP version 6" or similar.
    There should (must?) be also an entry labelled "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)" - that is the version 4 one (ipv4) - leave it alone!

    Untick the version 6 one (in my case I deleted it but I don't think that is necessary, and probably better if you don't so you can tick it again if needed) then OK, OK etc.
    You MIGHT need to reboot after this - I did but that's a matter of habit.

    If any of this worries you, ask your techie contact - mention this IPv6 as a possibility as not many people seem to know about it.

    A quick way to check if you have TCP/IPv6 installed is:

    run - cmd - netsh interface ipv6 show interface

    after a few seconds it will report IPv6 is or is not installed.

    If this helps you please report back so others can be helped too.
    db.

    (mods - feel free to move this if this is in wrong thread)


Comments

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    #2
    Alanstrainor
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 23,157 Mod ✭✭✭✭Alanstrainor


    Moved from laptops, it's not really something specific to laptops.


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    #3
    dowtchaboy
    Registered Users Posts: 1,486 ✭✭✭dowtchaboy


    Alanstrainor wrote: »
    Moved from laptops, it's not really something specific to laptops.
    True - but as laptops users will be logging in on many different routers, and are more likely to be using Wireless and to be running Wizards and adjusting networks settings than people with desktop systems I thought it more appropriate to put it there. Doesn't matter as long as those who like me are/were pulling their hair out over this get to see this possible solution.


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    #4
    KAGY
    Registered Users Posts: 1,089 ✭✭✭KAGY


    In firefox, type about:config in the address bar, search for IPV6 and set = False


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    #5
    dowtchaboy
    Registered Users Posts: 1,486 ✭✭✭dowtchaboy


    KAGY wrote: »
    In firefox, type about:config in the address bar, search for IPV6 and set = False
    OoooH! its scary in there! Lots and lots of possible settings to meddle with and totally screw up my internet! I never knew about these.
    For now I am OK - my PC laptops are generally OK though over the weekend they did drop out now and then with "resolving host" though I suspect that was caused by our local Eircom exchange which seems to freeze a lot, particularly at weekends. Strangely the MacBook did not have these problems (it pouts for other reasons though).


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    #6
    Stephen
    Registered Users Posts: 18,484 ✭✭✭✭Stephen


    The MacBook may just not have IPv6 enabled, which is why it won't be experiencing this. Windows Vista and 7 have IPv6 enabled by default, although afaik XP doesn't unless it was something added in service pack 3?
    I used to have this problem every time I installed a Linux system a couple of years ago because it would always try to resolve IPv6 hosts first, then wait for it to time out before going ahead and trying IPv4.


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    #7
    dowtchaboy
    Registered Users Posts: 1,486 ✭✭✭dowtchaboy


    Stephen wrote: »
    although afaik XP doesn't unless it was something added in service pack 3?
    This was on my brand-new Samsung Netbook (N130) and yes it came with XP SP3 already installed.
    I must look out for other netbook users since most of these are exactly same spec and will have XP SP3 and let them know about this IPv6 thing.
    My techie guru who normally has all the answers to network connectivity problems had never heard of this one - I suspect it is one that will come up again and again, especially as many of the buyers of netbooks will be relatively unsophisticated (technically) users and will have no clue as to why their internet access is taking soooo long.....


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    #8
    partyatmygaff
    Registered Users Posts: 10,992 ✭✭✭✭partyatmygaff


    Just to clarify

    When you about:config in firefox, it is
    ipv6.disable or something to that effect anyways, you set it to true not to false.
    This is Firefox v 3.5 the newest non beta version at the moment.


  • Options
    #9
    byte
    Moderators, Regional North West Moderators Posts: 19,096 Mod ✭✭✭✭byte
    byte


    partyatmygaff wrote: »
    Just to clarify

    When you about:config in firefox, it is
    ipv6.disable or something to that effect anyways, you set it to true not to false.
    This is Firefox v 3.5 the newest non beta version at the moment.
    network.dns.disableIPv6 I assume you mean.

    Would this be of benefit to all PC's with IPv6, or moreso, just slower Netbooks/Laptops?


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    #10
    Stephen
    Registered Users Posts: 18,484 ✭✭✭✭Stephen


    Anything with ipv6 enabled should benefit.


  • Options
    #11
    helvick
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1 ✭helvick


    Disabling IPv6 name resolution fixes the problem for Firefox but if you are using Eircom Netopia Routers and want a more general fix then try this. I needed to do this to fix name resolution issues with Chrome OS.

    Telnet into the Router (download Putty if you are using a recent Windows OS that doesn't have a Telnet Client).

    Login using whatever credentials you use for the Web Interface, then type the following commands:
    configure
    set dns proxy-enable off
    save
    restart
    The router will restart and all DHCP clients will get updated settings that now include the external DNS servers rather than pointing at the router.


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  • Options
    #12
    brotherman38
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1 ✭brotherman38


    helvick wrote: »
    Disabling IPv6 name resolution fixes the problem for Firefox but if you are using Eircom Netopia Routers and want a more general fix then try this. I needed to do this to fix name resolution issues with Chrome OS.

    Telnet into the Router (download Putty if you are using a recent Windows OS that doesn't have a Telnet Client).

    Login using whatever credentials you use for the Web Interface, then type the following commands:
    configure
    set dns proxy-enable off
    save
    restart
    The router will restart and all DHCP clients will get updated settings that now include the external DNS servers rather than pointing at the router.
    This did the trick! I was having the ipv6 problem on my fedora 12 machine with this Netopia dsl router. Thanks alot.


  • Options
    #13
    granviller
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1 ✭granviller


    We're having the same problem with Fedora 11. The computer is getting the router ip address as the DNS server via DHCP.

    Another solution is to not make changes to the router but to change the network setup to get an address only and then put in a dns server of your choosing. Since it's linux you can run a DNS server on the box it self. Other DNS server that you can use would be Google's DNS and OpenDNS, which should resolve the problem.

    The problem seems to be that the router is older and doesn't support IPv6 properly and therefore causes problems. The DNS setting pointing to the Router means that the router is being used as DNS proxy and isn't handeling the IPv6 DNS lookup properly.


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