[SOLVED] Poor ethernet performance on one PC

[BaylissLad]

Hi,

I use powerline adaptors to provide an ethernet connection to my PC, this has worked fine for years.

Suddenly one night last week, I booted up and was getting normal ping (12ish), normal upload (18Mbps ish) but download was 0.5 to 1.5 Mbps - this should normally be 50-65Mbps

• Wireless connection is fine on the same machine and other computers, we have another desktop using powerlines and another desktop using direct ethernet to router and it's fine on both computers.
• I have tried the powerline adaptor and a direct connection to my router, which is getting the same issue.
• Different cables were used for powerline and directly to router, so cables not at fault.
• I purchased a USB 3.0 to Ethernet adaptor (gigabit capable speeds) and tried both the powerlines and direct to router again, powerlines had the same issue but the cable to the router via this adaptor worked well for a few days but I am now back to the same issue.
• I have tried resetting TCP/IP network stack via commands in CMD
• Tried installing network adaptor drivers for my mobo off the MSI website.
• I have installed the latest windows updates.

I cannot cope with the constant rubber banding in games on wireless or the abysmal download speeds of wired currently so some help would be massively appreciated.

 

[Ralston18]

Update your post to include full system hardware specs and OS information.

Use Task Manager and Resource Monitor to observe system performance. Use both tools but only one at a time.

It may take some time and effort to get a sense of how to use either tool and understand the information being provided.

Look for some app, utility, process that is consuming system resources.

Maybe something getting launched at startup or triggered later via Task Scheduler.

Take your time, watch carefully. If you make a change for some reason, make only one change at a time. Keep notes about what you did and where you made any given change. Just in case you need to undo a change.

 

[bill001g]

I would try a constant ping to the router IP. This is a better test of the stuff in your house.
In your case the ethernet cable only runs at gigbit speed (assuming not using powerline). It either sends the data full gigabit or at zero. The rates you see are average rates but they are bit more complex because if you get data loss then the average rates will be lower. The only way a ethernet cable can cause you to get lower average rates is if you are getting data loss. Unlike wifi there is no attempt to retransmit the data at the ethernet level. A ping command to the router should show this loss.

Since you have tried multiple cables and adapters it is unlikely you see loss but it is a easier problem to fix since it almost always a cable issue. If you are using those flat cables it is extremely common to have problems.

After this you suspect some program limiting you. If you have any form of "gamer" network software installed you want to uninstall it. It comes bundled with motherboards and video cards. Has a bunch of names but anything that talks about giving game priority or QoS is suspect.

Maybe try a old line mode program like IPERF. It is a very simple test that test the hardware and drives as is not impacted by other things and it eliminates things like testing in browsers that could cause issues. You need to test between 2 machines in your house. If they were both ethernet connected you could expect over 900mbps up and down.

 

[BaylissLad]

Update your post to include full system hardware specs and OS information.

Use Task Manager and Resource Monitor to observe system performance. Use both tools but only one at a time.

It may take some time and effort to get a sense of how to use either tool and understand the information being provided.

Look for some app, utility, process that is consuming system resources.

Maybe something getting launched at startup or triggered later via Task Scheduler.

Take your time, watch carefully. If you make a change for some reason, make only one change at a time. Keep notes about what you did and where you made any given change. Just in case you need to undo a change.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/VPh4Gq
Windows 11 Pro (21H2)

Nothing consuming resources in Task Manager or Resource Manager
Just a couple of things set to launch on startup in Task Manager, things which I want and wouldn't affect network speed, and nothing that appears unusual in task scheduler.

I would try a constant ping to the router IP. This is a better test of the stuff in your house.
In your case the ethernet cable only runs at gigbit speed (assuming not using powerline). It either sends the data full gigabit or at zero. The rates you see are average rates but they are bit more complex because if you get data loss then the average rates will be lower. The only way a ethernet cable can cause you to get lower average rates is if you are getting data loss. Unlike wifi there is no attempt to retransmit the data at the ethernet level. A ping command to the router should show this loss.

Since you have tried multiple cables and adapters it is unlikely you see loss but it is a easier problem to fix since it almost always a cable issue. If you are using those flat cables it is extremely common to have problems.

After this you suspect some program limiting you. If you have any form of "gamer" network software installed you want to uninstall it. It comes bundled with motherboards and video cards. Has a bunch of names but anything that talks about giving game priority or QoS is suspect.

Maybe try a old line mode program like IPERF. It is a very simple test that test the hardware and drives as is not impacted by other things and it eliminates things like testing in browsers that could cause issues. You need to test between 2 machines in your house. If they were both ethernet connected you could expect over 900mbps up and down.

Continuous ping looked okay, all coming back within 12ms with most in low single digits.
All cables tried are regular round ones (not flat).
No network altering software (I know what kinds you mean)

Thanks both for coming back to me

I'm wondering if it could have been windows update that caused it, as I think I may have done an update around the time it began but the updates I see in installed updates aren't showing in the uninstall updates area. Any other suggestions very welcome

 

[Ralston18]

Look in both Update History and Reliability History.

You may discover that the problems/slowness began with some update and Reliability History may be capturing some relevant error code, generating a warning, or simply just logging an informational note.

 

[BaylissLad]

Look in both Update History and Reliability History.

You may discover that the problems/slowness began with some update and Reliability History may be capturing some relevant error code, generating a warning, or simply just logging an informational note.

The update I can see in the history is KB4023057 from 20/11/2021 but cannot see it in the Uninstall Updates are to try and get rid of it.

Reliability History doesn't show anything relevant.

 

[Ralston18]

Could well be "nothing to see here...."

= = = =

After reading back - a couple of other thoughts:

On the PC - do verify that only one network adapter (either wired or wireless) is enabled. Not both at the same time.

Have you tried running "ipconfig /flushdns" (without quotes) via the Command Prompt?

 

[BaylissLad]

Could well be "nothing to see here...."

= = = =

After reading back - a couple of other thoughts:

On the PC - do verify that only one network adapter (either wired or wireless) is enabled. Not both at the same time.

Have you tried running "ipconfig /flushdns" (without quotes) via the Command Prompt?

Yep only one enabled at a time.

And yes I have tried flushing the DNS

 

[BaylissLad]

I may have resolved it, MSI Dragon Center installs and runs a service/app named cFos Speed when you open Dragon Center.

I uninstalled cFos Speed last week whilst troubleshooting the issue and it didn't make a difference. It definitely wasn't in Task Manager or anything so was definitely wasn't running.

Today I opened Dragon Center, then went and found the cFos Speed service, disabled it (and prevented it from starting up on boot) and my speeds are back to normal.

Very strange...

[Moderator Note: Removed OP self-awarded Best Answer.]

 

[bill001g]

We see people almost every day having strange issues running programs like CFosSpeed.

Gamers are dumb as rocks sometimes and they believe anything that says "gamer" on it must mean it will somehow magically give them some advantage.

All this software is completely worthless. It only has the ability to favor the network traffic of one program over another it can do nothing about network traffic outside the machine. If you have some kind of bottleneck on a gigabit ethernet port you are doing something really stupid like running torrents in the background while you play your game.

I just wish this software was not installed automatically, then again it is fairly common nowdays for vendors to install the bloatware, I have to remember to prevent Nvidia from installing its garbage every time I update a driver from them.

 

[BaylissLad]

We see people almost every day having strange issues running programs like CFosSpeed.

Gamers are dumb as rocks sometimes and they believe anything that says "gamer" on it must mean it will somehow magically give them some advantage.

All this software is completely worthless. It only has the ability to favor the network traffic of one program over another it can do nothing about network traffic outside the machine. If you have some kind of bottleneck on a gigabit ethernet port you are doing something really stupid like running torrents in the background while you play your game.

I just wish this software was not installed automatically, then again it is fairly common nowdays for vendors to install the bloatware, I have to remember to prevent Nvidia from installing its garbage every time I update a driver from them.

Yep it's all just marketing, what I don't get though is why it was an issue whilst uninstalled but the issue is fixed by being installed but disabled - very strange. But at least my PC is useable now that's all I care about haha

 

[bill001g]

I don't know how that program works but it has to be installed at a extremely low level to intercept traffic. I know that the garbage killer used to install was actually partially embedded in the drivers. You had to uninstall the software and also load a different driver to totally get rid of it. It was the key reason I used to check if a motherboard used killer and rule that board out. Now that intel has purchased killer they too have some garbage network QoS stuff. In there case you can just uninstall it.