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iMac slow to load web pages

E

echazen

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 11, 2008
6
0
I have had this imac for about a week now and web pages take FOREVER to load. I have done searches and found that a simple DNS fix should resolve this issue (not sure why this is the case when all the windows machines connected to the same router are screaming fast on the web). I have tried using some dns servers found on the web, but still not working.

Is this something I should do on the router level? Why do macs have these issues when windows machines work just fine from the get-go?
 
Funny, same thing happens to me. Sometimes its so slow nothing will load, I restart my modem every so often now, that seems to fix it temporarily.
 
Possible solution: turn off DHCP

There is one thing you might try. It worked for me in several different networks and it doesn't seem to be a "placebo effect". Websites *do* open faster when DHCP is turned off and all the network settings are provided manually.

Open System preferences, click "Network", select your network interface (propably Ethernet) and write down all the settings, such as IP Address, Network mask, Router etc. Then choose "Manually" from the "Configure" pop-up menu, and write all those numbers back in. In "DNS Server" field you may put the DNS server provided by your ISP, or you might try "208.67.222.222,208.67.220.220" - that's OpenDNS servers. You may also use "4.2.2.2".
 
i have tried the manual thing and have not seen a change.

i have been a windows user all my life and have decided to see what all the fuss is about with macs. i purchased this imac and have enjoyed the "experience" and interaction with the OS, but I have been very disappointed by the page load times. what's even more disappointing is that googling the issue has turned up many results in which many, many others are experiencing the same problems.

not sure why this just doesn't work out of the box. i am considering returning the imac and just staying with my pcs if no solution is found. hopefully something will work soon.

by the way, it only happens when going to a site. once i am there, the pages within the site load fast.
 
It might be because it's the FIRST time you visit the site, it takes awhile, as the website content are not cached already. Have you tried to quit the browser and go to a site you already visited?

Perhaps it's wireless interference? You might also want to enable "interference robustness".
 
i have tried everything you guys have suggested. if i visit a site, it takes 10 seconds for the page to load. Inner pages load quickly. If I close the browser and revisit, it takes a long time to load again. this couldn't be a hardware issue, could it?

i don't see how a hardware issue could be the case, but absolutely no suggestion found anywhere has worked. i just talked to a friend of mine who works at a place that just moved to mac. he said he is experiencing the same problem and it's driving him crazy.

could it be my router's interaction with my imac? like i said, the windows pcs are just fine on the same network.
 
Try pinging the websites you're finding slow (either open Terminal and type e.g. "ping www.google.com" or if you're Terminally challenged, open /Applications/Utilities/Network Utility and enter a website in the ping tab). Also try pinging your router.

You'll see the latency and whether you're getting any dropped packets. If you get dropped packets between your iMac and the router, the problem is there.

I had a problem with my iMac and a Netgear router (only with wireless with WPA encryption) where the router would drop 20% of the packets from the iMac, whereas two other Macs and two PCs worked fine with WPA enabled. The problem went away when I got a airport extreme base station ... just saying that different equipment can interact strangely and you need to check each link in the ethernet chain before coming to any conclusions.
 
iMac slow to load web pages

Try changing your DNS listing on your router to the one listed at http://www.opendns.com
and leave the DNS listing on your computers blank. Let your router point to the DNS.
 
Router and the iMac

plinden said:
Try pinging the websites you're finding slow (either open Terminal and type e.g. "ping www.google.com" or if you're Terminally challenged, open /Applications/Utilities/Network Utility and enter a website in the ping tab). Also try pinging your router.

You'll see the latency and whether you're getting any dropped packets. If you get dropped packets between your iMac and the router, the problem is there.

I had a problem with my iMac and a Netgear router (only with wireless with WPA encryption) where the router would drop 20% of the packets from the iMac, whereas two other Macs and two PCs worked fine with WPA enabled. The problem went away when I got a airport extreme base station ... just saying that different equipment can interact strangely and you need to check each link in the ethernet chain before coming to any conclusions.
Click to expand...

I was just going to say that. It's possible that the iMac doesn't like the router. I have had this happen to be in the past, where the router didn't like my Mac. If that's the case I have no suggestion for you other then getting a new router (not the same brand, or a newer refreshed model). That's what I did. However this was 5 years ago, and routers might not have this problem any more.

Here is another thing to try. Since you are using either net, go into the network control panel. Remove the other connections, this forces the iMac to use the either net. The lag could be cause by it trying to connect though the other connections. You can always add them back in if you need them, or set up new location and remove ever thing expect for either net.


Hugh
 
Ping has started ...

PING www.l.google.com (64.233.169.147): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 64.233.169.147: icmp_seq=0 ttl=245 time=92.481 ms
64 bytes from 64.233.169.147: icmp_seq=1 ttl=245 time=89.854 ms
64 bytes from 64.233.169.147: icmp_seq=2 ttl=245 time=118.744 ms
64 bytes from 64.233.169.147: icmp_seq=3 ttl=245 time=100.952 ms
64 bytes from 64.233.169.147: icmp_seq=4 ttl=245 time=98.753 ms
64 bytes from 64.233.169.147: icmp_seq=5 ttl=245 time=92.377 ms
64 bytes from 64.233.169.147: icmp_seq=6 ttl=245 time=97.194 ms
64 bytes from 64.233.169.147: icmp_seq=7 ttl=245 time=106.572 ms
64 bytes from 64.233.169.147: icmp_seq=8 ttl=245 time=88.885 ms
64 bytes from 64.233.169.147: icmp_seq=9 ttl=245 time=96.719 ms

--- www.l.google.com ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 10 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 88.885/98.253/118.744/8.522 ms


pinging router

Ping has started ...

PING 192.168.0.1 (192.168.0.1): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=127 time=0.488 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=127 time=0.496 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=127 time=0.507 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=127 time=0.499 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=127 time=0.541 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=5 ttl=127 time=0.501 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=6 ttl=127 time=0.494 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=7 ttl=127 time=0.529 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=8 ttl=127 time=0.505 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=9 ttl=127 time=0.505 ms

--- 192.168.0.1 ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 10 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 0.488/0.506/0.541/0.015 ms


appears to be normal, right?
 
See if there's a firmware update available for your router. The manufacturer may have released an update that fixes this problem.
 
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