Beware: Asus Network iControl can kill upload speeds

[Rataan]

At least it did for me according to web based speed tests. Now, if somebody wants to post and tell me that it really isn't a problem and that it just looks like a problem, then I won't argue it at this point, because I haven't extensively tested it with actual uploads. But if anyone sees speed test upload speeds 20x slower than they should be, this may be the reason why.

BTW, this is an Asus Sabertooth Z77.

 

[Khrev]

By the way, ASUS boards are amazing and you shouldn't condemn an entire brand of hardware just because of one single hitch in a driver.

 

[Mitch H]

Ok there's nothing wrong with iControl, just because people don't know how to use it doesn't mean the utility is the problem. Do you really seriously think the software engineers would design a utility that actually works the other way around? That's a very strong and inconsiderate accusation.

90% of users are never going to either know/need the program and don't know what it's used for or how to set it up so their stupidity leads them to using a program that hurts them because they don't need to set it up for anything lol.

 

[Mitch H]

Beware, lack of knowledge can kill upload speeds and lead to posting incorrect information with no testing.

It prioritizes current/selected programs over others... I highly doubt its going to prioritize a meaningless 5 second speed test. that's not what its meant for.

The person's concern was the program messing with their upload speeds, just listing what the program does and saying it is impossible to affect the persons problem makes you look like an idiot.

That's like saying downloading a video game can't give you a BSOD or make your computer restart unexpectedly because it has nothing to do with Microsoft, DURR.

 

[thenightgoblin]

I too had the same issues with Asus Network iControl. It is a very problematic program !

As a few other users pointed out, their network problems continued even although the App was set to OFF from the Asus AI Suite.
What I found is that sometimes the application starts itself.. the reason for this is that it's in the Windows Task Scheduler.
The task is set to start upon Logon..

To fix this, you can go to the Windows Task Scheduler
In Win7 this is under Start ==> All Programs ==> Accessories == System Tools ==> Task Scheduler
Expand the "Task Scheduler Library" and you will find a heading for "ASUS"
You will then see a name like "ASUS Network iControl Help Execute"
Right click that task and disable it.

Hope that helps others.

 

[SeanNY2]

At least it did for me according to web based speed tests. Now, if somebody wants to post and tell me that it really isn't a problem and that it just looks like a problem, then I won't argue it at this point, because I haven't extensively tested it with actual uploads. But if anyone sees speed test upload speeds 20x slower than they should be, this may be the reason why.

BTW, this is an Asus Sabertooth Z77.

Thank you thank you for posting this. I uninstalled it and my speed problem vanished.

By the way if anyone needs to know how to uninstall iControl, you first make you are uninstalling the whole AI Suite, then it brings up an uninstaller that allows you to uninstall individual components.

 

[Subsonic_tonic]

I created an account just to post...that it works fine on my computer.

Asus P8Z77-V PRO, 4770K, Win7 Home Premium *I've tweaked nothing network-wise*, old Linksys WRT54GS router, 7MB/512KB up/down DSL connection). I tried with it set on Auto, I tried with a custom profile where I told it to set Firefox and Steam to "high" priority and everything else "normal", and I tried it with it turned off. No difference and I'm hitting my advertised speeds if not actually exceeding them. I can post screenshots if anyone would like proof.

I think the bigger question/concern should be why are so many of you having problems with it? Apparently the program can and does work fine with no tweaking. I'm using a wired connection not the optional WiFi that comes with my board. My Intel LAN driver is version 12.2.45.0. iNetwork version 1.03.10.

 

[RMO]

Big thank you to the OP!!

I recently moved into the city and acquired a 200mb internet connection. Being practically giddy at the thought of the amount of gaming and netflix streaming I could do per day at the same time, I hooked up my tower and boom, dreams shattered. 4mb/s download speed and barely 1mb/s upload.

Just turned iControl off on the Asus control panel and it immediately shot back up to 200mb/s! And brought the upload up to the expected 10mb/s.

So again, thank you OP! I was just about to throw cash at network cards

 

[Mineria]

Ok there's nothing wrong with iControl, just because people don't know how to use it doesn't mean the utility is the problem. Do you really seriously think the software engineers would design a utility that actually works the other way around? That's a very strong and inconsiderate accusation.

The developers probably didn't intend the program to throttle down upload speeds, but shit happens, specially if a program is tested, tested and tested again just to make sure.
Do you remember when Nvidia released a driver that had an issue with the fan duty cycle profiles, the one that made quite a few people sit with burned cards?

 

[ASUS-X-007]

Ok there's nothing wrong with iControl, just because people don't know how to use it doesn't mean the utility is the problem. Do you really seriously think the software engineers would design a utility that actually works the other way around? That's a very strong and inconsiderate accusation.

Seriously, what is wrong with you people? There are many reports right here in this thread stating how icontrol is 100% for sure the reason for the huge speed drop. I will add my name to that list. Thanks for this thread, saved me from reinstalling windows!




I dont want to play the role of the smart guy , but allow me to watch and comment this thread from the view angle of a third person.Have anyone [of those reporting that ASUS has released a crap program] has tried to insert the speed test of his/her choise in the ASUS Network iControl WHITELIST (meaning that have to prioritize the browser and any content like ActiveX content , JAVA e.t.c) ? Also try to use it with Original Version of Windows full updated and with all the latest updated for your motherboard,BIOS and Grafics card. Usally the main problem is the user and not the Software. Now, if you dont need it , DONT install it and DONT blame the others that have worked years to create it and have spent much much more years to educate ...


P.S. : Not need to answer for me because i was just passing thru and never will be back on this thread...

 

[MooseUterus]

Add me to the list. Several months of going mad virus testing and trouble shooting to no avail.

Speeds throttled to about 5-10% of of what any other device is capable of in my house. Deleted this wretched blight on my pc and immediately able to get around 1mb a second downloads (I live in Australia this is sadly considered fine).

Incidentally had this on my computer for just under 2 years so not sure what the catalyst was for triggering this.

 

[mrtwisted]

Well, you can add me to the list of people...

Who where trolled and fooled by the title of this thread. I actually thought there was something wrong with the iController, seeing a thread with this title on such a reputable site. Too bad the title (and thread) was not screened by the moderators prior to these pages of confusion.
So, there is nothing wrong with my iController, and I've never had to tweak it. I'm glad this was just a hoax and not a real problem, only user error. To avoid any more confusion and misinformation, I suggest a New Tile...

"How to: Fix Slow Internet Speeds on ASUS iController"

Helpful and NOT misleading

 

[Ryomiyai]

I wish I had the same luck as you guys/gals. I opened AI suite and unchecked iControl, rebooted and still the same. Am I doing something wrong? Does it require an un-install of the AI suite?

Unchecked iControl not help.
kill netsvchelp.exe only.
asshole Asus Network iControl.

 

[coffeeAchiever]

Ok there's nothing wrong with iControl, just because people don't know how to use it doesn't mean the utility is the problem. Do you really seriously think the software engineers would design a utility that actually works the other way around? That's a very strong and inconsiderate accusation.

I wish I had stumbled across this thread earlier. I just spent the entire day trying to figure out why my 10 Mb/s connection was bottlenecked at 0.8 Mb/s. The last 2 hours were spent killing processes, one by one, and running speedtest.net every time I killed another process. Narrowed it down to NetSVCHelp.exe, googled the process to figure out what it is, and ... bam! Saw this thread.

I wish some people would just shut up when they're writing from a point of ignorance.

 

[sevo]

Thank you so much, much appreciated, I just fixed the problem with my upload speed, which was constantly running ~10. Found that bitch and it's now ruling!! I've been having this problem for months and got it fixed now, thank you so much, much appreciated!

 

[miamimike]

I know this is a pretty old thread but I found it trying to figure out why I was having terrible upload speeds.
I have a P8Z77-Vpro, Windows 7, 64bit.
I never installed iControl but still experienced the same problem with fast downloads and horrible uploads. I spend about an hour trying to figure out what the issue was with the network driver.
I was running the Intel V17000 driver from Asus website.
I downloaded and then updated to the V17300 driver from Asus website and still was getting poor upload results.

After tweaking for a while I was able to get very good results. From what I gathered on my computer disabling Interrupt Moderation was the simplest way to solve my upload speed. (Right-click adapter>properties>click configure>advanced tab).
An alternative is also to Enable Interrupt Moderation, then scroll down to the Performance Options, click properties and set the Interrupt Moderation Rate to Adaptive; this also gave me good results.

Here are my settings :
Interrupt Moderation : disabled
Jumbo Packet:9014 (I'm not sure this really makes any difference)
Performance options:
Adaptive Inter-Frame Spacing : Disabled
Flow Control: Disabled
Interrupt Moderation Rate: Adaptive
Receive Buffers:256 (this is the default and changing it didn't seem to make a difference)
Transmit Buffers: 512 (this is the default and changing it didn't seem to make a difference)
Priority & VLAN : disabled

I used speedtest.net website and ran it consecutively using "Test Again" button after each test.
I ran 5 tests with Interrupt Moderation Enabled and Interrupt Moderation Rate set to Extreme
All of them had download of 255-260Mbps and uploads of 72-77Mbps
Disabling Interrupt Moderation I got speeds of 288-301Mbps download and 114-142Mbps uploads.
It seems I was able to get double the speed for uploads when I disabled Interrupt Moderation.

I also tried a few times to Enable Interrupt Moderation and then go into the Performance Options section and tweak the Interrupt Moderation Rate to multiple settings and was able to get very good results when I set the Interrupt Moderation Rate to Adaptive.

 

[Telemokos]

At least it did for me according to web based speed tests. Now, if somebody wants to post and tell me that it really isn't a problem and that it just looks like a problem, then I won't argue it at this point, because I haven't extensively tested it with actual uploads. But if anyone sees speed test upload speeds 20x slower than they should be, this may be the reason why.

BTW, this is an Asus Sabertooth Z77.

Whooooa! Nice job, OP! Have same MB and same problem. I stopped the iControl from working, but then had to completely uninstall it (but kept the rest of the Asus AI programs). Voila! Fixed.

Thanks for the A++++ tip!

 

[sintho_matix]

I just created an account to say THANK YOU. I have been dicking around with EVERYTHING trying to figure out why my wireless was so shitty. I went out, bought a new router, bought a new wireless card, nothing worked. Finally my wife told me that her internet has been working just fine wirelessly.

SO, i google causes of why ONLY ONE computer in a network would have piss poor upload. I found this thread, uninstalled X FAST WIRELESS LAN or whatever trash, instantly 0.8 upload --> 6. THank god

 

[adepsh]

Thanks bud, you were a life saver, not only did iNetwork reduce uplaod speed tremendously, it would also reboot my Cisco EPC3928s modem when download speed was over 100MBPS. On disabling the function my upload has returned to 4+MBPS download speed is at 100+MBPS and my modem has seized to reboot THANKSSSSSS I had given up all hope before stumbling on your blog!

 

[drivenog]

At least it did for me according to web based speed tests.

I agree Rataan, Network IControl not only affects U/L speeds but D/L as well (drastically). I was getting the following results from multiple test sites:
Test - 02/29/2016 3.60MB D/L
Test - 02/29/2016 1.26MB D/L
Test - 03/02/2016 2.25MB D/L
Test - 03/02/2016 2.77MB D/L
Test - 02/02/2016 2.77MB D/L
Test - 02/02/2016 3.70MB D/L

After I uninstalled Network IControl I get 107.74 MB D/L

 

[samsonn25]

Definitely icontrol is affecting the upload speeds. With my new build on P8Z77-VLK my regular Comcast speeds (150 Plan but they have it blasted to 230-250 when traffic is slow) have gone from 230-250Mb down and 10-12Mb up, to 200 down and .5 up, which is 20 times slower upload speeds. I have another computer with the Z87 Plus board and older software without the utility and it does the 230-250-10-12.

As soon as I turned off the network control my upload speeds went back up to normal.

 

[samsonn25]

Sabertooth Z77 + i5-3570K here, OP's theory is confirmed for me. (Connected via ethernet to a D-Link router, if that matters)

I was messing around with updates and stuff and decided to try turning iControl on. I did a speed test beforehand and found ~62 Mb/s down, 3 Mb/s up. With iControl on download speed stayed exactly the same, but uploads slowed down so much the test actually failed. I turned it off, upload speeds are back to normal. I've left iControl off since I built my PC back in... June I think it was, just because I wasn't sure exactly what it's supposed to do. If my internet isn't broken, no need to fix it. This only confirms my earlier opinion that it's useless.

I don't see why people are hating on Asus though... aside for this pointless little bit of software (which is easy to turn off), their motherboards are still solid.

Its because they have it turned on by default.