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swright
join:2012-03-09

swright

Member

[Speed] D/L speed reduced, isolated to 1 sys on network

Location: Decatur, IL

I've been experiencing a horrid slowdown of download speed over the past several weeks. The slowdown is consistent during all hours of the day, and seems to affect download speed only, not upload speed.



(Test run with IE8, WinXP Pro)

At first I suspected malware/virus activity, but failed to find a culprit with MS Security Essentials or Malwarebytes. As the OS has been running for quite some time, I decided to do a clean OS install, (WinXP Pro). This failed, however, to resolve the issue as I'd hoped.

There are other computers connected through our network to a wireless router/cable modem (see modem info below), and none of those computers are having this issue, boasting download speeds often in excess of our 16Mbps 'advertised' speed. (Even my first generation Android Zio gets about 14.2 Mbps through wifi)

Modem/Router details:
Motorola Surfboard SB5100
Software ver. SB5100-2.3.8.0-GA-00-NOSH

The system in question uses a Realtek 8191su (802.11n) dongle to connect to the router/modem.

Wifi Statistics:
avg 72% signal strength
100% link quality
Tx: 120 Mbps / Rx: 120 Mbps

Any assistance to track down the cause of this issue would be greatly appreciated. If you need further information regarding the system or network, I will do my best to provide it.

Thanks in advance
Thordrune
Premium Member
join:2005-08-03
Lakeport, CA

Thordrune

Premium Member

Since other wireless devices seem to be working fine, I'd say it's either a defective wireless adapter, or something weird with the drivers. Here's the latest drivers from Realtek, in case you haven't tried them yet.
swright
join:2012-03-09

swright

Member

I don't believe its a problem with either the Realtek driver or the wifi gear. I had already reinstalled the driver/software from the manufacturer (Realtek) using the same site for which you posted a link in your reply, with no significant change.

To check the gear itself for issues, I installed a different dongle I had lying around. Its a Netgear WG111v2 which uses 802.11g at 54 Mbps. Driver version is 5.1213.6.327 (from install CD).
Here are the results.




As you can see, same issue.

bdnhsv
join:2012-01-20
Huntsville, AL

bdnhsv

Member

Try connecting this PC in question directly to your modem and re-running the speed tests to se if you get different results.
swright
join:2012-03-09

swright

Member

Just an update, I believe this issue is now resolved. After cycling the cable modem, download speed is now greatly improved.




I am rather kicking myself for not having tried this simple remedy first, but assumed in light of good performance by other wifi devices that the modem was not the issue. Still, clearly the reboot of the modem/router has improved performance.

Thanks to all who posted ideas.

fonzbear2000
Premium Member
join:2005-08-09
Saint Paul, MN

fonzbear2000

Premium Member

You shouldn't have that high of a ping though. And what speed tier are you on? 6Mbps seems pretty low for download.
Chubbysumo
join:2009-12-01
Duluth, MN

Chubbysumo

Member

this seems like a windows XPired TCP/IP stack tuning issue. XP has horrid TCP tuning to begin with, and needs to be adjusted. why not just put win7 on the offending machine and be done with it?

EG
The wings of love
Premium Member
join:2006-11-18
Union, NJ

EG

Premium Member

said by Chubbysumo:

this seems like a windows XPired TCP/IP stack tuning issue. XP has horrid TCP tuning to begin with, and needs to be adjusted. why not just put win7 on the offending machine and be done with it?

If that is the case then a question would be is how old the XP box is and does it have what it takes to be able to run W7 (adequate RAM etc.) ?
Chubbysumo
join:2009-12-01
Duluth, MN
Ubee E31U2V1
(Software) pfSense
Netgear WNR3500L

Chubbysumo

Member

said by EG:

If that is the case then a question would be is how old the XP box is and does it have what it takes to be able to run W7 (adequate RAM etc.) ?

win 7 runs fine on a p4 and even on a P3, with 1gb of ram. Also, RAM is really cheap these days, and since consumer support of xp is being dropped in 2014, anyone still running it will probably become the victim of a zero day flaw that someone has kept quiet about, and MS will never issue an update to fix it. Anyone running windows xp should expect to become part of a botnet after July 2014.
swright
join:2012-03-09

swright to fonzbear2000

Member

to fonzbear2000
IRT fonzbear2000's question, I'm not sure what tier we are on by name, per se. (I share a connection with my roomate, who is the named customer on the Comcast account.) But he tells me our 'advertised' package speed is actually 20 MBps. I'm still getting passable download speeds, though certainly not on par with what I would expect or desire.




So, yes I would like to see if there is a tweak to XP's TCP/IP config which might improve my d/l speeds.

As for the suggestion to upgrade to Win7, well... I'd be more likely to spend the cash necessary to upgrade to a new system. Likely, I could find a used box on ebay with Win7 pre-installed for roughly two to three times the cost of the upgrade package The Home Edition upgrade is, I believe, about 50 bucks, give or take, and 100 for Professional. I am, of course, fully aware that the PC is outdated by several generations and should be in a recycle bin, not on my desk. I believe the Vectra series was sold in the late 90's, perhaps as late as 2001.

On the mention of memory, my PC uses really, really outdated memory. I could get, perhaps, as much as 3 gig if I ponied up for three 1GB PC133 168pin DIMM sticks. According to Hewlet Packard's manufacurer's specs, the max system ram is 1.5GB using three 512MB DIMMs, but I've read in several places that the motherboard can handle up to 1 Gigabyte in each slot. At the time those specs were published, likely, 1GB DIMMs were not even being manufactured yet, or at best were a niche market for business class machines. Currently, I believe the system has two 512MB and a 256MB in the remaining slot. However, the price of that outdated memory, per Gig, is exponentially higher than say more common DDR or DDR2 memory chips. Its roughtly 70 bucks for each 1 Gigabyte chip. So, to max it out we'd be talking around 200 bucks, give or take. For that much money, I could definately purchase a used/refurb PC which would surpass this dinosaur's specs in every way, including memory.

As for XP support expiring in 2014, thanks for the heads up. I plan to upgrade to a new system soon anyway. It does make me a bit sad though, as I have always been a fan of XP. But, its to be expected.