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Level 1

51 points

Mystery: certain urls load slowly, others not, only on one MPB

Forgive me if I haven't found the right category under which to share this mystery. But I just wanted to throw this really strange online experience out there, and see if you all had any ideas.

My MacBookPro is bogging down on two particular urls (taking over 30 seconds to load). All other urls load quickly, as normal. I happen to know that those two particular sites are hosted on the same GoDaddy server...so I immediately thought there was a problem with the GoDaddy server.

HOWEVER, there are two identical model MacBookPros in my household, both operating on the same wireless network. So I decided to do a side-by-side comparison of load times. On my husband's MBP, those same urls load and/or refresh very quickly, within 2 seconds. (These results are consistant.) Since he is experiencing NO delay in load time...I then assumed that it could not be the server's fault.

Other clues? The main difference between the two laptops is that mine is running 10.8.4 and my husband's is running 10.8.3. However, I cannot blame Safari, because the same load delay occurs for me on Safari, Firefox and Chrome. (On my husband's MPB, the sites load quickly on all three browsers.)

Both MBPs have the same DNS settings (through the Airport Extreme)...although I did try OpenDNS servers to see if that helped. It did not.

I cannot think of what could be the culprit for this slowdown that occurs ONLY when connecting to sites hosted on this one particular GoDaddy server, from ONLY one particular laptop on a network, even while utilizing 3 different browsers.

If anyone has any ideas...I thank you.

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4), Airport Extreme Dual Ethernet

Posted on Jun 17, 2013 9:01 AM

21 replies

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Jun 19, 2013 4:34 PM in response to bug00

This appears to be a server issue, not a problem with your Mac. That's about all I can tell you.

bug00 Author

Level 1

51 points

Jun 19, 2013 5:27 PM in response to Linc Davis

Okay, thanks, Linc. So to summarize...a server can deliver a particular site perfectly fast to all computers except mine (and mine *only* slows down when a browser window on another MBP on the same wireless network is already open to a site on that server). But it's not a problem related to my Mac.

If no other computer is experiencing a slowdown (which no one else who accesses the site regularly has experienced), I honestly don't even know how to begin to tell GoDaddy that this is their server problem...a problem that is only manifesting on my computer. Any ideas how to broach that discussion?

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Jun 19, 2013 6:44 PM in response to bug00

I guess I should have said it's a network or server issue. There's no obvious way in which the remote server could distinguish between clients on the same local network, which is what you seem be saying it does. The router could. Third-party routers can do odd things.

If you want to try something exotic that almost certainly won't make any difference, try this.

From the menu bar, select

 ▹ System Preferences ▹ Network

If the Network preference pane is locked, click the lock icon in the lower left corner and enter your password to unlock it. Then click the Advanced button and select the Hardware tab. Select

Configure: Manually

and

MTU: Custom

Enter an MTU value of 1280.

Click OK and then Apply. Test.

You must apply the change before it takes effect.

If the issue is resolved, experiment with higher MTU values until you find the highest one that works. The higher the MTU, the better the network interface will perform.

If changing the MTU has no effect, restore the Configure setting to Automatically.

bug00 Author

Level 1

51 points

Jun 20, 2013 10:18 AM in response to Linc Davis

Thanks, Linc. Considering that earlier in the thread you felt the network was apparently ruled out as being the problem by the results of some previous tests you had me do, I think at this point I'll just leave well enough alone.

My network works perfectly for one latop all of the time, and works perfectly for my laptop in all instances *except* for these two urls in certain reproduceable circumstances. So, it's not worth it to me to mess around with the MTU settings of my hardware...most especially because you said that trying it "almost certainly won't make any difference". ;-)

I do appreciate the time you invested. If anyone else has experienced an issue like this and gives me a fix, or if I discover anything on my own pertaining to this very specific issue, I'll certainly post back.

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Jun 20, 2013 10:32 AM in response to bug00

earlier in the thread you felt the network was apparently ruled out

"Apparently" is the key word. The facts you've stated since then don't fit any pattern I recognize.

bug00 Author

Level 1

51 points

Jun 20, 2013 10:39 AM in response to Linc Davis

Gotcha...I hear you. When I have a mystery, I guess I have a goooooood mystery.

BTW, my curiosity got the better of me. I decided to try your suggestion of resetting the MTU to 1280 after all, and like you expected...it didn't make any difference. Oh well...at least I tried.

Mystery: certain urls load slowly, others not, only on one MPB