I'm not sure if this is any help, but when did you update to AOL 9.0? There's a thread that discusses problems faced with AOL 9.0 that affect either/both connection & performance. Read it here: AOL upgrade causing connection problems?

The coloured bars show up at the bottom left hand corner of LW 4 & represents the quality of connection & thus search abilities. Red represents disconnected to poor, green is ok to good, & blue represents turbo-charged.

Hope you find your answer in the above thread. If not post back & we'll see if there's any other possible reason.