Why does the board freeze up?

Chess.com is great. But one sort of major flaw.  Board keeps freezing up.  Hard to compete in games when you can't move.  I've done some routine checks for the obvious things on my end ... it is definitely not my network (or either of the networks I play on).  What gives?  Like the site, but not being able to move your pieces while the clock runs is kind of a big drawback.

   I'm no computer expert but what are some of the "routine checks" that you have done.?  Cleared your cache.?  Defrag hard drive.?  Run complete scan with anti-virus.? You're flying a U.S flag so in theory you should have a good connection. Are you playing games in "groups",  or "open-seeks".?

Also update/ try a different browser, let us know what worked, also checkout Brenda's #23:

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/help-support/home-problem?page=2

Thanks for the comments .... cache, drive consolidations, anti-virus, ISP, browers ... all not the cause.  From what I have been reading on other forums and in chatting with other members, the problem seems to be with chess.com's bandwidth being unable to support the advertising schemes and number of potential concurrent games.

 I have to be honest ... I find some of the things support techs are saying to be really annoying.  Install a new version of windows .... this is an online game.  Every other chess site allows you to play the game without freezing.  It feels like what is going on is that chess.com cares about monetizing and simply ignores the fact that it is screwing up the chess games that people come here to play.  Worse than that, I read on a Facebook group that chess.com prioritizes what members get frozen out of the application when their bandwidth is insufficient to carry concurrent games.  I guess you could say "its free" for non-paying members, but non-paying members generate a lot of revenue for chess.com.  I guess my question is this: shouldn't an online chess site work such that in the middle of your game it does not freeze up preventing you from finishing the game?  Why should I install different operating systems so they avoid the real problem of not having enough bandwidth to support their ad schemes?  Early in my chess.com membership and maybe I am missing something ... but I have been kind of put off so far.

  Which operating system are you using?

See how to fix and possible whys here:

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/consistently-being-disconnected-after-i-make-a-winning-move

Yes, I totally agree with you.

But a few things:

1. chess.com wants to make money; It is natural.  If their method isn't good, then players will leave.

2. Programming is harder when there are more variables; so, it is not unusual to require newer versions of browsers.

3. Online chess is just that; something we do for fun.  If it breaks, that's OK; another game is just a click away.

Fair points ... but my rating over time matters to me as I improve my game.  The app freezing distorts that.  More importantly, I have a hard time understanding why they don't fix it.  In my case, in fact, I am not getting a diamond membership specifically because of this issue, as I have learned about it.  This because - even though it would stop the app from freezing up on me given their protocols - it still distorts my rating if other players experience the problem.  Also, more broadly, they'd make more money if they fixed this.

Right, absolutely.

Other chess sties (and free too) don't have these issues so maybe the problem should be looked into and fixed.  It'll make the chess.com experience even better (but we don't know their budget so it might be just too expensive).  I don't understand why an online chess playing program is hard to fix, but oh well, I'm not writing it and the devil is in the details as they say.

I think I'm just too sentimental; chess.com is the first chess site I started on.  I remember, in the beginning, I was very shy to try playing other human opponents on chess.com; it took joining a club (again, on chess.com) to convince me to try my first game.  Otherwise, I would have probably be long gone from here.

Might take what you read on Facebook with a few grains of salt.

The site's code is heavier than is used to be, that is for sure. But a freezing board might be caused by a number of issues. Normally, a disconnect from the live server (not from the internet), which can be caused by traffic on your network, on the path between you and the site, or even on the site side, would be the first culprit. A refresh will often fix an issue like that.

For basic members, the ad code could play into it some. It's more data the client has to stream, so that adds to things that can cause issues.

But there are a ton of things that can go wrong and the only things the site can influence are the amount of data used, efficiency of code on the client and server side, and their connectivity. They can't control for any other software/processes running on your system, other network traffic on your segment (streaming movies, music, etc). They can't control for the browser version you have or plugins that might cause issues either.

I very seriously doubt they do any kind of connection/session prioritization. There are some things you can do on your end, if you are on the website, that may improve connection issues:

https://support.chess.com/customer/en/portal/articles/1444918-my-internet-connection-is-fine---why-am-i-getting-disconnects-

https://www.chess.com/blog/News/how-to-adjust-your-live-chess-connection

I've had the same problem.  The screen freezes during a game, I'm unable to move and I lose on time.  When using Chrome, I see the icon for "this page is trying to load scripts from unauthenticated sources" on the right end of the address bar.  And I also see "loading..." or "waiting for..." one ad or another on the bottom left of the window.  I changed browsers to Microsoft Edge but the screen still froze during games.  I've cleared cache and run Malwarebytes.  And I've been in contact with member support about the issue.  I'm no tech geek but it seems the problem is that the ads are not loading properly and that is causing the screen to freeze.

Cottonsocks;  That doesn't sound right. I mean, I believe you but, you have a diamond account. I spoke to Commander Riker about Windows 10 because I too get the "this page is trying to load scripts from unauthentic sources". He said, you wouldn't get that with a diamond account--no ads. I'm looking at my finances for next yr so maybe I'll fess up some money for Erik. I run Malwarebytes also FBloggs,  because Windows Defender takes care of just about everything else.

If ads are causing games to freeze, the obvious solution is for the site to fix the bug.  It's unreasonable to expect members to upgrade their accounts because the site is unable or unwilling to fix the problem.

   No, I know about this FBloggs.  Erik spoke about it in a previous thread. The operative word is, "this page is TRYING to load scripts".  The ads are purchased by Google and sold to Chess.com in bundles. Most of the ads are legit, but accastionally an ad will be malicious. Erik said if you find any of those ads to report them and he'll talk to Google about taking them out. I'm refering to a virus that piggy-backs onto an ad. Its not designed to get your board to freeze.  Post 1 +2,  & post 31.-- https://www.chess.com/forum/view/help-support/another-hosted-virus-on-chesscom 

....what is the temperature in ur room ?

OHhhhh!  I get it,  freeze---temperature.  That was rather sexist of me, I'll delete that.  It was 14 degrees but then you walked into my life.                                                                                                                                    

....teezing Ronald....just teezing  . Going to bed soon. Was out w/ some friends earlier. Listening to Torn (Natalie) right @ the moment.

 I hope your board doesn't freeze up. 

It won't....it's on AAA batteries.

Going off to sleepytime....<3 L