See if you can figure this one out...

Question

First off, I use FireFox, not Safari (Safari is great, but FF works better for me)...
So here's the deal: I use MySpace as means of making some important contacts. I have a Power Mac G5 connected to a Linksys router (Model# RT41-BU) which is behind a Motorola SB-5100 cable modem. I also have three Windows XP machines on the same network.
I have no problem with any other website except MySpace. As soon as I log in, I can usually get to 2-3 pages fine. As soon as I click to access probably the 4th page, I start timing out. My computer will stall for up to 1-2 minutes. Eventually the page will either load (usually just partially at this point) or I will get a time-out error (btw, by "stalling" I mean I just sit there and wait, and wait, and wait for a page to load...NOT that the actual computer has frozen and is not responding).
If, after getting the time-out error, I then click “Try Again” the page will usually then IMMEDIATELY load w/ no problem (occasionally I will get the timeout page again after a few minutes).
If I choose to QUIT Firefox during the stalling, but BEFORE I get the time out error, and immediately open it back up, I start stalling again (at this point it’s merely trying to load my homepage, which, of course is apple.com/startpage).
If I try to go to the EXACT same pages on my Windows XP machine using Firefox I have absolutely NO problem loading any pages whatsoever…UNLESS:
If I, again QUIT Firefox on my Mac BEFORE getting the timeout error…walk 5 feet over to my Windows machine and try to load my home page (Yahoo.com), it will stall. I usually have to then wait about 1-2 minutes, and it will start back up again, and I then have no problems.
Here’s where it gets REALLY interesting:
If I DISCONNECT my Linksys router, and plug my Mac DIRECTLY into the back of my cable modem (in other words, disassemble the network, and have the modem shooting stright to the mac), I DON’T have this problem. I can log into MySpace hit any page, just as I can with my Windows machine.
Because the problem DOES NOT occur to my Windows machine while it’s ON the network, and DOES NOT occur with my Mac when it’s OFF the network, all signs point to some sort of issue with certain Macs running on certain Linksys routers. There must be some sort of conflict between the two, but I IMAGINE that there HAS to be either some sort of tweak or some sort of patch that will fix this issue.
I have had this issue from day one of owning this computer (about 4 months). It has never worked on the router properly.
I have tried reformatting the machine and reinstalling everything. No change.
I have tried lowering the MTU on both my router configuration and mac network config anywhere from 1400 to 750, with no noticable change.
I have tried several different browsers (Firefox, Safari, IE for Mac & even Opera) but still have the same results.
I’ve gone into the “about:config” page of Firfox and turned on network.http.proxy.pipelining and set the max requests to 16, with no new results.
I have tried disabling javascripting…nothing.
I have also tried contacting Linksys, and the only thing they can suggest is lowring my MTU again (It’s obvious by talking to them that English is also not their first language)
Here’s something weird as well:
WHILE the page is stalling to load, I can open the Network Utility and run a continuous ping to the page I’m trying to hit and get a consistent response on EACH ping, even though the page won’t load.
My cable modem and router BOTH operate on DHCP (IP address and DNS servers are assigned automatically – NOTHING that I know of is entered in statically).
The only thing I haven’t tried is upgrading the firmware on my router. I’d really like to use this as a LAST resort – HP ruined a DVD writer I had once with a firmware upgrade that went wrong.
I’d really like to get this fixed. I have friends in a band that are out on the road right now, and with the exception of wasting valuable minutes on my cell phone, this is the only way I have of keeping contact with them. It’s really irritating that I have to use my Windows machine…despite the fact that it’s only a few feet away, I SHOULDN”T HAVE to.
Anyone want to try and tackle this one?
Much appreciated,
--Jbj

Answer 1

Hi bmb,
So here's the deal: I use MySpace as means of making some important contacts. I have a Power Mac G5 connected to a Linksys router (Model# RT41-BU) which is behind a Motorola SB-5100 cable modem. I also have three Windows XP machines on the same network.
Does this happen only when you try to access MySpace website? Any other website works fine?
If I DISCONNECT my Linksys router, and plug my Mac DIRECTLY into the back of my cable modem (in other words, disassemble the network, and have the modem shooting stright to the mac), I DON’T have this problem. I can log into MySpace hit any page, just as I can with my Windows machine.
Smells like DHCP spaghetification...
I have tried reformatting the machine and reinstalling everything. No change.
No good, unless you tried anything funny when installing MacOS X, networking issues have are not magically fixed by re-installing the OS. This is a habit coming from the Windows world...
My cable modem and router BOTH operate on DHCP (IP address and DNS servers are assigned automatically – NOTHING that I know of is entered in statically)
What about your Mac (and the rest of your PCs)? How do they get their TCP/IP settings (manually or via DHCP)?
Your issue(s) smell DHCP big time, go to System Preferences-->Network-->Ethernet/AirPort (whatever you use to connect) and click on the TCP/IP tab. Set Configure IPv4 to Manually and post back.
How are your computers connected to the Linksys box (wired/wirelessly)?
Macs running 9.x, Macs running 10.4.x and SGI workstations running Irix 6.5.x