Technical Issues - TPU Main Site & Forum (2022)

[eidairaman1]

Yes, it's my DNS server - so i changed it back to google DNS as an earlier step

@cvaldes being adguard DNS, yes it can. What's odd is that it's not all traffic or websites, and TPU is the only one with such a large slowdown.

Hell i'll clear my cache and stuff, could be as dumb as that.

Could be an issue with the intercontinental cable or satcom between US and AU because the Servers are in dallas iirc for tpu.

 

[cvaldes]

Could be an issue with the intercontinental cable or satcom between US and AU because the Servers are in dallas iirc for tpu.

Unlikely since there are other Australian users here.

Again, this could easily be identified by Mussels just using a smartphone on a cellular data connection.

Moreover, that would affect a large swath of Australian Internet users accessing a far larger collection of web sites and services hosted on US-based hardware.

And yes, I follow some Aussies on social media and they don't seem to have problems posting (thank you Nikki Van Dijk and Stephanie Gilmore).

 

[Mussels]

Okay heres where it gets interesting: the slowdown is only for the homepage and news articles/reviews - NOT for the forums. That's what threw me off earlier, as i loaded the same article from two methods - once from the homepage, once from the email notification to the comments.

Cvaldes: You mean like this?

So uhhh i thought 720p would be a lot clearer than that, but that says samsung - it's my phone USB tethered and my intel gigabit disconnected
I forgot that running a 4K resolution would screw with fullscreen recording settings

 

[cvaldes]

Why don't you just access TPU via your smartphone and see what the response time is rather than diddling with tethering (which could still relate to same sort of issue with your PC)?

You mentioned that this slowdown happened out of nowhere which doesn't really seem to indicate something specific to TPU or an international connection (what at least one person here suggested).

 

[Mussels]

Why don't you just access TPU via your smartphone and see what the response time is rather than diddling with tethering (which could still relate to same sort of issue with your PC)?

You mentioned that this slowdown happened out of nowhere which doesn't really seem to indicate something specific to TPU or an international connection (what at least one person here suggested).

Because... that doesnt provide anything useful?
It's not a PC issue, i've got a lot more than one PC here all behaving the same. Multiple PC's, on my home network or my mobile network behaving the same says somethings up between TPU and Au, and we've had similar problems in the past with the anti spam filters and protections used by the akamai servers... i'm all for advice on finding more info for w1zzard to work with but you're just being hostile here.

 

[Mussels]

Is techpowerup ipv6 enabled?

I just discovered a router firmware update had borked my v6 settings, and now the mainpage seems to be behaving well after correcting the ipv6 prefix
what's interesting to me is that the mobile connection i tested with that also had issues, was ipv6 only (was unaware aussie telcos moved over to ipv6 some time ago)

 

[W1zzard]

because the Servers are in dallas iirc for tpu.

NYC. We started in Dallas over a decade ago, but moved to New York as a compromise for better EU connectivity

Is techpowerup ipv6 enabled?

No

So it looks like the initial connection/loading HTML takes forever, but images and everything else loads pretty much instantly?

Only the frontpage loads slow? What about other sections? Contact us page?

Frontpage, F12, network tab, F5, and screenshot, need the timings in the last columns

 

[Selaya]

[ ... ]
No
[ ... ]

To elaborate on this, techpowerup.com itself is ipv4 only, but tpucdn.com has dualstack (cloudfail enables that per default; iirc you can config it down to ipv4 only but that doesnt seem to be the case here)

so that would explain your observations, since if ipv6's partially borked it'd slow down tpucdn.com loading

 

[lexluthermiester]

Is techpowerup ipv6 enabled?

No

AH! This explains much!

So it looks like the initial connection/loading HTML takes forever, but images and everything else loads pretty much instantly?

Only the frontpage loads slow? What about other sections? Contact us page?

Frontpage, F12, network tab, F5, and screenshot, need the timings in the last columns

I'm having no issues at all. Could it be a connection issue to the Australian continent?

 

[qubit]

Dunno if this helps any, but my ISP is IPv6 enabled, however, I've turned it off in the router as it's not being used yet hence good practice.

I've not had any browsing problems with TPU.

 

[Mussels]

This only occured on the front page and reviews that i confirmed

To elaborate on this, techpowerup.com itself is ipv4 only, but tpucdn.com has dualstack (cloudfail enables that per default; iirc you can config it down to ipv4 only but that doesnt seem to be the case here)

so that would explain your observations, since if ipv6's partially borked it'd slow down tpucdn.com loading

That's gunna be it, my next question was going to be content and ad servers
In this case it's because IPv6 was partially broken, as opposed to being fully working or not working

In case this actually helps make sense to the people who understand IPv6 (i am not one of those people)

1. My ISP provides IPv6 with a /56 prefix
2. My routers LAN page defaults to "IPv6 ULA prefix" /48
3. The undocumented setting below that "IPv6 prefix" resets any time you change DNS server, to /64

When that third setting is on /64, directly connected devices had working ipv6, but devices on the secondary network (google mesh wifi routers) did not.
Changing that /64 to anything else makes the router suddenly put its ass into gear, and changes it to /57 (one higher than my WAN settings /56) correcting the issue


Something about that half working IPv6 triggered the issue, since my phones network is IPv6 only (they do some v6 to v4 conversion) it was also showing a similar issue.


In summary: i have no clue, other than writing a damn sticky note on my router saying "IPv6 prefix /57 ffs"

 

[W1zzard]

We have disabled IPv6 completely because there's so many little issues with it around the world. Everybody supports IPv4, because that's what people pay them for.

AH! This explains much!

Oh it does?

This only occured on the front page and reviews that i confirmed

All reviews? Where's that timing screenshot?

To elaborate on this, techpowerup.com itself is ipv4 only, but tpucdn.com has dualstack (cloudfail enables that per default; iirc you can config it down to ipv4 only but that doesnt seem to be the case here)

so that would explain your observations, since if ipv6's partially borked it'd slow down tpucdn.com loading

tpucdn.com is on Cloudflare, they support IPv6 indeed

 

[lexluthermiester]

Oh it does?

Yeah. I watch my network logs from time to time and TPU's packets are always IPV4. I thought that the site software was configured to communicate dynamically, so if a user's device connects with IPV6, the site responds on IPV6 and the same with IPV4. While my ISP and relay network is IPV6 aware, my local network actively blocks IPV6. But with other sites I still see some IPV6 packets, but not from TPU. So yeah, this explains why I never see IPV6 from TPU.

 

[Mussels]

We have disabled IPv6 completely because there's so many little issues with it around the world. Everybody supports IPv4, because that's what people pay them for.


Oh it does?


All reviews? Where's that timing screenshot?


tpucdn.com is on Cloudflare, they support IPv6 indeed

Because i fixed things, i'd rather not break them again

If any adservers or content servers used ipv6 (even if TPU doesnt, cloudflare would do a v6->v4 service) that timeout delay would make sense
I opened half a dozen reviews and they all lagged, and reopening them or refreshing wasnt any faster - *something* was timing out.

Disabling ipv6 on my LAN adaptor didnt fix it either, which makes no sense to me but again i know crap all about ipv6.

 

[Selaya]

We have disabled IPv6 completely because there's so many little issues with it around the world. Everybody supports IPv4, because that's what people pay them for.
[ ... ]
tpucdn.com is on Cloudflare, they support IPv6 indeed

Wouldn't it make sense to disable ipv6 on tpucdn.com too in that case? Because that seems to be the issue's root cause

 

[lexluthermiester]

Because i fixed things, i'd rather not break them again

If any adservers or content servers used ipv6 (even if TPU doesnt, cloudflare would do a v6->v4 service) that timeout delay would make sense
I opened half a dozen reviews and they all lagged, and reopening them or refreshing wasnt any faster - *something* was timing out.

Disabling ipv6 on my LAN adaptor didnt fix it either, which makes no sense to me but again i know crap all about ipv6.

Have you disabled IPV6 in your router and internet modem settings?

Wouldn't it make sense to disable ipv6 on tpucdn.com too in that case?

I'm not seeing IPV6 traffic from tpucdn.

 

[W1zzard]

Wouldn't it make sense to disable ipv6 on tpucdn.com too in that case? Because that seems to be the issue's root cause

Can't be disabled anymore on Cloudflare, and I doubt it's the root cause unless most of the internet appears broken to you. Don't even remember you having issues?

 

[Selaya]

Can't be disabled anymore on Cloudflare, and I doubt it's the root cause unless most of the internet appears broken to you. Don't even remember you having issues?

huh, interesting

i know of sites that use cloudfail but don't have dual stack enabled (and still do not), ig they removed that option at some point in time?

 

[lexluthermiester]

Can't be disabled anymore on Cloudflare

Really? Plot thickens..

 

[Mussels]

Have you disabled IPV6 in your router and internet modem settings?


I'm not seeing IPV6 traffic from tpucdn.

Not now, because it's all working.

With the correct settings the delay issue is gone, and if i run pure ipv6 tpu insta-fails and doesnt load.
I honestly dont know why that broken setting did what it did.

 

[W1zzard]

Which setting did you change?

 

[lexluthermiester]

Some attachments are not loading. Images mostly. Links seem to be having a problems too.

 

[Mussels]

Which setting did you change?

The IPv6 prefix from /64 to /57 on my LAN.
I barely know what that is, let alone how it could cause such a weird performance issue.

 

[W1zzard]

The IPv6 prefix from /64 to /57 on my LAN.
I barely know what that is, let alone how it could cause such a weird performance issue.

It should have no effect, it's just like setting ipv4 subnet mask to 255.255.0.0 instead of 255.255.255.0 when using 10.0.0.0

 

[Mussels]

It should have no effect, it's just like setting ipv4 subnet mask to 255.255.0.0 instead of 255.255.255.0 when using 10.0.0.0

That's what i thought as well, i never would have found it except i have two of the routers and noticed the setting from a factory reset was 48, and changed to 64 the moment a DNS server was changed.
Duplicated it on both routers, found the fix, confusion remains.
Alcatel / Thomson / Technicolor DJA0231 (whirlpool.net.au)


The closest guess i have is this is a firmware bug, since by default you're locked to Telstra DNS servers, without root access.
They'd never fix a bug that only screwed over people on other ISP's