slow internet on ONLY one pc in network

lunacyfoundme

We have a network at work that gets its internet service through our main server. We have one pc on the network where the internet is dog slow. Most internet based speed test wont even run on it. Yet all the other pcs work fine and gets speeds of about 4meg. Ive check the pc for viruses but have found none (software is up to date).

Anyone got any ideas about this? Any idea how to check the speed between server and pc? Theres a shared partition on the server, would copying files back and foweard be a good indicator of the network connection? Any free tools for checking network speed/traffic?

MickyJoe

Maybe start by bringing your slow PC over to where one of the good ones is connected to the network and swap the network connection from the good PC into the slow PC (i.e all connections up to and including the patch cable going into the good PC) and see if the slow PC is any different. At least this would narrow it down to the PC itself or the original connection that it was on.

Some_Person

Could be something wrong with the TCPRwin settings on the PC, don't know much about it, try Googling it.

FusionNet

Is is just internet or is your local network file transfer slow too? Also which antivirus are you using?

ttm

MickyJoe's idea is a good one. Either move the problamatic PC and swap over the network outlet with one that dones't have a problem or get a long cat5 patch cable (I keep a 25m one handy for just this reason) and try plugging the PC directly into the switch (or hub).

That should help rule out or isolate any issues with the physical network, like a bad patch cable or bad port on a switch.

I'd also check the subnet mask as I've created that problem myself by putting in 255.255.0.0 for a subnet mask on a single machine when it should be 255.255.255.0 (on a 192.168.1.x network), somehow the router manages to route some packets to this incorrectly configured PC enough so you seem to have a connection and don't bother checking the subnet mask but everything is very very slow.

Then incorrect DNS settings can be an issue, if it takes two clicks of any links or a refresh to get the webpage the first DNS server listed isn't replying. Also check if you are getting a DHCP address and settings from the router or a server and of the settings on the PC are set up manually or have manual DNS settings?

One obvious issue could be a router with a licence limit or if your server is a windows XP machine using intenet sharing then the limit is 10 connections 11th PC will be on the network but not get a connection, but as PC's disconect your 11th PC would then be able to connect.

Speed testing by copying data is fine. Just stick a CD in the server and copy it all to a client PC that works, time it and do the same on the problem PC.

Dardania

one thing that caused an inexplicable slow-down for me was activating Teredo (Microsoft's transitional method of providing IPv6 connectivity) - any way it would have been switched on? BitTorrent / uTorrent?

Other than that I echo TTM / FusionNet's points on misdirected packets / antivirus. Maybe try a malware scan? (www.malwarebytes.org)

le_dazzler

I would be well worth checking the speed/duplex settings of the slow PC's Network card. A duplex mismatch could cause the symptoms you are describing. You should definitely try to isolate the problem to either the network or the PC as Micky Joe suggested.

IgnatiusPop

le_dazzler wrote: »

I would be well worth checking the speed/duplex settings of the slow PC's Network card. A duplex mismatch could cause the symptoms you are describing. You should definitely try to isolate the problem to either the network or the PC as Micky Joe suggested.

I agree with Le_Dazzler - this is a common problem for office machines where a old switch was set to a port speed of something other than "Auto". Check the Speed/Duplex settings in the properties of the NIC on the machine in question, and make sure that it is set to auto (or whatever port speed the switch is set to). If that is the problem, you should notice a difference in network speed at that machine instantly.

:pac:

NullZer0

Agree with speed and duplex suggestions above.

However, (and dont flame me for this, I've seen it before) corrupt profiles on XP can do this! If your pings are fine and its HTTP that is slow then I'd create the profile again.

Other than that... try setting the MTU to 1450 with DrTCP and see if you notice a difference.

Possibly cable interference (highly unlikely!), dodgy cable etc...

johnmacward

Go to "Control Panel" > "Network Connections" (under XP) or "Control Panel" > "Network and Sharing Centre" (under Vista) and:

Under XP:
Right click on the connection (probably called "Local Area Connection") and select "Status", then find speed (it will say XXX Mbps).

Under Vista:
Within Network and Sharing Cenre find at the left "Network Connections" and do the same as above.

Is the speed 100 Mbps or something else? If it is 100 Mbps then try and download a large file from your shared folder. A file of size 500 to 600MB should take around 3 to 5 minutes. If it's much longer like 15, 20, 30 minutes then something else is going on and it's not just the internet.