Video buffering.

[Mike G]

Websites are held on servers, which have addresses which (ignoring newfangled stuff) have addresses that might look a bit like 216.24.57.252. If you try to go to (say) https://www.cgtk.co.uk, your computer asks a DNS server what the address of "www.cgtk.co.uk" is and (hopefully) it replies with 216.24.57.252. Your computer then sends a message (using a protocol called https) to that address to get the web page.

If DNS doesn't work, your computer doesn't know where to send the requests to and hence websites don't work.

Google's DNS server is very reliable.

Here you go: https://www.whatismyip.com/google-dns/

I have just changed my DNS settings to 8.8.8.8, with 1.1.1.1 (Cloudfare) as the alternative. I'm going to do yet another restart........

..........and it's made no difference.

 

[Mike G]

I've tried to catch up with the backlog of suggestions from yesterday, when I was rather occupied with other things. Is there anything I've missed which I should have done?

 

[Lons]

Hi Mike
I'm busy this morning but just nipped on to Dell support, typed your model number and got a list of possible drivers which could (presumably) be downloaded. Took a screenshot of some of them. Didn't have time to check they are for win 10 or 11 but they will be available even if Dell has stopped support. Correction it IS for Win 10 64 bit

Support for Inspiron 3650 | Drivers & Downloads | Dell UK

Forgot to say Mike. When you get on to that page via the link, click on the expand button to see the list of available drivers.

My laptop is an Inspiron 3793 and I never have an issue updating drivers though it's a couple of years younger than your desktop.

 

[Mike G]

Well, this is proving tricky. As well as Dr Al's DNS advice...
Have you checked that your internet driver software is up to date? (check version vs what your wife is using)
Are you using 2.4 or 5 GHz band - try switching

I don't know. How do I find out, and how do I change?

Have you added or updated software recently that could be causing a conflict?

Only in the last day or two in trying to solve the problem

Have you ruled out wi-fi issues by using ethernet cable?

Yes. It makes no difference

Have you tried "forgetting" the wi-fi and doing a restart?

Yes

Have you restarted the router (waiting at least 30secs for re-start)?
Have you done the usual ping tests?

Yes, multiple times

How old is the PC?

Five years old.

 

[Mike G]

Hi Mike
I'm busy this morning but just nipped on to Dell support, typed your model number and got a list of possible drivers which could (presumably) be downloaded. Took a screenshot of some of them. Didn't have time to check they are for win 10 or 11 but they will be available even if Dell has stopped support. Correction it IS for Win 10 64 bit

Support for Inspiron 3650 | Drivers & Downloads | Dell UK

Forgot to say Mike. When you get on to that page via the link, click on the expand button to see the list of available drivers.

My laptop is an Inspiron 3793 and I never have an issue updating drivers though it's a couple of years younger than your desktop.

I have just downloaded this lot from Dell, and am doing the requisite re-start:

 

[Robert]

My graphics card is an Intel R HD Graphics 530, and the driver is 26.20.100.7263 dated 2019

I just looked on the intel site and there is a much newer driver for that graphics - dated 2022.

The Intel update probably didn't find it because your PC as i now see is Dell and dell have their own update system. Ahh I see you are already there while I was typing! Fingers crossed.

 

[Mike G]

All hopes of driver updates doing the trick......dashed.

 

[Lons]

I have just downloaded this lot from Dell, and am doing the requisite re-startView attachment 29183:

Did you also download the wifi and ethernet drivers Mike? There are several available. They don't appear to be any newer than your system but yours could possibly be corrupted. Also I can't remember if already suggested but have you tried the various Win 10 trouble shooting facilities?

Given the time you've spent you could have reinstalled the whole system though you would have to also have to install your other programs again and get rid of the bloat supplied by Dell. I do mine occasionally, used to do it every year with my desktops and it takes the ststem back to new state.

Reinstall Microsoft Windows | Dell UK

 

[Robert]

Have you had task manager open while trying to stream video? It might give a clue as to what is happening.

Right click the task bar and choose task manager or open it other ways. You may have to drag the window wider to see all the columns on the processes tab. You can sort the list of processes by CPU use etc by clicking on the head of the CPU column etc. See if anything goes extreme while buffering.

Options 'always on top' if it goes into the background on you.

 

[Robert]

Thinking... what other video sites have you tried? Does tiktok play ok?

You tube will punish anyone it detects using an ad blocker by throttling the connection to very slow so you get buffering. You could be on a 'blacklist' if you got a warning about adblockers and ignored it. I doubt removing the adblock would immediately fix it.

 

[Deejay]

I'm on W10, and there was an update on the 11th of last month. I suspect my problem arose after that date, but it's not impossible, I suppose, that it's been going on that long. It feels more like 10 days or a fortnight.

 

[Mike G]

Thinking... what other video sites have you tried? Does tiktok play ok?

You tube will punish anyone it detects using an ad blocker by throttling the connection to very slow so you get buffering. You could be on a 'blacklist' if you got a warning about adblockers and ignored it. I doubt removing the adblock would immediately fix it.

I feel there is more to it than that, Robert, because Facebook is also not functioning properly. Indeed, it barely functions at all. I've never been on Tik Tok, but videos on manufacturer's websites, not hosted on Youtube, have also failed to function for me.

 

[Mike G]

Have you had task manager open while trying to stream video? It might give a clue as to what is happening.

Right click the task bar and choose task manager or open it other ways. You may have to drag the window wider to see all the columns on the processes tab. You can sort the list of processes by CPU use etc by clicking on the head of the CPU column etc. See if anything goes extreme while buffering.

Options 'always on top' if it goes into the background on you.

I have done this, but unfortunately I don't really know what I'm looking for. No doubt someone who knew their way around computers might glean something useful. I tried taking screenshots to post here, but Task Manager disappears and seems un-screen-shotable.

 

[Deejay]

Morning Mike
Someone mentioned troubleshooting. There is a system file checker built in to win 10.
In file explorer, navigate to This PC - Local disk and right click on the drive. (C
chose Properites - Tools.
Click the 'Check' button.
On my PC I'm told that 'We don't need to scan this drive ...' but I get the option to scan it anyway and fix any errors found.

Worth a look

Cheers

Dave

 

[AJB Temple]

OK. My next step would be full back up, wipe the machine and do a full reinstall. If that didn't solve it.....

This PC is needed for work. Hence tax allowable. A decent gaming PC (therefore with half decent graphics card for vide and rendering), fast chip and plenty of memory, can be had for £500 ish. I would buy one, make that my my PC and put the old one in my data backup chain.

When I had the London office we had about 70 PC's (ignoring the server room). They would get upgrades at about the 3 year point and be scrapped at 5 or 6 years as they became too slow and unreliable. Cost of maintenance eventually outweighs the cost of replacement. They don't last forever when being used all day as work machines.

 

[Mike G]

Morning Mike
Someone mentioned troubleshooting. There is a system file checker built in to win 10.
In file explorer, navigate to This PC - Local disk and right click on the drive. (C
chose Properites - Tools.
Click the 'Check' button.
On my PC I'm told that 'We don't need to scan this drive ...' but I get the option to scan it anyway and fix any errors found.

Worth a look

Cheers

Dave

Thanks Dave. I've set that in motion. The scan is going to take over an hour!

 

[Robert]

but Task Manager disappears and seems un-screen-shotable.

That was the bit about going to options in task manager and clicking 'always on top'

At the head of every column is a percentage number that shows how much is being used of CPU, Memory,disc,network and graphics. Just look if any are really high.

 

[Robert]

If you are into testing things then checking the memory would be a good idea as a bad stick might cause such problems.
memtest86 is usually recommended - can take a couple of hours.

 

[Mike G]

That was the bit about going to options in task manager and clicking 'always on top'

At the head of every column is a percentage number that shows how much is being used of CPU, Memory,disc,network and graphics. Just look if any are really high.

On the screen at the time of my screenshot was Task Manager. It didn't show in the screenshot, even though it was on top, and visible when I took the screenshot..

The approx. headline figures as that video was buffering were CPU 20%, Memory 65%, Disc 3%, Network 0, GPU 10%. The GPU figure dropped later.

 

[AJB Temple]

I watched the sailboats are getting fatter video and I agree. Those straight sided boats slap like the devil.

 

[AJB Temple]

Has anything improved re buffering?

 

[Mike G]

Has anything improved re buffering?

No, I'm afraid not.

 

[Mike G]

I don't know if this information is in any way useful, but Youtube plays perfectly well (via Wifi) on my TV.

 

[RogerS]

I don't know if this information is in any way useful, but Youtube plays perfectly well (via Wifi) on my TV.

Just to confirm, Mike. Your TV is connected to your router by wi-fi. Your TV also has the Youtube app built in.

If the answer is Yes to both then that rules out your internet connection.

 

[RogerS]

Bit of a longshot but on my router you can set one connection to have priority. So if, somehow, that parameter has been set in MIke's router (by accident or otherwise) and that that connection is constantly accessing the internet then that might explain it.

Did say it was a longshot.

Did you tell us who you're with, Mike

 

[Robert]

Not sure it will tell us anything but try playing the file you downloaded directly from my webspace.

<file now deleted>

It's the same one but not in a zip file. Your download speed will mean it will buffer a bit (file is big for the amount of time it plays) but should then play.

The task manager not staying in the foreground is weird if you have selected always on top in task manager options. I can take a snip on my system no problem.

Just had a quick search for malware that affects facebook and youtube and there are hits but pretty old so seems unlikely. Some hits also blamed avast for temporarily blocked sites but not permanently. You tried with the AV turned off?

Guess the next try is rolling back that windows update. Running out of ideas.

 

[Lons]

The screenshot I posted earlier was my taskbar no issues and that's without being set on top so it puzzles me as well.

As I said earlier and I know it's a daunting task when you have limited knowledge is to reset the system to the original when you bought it. You should be able to do this via the Dell website as I indicated. A 5 year old PC will be full of heaven knows what despite the cleaning and malware checks. Think back Mike, was it that difficult to set up back then?
Just make sure everything is backed up on separate drives, dvds whatever and that you have the programs like Autocad and licence numbers before doing it. It's also easy to overlook what you actually have so go through the programs and settings menus and write down or screenshot anything useful.
A bit more time and you'll have a machine back to as good as it can be given it's age rather than the compromise you'll get trying to find a fix.

Just my opinion and easy for me to say but I'd have gone down that route days ago.

 

[Mike G]

Just to confirm, Mike. Your TV is connected to your router by wi-fi. Your TV also has the Youtube app built in.

If the answer is Yes to both then that rules out your internet connection.

Yes, to both I think. Youtube was an option on the Home page of the TV from the day we bought it, without me having to load it.

 

[Mike G]

Not sure it will tell us anything but try playing the file you downloaded directly from my webspace.

https://www.argand.co.uk/Temp/IMG_3318.MP4

It's the same one but not in a zip file. Your download speed will mean it will buffer a bit (file is big for the amount of time it plays) but should then play.

The task manager not staying in the foreground is weird if you have selected always on top in task manager options. I can take a snip on my system no problem.

Just had a quick search for malware that affects facebook and youtube and there are hits but pretty old so seems unlikely. Some hits also blamed avast for temporarily blocked sites but not permanently. You tried with the AV turned off?

Guess the next try is rolling back that windows update. Running out of ideas.

After a 1 or 2 second delay that played perfectly.

 

[Mike G]

The task manager not staying in the foreground is weird if you have selected always on top in task manager options. I can take a snip on my system no problem.

I didn't select it myself, but "minimise in use" was also selected. I've now de-selected it, and managed a screenshot. The only thing selected was the "always on top" option. The mystery endures:

 

[Mike G]

The screenshot I posted earlier was my taskbar no issues and that's without being set on top so it puzzles me as well.

As I said earlier and I know it's a daunting task when you have limited knowledge is to reset the system to the original when you bought it. You should be able to do this via the Dell website as I indicated. A 5 year old PC will be full of heaven knows what despite the cleaning and malware checks. Think back Mike, was it that difficult to set up back then?
Just make sure everything is backed up on separate drives, dvds whatever and that you have the programs like Autocad and licence numbers before doing it. It's also easy to overlook what you actually have so go through the programs and settings menus and write down or screenshot anything useful.
A bit more time and you'll have a machine back to as good as it can be given it's age rather than the compromise you'll get trying to find a fix.

Just my opinion and easy for me to say but I'd have gone down that route days ago.

Oh damn. You can probably tell I've been trying to avoid doing this. The complications of this step going wrong are too awful to think about...........

 

[Mike G]

Bit of a longshot but on my router you can set one connection to have priority. So if, somehow, that parameter has been set in MIke's router (by accident or otherwise) and that that connection is constantly accessing the internet then that might explain it.

Did say it was a longshot.

Did you tell us who you're with, Mike

I have never seen that option, Roger. I'm with Gigaclear, and have one of their standard Linksys routers:

 

[RogerS]

It's buried inside the router and accessed via your PC screen as opposed to a physical button. This is what the webpage looks like but I suspect that you don't really want to go there.



Out of curiosity, you mentioned that you didn't have a mobile phone. How have you managed to get round the continuous request for OTP's?

 

[RogerS]

Another thought...aren't there any remote access programs on the PC ? With Mike's permission one of the PC experts here could dip in and have a rummage around.

 

[Mike G]

It's buried inside the router and accessed via your PC screen as opposed to a physical button. This is what the webpage looks like but I suspect that you don't really want to go there.

Out of curiosity, you mentioned that you didn't have a mobile phone. How have you managed to get round the continuous request for OTP's?

Some of them ring my land line (Paypal, for instance). Some of them email it. Otherwise I give them my wife's number.

 

[Mike G]

And now Youtube's home page looks like this:

 

[AJB Temple]

That screen usually appears when the internet is really slow or the wireless signal is weak. It happens to us occasionally here as we do not have fibre optic internet. It usually clears when the screen is refreshed. Sometimes I restart everything (router too).

 

[Windows]

Mike, can you confirm that when you hit issues, you see the problem in both Opera and Firefox on your machine at the same time? Do you have any other machines in your house with Windows 10 & Firefox or Windows 10 & Opera?

I wouldn’t recommend wiping and reinstalling your entire OS at this stage. You should at least try
1) creating a new profile in your browser of choice
2) creating a new local operating system account
if you haven’t already tried them

 

[Robert]

That video of mine playing fine rules out router restrictions.

All I'm left with is something blocking your access to those 2 sites. That means anti virus software or firewall... or malware.

You've done malware scans so probably not that. try turning off your anti virus software and try youtube.

 

[RogerS]

Mike, can you confirm that when you hit issues, you see the problem in both Opera and Firefox on your machine at the same time? Do you have any other machines in your house with Windows 10 & Firefox or Windows 10 & Opera?

I wouldn’t recommend wiping and reinstalling your entire OS at this stage. You should at least try
1) creating a new profile in your browser of choice
2) creating a new local operating system account
if you haven’t already tried them

Sage words.

I have two other accounts set-up on my Mac. One is set up for my wife in case her Mac dies (non-Admin privileges !) and the other one Test which is an alternative for my main account. When I get issues, if the same problem occurs on my Test account then it is related to OSX. If it works fine then it's my user profile that needs fixing.