10 MB Ethernet issue ( i think )

[Moolzz]

Hi all

New to these forums but i'd like to ask about a problem i've been experiencing for quite a long time

The problem is extemely slow download speeds from any ftp/site ie:


I have a 10 meg connection with blueyonder,been with them for 3 years,while it was the 2 meg service before it got upgraded to 10 meg i never had a problem with download speed,,always maxed out at roughly 250 kb/s wether downloading from an ftp or a torrent program

Now, since i got upgraded for free to the 10 meg service , i can never ever at any time of the day or night get past 120 kb/s from any ftp you can name (roughly a year since i've been on the 10 meg connection)

Just to prove i wasnt testing on dodgy ftp's , i have 2 friends in the UK on exactly the same connection i have , one in Newcastle and one in Birmingham who both done exactly the same tests as me,,at exactly the same time ,every time they get roughly between 1100-1300 kb/s and i'm lucky to get 130

There is various other probs like lag spikes/disconnections while gaming or just chatting in a voice com but i suspect if i can address the speed issue
that might just fix the dodgy spikes/dc's

This week i have had an engineer visit , he removed the surpressor (not sure what it's called) from the cable leading into the modem .In total he was here for 5 minutes,,checked modem logs yada yada ,said everything was to their "spec " then just shrugged his shoulders and left saying hopefully thats solved it . It didn't ,roughly 20 minutes after he left i got the usual lagspike then disconnect while gaming .

I've been in touch with the blueyonder techs through outlook express and theyve asked for various net stats and ping results , the last thing they told me to check was to alternate between half and full duplex mode to see if
this improves my download speed and also if that didn't work to buy a new Nic card . I'm ok with buying the nic card , but i cant get near a pc shop till the middle of next week so , here's my thing :

When i try to alter the duplex setting on the ethernet card , my pc reboots , if i try to disable my connection the pc reboots , if i pull the power from the modem and then try to alter the duplex setting my pc reboots,,,my question (for the moment) is , is there a setting somewhere that is causing the pc to reboot ? and if so how do i get to it and turn it off ?

I aplogise in advance for the extremely long whine but it kinda felt good to let it all out !!;)



Area :L32
Former Telewest customer (i think)
Motorola Surfboard sb5100

Just in case , my ethernet is on board , don't know the make model number but the Motherboard is an Asus K8N E-Deluxe

Thx in advance to anyone that takes the time to reply

[DABhand]

I think Asus Mobo's at the time was a Marvell Yukon NIC.


But your NIC is not the issue, in fact they should never say to you you may have to go buy a NIC card, very shocking.

Its your local UBR they are either working on it, upgrading it, or generally not got a clue as to what to do.

Its been going on for a few weeks up and down the country.

Wait a few days if it doesnt improve do call them to show your disgust.

And tell them about this new ADSL line going around https://www.bethere.co.uk/

Im sure that will frighten them into actually doing something for you.

[Moolzz]

I have now checked your connection from our side and there are
>> no local issues in your area or on your ubr. So I would suggest you have
>> a look at www.speedguide.net and have a look at the TCP/IP Optimizer and
>> see if this improves your download speeds

From the blue yonder tecchie ^^
---------------------------------------------------
They have ruled out it being the UBR apparently .But i am kinda suspicious about my onboard ethenet . For about 18 months after i first had cable installed i got totally random loss of connections , could have been 5 times in a day or 5 times in an hour . For about the last six months or so the random disconnects seem to have dissapeared (apart from when dc'ing from an online game) but i just get awful lag spikes which result in getting kicked from what i was doing

Another thing about the download speed issue,,occasionally if i use a newsgroup to download stuff,,my connection maxes out and i'm dl'ing at 1200 kb/s,thats only occasionly . Tried downloading today was stuck at a steady 300 kb/s


Would be nice if i could find a way to alter the duplex setting without the pc rebooting every single time i try to do it , so if anyone has any ideas please fire away ,,again,,thx for any help in advance :)

[DABhand]

If it was a problem with your NIC, 18months is a long time it should have been dead by now :P

But since it was intermittent disconnects and now lag spikes. Im still convinced its at their end.


My faith in their techies was okish, but the last year its been right at the bottom.

I run a PC shop, upgrade, repairs, selling built PC's.

One customer came in 8 months ago for a sound card, so I asked her want me to check just in case (I dont charge for checking).

So I checked nothing wrong with the sound card. So I thought maybe it was a nice new one for gaming or music editing etc.

Nope. "Telewest told me that my sound card is causing me to go offline"

I stared at her for 3 seconds, trying not to laugh at what she was told, so she didnt think I was laughing at her.

Only thing I could say was "They said what... come again" hehehe


So do take what they tell you with a pinch of salt so to speak.


You could always upgrade your driver for the network card.


Right click My Computer on the desktop > Properties > Goto hardware tab > Device Manager.


In the list goto your network card, it will be listed there Make and model, go on the net and get the updated driver for it and install.

---------- Post added at 07:57 ---------- Previous post was at 07:51 ----------

Shoulda knew it was an Nforce board


http://dlsvr02.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/sock754/K8N-E/K8N-E_Win2KXP_431.zip

or

http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforce3_winxp_5.11

Both will get you your drivers :)

[Moolzz]

Updated the drivers yesterday so it can't be that :(

My main question at this point is just how can i alter the settings on the ethernet without the pc rebooting ?

I just wanna do it so i can report back to the teccies and say "this didn't work either , next plan please ? "

[Moolzz]

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/02/70.png (http://www.speedtest.net)


Sun, 18 Feb 2007 19:59:13 GMT

1st 512K took 6797 ms = 75.3 KB/sec, approx 620 Kbps, 0.61 Mbps
2nd 512K took 5547 ms = 92.3 KB/sec, approx 761 Kbps, 0.74 Mbps
3rd 512K took 5937 ms = 86.2 KB/sec, approx 710 Kbps, 0.69 Mbps
4th 512K took 6391 ms = 80.1 KB/sec, approx 660 Kbps, 0.64 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 688 Kbps, 0.67 Mbps



To repeat this test from the source server click here.

Ho hum,,,any slower then my upload will be faster than my download :(

[Moolzz]

Woot !

Was speaking to a friend and he google'd some stuff

Turns out the new drivers for nforce 3 are broke and you need to revert back to the previous drivers,,done that,,changed settings on my ethernet card,,and all is working well

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2007/02/69.png (http://www.speedtest.net)


Obviously that screenie is one of the better ones :),,had low ones at 800-900 but hey,,i'm happier with that instead of 120 :D

[DABhand]

Cool :)

Nice one at least its solved hehehe