Multiple Network adapters causing lag on other machines connected by LAN

Banqu0

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I have a 2 computer LAN at home that each have their own Wifi and LAN adapters. Both are running Windows 7 (64 bit) and are connected through a Linksys 10/100 switch (BEFSR81). The adapter bindings on both machine list:

Local Area Connection
Wireless Network Connection
[Remote Access Connection]

in that order. It was my understanding that network shares will use the LAN adapter and browser/internet connections will use the Wireless connection if adapters are listed as above. Metrics are automatic. The problem though, is that when Computer 1 (laptop) is accessing any online content (Netflix, page refresh, etc) or, drives connected to Computer 1 spin up, any programs running on computer 2 (PC) will freeze momentarily. This pertains to offline as well as online programs. For example:

Comp 1 queues a video located on a local drive. Comp 2 has Killing Floor running and the screen freezes while Comp 1 spins the drives and loads the video. Killing Floor will resume after Comp 1 has loaded the video file. The drives are not connected to Comp 2

or

Comp 1 Loads one video from Netflix. Comp 2 responds the same as in the first scenario.

It seems that traffic is being direct over adapters that is not intended (by me), but why it would actually cause a program, freeze on another machine is confusing. I also use Synergy 1.7.6, and the mouse will freeze along with any other movement on the screen. As for the problem being bi-directional, I'm not sure. Certain tasks are dedicated to certain computers, and I've not noticed Comp 2 causing odd behavior on Comp 1. I use "lag" for lack of a better term, though obviously I do not mean network latency.

System Specs:
Laptop:
Dell Latitude E6400
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
WLAN: Dell Wireless 1379 WLAN Mini-Card - Driver: Broadcom 5v.30.21.0
LAN: Intel(R) 82567LM Gigabit - Driver: Intel v10,1,17.0
Graphics: Intel 4 Series Express Chipset Family

PC

Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
Athlon II x 3 450
Biostar A880G+
RealTek Semiconductor RTL8168D/8111D PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Adapter - Driver - v7.92.115.2015
Linksys Wireless-G PCI Adapter - Driver: Ralink Technology Inc RT2500 v3.2.0.0
NVIDIA GeForce GT 610

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

joex444

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If you suspect this is a network thing, have you tried not using WLAN at all and only going with single LAN connections to each. Your example of the laptop accessing a network share on the desktop causing the desktop to lag or stutter is not at all surprising. It is absurd that a laptop on your network loading a Netflix video would cause the desktop to stutter in a game when the game requires no internet traffic.

I'm also not sure why both of your systems have a $320 OS on them, particularly systems with specifications that out of date.
 
By default the pc will only use a single adapter for all network traffic. Now if you have gotten ambitious and assigned different subnets to the nics they maybe you can do get it to use both but you can not connect it to the same router.

Try the simple configuration and turn the wireless off on both machines and only use the ethernet and see how well it runs.
 

Banqu0

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Without the WLAN, there isn't much left that I could do with my system. Some games are played offline, but most are online. As for the OS, that's what came with the machines when I bought them. I may not have explained properly about the share access. The lag will occur when the Laptop is accessing a drive that is directly connected to it, or a network share. Pretty much anytime the laptop has to look for data, the other computer is affected.
 

Banqu0

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Both NICs do in fact have different subnets. The linksys switch is entirely separate from the wireless router. The idea was to keep my local traffic on the LAN only. Is there a way to specify an NIC for certain kinds of traffic?
 
make sure you do not have a default gateway assigned to the network that is connected to just the local lan. You can only have a single default gateway and the router will use the metrics to pick it if there are multiple. It tends to be easier to only have the one you want it to use.
 

Banqu0

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Wouldn't this result in local traffic using the WLAN instead of the wired connection?
 
This is the key reason to have different subnets. It is smart enough to use the correct subnet based on the destination ip. The gateway is only used when you want to access a ip that is not on and of the connected subnets.

You technically can access the machine using either ip but if you use the lan ip it should always use the lan. Now sometime the OS is too smart for its own good and will know that both ip represent the same machine. You need to avoid using any form of name resolution always use the ip and it should be good.
 

Banqu0

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I was not aware of this. I will remove the default gateway IP for the switch from the IP4 config and see what happens.
 

Banqu0

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Still a no go with removing the default gateway for the switch. Each adapter is back to its separate gateway settings. Could the adapter bindings be an issue? I have LAN adapters listed first on both machines.
 

Banqu0

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Banqu0

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EDIT: Synergy logged this:
FATAL: An error occurred: bad allocation

and BlueScreenView logged this:
HTTP.sys HTTP.sys+f7bc3cd8 fffff880`096cd000 fffff8ba`09796000 0x0000003a000c9000 0x54ed3ee3 2/24/2015 11:17:55 PM

ntoskrnl.exe ntoskrnl.exe+dd0a4 fffff800`02c65000 fffff800`03251000 0x005ec000 0x5684191c 12/30/2015 1:49:16 PM Microsoft® Windows® Operating System NT Kernel & System 6.1.7601.19110 (win7sp1_gdr.151230-0600) Microsoft Corporation C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
 

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