Question Internet speed showing 10.0 Mbps

[Blackink]

I have an older Dell Inspiron 530 (10 years old?) that came with Windows XP. I have upgraded to Windows 7 Pro 64Bit.
I always thought the internet speed was OK on this Dell until I started looking through the settings on my newer PC built only 2-3 years ago and noticed in the Network and Sharing Center-Local Area Connection, the speed is at 100 Mbps where on the Dell PC it is showing 10.0 Mbps. I do notice the Web pages load up faster on the newer PC.

I am paying for 100Mbps through Comcast and I'm getting those speeds through the newer PC.

I just did a clean install of Windows 7 Pro on the older Dell and it has the latest Ethernet drivers installed.
I've switched Ethernet cables from the Dell PC and the newer PC with no change in speeds.
I've re-booted both the modem and router, no difference.

The Dell Inspiron 530 has an Intel Q6600 2.4GHz processor with 4 GB ram (the most it can have).

Any thoughts I what I can do to try and increase the Ethernet speeds on the older Dell?

I have 2 more questions:

1. Is it possible that this Dell PC cannot give me more than 10Mbps?
2. Do you think installing a new NIC card (PCIE) will get me faster speeds?

Thanks for any help in this matter,
Steve

 

[kanewolf]

I think the first thing you need to do is to get a brand new round copper cat5e ethernet cable and connect the Dell directly to your router. See if that gets you 100Mbit connectivity. If not, then you may have a physical problem with that ethernet controller.

 

[Blackink]

I am buying a TP Link NIC card, model# TG-3468.
Am I correct in saying that to avoid any conflicts with the on board Lan, I should go in to the BIOS and disable the Onboard LAN Controller?

Thanks,
Steve

 

[Blackink]

I'm back in business now. I installed a Startech Gigabit Network Card (instead of the TP Link I posted before).
Local Area Connection is showing 100Mbps instead of the 10Mbps I had before the new card.

Network card & drivers installation took 10 minutes.

 

[drea.drechsler]

I am buying a TP Link NIC card, model# TG-3468.
Am I correct in saying that to avoid any conflicts with the on board Lan, I should go in to the BIOS and disable the Onboard LAN Controller?

Thanks,
Steve

First: yes, you could have 10Mbps NIC in that older Inspiron 530. If your're interested, you could go to the Dell support web page:
https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/product-support/product/inspiron-530/configuration

and enter your Service Tag number and it will tell you the original configuration of the machine as it came from the factory.

You don't have to disable the on-board NIC. Windows can easily deal with two NIC's and will request in IP address for each NIC creating what's called a 'dual-homed' system. This is quite commonly done for certain purposes (one NIC can look outside to the internet, and the other NIC looking inside to an internal VPN, for instance, allowing the VPN to be firewalled from the bigger internet for enhanced security.) But if you're not sure how to use it you might want to just disable the integrated NIC to avoid any potential confusion.

 

[Blackink]

First: yes, you could have 10Mbps NIC in that older Inspiron 530. If your're interested, you could go to the Dell support web page:
https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/product-support/product/inspiron-530/configuration

and enter your Service Tag number and it will tell you the original configuration of the machine as it came from the factory.

You don't have to disable the on-board NIC. Windows can easily deal with two NIC's and will request in IP address for each NIC creating what's called a 'dual-homed' system. This is quite commonly done for certain purposes (one NIC can look outside to the internet, and the other NIC looking inside to an internal VPN, for instance, allowing the VPN to be firewalled from the bigger internet for enhanced security.) But if you're not sure how to use it you might want to just disable the integrated NIC to avoid any potential confusion.

Hey drea, thanks for your input, it's greatly appreciated. I ended up installing a Startech Gigabit network card. I also went into the bios and disabled the onboard lan controller before the new network card was installed to make sure there were no conflicts.
All is good, my device manager window shows only the new network card and it's running great.

Steve

 

[TJ Hooker]

If your router is only 10/100 Mbps ethernet, it may be worthwhile upgrading that too. What results do you get if you run a bandwidth test at speedtest or similar site?

 

[Blackink]

Hey TJ, the modem I'm using now is a Motorola SURFboard® SB6121 DOCSIS 3.0® Cable Modem.
I'm paying for 100Mbps through Comcast and I get about 92-97 through a speed test.

 

[TJ Hooker]

I guess you're fine then as you're getting your expected speed, but out of curiosity, what router?

 

[Blackink]

I guess you're fine then as you're getting your expected speed, but out of curiosity, what router?

TP-Link Model# TL-WR841ND