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Problems with Yahoo, eBay, Hotmail, iTunes?

Ganesh

23:52 / 04.01.06

I can't quite place the exact time these sites started to become problematic; it was sometime between Christmas and New Year. I assumed (and, to some extent, still assume) they're simply overloaded in the post-Christmas period. The problems seem to be lasting a long time, though, and I'm wondering to what extent they might be due to other causes.

For the record, we're both on iBooks and have a third computer, an iMac, in the flat. All are experiencing the same difficulties: pages won't load completely, tending to 'stick' partway through. Clicking the 'stop' icon sometimes then produces a semi-loaded version (usually without all the pictures). This is fine with Hotmail, but renders eBay somewhat useless. Some pages won't load at all.

Are other people having these problems?

alas

00:01 / 05.01.06

I have an iBook and an iMac, and have used Yahoo & eBay with no probs in the last few days, weeks. (Yahoo daily, eBay only sporadically).

Might it be a problem with your ISP?

Ganesh

00:05 / 05.01.06

Xoc points out that you'd (presumably) be using the US versions of those sites - .com rather than .co.uk. On the other hand, I'm also failing to get onto ebay.com...

Smoothly

00:09 / 05.01.06

I've got no problems with any of those.
Could it be a cookie or page cache issue? (Does that sound like I know what I'm talking about?)

Ganesh

00:11 / 05.01.06

On all three computers simultaneously?

Ganesh

00:13 / 05.01.06

Sounds like it might well be our ISP that's at fault. Bastards. Will 'phone them tomorrow.

alas

00:17 / 05.01.06

I thought of that after I hit send, and wondered about the "co.uk" issue...

FWIW, then, additionally, my partner-in- crime uses our iMac for hotmail.com every day and has reported no problems--which also could be a US difference.

You probably need someone with more expertise than I possess, but sometimes it seems like those endless downloads updating the software on these iMachines seem to slow down the works...

Ganesh

00:26 / 05.01.06

Well, the fact that it seems to have happened to all our machines at the same time - and they don't all update software at the same time or have the same cookies or whatever - suggests to me that it's not the individual Macs that're at fault.

The Strobe

06:36 / 05.01.06

Boring question - how are you connected to the internet? Broadband? Via a router? (And if so, what kind is it?)

I used to get the "clamming up" problem til all the internet stopped. The solution: power-cycle the router, log into it, properly reboot it til it gets an ADSL connection... and we're off again. I've now upgraded my router firmware and haven't had such a problem since. If you're using a little Netgear integrated ADSL/wireless/switch thing, check what version software you're using - 1.anything was prone to this shit all the time.

Ganesh

09:52 / 05.01.06

Why would the problem mainly be happening with the sites I've mentioned above, though, as opposed to everywhere?

It's a wireless system with a router. I've no idea how one might go about upgrading the software of the router. I was under the impression it was basically a bit of hardware, like a modem...

Ganesh

10:07 / 05.01.06

If this is any clue, I left my iBook logged out overnight (as opposed to in 'sleep' mode) and eBay worked fine for about three quarters of an hour after switching on - and then got 'clogged' again.

Triplets

10:22 / 05.01.06

Hi 'nesh. I work for an ISP and we've had no reports of those sites being unavailable to our UK customers.

It will either be the router or your ISP. Try Paleface's suggestion of cold-booting everything and I'd add: try leaving all your PCs and the router turned off by the mains for 10 minutes; then boot up the modem, then the router and finally one of the PCs.

Ganesh

10:26 / 05.01.06

Okay... is that what "cold-booting" is? Switch everything off at the mains for a while? Should I close down the PCs first or log out or something?

The Strobe

11:33 / 05.01.06

By cold-booting: not just hitting reboot, but turning it off, then turning it on from cold. I've found that with some routers, that's not enough - you need to log into the router and choose the "reboot" option. If you can tell me what make it is, that'd be very helpful in terms of helping you do that.

The reason it could be the router is that it's responsible for transmitting packets, and sometimes routers break, and get confused. They're more than a modem - the bit that connects to the internet is a modem, but there's also a little computer in there acting as a server. It's the little computer that's getting confused.

For starters, anyhow, just unplugging the *router*, waiting five-ten seconds, and plugging it back in (and waiting for all the lights to come back up). Restarting the computers wouldn't hurt either. We could then think about solutions from there, but I'd be surprised if it was the ISP.

Sax

12:06 / 05.01.06

E-bay's working fine from this end (I've been checking loads because I've got some stuff on there).

Perhaps everyone should try out Amazon by buying a copy of Hinterland or something?

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