Connection Problems Week of August 6, 2012

Talks that may or may not have anything to do with Hala or NWN

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Jenai
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Connection Problems Week of August 6, 2012

Post by Jenai »

Yes, they appear to be missing but I am also having an issue with porting over from Avlis.

I get this response: Your character file could not be transfered successfully (an error occurred). Portaling aborted.

I did get the latest haks and they worked fine a few days ago.

Thanks!

Melissa
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MissyFlows
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Post by MissyFlows »

i tried to direct connect over the last days and it wouldnt work, someone on IRC mentioned this being a prob mainly for non US players?
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Post by Psye Shaar »

It's been no problem for myself or Nas in the UK, so really not sure what to tell you I'm afraid :?

Freeze was able to get back on eventually last night and I've just had another look and can get on now no problem...
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Jenai
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Post by Jenai »

I am a U.S player.
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silverdragonams
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Post by silverdragonams »

If you're not able to connect when others are, there's a good chance its because your connection is attempting to go through a dead server between your location and Hala's. With AT&T having problems, I'd guess there is probably a lot of dead servers right now. Its happened to me a couple of times, and the only thing anyone can do about it, unfortunately, is wait it out.
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Jenai
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Post by Jenai »

Thank you :D
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Jenai even at near death is about as helpless as that kitten in Mithro. *Daemona*
terror2001
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Post by terror2001 »

What is a dead server?
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silverdragonams
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Post by silverdragonams »

I don't know the technical terms for all this. As it was explained to me, when you make a connection from your computer to another, like Hala, a path is created through various other servers for the information to move through. Sometimes that path includes a server (or computer or router or whatever) that has gone down, or is dead, and your ISP doesn't account for that. It will continue to try to route through that same path until the IP address on the other side changes, which forces the path the connection takes to be recalculated.

Like I said, that's how it was explained to me anyway. I really have no clue how this new finagled internet-ma-thingy works.
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Freeze01
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Post by Freeze01 »

:(

Sounds plausible!

However, what i dont get is that sometimes I -can- connect, but lose connection after a while and -then- can no longer connect again.

Assuming the "dead server" hypothesis, then it would assume that my ISP makes different connections each time, or at least chooses from a small number of different connections causing it to sometimes work and most of the time fail?

All this server/internet stuff is too much for my tiny brain :(
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Post by silverdragonams »

At this point, there is no telling what is actually causing the problems. But, Themi is working very hard on getting it fixed for us!
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Sable
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Post by Sable »

From my very limited understanding, the route is calculated quite frequently, so if things are working right then routes would be calculated and rerouted to get around problems. Problems can be anything from dead nodes through to ones running a bit slow - the idea being that they'll get you the fasted route to were you want to go based on the traffic on the internet at the time.

This is a blind guess, but I suspect this means that performance reporting isn't working properly, therefore dead nodes are reporting that they are fine or that these things are chached for a while because the internet is so insanely large and so traffic is being routed down a bad route and into a black hole.

If, for whatever reason, your route takes you another way (there is a slow spot between you and the bad route) and so around the bad places, then it'll work. If it then recalculates it could take you the bad way.
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Jenai
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Post by Jenai »

Thank you thank you thank you!
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Jenai even at near death is about as helpless as that kitten in Mithro. *Daemona*
Themicles
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Post by Themicles »

While it is true that there have been problems with internet infrastructure across the US this past week, it appears that our specific problem with our DSL resides with our modem.

The short version is: I've switched the modem from standard mode with the PPPoE login on the modem, to bridged mode with the PPPoE login on Zeus.

Longer details: In standard mode, inbound traffic was getting stuck at the modem and never actually making it across the LAN cable to the network card on Zeus that it's connected to. This screams Firewall behavior, however the Westell 6100 modem does not have a built-in firewall. Switching to bridged mode effectively makes it appear that the modem isn't there and that Zeus is directly on the internet. Inbound connections are no longer getting stuck at the modem and Zeus is seeing all inbound attempts on all relevant ports.

This all started coincidentally at the same time that AT&T began having nation-wide issues with DSL logins. Michigan was one of several states affected. However, we did not experience any login issues. We in fact hadn't logged out until after I started troubleshooting. This leads me to my best guess.

My best guess is that in response to the login issues, AT&T pushed a software update to all modems. The modem is set up for automatic updates and does NOT log when it has done an update, so I cannot be sure of whether it has received an update. Once I moved PPPoE to Zeus and tried visiting a web page, I was redirected to AT&T's password reset system, which is clearly again a response to the login issues they were experiencing. My bet is that the software update contained something that broke or maybe intentionally blocked inbound connections. Perhaps as a security measure, perhaps not. I don't know any of this for sure, but I'm really out of ideas.

In addition to AT&T's issues, I have read that Verizon had a backbone go down this week. Further, in my own experience the DNS servers on Comcast's cable internet and even Google's primary public DNS server (8.8.8.8) were fickle and randomly not responding.

At this time, everything appears stable and I believe it will remain that way. As always I have remote access to the network if anything acts up, and am opening myself a secure window through my cable internet in case the DSL goes down again. Kessa and I are going on a trip with her family starting tomorrow, and we will be returning late Wednesday.
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Post by Themicles »

I also want to add my apologies for how long this took to solve. I spent the first half of the week bouncing between this problem and installing a new exhaust on my car. I finally got enough time to focus on the problems after dropping my car at a shop to have them complete the install.

If you're into cars, you can see pictures and videos here:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/10417828826 ... EVhSmuGhZj
https://plus.google.com/u/0/10417828826 ... n9rwtUe8Ng
https://plus.google.com/u/0/10417828826 ... 7yMz7ubkS7
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Freeze01
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Post by Freeze01 »

Great job finding and fixing the problem!

And looking at your pictures, computers arent the only field you can find and fix problems in :)
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Post by Psye Shaar »

Servers are showing, but when trying to log in it just hangs. Not just me either apparently.
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Post by Psye Shaar »

aaaaaand all sorted again.

Thanks CD!
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Blaise Pascal (1623 - 1662)
bidocks
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No idea if it's the same issue as before or if it's me.....

Post by bidocks »

Tried logging in just now to Hala and Ysgard, through favorites menu and direct connect. I can see 2 players on Hala, and one on Ysgard, yet, it never connects to the server.... my character list never shows up. Just the little box that says, "Server found, attempting to log in"

I can log into Avlis servers just fine. Any ideas?
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Post by Psye Shaar »

There have been a couple of issues lately, but usually if you try again a few times it should work. Sometimes closing NWN completely and then going back in helps too.
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Post by bidocks »

Restarted NWN 4 or 5 times.... can see that Hala is now empty.... restarted my router and modem, just in case. Still endless wait. It doesn't freeze or lock up, just sits.
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Post by Psye Shaar »

Looks like there may be a problem afterall this time... we'll give them a kick as soon someone is able
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Post by bidocks »

*nods* sure thing..... of course.... gotta work in a couple hours. That's my luck :cry:
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Post by Psye Shaar »

Should be fine now if you want to try again.

Thank CD :)
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Post by Psye Shaar »

Or not.. bear with us folks
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Post by Psye Shaar »

aaaaand.... fixed
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