i got a pentium 2 400MHz, 128MB RAM, intel pro/100+ PCI network card.
Fedora Core 4 installed with Gnome.

Network card detected and working.

Here is the problem:
certain websites will not load in firefox.
MSN.com for example will not load, however, goteamspeak.com will not.
i tried pinging msn.com, it says its pinging the proper hostname (msn.msdac.net or something) and also the IP address. however, it does not return any pings. sometimes it comes back with an error, which I will post soon.

I can not visit google.com either, and some other websites simply will not load 100%, the nearest beaing 99%.

I am connected through an ADSL Router with DHCP

Any help will be appreciated.
If this is coverered in a guide somewhere, a link would be nice

thanks

Please post the contents of the /etc/resolv.conf file, and the results of 'ping -c10 google.com'. (To check for dropped packets)

Here is the resolv.conf file:
*start*
;generated by /sbin/dhclient-script
nameserver 192.168.1.1
*end*

obviously 192.168.1.1 is my ADSL router

about pinging google with a -c10
$ ping -c10 google.com
brings up
google.com (216.239.37.99) with 56(84) bytes of data

64 bytess from google.com (216.239.37.99); icmp_seq=0 ttl=241
" " " " icmp_seq goes to =9, ttl remains at 241, response time ranges from 100-212ms

10 packets sent, 10 packets received, 0% loss, 9000ms
rrt mix/avg/max/mdev=100.695/141.389/213.296/39.923ms pipe 2

well, I hope that is useful information.

I get a response from google.com, the server IP is found, however, actually visiting google.com is a different story. firefox loads about just under 50% of it (i see from the bar) then it hangs, finally it will time out.

thanks again

i think you're below the minimum system requirements for fedora, that might be the problem

I always thought the minumum for the X environment on FC was a system with 128MB RAM and a 350MHz CPU or somthing.

But how could that affect my internet? The PC was running Windows XP and firefox there was never a problem.

xp is less demanding (233 mhz p1, 128 mb ram) (i've run it on 166 mhz p1, 96 mb ram, no problems, plays mp3s)

RH9 needed 128 mb ram, and 400 mhz p2 for graphical, fedora is a more advanced distro, so i would expect higher requirements.

Also, try reinstalling fedora

well, thing is, this IS a fresh install

did a bit of research, it comes out FC recommends 192 for graphic interface, which im sure has inreased from FC2/3 or so

your sayin winXP runs on a 166 wih 96MB ram? it hardly copes with the P2 400 128MB system, booting literally takes 10 minutes, then a further 5 minutes from password to desktop ready. ive even disabled the fancy windows XP theme to classic, slight improvement. I think it could be the end of the hard drive.
Western Digital 30GB 5400RPM which was added a few years ago, and a Maxtor 10GB which came with the PC, which is prob 10 years old now :S

but again, could not enough RAM really becausing webpages to not load? i thought that is what swap is for (in linux that is)

how much swap do you have, (anyway XP is SLOW on that machine, but a little faster than what u listed (even with sp2), it is a pretty plain install though)

I have set aside 500MB linux swap on the extended partition
hdb1 NTFS swap
hdb2 NTFS windows stuff, though not installed here
hdb3 ext3 (3 i think) linux installed here
hdb5 (extended partiton) linux swap

does linux automatically engage the swap partitions or do i need to specify what to use?
i was looking in the system monitor, and noticed that 0MB out of 0MB Swap is being used. hence my other post somewhere on thsi forum. maybe that could be causing a problem

it auto engages, so it may be your hd

do you know how i can determine which hard disk is the problem one then? i could see about formatting the maxtor 10GB, or removing it if that is bottlenecking the WD.

With ping times of that magnitude, I doubt your problem is the hard drive (though you could be lacking DMA). Have you tried resetting your router (pull plug, wait 3 seconds, plug back in)?

well, the router has recently been reset, a few hours ago infact.

but i wouldnt think so anyway, as i am currently using the same router right now, on a different computer to gain access to the internet.

it could be maybe the memory isn't handling the actual data, images and what else. since the hard drives are like ATA66(the western digital) and i dont know if the maxtor is 33 or 66, ive got no clue about DMA here. any magic to find out?

find a SMART utility on the web, and use it to check the condition of the disks

hi
I have just managed to find out it isnt the lack of memory or swap space that is causing this.
I have, a few hours ago, received my 2nd hand P4 2.4GHz 256MB RAM 80GB Hard disk system from ebay and installed FC4 successfully on it. Network picked up no problems.

Exact problem as the other PC, which i have described in this post. Its either the default FC4 installation or something to do with the router set up.

Thanks for your help guys