For the past two weeks I think it is my ping has jumped from its average 183 to 215 (its unnaturally high because of my location to start with).

Well I got to the point where I could grin and bear it cause to me it was a number and my game play was still has fine as it was before....but now I log onto the main server today troubles as I am finally getting some real looking lag where it affects my game play.

The last thing I would want to do it is learn how not to play CS:S for the next 80 or so days until I move back to the states but if that is my final solution I might have to live with it but before I declare a leave of absence I would like to put in an inquiry to the public about possible solutions/causes because from my poll in the main thread it seems that everyone's' ping was fine.

I haven't altered anything on my system, no driver updates to anything, I'm running a standard on board nic (board is propertary as I'm running on a sturdy Dell XPS 410). my standard rates at:
Cl_cmdrate 66
cl_updaterate 60
rate 20000
cl_interp 0.333
I have ran these simple configs since the start of my gaming and have been wondering if there is any other ones I could set. I have also wondered if seeing if there is an update for my nic driver and as well as reinstalling Steam or CS:S would help......all suggestions welcome. Thanks in advanced n00bfest.

maybe a bad hop somewhere? I for one, love your high ping :P

ad/malware scans current?

any new proggies installed?

driver updates?

defragged the steam files?

defragged the HDD?

yaya some are no brainers but this way thier asked :)

lol I know you love it, but soon it'll go down and you'll be screwed

Malware/adware scans are current and I scanned and cleaned out my system just a few days ago after getting infected with something (I got it taken care of so I'm clear) and I've even tried playing with my antivirus disabled and it doesn't help

No new proggies installed that would factor, they're even installed on a differenct HDD even...

Like I said no new drivers for anything, latest driver was a video card driver but that was a month or so ago, I could try a newer version.

I have not checked the fragment of my steam files, I could check though...

I havn't defragged my drive I have CS:S on but if that might help I could try it

I'm just starting to get desperate for a solution, because I'm kinda dismissing tha that it could be on my ISP side.

Strang ething to is that when I check ping rates both via steam servers and servers in game the pings are at a normal 170-180 rate...but once I join...boom 215.

i use:
cl_cmdrate 101
cl_updaterate 101
rate 25000
cl_interp 0.1

not sure if those will help, and i'm not sure updaterate allows the 101 option. 101 allows your machine to change automatically depending on the tick rate of the server you are playing on.

good luck tazzy

just an update, I upgraded my nic drivers and it's still shit, so I'm going to test my moms laptop on hardwire to see if it works fine there to see if its a network problem, ISP or single compute problem before I go on wasting days of time defragging and uninstalling/reinstalling >_>

good luck!

Try bringing up the command prompt and using ping and tracert on the n00bfest server IP address. It'll at least tell you if it's a network problem or something else. Basically if ping and tracert have low values, it's a Steam problem, if ping and tracert have high vales it's a network problem.

I'm going to do do that as soon as well......the server comes back up; thanks for the reminder I should of check that too (being in CCNA I think I would of used that type of trouble shooting).

Um server moved/moved back, Im pinging 30 lower for the last couple weeks maybe ur pinging higher because of the distance.

The only thing that would have caused higher latency with the server move was when it was originally moved to Acid Rain's basement. Now that it's no longer there, that is not an issue.

It's most likely a cap on your internet, Tazz. Hell, a few days ago I was reading about underwater cable cuttings harming European internet connections to America, so that may have something to do with it too.

Well after doing a tracert route I find that it takes some 15 hopes with some 211 ms to reach the 15th being the server.....My ping pretty much aligns with the number so..yeah it sucks F*CKING dick.

Um, I'm shooting blanks but I'm pretty much fucked for the next two months aren't I. That is if I don't switching ISPs or contact my ISP am I right?

i'm not sure changing ISPs will help since you'll still have to "hop" over the ocean. and bitching at your current ISP almost never helps, unless they credit you some money for a break in service.

Well, the hop over the ocean is a given, but the increase from a comfortable 170-180 to 215-230 is just something else. I guess number-wise that still isn't much but still. I guess I'll just stick a carrot up my but and deal with it.