Shipping/Message hang

[Laura Ferguson]

WIth the stakes schedule, the only part that is slow is the initial download - I just timed it and it took 30 seconds. It usually takes between 30 and 45 seconds. The subsequent filters don't take any real amount of time, just a couple of seconds (unless I make the mistake of starting the next sort before the previous one is done - in which case you're talking 5-10 minutes of locking up the site before I can do anything else).

Like you, the absolute killer is shipping horses to a farm after a race. Sometimes it works fine; more often, it locks up the site for 5-10 minutes. I've tried a couple of workarounds (including restarting the computer), but none are all that great. I'm always trying to reduce numbers, but the pure aggravation has been a real incentive for me to cut back on the number of racers I have. I'd had this slowdown before, and it slowly improved from last summer, but since 4.0, it's gone right back to slow as mud and hasn't improved since. Same deal with sending or replying to messages on my home page (which is one of the reasons I'm now taking a while to respond to messages - I have to be up for dealing with the aggravation of having the site locked up for the next 5-10 minutes, or completely restarting the computer). Otherwise, 4.0 has been perfect.

[Abe Froman]

Laura, do you know many others with the "freezing/lock up"? I have never had that issue, and in fact usually multi tab the site with firefox, with no issues.

[Paul Sellers]

I have never had that issue, and in fact usually multi tab the site with firefox, with no issues.

I firefox multitab that sh** like a ninja. Often I have 20-30 sim horse racing tabs open at one time ...

YES! I do have a life!

[Laura Ferguson]

Last time I talked to the Steward, I think Jolene and I are the only ones that have the issue (and yes, I use Firefox). I think it has more to do with my wireless broadband connection than anything else (although this is the only site I have this issue with). That said, as long as I'm not shipping a horse from the horse's page, or sending or replying to a message from my main page, I can have multiple windows/tabs open and do anything else without any problem or slow down, including the auction. It's a frustrating little quirk.

Edited to add - yeah, apparently the stakes schedule takes a little longer for me on the initial download, but I can live with 30 seconds. It's the 5-10 minutes that drives me batty.

[Jolene Danner]

It's only the racers for me. I can ship Broodmares all day long with no issue.

I use Safari, and if I quit safari and re-open it it will have the horse shipped and then i can do the next. Every once in awhile it will go right through, but more often then not i'm quitting safari and re-opening it after every horse. Which takes less time then waiting the 5-10 minutes for it to refresh. I also have the issue with messages too. It doesn't matter which browser I use either. Firefox and Opera do the same thing. I didn't have any issues on Em's wireless. But it used to work for me at work as well, but now it doesn't even work here consistently. I only have issues on the wireless, never on a hardwired computer.

[Laura Ferguson]

Lucky. For me, it is any horse (both racers and breeding stock), and quitting Firefox and restarting doesn't do the trick. Sometimes if I quit both the internet connection and Firefox, it'll work, and sometimes it just plain works and the horse will ship without the site getting tied up, but more often than not, I have to restart the laptop.

[The Admin]

I split this into a new topic.

When you experience the long delays during shipping and/or sending a message, can you still do other things on your computer?
Can you visit other web sites in other browser tabs? I need to figure out if the browser or the computer is having trouble.
Is there anyone else having this problem other than Laura and Jolene?
Are the shipping and message problems fairly consistent and repeatable?
Which browsers work/don't work?
Which OS (MacOS or XP)?

It is difficult to fix a problem that I can't recreated. But we can do some experiments and try to figure this out.
Thanks.

[Charles Bunbury]

I split this into a new topic.
Is there anyone else having this problem other than Laura and Jolene?

Yes!

Shipping back but more so with entering races. I click on find races for this horse and the page appears to have a problem finalising the resizing of the page showing all available races. I have to wait 45+ seconds for the page to be complete. It's a pain when entering 200+ each week.

Using XP and IE7 is even slower for entering races than XP and Firefox 3.0.8

I've just booked a flight, credit card details, secure site and there wasn't any hold up.

It's as though version 4 has been vistarised!

cheers

[Laura Ferguson]

Here are my answers:

When you experience the long delays during shipping and/or sending a message, can you still do other things on your computer? I can still do other things on my computer.

Can you visit other web sites in other browser tabs? I need to figure out if the browser or the computer is having trouble. I can visit other web sites in other browser tabs with no slow down, and about 50% of the time, I can even get the simforum to work. But, I can't get anything else on simhorseracing to work - whether trying to open a horse's page, etc., until the 5-10 minutes of hang time is up (or I reboot). Once the hang time is up, I can move throughout the site without any problems or slowdown, until the next time it hangs up on shipping or sending a message. I haven't experienced similar hangups using any other site (or any other feature on this one).

Are the shipping and message problems fairly consistent and repeatable? Sadly, for me, yes. I'm averaging a hangup about 90% of the time when I go to ship a horse, using the ship a horse feature on the horse's page. I do not have this problem when clicking on the button to go ahead and ship this horse when entering a horse, or clicking on the ship button from the my entries page. I'm also averaging a hangup about 90% of the time when I send a message (it doesn't matter whether I'm replying to a message or sending a brand new message out). This has been consistent since 4.0 was launched.

Which browsers work/don't work? I use the most recent version of FIrefox (3.0.10), and I'm pretty sure I was on a slightly older version when 4.0 first launched and also had the problem. I've also tried Safari, and it doesn't fare any better.

Which OS (MacOS or XP)? Mac.

Let me know if you need anything else! Thanks!

Laura

[Jolene Danner]

I split this into a new topic.

When you experience the long delays during shipping and/or sending a message, can you still do other things on your computer?
Can you visit other web sites in other browser tabs? I need to figure out if the browser or the computer is having trouble.
Is there anyone else having this problem other than Laura and Jolene?
Are the shipping and message problems fairly consistent and repeatable?
Which browsers work/don't work?
Which OS (MacOS or XP)?

It is difficult to fix a problem that I can't recreated. But we can do some experiments and try to figure this out.
Thanks.

I can do anything with other websites and i can use iChat and quicktime and e-mail etc while it's "frozen"

Yes they are consistent and they repeat themselves almost every time. There is a few times where it goes fast like everything else on the site and i go WOOOO really loud... hehehe
It does the same for me on Safari, Opera and Firefox.

I have OS X and i just installed the newest update. Well except for the whole restart part, i'll do that shortly.

[Amy Atkins]

Yes, I have this problem too! It really makes shipping on results nights a pain. Here are my answers, although it seems like all of us with this issue are experiencing the same type of thing:

When you experience the long delays during shipping and/or sending a message, can you still do other things on your computer? Can you visit other web sites in other browser tabs?
Once I press the shipping button and the delay starts, I can't get any other simhorseracing.com pages to load in other tabs or windows. However, all other websites and my computer as a whole work just fine. It seems to be site-specific for me. When I completely exit my browser and start it up again, the horse is shipped and I can go on from there.

Are the shipping and message problems fairly consistent and repeatable?
I would say 95% of the time, I get the freeze up. Some nights, I have the problem with the first couple of horses, so I do the whole quit and restart browser thing, and then randomly, one horse will ship no problem, but then the next one causes the delay again, etc. But most of the time, the delay happens for every single horse.

Which browsers work/don't work? Which OS (MacOS or XP)? I'm on a Mac and I only use Safari.

[Jolene Danner]

My version of Leopard is 10.5.7 I just installed the latest update and it didn't cure it.

Laura do you actually QUIT the program or just close it with the corner? you have to go to the Firefox on the menu and click quit or use command Q. The corner close doesn't actually quit the program.

[The Admin]

This is going to be very helpful.
How much RAM memory does you computer have?
Do you normally have many applications running or just Safari or Firefox? I wonder if it makes a difference whether many applications are running or not (which might be a memory issue).

After I collect a few more pieces of data, I may be able to construct some tests to learn what is ahppening.

Thanks.

[Amy Atkins]

I have 2 GB of RAM, but Safari is usually the only thing running when the issue crops up.

Thanks for looking into it!

[Jolene Danner]

i have 1 GB of RAM. And it doesn't matter if I have all the programs running or just safari, it still does the same thing. Also At home i'm kinda far from the router, but at work i'm right next to it and it used to make a difference for me. But now it doesn't seem to matter.