hate to do this again but....

[pleasenopouncing]

i need help with my lag me and my bro managed to lower the length of the lag but it still happens (here is what i already started on my other topic viewtopic.php?f=44&t=462 )

ok another thing i have is vista.we also upgraded our internet and it did not help.i have even plugged in my computer to our router and tried then still to no avail.today my bro took alot of time after dinner to try and figure it out but again to no avail. so if u have any tips i will try and say if we have tried that or if we will try tat next but plz i really want to fix this guys thanks alot for all who try and help.

[GrimGriz]

does the windows task manager still come up in vista when you hit ctrl+alt+del? If it does, if you could bring that up, hit alt+prtScn, and then open up paint or some other graphics program and hit ctrl+v to paste it...maybe those pics would help us help you, especially the processes tab.

[captainAngry]

I still think it is the wireless connection. When you plugged your computer into your router did you disable your wireless connection? If not, it could have still been using the wireless connection to connect to the game. I would disable your WiFi (right click on the icon and click disable), plug in to your router and then try playing for a while. If that doesn't fix it it almost has to be your computer.

I have experienced almost the exact same problem you have and it was related to the WiFi at my work. It works really well sometimes but my ping will spike intermittently. Using the internet or other web things you would never know but when I am in a game it starts to become annoying. I can fix this by moving around the building and finding a better signal strength. That makes it happen less often. When you tested plugging in to your router, I would guess you were really close to where your WiFi signal comes from and thus had a better connection which would explain less lag. Assuming you didn't disable your WiFi connection that is.

Also, it sounds like you run your game on WiFi while others in your house are using other computers. Anything from your sister watching a YouTube video to your brother downloading porn would cause your connection to lag a bit

[Riftoff]

Have you tried turning off your Wireless Zero Configuration? If you are lagging every 60 seconds for a few seconds then that's probably it. I dunno how to do this in Vista, but a google search should tell you how.

[pleasenopouncing]

ok, grim i will post the pic of my task manager soon but captain i did disconnect my wireless connection while i was connected to it.it did help a little bit but not enough to fix the problem.it helped by lowering the amount the ping spiked but it still went into the hundreds (normally my ping goes to 150-170 but plugged in it went to 120) anywhere in the hundreds is where it lags, and when people r downloading things it lags alot but not youtube vids. rift vista does not have wireless zero configuration but it has something similar that we have turned off when i am playing.

update: ok so my bro even asked his steam group for some help and here is what he posted just in case it helps:

My little brother runs TF2 on an Acer Extensa 4420 laptop under Windows Vista. It actually has a half-decent graphics card (for that price point) instead of the Intel GMA nonsense, so he can run the game OK, but he's been complaining about periodic lag spikes. Last night, I was trying to troubleshoot, and I'm at a loss.

We first tracked down and eliminated Vista's problem where it searches for new wifi networks every minute or so. (I set up some shortcuts on the desktop that use netsh to turn on and off the wi-fi autoconfiguration, and we've installed both Vista AntiLag and WLAN Optimizer). That seems to have helped a little, but he is still getting some lag spikes.

He's running more recent drivers than I can find on Acer's website for his wifi card. Switching to the XP drivers seemed to make things worse, so I used System Restore to go back to the Vista drivers.

I set it up to continuously ping another computer on our network. Most of the time it returns in 1 or 2 ms, but once about every 70 seconds or so it will time out for a packet or two, then go back to normal.

I've removed the Acer wifi utility. His free Macaffee trial just ran out, so we uninstalled it, and so I don't what third-party software might be affecting the issue. Could Windows Defender be affecting this in some way?

I even tried disabling the wifi and plugging directly into our router via an ethernet cable, with no effect.

It doesn't affect any other computer on the network, so I'm certain the problem has something to do with his laptop, but I can't figure it out. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks!



UPDATE 2: here is that pic:

[z0th]

I've removed the Acer wifi utility. His free Macaffee trial just ran out, so we uninstalled it, and so I don't what third-party software might be affecting the issue. Could Windows Defender be affecting this in some way?

doubtful -- unless you noticed this happening directly after an update, and WD was the only thing that was updated.

I even tried disabling the wifi and plugging directly into our router via an ethernet cable, with no effect.

this is a pretty good indicator that its system related.

the other thing you want to check is your startup group/apps, the task manager (AFAIK) will not necessarily show TSR apps (terminate and stay resident). WinVista seems to have the same msconfig tool to check your startup apps as XP/2k/98 did. you may want to check there as well. some usage junk in the link there. theres a pretty long list here of startup apps. this list also has a key to tell you if the process is required or not, and a bit of info about it. theres also a downloadable list more appropriate for using CTRL+F with here (beware, page is huge).

[Original]

Hey thanks zoth!
I have never been able to figure out how to get programs to not run at start-up, etc... Not that I've ever looked into it very far but always wanted to know

[pleasenopouncing]

another update i copied my console after i went into the server and this is what i got(i had to delete a bunch of the things that say who killed who stuff but i think i got it all)



ConVarRef hud_quickinfo doesn't point to an existing ConVar
ConVarRef topcolor doesn't point to an existing ConVar
ConVarRef bottomcolor doesn't point to an existing ConVar
ConVarRef cl_himodels doesn't point to an existing ConVar
ConVarRef cl_playermodel doesn't point to an existing ConVar
ConVarRef cl_crosshairusealpha doesn't point to an existing ConVar
--- Missing Vgui material vgui/crosshairs/
ConVarRef cl_crosshairscale doesn't point to an existing ConVar
ConVarRef hud_quickinfo doesn't point to an existing ConVar
ConVarRef hud_quickinfo doesn't point to an existing ConVar
ConVarRef cl_himodels doesn't point to an existing ConVar
ConVarRef cl_crosshairusealpha doesn't point to an existing ConVar
exec: couldn't exec userconfig
cfg.Host_WriteConfiguration: Wrote cfg/config.cfg
Unknown command: cl_crosshairscale
ConVarRef hud_quickinfo doesn't point to an existing ConVar
ConVarRef cl_himodels doesn't point to an existing ConVar
ConVarRef cl_crosshairusealpha doesn't point to an existing ConVar
exec: couldn't exec userconfig.cfg
Host_WriteConfiguration: Wrote cfg/config.cfg
Unknown command "cl_crosshairscale"
Connecting to 216.52.143.91:27015...
Connected to 216.52.143.91:27015
Team Fortress.Map: cp_amsterdam_b1
Players: 14 / 32
Build: 3792
Server Number: 7
Attemped to precache unknown particle system "rockettrail_!"!
No pure server whitelist
sv_pure = 0
•cC•superlagging{TTFP}
connected.Redownloading all lightmaps

[z0th]

Hey thanks zoth!
I have never been able to figure out how to get programs to not run at start-up, etc... Not that I've ever looked into it very far but always wanted to know

np.

C(rap)Cleaner can be helpful in cleaning up the general cruft that windows builds up. just dont disable/remove stuff you arent sure about.

http://www.ccleaner.com/