One slow PC on the Network

Dubh Geannain

I work in a small company consisting of only 7 employees. We don't have an IT manager as such and recently I've found myself becoming the goto guy for computer problems and this one has me stumped.

There are about 9 or 10 PCs, 2 networked Hard drives and a networked printer connected through a series of switches in the building.

One of the PCs is extremely slow to open web-pages (from 10 seconds up to 1 minute) compared to every other computer on the network. From this PC I can ping the router and no delays show up. So it doesn't seem like an internal network issue.

I've checked the LAN network configuration and the TCP/IP settings also. It's set to obtain an IP address automatically as is each PC on the network. This PC also has a printer connected which is shared on the network.

Suggestions on a postcard please.

Disclaimer: I am far from being an expert on this.

Kinetic^

Is the PC the same spec as all the others?

Dubh Geannain

Hi Kinetic. All the computers are different specs tbh. But this one has 2Gig RAM and a 1G LAN card. Running windows XP. There are older machines on the network running XP and with only 1G of RAM and 100Meg LAN cards and they're running fine.

There are two computers on the network running windows 7. The rest are all XP. What I might do some evening when everyones gone is plug the PC directly into the rounter and plug out everything else.

Regarding the computer itself, the guy who was using it finished up with us this week. I've run a virus scanner, uninstalled alot of programs, done a disk cleanup and defragment. Checked the starup programs in 'msconfig' and googled a good few of the processes that appear in the task manager. There doesn't seem to be another program hogging the machines internet bandwidth either. And it's the same story with IE, Firefox and google chrome.

Edit: The original windows disk for the machine is missing too :mad:

kc66

Dubh Geannain wrote: »

Edit: The original windows disk for the machine is missing too :mad:

Try clearing all temporary internet files etc from the browser. I've seen Gb of temp files slowing the browser. Did you try installing another browser, eg Google chrome?
If you are willing to re-install the OS then you can use a disk from any PC as long as its the same version as what's installed on the slow one and there is a product key linked with the slow PC, should be on a sticker on the box.

feylya

What sort of speed are you getting when you copy files between computers on the network?
Are you using the same DNS servers as the other machines?
Is there a proxy configured on the slow PC?
Have you checked with different browsers?
Is it just surfing web pages that is slow or are downloads slow also?

Kinetic^

Have you run any diagnostics on the HDD or Memory? I've seen faulty hdd/memory result in poor browser performance.

Dubh Geannain

Thanks kc66. I might have look at the option of using another PCs disk but I really don't want to have to re-install the OS. There are some work related programs that are installed on this machine only due to licences. The Temp internet files is a no-brainer, but would you believe I don't think I've deleted them yet. Will be trying that first thing tomorrow. Using other browsers makes no difference.

Hi Feylya. There is no problem with copying and transferring files over the network. The LAN connection is set to obtain the DNS server address automatically as is all the other PCs afaik, but I'll double check that. I don't think there is a proxy configured. How do I check that? Browsing is slow but I haven't tried downloading any sizeable files, so I'll check that.

Kinetic. I've run AVG PC analyser in combination run their PC tuneup application, which you are allowed to run once for free. This apparently carried out fixing registry errors, junk files, fragmentation and broken shortcuts.

ED E

http://speedtest.net/

Go there on the problematic machine and test a few times, post your best result.

If you open IE, go to Tools, Internet Options, Connections Tab, Lan Settings. Proxy settings are there and are global to the machine(Chrome etc will use them unless otherwise told from the command line).

I've had weird things happen(example: Photoshop opening docs v.slow, this is documented) due to network printers linked via a PC, try disconnecting it and restarting, then browsing.

Dubh Geannain

Lethal_Bullet wrote: »

http://speedtest.net/

Go there on the problematic machine and test a few times, post your best result.

If you open IE, go to Tools, Internet Options, Connections Tab, Lan Settings. Proxy settings are there and are global to the machine(Chrome etc will use them unless otherwise told from the command line).

I've had weird things happen(example: Photoshop opening docs v.slow, this is documented) due to network printers linked via a PC, try disconnecting it and restarting, then browsing.

Upload speed: 0.48 Mb/s
Download seed: 4.4 Mb/s
Theses are reasonable results as we are in a rural location.

I tried downloading a couple of files and they download fine once the download window opens. i.e. I click to download a file and it takes about a minute to open the window option to run/save the file, but once you select the option it goes fine.

There are no proxy settings configured.

ED E

Sounds like DNS.

Have you scanned for malware? Something could be attempting a redirect causing the delay.

Dubh Geannain

Lethal_Bullet wrote: »

Sounds like DNS.

Have you scanned for malware? Something could be attempting a redirect causing the delay.

Thanks LB. I've already scanned the computer with a AVG professional but will try an alternative program.

Dubh Geannain

So, I've run Malwarebytes and it didn't return any infections.

I've uninstalled and re-installed a couple of the browsers but not IE yet and it's still the same story.

Disconnecting and unsharing the printer doesn't make a difference either.

At this stage is it safe to say it's not a Servers and Systems issue and should this thread be moved to an alternative forum?

feylya

Run ipconfig /all from the command line and dump the results here. It still stinks of a bad DNS server

Dubh Geannain

Hmm. This can't be right:

Ethernet adaptor Local Area Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix:
IP Address: 192.168.1.34
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
IP Address: fe80::21d:9ff:fea1:53f8%6
Default Gateway: 192.168.1.254

Tunnel adaptor Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix:
IP Address: fe80::ffff:ffff:fffd%5
Default Gateway:

Tunnel adaptor Automatic Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix:
IP Address: fe80::5efe:192.168.1.34%2
Default Gateway:

For the record I only expected to see this, which is what appears on other LAN connected PCs on the network:

Ethernet adaptor Local Area Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix:
IP Address: 192.168.1.20
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway: 192.168.1.254

I've looked under network connections on the PC. There are two connections. LAN and a Bluetooth Network. I disabled the Bluetooth network connection last week when I first started investigsating this issue.

So what's this tunnel adapter and why does the LAN connection show two IP addresses?

Edit: Is the extra information just a feature of the LAN/ethernet adaptor?

Captain Commie

Dubh Geannain wrote: »

Hmm. This can't be right:



For the record I only expected to see this, which is what appears on other LAN connected PCs on the network:


I've looked under network connections on the PC. There are two connections. LAN and a Bluetooth Network. I disabled the Bluetooth network connection last week when I first started investigsating this issue.

So what's this tunnel adapter and why does the LAN connection show two IP addresses?

Tunnel adapter is used when there is some sort of virtual pc software installed.

another think to look at is the configured speeds for this network card, you say that its a 1GBps card on what i assume to be a 100MBps lan, you need to make sure that the card is set to 1GBps full duplex

feylya

Teredo is used for tunneling ipv6 to ipv4. .

Can you run ipconfig with the /all switch? I'd like to see the DNS servers too but it's possible that the Teredo tunnel is screwing up stuff. Have a look at the installed programs, see if anything looks network related or just plain out of place

Dubh Geannain

feylya

Are your other boxes set up with ipv6?

Dubh Geannain

Nope.

Dubh Geannain

Actually. I assumed it was the only one with IPv6 set up. My laptop (which connects via wireless to the network) and my bosses PC are also, but they both run Windows 7, whereas this PC is Windows XP.

The PCs on the network are all Dells but of different ages.

Jumpy

If you want to disable ipv6 on XP type the following into a command prompt

netsh interface ipv6 uninstall

To re-enable it use "install" instead of "uninstall"

This machine would need to have had it installed as XP doesnt have it on by default.

Jumpy

For the record I dont believe that IPv6 is the issue here.

Dubh Geannain

Well Jumpy. That did it.

I don't fully understand why but it's working fine now.

What was the need for IPv6 when the other computers are working perfectly fine without it too.

feylya

That's some nice editting there Jumpy

Jumpy

I see NO editing.

Move along.