What is wrong with the forum lately - extremely slow and locking up when posting

[dylan8]

I had one day a week or so ago where it was horribly slow to load and replies took about 30-60seconds before loading (other web pages seemed OK)
But seems to sorted itself now

Edit that: this reply took 30odd seconds and orginal appeared to fail, but then I got the duplicate warning message

[simon k]

I get this error a lot - "Error code: SBOX_FATAL_MEMORY_EXCEEDED"

If I open up task manager and watch Chrome's memory usage it's gobbling up memory like there's no tomorrow. I have a feeling it's one of the advertisements doing it..

[The_Hawk]

Thanks everyone for the feedback.

I get this error a lot - "Error code: SBOX_FATAL_MEMORY_EXCEEDED"

If I open up task manager and watch Chrome's memory usage it's gobbling up memory like there's no tomorrow. I have a feeling it's one of the advertisements doing it..

Very sadly advertising is needed to keep this place running, that said as a logged in member you should only be seeing one slimline ad unit in the top bar and one at the very bottom in the footer (which you might not even notice). Non-logged-in users see a few more embedded within the first and lasts post. In short, log in and you shouldn't see as many ads. They are all served through Google so I wouldn't have thought they would be the limiting factor, it's not like I have to process them in any way.

I'd love to find a way to drop all (or even most) advertising, but forums are getting quieter and quieter thanks to Facebook and the like. Which is a shame for all the build threads and DIY posts. I don't know how many times google turns up links back to this place and all the great work all the members have done over the years.

In any case, if you can grab a screen shot of anything that pops up after a long load I can attempt to track down if it's a particular ad unit or something causing the issue. Same for anyone else having issues, a screen shot of the page when it eventually loads might help track down where the problem is coming from.

[Lucas_R]

I did have someone the other day who had issues, although it was just flat out not working from one computer. I've just been checking and it appears to be working fine for me from Sydney, there isn't any unusual load or obvious issue on the server. That said, I'm not exactly thrilled with the current service and have been considering moving... but its all time and money.

Are you still having the issue right now?
Is it limited to any particular time?
What browser are you using?

I'm away dealing with some family things at the moment, but I'll keep an eye on it when I can. If you've got me on Facebook or messenger or whatever it's worth pinging me when the issue is happening so I can have a look at that moment to see if I can isolate the issue.

I just hit "reply with quote" and it just hung there for 5+ minutes before it finally opened up the text box.

Im using Google Chrome on a 2yr old laptop from Newcastle. It does not seem to be limited by any particular times.

Thanks for looking into it Hawk. I will resort to using Tapatalk for the time being as its very frustrating on a web browser.

[Lucas_R]

So the issue with text on screen not keeping up with your typing seems to have gotten better (seems to come and go), the issue with posting replies is still ongoing.

[Sharkie]

I also have massive delay's posting. After clicking post or after clicking add photo, it can take a long time to actually respond. Its quicker to refresh the screen than to wait for the post to be "posted".

[Guest001]

Strangely this morning when I first opened the forum and typed a reply the text was a word slow in appearing and then it actually didnt appear as a reply I refreshed the page and tried to post the reply again and it said I was too soon so it obviously had registered the first one but not posted it ..

At the time my computer would have been doing an automated virus and malware scan so Im not sure which was the cause but it usually doesnt interfere even on here

EDIT
It posted this instantly.

[The_Hawk]

I'm yet to see weirdness on my end, but I have been looking into alternative hosting arrangements as well as potentially upgrading the forum software. That last one being the real concern since it's a one way process and I need some dedicated time to do testing (like when I'm not at my day job).

[Guest001]

Mine has been Ok since this morning

[Gutoneto]

Having problem here as well… every time I try to load section in the Forums and replying something I have a huge lag and takes ages to even show something on the screen. Also, as soon as I load VWWatercooled website the fans on my Mac goes crazy. I have to type what I want in World and copy and paste if I want to write anything (even that takes ages)

[The_Hawk]

Is there any particular section people are trying to access where the problems seem to happen to see if I can narrow it down?

I'm still digging on the issues, but still haven't encountered them myself which makes it hard.

Load averages look good: 0.53, 0.68, 0.72

I get an email any time there is a database timeout which does happen from time to time, but will result in an error page on the client side (and usually pretty quickly). It also tells me which user it's for, and it's almost never for a logged in user (definitely not for the recent ones I've just checked too) so it's probably not that side of things.

I'm going to try a few more things to see if I can resolve the problems before taking more drastic measures.

[The_Hawk]

OK, update time.

I might found the issue with a long-standing plug in that I updated in January and completely forgot about.

I've made that change at a global level, so it would be great if I could get feedback on if things are working like they should now.

Failing that, I've also created a new test style which should kill off any/all modifications I've made to the code over the years. It's a bit of a nuclear option where I would have to build back up from scratch all the little modifications. But it's always an option.

If I can get some feedback on if the changes I've made to the default style(s) are working. No need to test both, they share the same configuration save for the fixed width: VWWatercooled V2.0 or VWWatercooled V2.0 (Fixed Width)

If you're still having issues, I've temporarily enabled the test style and reverted everything back to its stock form which means some things will be missing, but core functionality should still be there. This should rule out anything I might have broken, but I there is a good chance I've found the culprit.

To change styles, down in the very bottom left of the page there is a drop down to select different styles/themes. Go in there and select "VWWatercooled - Test View", this should revert back to a default vanilla, unchanged theme.

[Guest001]

Have mainly been in the TIG forum and only once had a slow page and upload reply and yesterday was a bit slow uploading a reply but only a few seconds slow. Hardly noticeable from my computers and I dont use a phone to access anything

[The_Hawk]

That's what makes it strange, it doesn't seem to be consistent or affecting everyone.... you know, the best type of issues to hunt down

[Lucas_R]

That's what makes it strange, it doesn't seem to be consistent or affecting everyone.... you know, the best type of issues to hunt down

This is a test reply - will update to advise whether it posted as normal or with delay.

As for which are of the forum it happens, doesn't seem to matter to me.

EDIT: This one posted as normal (eg no delays). yippee. Thanks Hawk. Will test some more over the coming days and advise.