Chat freezes up --> Locked out of chat AND the entire websit

[Jamesiv4]

Hello Everyone,

Every few weeks or so - the chat will slow down to a VERY slow post rate (8 seconds or more), then completely freeze the chatter's browser window.

They must CTRL-ALT-Delete to close the window. Then they are completely UNABLE to access either the chat room, or the entire website.

This condition lasts for about 24 hours --> no chat, no website.

Then all is well. But it is very frustrating for my chataholics that chat with each other every day.

Our site is hosted on 1and1 Linux servers, if that might shed some light.

Anyone else experience this issue? Is there a fix?

Thanks.

James

[OldWolf]

Without more information (error messages from the client and server would be a good place to start if they're available), it's difficult to pinpoint... though someone else might have more thoughts.

[Jamesiv4]

Good morning Old Wolf,

The lockout from my original post cleared up the next day (lasted about 36 hours), but now it has happened to her again this morning.

It always begins with the chat room "freezing up"

I asked the user to provide specifics about the issue, and here is her reply:

"when i try to pull up iampeth website...or iampeth chat... it is loading, loading, loading... endlessly. either I give up or I get network time out... server taking too long to respond.

doing it now....2 minutes and counting....

status bar on bottom... contacting...transferring data...waiting for...205.188.210.243
and then (I was just sitting here waiting)
Connection Interrupted

The connection to the server was reset while the page was loading.

The network link was interrupted while negotiating a connection. Please try again.

or I get a 'server busy'

She is using Windows XP and the latest version of Firefox. Once she gets locked out, she cannot access the chat or the website using any browser. She has tried IE, Safari, Opera and Firefox.

The "lockout" lasts from 24-48 hours, then all is well.

She is not the only user, just the most frequent. It's happened to her 4 times. Another user, twice, and me, once.

She is in New York City on a cable modem and RCN Cable is the service provider.

Our website URL is http://www.iampeth.com
The chat URL is http://www.iampeth.com/members_only/chat/chat1.php

The chat is in a password-protected directory. I will send you the username/password privately if you want to have a look at it.

Thanks for your help.

James

[Jamesiv4]

One other thing... its an isolated incident. In other words, it locks out just the one user at a time. All other users are unaffected.

James

[OldWolf]

Sounds like something to do with that individual user's internet provider, or the server trying to prevent DOS attacks. Have you asked your host about it?

[Jamesiv4]

hmmm... well, I don't think it's her internet provider, only because she's not the only one that has experienced it. It happened to me once (Dallas, Texas), User #2 twice (Brookfield, Wisconsin) and User #1 four times (New York City)

No, haven't asked my host about it yet. Thought I would stop in here first. I'll give them a call. What questions should I ask?

[OldWolf]

Just ask if there's a chance that the server is limiting your users to prevent an attack... they might have some software that's noticing the same IP connecting over and over again and is locking them up.

[Jamesiv4]

Will do. I'll give them a call this evening.

Had a thought: When one resets their modem and router, doesn't it get a new IP address? That's the first thing I tell them to do... Shut the whole system & network down, wait a few minutes, and restart. Doesn't help. I too, suspect that the IP address is getting blocked somehow.

But here is an interesting point. When a user gets locked out, I create a chat room on a different domain. Just copy the whole chat folder. The new domain is on 1&1 as well, although the server boxes are probably different. For example, here is the "alternate" chat room:

http://thejamesiveygroup/chat/chat1.php

That one is open, if you want to take a look.

[OldWolf]

They may not necessarily get a new IP, that depends on their ISP.

It may still be host related, and the host is only locking the one file that appears to be allowing the "attack"... your best bet is just to ask and see if that's a possibility.

[Jamesiv4]

Update: I spoke with 1&1 Technical Support last night, and they had my chat user run a traceroute command from DOS to track the servers she's going through.

Unfortunately, the issue had resolved itself earlier in the day, so the traceroute showed everything as A-Ok. Sometimes we're locked out for a few hours, sometimes for as much as 3 days.

So the case is closed for now. Next time it happens, I'll have the user do the traceroute immediately, get some screenshots, and open a new ticket with 1&1 and see what they say. The best they could offer last night was to check the browser time-out settings. I don't believe that has anything to do with it, but we'll check it anyway.

I asked them about blocking an attack from an IP address, and she said she wasn't sure, but didn't think so. I was speaking with a 1st level Tech, though. Corresponding with them via email gets a higher level Support agent - so I'll go that route next time.

Thanks for your help OldWolf. I'll keep you posted.

James

[OldWolf]

No problem, and thanks for the update, I imagine other users will benefit from reading your thread.