Random lag spikes

[Aerozord]

First the issue. I suddenly get massive lag spikes, especially when playing modded minecraft (I previously played it fine) and am trying to eliminate possibilities. The confusing thing is it is intermittent. Suddenly I start getting alot of lag, I suspect its not just minecraft as I have moments in TF2 when I simply cant do anything. The game keeps playing, I can see the other players acting I just cant move so I dont think its internet related. The lag is also independent of what I am doing. I can have several entites active with no issue, but get lag while dragging stuff in my inventory.

A few possible causes.
-The modpack updated
-I navigated some questionable websites while my security wasn't at its best

Both I am iffy on. If it was minecraft being more taxing than there shouldn't be sudden lag spikes. Viruses I also know are usually designed to be low-key to avoid detection plus I ran multiple scans and it came up clean.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

[Aldurin]

It could just be ISP going to shit. What you're describing was a common thing when my family was on the inferior of our local ISP options. If you know anyone else in your area that uses the same provider, check to see if they're getting similar results.

But since what you're describing with TF2 sounds like your upload speed being shot, that could be either your ISP failing to keep up to the task, or it could be some sort of virus that occasionally makes large uploads. I'm not clear on which free antivirus services are good for checking on this (I just shell out for SpyHunter so that I get the full detection and cleaning functionality).

It might be good to check to see if webpages take longer to load, too, since it is very noticeable with certain forms of viruses that like to do things like inject ads into your search results.

[Aerozord]

I use malware bytes, AVG, and ad-aware

[Grandmaster_Skweeb]

-I navigated some questionable websites while my security wasn't at its best
Any thoughts or suggestions?

Well, you could avoid doing questionable things with lax security. That's a good starting point. Also, AVG is also garbage. sure it's better than most free AV's, but it's still garbage. Like it or not, if you want an anti-virus that works you're going to have to cough up some sheckles. Kaspersky being a solid investment, for example. Which leads to my next point.

To be really thorough on your scannings you're going to need to do something like a pre-environment scan or boot to an OS where the virus/malware can't activate due to the nature of the OS architecture. Hiren's boot or various Linux flavors that are designed for virus removal comes to mind.

Then there's the issue of browser use. Malware treatment is as much, if not more, of a preventative issue as it is reactive. Preventing scripts and background shit can solve a bunch of potential issues right the bat. If you're using mozilla then slap in noscript, adblock, ghostery/privacybadger/whatever and the like. RemoveItPermently is another good addon, but not entirely necessary. If you're using chrome then back up your bookmarks and uninstall it. Shit has more holes in it than swiss cheese. Use Iron Browser (https://www.srware.net/en/software_srware_iron.php) instead. Then get Adblock+ and ScriptSafe extentions. Scriptsafe being the chromium equivalent of noscript, only lighter on resources and in some ways works even better.

And it goes without saying but it might as well be said anyway: Check your drivers. Check your drivers. Check your drivers. Check your drivers. Chipset updates, firmware updates, NIC drivers, whatever.

Power cycle your modem and router.

Or it could just be your ISP.

[Aerozord]

I did abit more research and I think I might be confusing two independent issues as the same problem. To see if it was a virus or even just an annoying program updating in the background I unplugged my internet, played the game, and watched the game log. The spikes kept happening when a certain mod ran a script (If anyone knows how to remove a specific mod from a mod pack using FTB please share it).

This of course doesn't explain the issues I had while playing online in TF2. The ISP did send me a new modem, I'm thinking maybe its junk. Or the weather has been bad and it wouldn't be the first time some wires got shorted.

I should still do some upkeep on my anti-virus though. Always a good idea but money is a huge issue with me so its very much a last resort.

---------- Post added at 07:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:06 AM ----------

ok that didn't quite fix my issue. This is what I hate about troubleshooting. Its so hard to tell if there even is one single issue thats causing it all

[rpgdemon]

Before you try anything complicated (Though it sounds like you have a bum mod, at least leading to part of the problem), unplug your modem and router. Wait 10 seconds. Plug your modem back in, and let it go through its full boot sequence. When things stop blinking/stabilize, plug your router back in. See if that helps anything.

I've had intermittent lag issues before that just required a reboot of the whole setup.

[shiney]

From what you are saying this sounds to me like a background process such as an antivirus sweep or check, or possibly an update service running out of schedule, that is taking up enough system resources that it's impacting your ability to play games. Those are much more resource-intensive than simply browsing and you would be much more likely to notice the type of lag you are suggesting.

Start a ping trace with a command window. Ping -t 8.8.8.8 will ping Google's servers endlessly until you stop it with ctrl-c. Play TF2 or whatever. Wait for lag spike. When it hits, tab over to the command window. If your response time (ms) is significantly longer (like from 17-32 to above the 100s), it is likely network related. If it is not, then it is hardware or software related. Alternately if it takes forever to tab over you may be looking at an in-house problem.

Does the entire screen freeze and go real choppy with a super low framerate or are refresh rates (such as leaves blowing in the wind, characters breathing, waves and clouds etc) still occurring on screen? Again this will help diagnose the cause of hard/software vs. network, latter suggesting network.

[synkr0nized]

On a previous machine many years back (still on XP, I think), I would get these "lag" spikes in any game, and it would be like I was frozen for a half second or a second. I went about it the wrong way at first, diagnosing network issues and then my graphics card/drivers, before I started investigating what was really using system resources when it would happen. I mean, maybe I should have gone there first -- it was my computer that was hiccuping, not the router or ISP or server. It was just the worst thing to have happen when playing an FPS or in the middle of a raid.

The end result (which I posted on another forum that does not exist anymore, so I don't remember the exact steps) was that I disabled a non-essential Windows service and never saw the problem again. I was hoping I could find my notes and which service exactly so that I could look it up and find a reputable source (i.e. not me) to describe it and why it may or may not pose issues for users.

I only relate this incident because you may need to do that kind of investigation to really get at the root, if it's not just "your ISP blows".


However, there are simpler situations that come up, as well. I had a connection in one of my previous apartments that would sometimes kick out for a few hours or get really slow for no readily ascertainable reason. Ended up being that through the house my apartment was in there were enough splits that splitting my cable outlet to the modem and television was just enough to sometimes cause the signal to tip-toe on the border of "too shitty". Easy enough -- I gave the modem a direct connection from the wall and hooked the television up elsewhere, and the disconnects and slowdowns stopped.



Good luck tracking it down.