Network Speed Issue

[Guest]

This is a curious one and there is very little on the web about what might be causing it and how to cure it.

Briefly, I have a mixed network, comprising of some powerline adapters, 802.11N & G wireless and some Ethernet cables.

My "work" pc is wired, direct to the router, into a 100MB port and the router also has a network laser printer plugged in, a 200MB powerline adapter, CCTV DVR and 1.3TB network storage.

The card settings (internal and integrated on my motherboard) were set to 100MB Auto-negotiation, however, when transferring large files, or running Sync Toy for example, where some of the transfers totalled several GB, the network utilisation would begin at around 40%, then within 30 seconds crash back down to less than 0.5% meaning a 750MB file transfer could take 9 hours.

This always, always happened, when using both with wireless and wired connections to the router.

The only way I can get my network actually working is to set the network adapter to 10MB Full Duplex, which gives me network utilisation of 99% and means I can transfer the same 750MB in around ten minutes.

I have tried again today to set the card at 100MB Auto, Full Duplex, Half Duplex etc and again, it starts well then within 30 seconds, crashes to less than 0.5%. The drivers are up to date and the network is not over utilised. The router firmware is up to date, as is the DVR and NAS.

The NAS is set to sleep until 1530, the DVR is only using bandwidth when it is viewed remotely and the powerline adapters are only used when the devices at the other end are being used, such as media servers and my son's XBox360. The printer is on demand, so uses no bandwidth unless it is being used yet still the network utilisation is poor.

What on earth could be causing this?

[Curlyben]

Re: Network Speed Issue

As funny as it may sound I have been dealing with a similar issue on my own laptop.

Since rebuilding to Win7 the NIC operated at sub 10 Mb even though it's a Gig card on gig network.
I have tried everything I know to no avail, but a recent M$ update has fixed it.

Doesn't really help you much, but have you considered upgrading to Gig NIC and switch ?

[Guest]

Re: Network Speed Issue

The issue does not affect my laptop, which is N wireless (as was the desktop) and runs Vista. The desktop runs 7 Ultimate and this has been going on for some time. Because I thought it might be a wireless issue and I was not far from the router (and had to cable the printer anyway) I cabled the desktop and began using the internal card.

I was tempted to get a Gig NIC, but thought it prudent to at least try to solve the issue first, otherwise I'd just end up crippling a card capable of 1000MB to 10MB just to get it working.

[Curlyben]

Re: Network Speed Issue

Considering how cheap networking gear is, I would be inclined to take the plunge.

Oh yeah and make sure you are FULLY updated with M$ patches, that's what fixed it for me.

[Guest]

Re: Network Speed Issue

I am less and less impressed with Win 7 now the initial novelty has worn off.

I had to buy some older laptops recently, because I needed machines with serial ports (and not emulated USB to RS232 that never works) and chose half a dozen Panasonic Toughbooks. They are only PII 300MHz with 128MB RAM and we put Win 98 on them and they run like lightning.

My desktop is a bit long in the tooth now, it's a P4 3.2GHz HT with 2GB RAM and my laptop is something faster still, with 3GB RAM yet these Toughboooks boot faster, shutdown faster and don't suffer with Microsoft "dither" like just about every other device newer than XP does. Even my old Libretto with a P75 processor and 32MB RAM is faster running Win 98.

I have some updates to do, but have ignored the constant nagging so far, but having said that, this issue predated any of these update reminders in any case.

[Guest]

Re: Network Speed Issue

Having just checked, I notice 32 apparently important updates are available and a further 43 optional updates are available.

Perhaps I should allow them to install.

Cheers Curly.

[Curlyben]

Re: Network Speed Issue

I hear you completely and I was even less impressed with Vista.
It lasted a whole 24 hours before ending up with TERMINAL BSoD.

If you have the available firepower Win7 is a dream.
I'm running Core 2 2.3Gig, 4 Gb RAM and a 512 Geforce 7950 GTX.
One of the fastest Laptops around nearly 4 years ago.
Dell XPS M1710, and Win7 Enterprise (Ultimate for Business)

You want fast go with the Penguin

[Guest]

Re: Network Speed Issue

I tried, I really did and it was awful. I would rather stick needles in my eyes.

[Guest]

Re: Network Speed Issue

Completed all updates, nothing outstanding and yet still the same issue. A 1.99GB file was going to take 11 minutes, at least for the first 30 seconds or so it was, at a network utilisation of around 39% then true to form, it crashed down to 0.14% and Windows was too embarrassed to tell me how long it was going to take.

I guess I'm back to 10Mbps then.

[Curlyben]

Re: Network Speed Issue

That's a shame.

Come on bite the bullet and go Gig

[Guest]

Re: Network Speed Issue

My router has only 100Meg ports, so is there any point in getting a Gig NIC for the desktop?

[Curlyben]

Re: Network Speed Issue

So get a Gig switch for your LAN.
After all you can only access the net at your suppliers speed anyway, but for LAN use Gig would (should) cut the mustard.

Netgear make good, inexpensive kit and it's all auto-sensing so plugging it into the 100 Meg router port would be fine.

[Guest]

Re: Network Speed Issue

I have a trade account with Solwise, having installed a number of large WiFi networks. They do a range of decent GIG switches. Shame actually, as I just bought three 10/100 switches for use in the house.

[Curlyben]

Re: Network Speed Issue

10/100 is OOOOOOLD tech

I'm also wondering if the router or NAS could be causing this, apparent, bottleneck.

Does your system (NT Kernal) CPU usage increase while the NIC speed goes down ?
In which case it might be chipset related.

[Guest]

Re: Network Speed Issue

I cannot check now, since I'm away, but from memory, no. The CPU usage and memory remains constant and pretty low as I recall.

I did wonder about the router, since it's a few years old, but it is wireless N, although inexplicably only 100Meg on the wired ports. My older 54G router on the other hand, did have a Gig switch.

I still have a NIC with a coax connection, although it is not being used.