Online Gaming Problem

I am an avid online gamer. Lately I have been noticing a problem with Medal of Honor Allied
Assault (MOHAA). Every time I try to connect to my server, it just sits there for a while. Some
times it wil eventually connect, some times it times out. If I do get in, everything works fine
until the map is over. When the map changes some times my system just sits at the last maps
scores result page and does nothing and I have to reconnect. Some times it just sits at the
last maps scores result page and I can see console messages from the next map being played
but I am not in that map yet. The thing is my server's IP start with 69.x.x.x and my IP starts
with 69.x.x.x and I have this problem on all servers that start with 69.x.x.x when playing
MOHAA. If I go to a different server that does not start with an IP of 69.x.x.x, I have no
problems. When I play Battle Field Vietnam or Call of Duty and connect to any server that has
an IP that starts with 69.x.x.x I have no problems at all connecting or at map changes. System
config is below. Any Ideas?

Pentium 4 2.8Ghz HT
1 GIG RAM
Ti 4200 8X AGP
MS XP SP2 (was working before and after SP2 update)
Internet connection is Cable Surfboard 4100
NetGear 614 cable Router

This configuration has been the same before the problem started and after.

try a traceroute to the 69 series servers versus the others one's. Since other servers are fine then it's not the local install? Perhaps the servers are just bad performers or your ping is low enought to kick you because you have a bad route to them.

Well when I am in the game my pings are 20 - 50 nominal.
One of my firends who is in a different CLAN and also has
an IP that starts with 69.x.x.x also has the same problem
when connecting to my CLAN's server but no one else in my
CLAN has a problem connecting. Our server are dual zeon's
connected to a level 3 OC192 internet connection. My firend
and I are both using the same ISP (adelphia (YIKES)) and that
is my fear of what the problem may be. But getting Adelphia's help
desk to understand the concepts of on-line gaming is hopless.
I will try the traceroute both in and out of game. I forgot to add
that I also run ventrillo voice comm and it never skips a beat
even when the game has problems but it has an IP that does not
begin with 69.x.x.x. Will let you know what happens.

The only REAL way to get an ISP to respond is to run a decent traceroute and show them the router that is causing delays or dropped packets. Some games come with internal badwidth or connection monitors that will show dropped packets. I had an issue where my own computer was just too slow to load the map in time before I went into idle or timeout. But that doesn't apear to be the case here. Most likely some routing issue with Adelphia as you suspect already.

/Edit BTW dual processors connected to an OC3 doesn't mean much. Chances are 99 percent that You are not the only clan on that pc or the only user on that OC3. The only way game hosting is feasible it to have 4 or 5 (or more) servers per machine. I clans say that all the time. In fact a lot of colocated PCs probably share that OC3 connected datacenter. Although that is a worthy ping if constant. At map start up that may jump up high enough to cause connection problems? Just guessing since I don't have access to you or the server. What is the server IP? If it's a public server it's listed anyway.

Server IP is 69.31.7.217:12203. It is in northen Va. I tried doing traceroutes from my system
to the server but Adelphia is blocking some hops from my IP to their network so I used
www.tracerout.org to try to get to my IP from the outside. Everything looked good but once I
hit those mystery IP's I could not tell what was happening. I went on and connected to some
other servers (not 69.x.x.x) and had no problems.

Thanks for your help.

Chances are good that once you hit a secured router or firwall the tracerout with drop since ICMP doesn't repond etc. In that case you can't see if they have an internal router dropping packets.

But here is the trace, unfortunately doing a trace from another location, as you did doesn't help you troubleshoot your own connection. This would not be a server I would connect too. I only show the last few hops and there is some serious delay at a router within my ISP backbone. If a couple more post a trace you might see a pattern from someone that makes the same hops and see the same delay, if any. I have a different ISP than you so I tossed out the first 10 hops.

11 67 ms 169 ms 55 ms so-1-2-0.edge1.Dallas1.Level3.net [209.245.240.165]

12 139 ms 50 ms 50 ms so-1-2-0.bbr2.Dallas1.Level3.net [209.244.15.165]

13 83 ms 110 ms 125 ms so-1-2-0.bbr1.Washington1.Level3.net [64.159.0.138]

14 191 ms 81 ms 152 ms ge-1-1-53.car3.Washington1.Level3.net [4.68.121.78]

15 158 ms 82 ms 82 ms 4.79.168.250

16 81 ms 132 ms 81 ms unknown.ash.scnet.net [66.225.244.149]

17 125 ms 80 ms 124 ms dvlabs-2.gw.iad.scnet.net [64.202.119.106]

18 104 ms 124 ms 147 ms blue1.ash.dvlabs.com [69.31.4.1]

19 330 ms 82 ms 323 ms unknown217.7.31.69.defenderhosting.com [69.31.7.217]