Question Slow DNS or Bad Router? Working from home

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Feb 14, 2023
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After a few days of looking through search results, I figured i'd ask here for some help with an issue were having as of this past week; my wife is now working from home and we need to get this remedied.

Problem: For the last week, web pages are loading slow, a few not at all, and while were gaming (Tarkov) as well, the load times between menus and things is really long.

I'm not incredibly savvy, but can get around with networking.

I've noticed the problem is GONE when my desktop is plugged directly into the modem; but then we have no wifi obviously. I do not disconnect in games, and ping/etc is fine in game as well.

System Specs
9800x3d
3080 10gb
64gb 6000mhz
1000w Seasonic PSU (2 months old)
Samsung 980 Pro m.2 ssd (45% full) (good health)
WDC 1tb SSD (5% full) (crystaldisk says good health)
Asus B650-E motherboard

Peripherals:
2 1440p monitors
1 USB-C Microphone
1 usb camera
1usb controller

I've tried removing everything, problem still persists. I have 1 wired connection (my desktop) and 5 wireless devices (macbook, 2 phones, xbox, TV) Problem is also happening on the macbook when searching pages.

Things i've tried;

  1. New ethernet cables
  2. Rebooting modem and router/resetting network settings, etc.
  3. Changing DNS, as i thought these were symptoms of a "slow" DNS; same issue. (used google and cloudflare)
  4. Turning off IPV6 as many results said that; no help.
  5. Ran Pingplotter and GRCs DNS test and everything looked ok, response times were good.
    6. Updated router firmware
Modem - Motorola MB8600
Router - ASUS AC2900 (with Merlin software)

The router is 2 years old, and everything was working well up until a week ago, with no new updates to anything in our network.

Anyone have any leads to go on, i feel like ive exhausted all i can do with my knowledge.

https://ibb.co/PZJcQ4Cj
 
Last edited:
Update your post to include full system hardware specs and OS information.

Include PSU: make, model, wattage, age, condition (original to build, new, refurbished, used)?

Disk drive(s): make, model, capacity, how full?

List of all connected peripherals.

Mixed wired and wireless network devices - correct?

= = = =

Run "ipconfig /all" (without quotes) via the Command Prompt and post the full results. You should be ablet to copy and paste the full results without needed to retype everything.

I suspect an IP address/subnet mask conflict - maybe a duplicate configuration somewhere.
 
Ralston18 said:
Update your post to include full system hardware specs and OS information.

Include PSU: make, model, wattage, age, condition (original to build, new, refurbished, used)?

Disk drive(s): make, model, capacity, how full?

List of all connected peripherals.

Mixed wired and wireless network devices - correct?

= = = =

Run "ipconfig /all" (without quotes) via the Command Prompt and post the full results. You should be ablet to copy and paste the full results without needed to retype everything.

I suspect an IP address/subnet mask conflict - maybe a duplicate configuration somewhere.
Click to expand...
Edited my original post with the info. If there's anything wrong or you need additional, let me know; this is a bit over my head!

Thank you.
 
The ipconfig/all results show that the PC is requesting a DHCP IP address from a router with the IP address of 192.168.50.1 (subnet 255.255.255.0) and being provided the DHCP IP address of 192.168.50.192.

192.168.50.1 likely being the Asus router. The modem may be 192.168.100.1

Most small networks use the following line diagram connectivity (where ---> represents an Ethernet cable):

ISP === (cable, DSL, fiber) ===> Modem LAN port ---> [WAN port] router [LAN ports] ----> wired devices and ~~~~ > wireless devices.

And the router is used to provide DHCP IP addresses, not the modem. If you reset modem and router then both may have returned to their default configuration settings and working as routers.

It could be that the modem's DHCP functions are enabled. Only one network device should be providing IP addresses. And that should be the router.

Disable the modem's DHCP functions and ensure that only the router is enabled to provide DHCP IP addresses to network devices.

= = = =

Initial requirement being to identify the devices by IP address.

The modem and the router's default IP address, default admin login name, and default password may be provided on the respective device lables.

This modem?

https://www.motorola.com/us/en/p/motoaccessories/motohome/modems---routers/mb8600

This router?

ASUS AC2900 (with Merlin software)

Use a browser and enter 191.168.50.1 does that take you to the modem or the router?

Hopefully a window will open prompting you for the admin login name and password.

Also try 192.168.100.1

No need to access and configure the router via the Asus website.

Two objectives: 1) Determine the IP addresses for modem and router, 2) determine if you can log into each device directly via a browser and the respective device default IP addresses and login information.
 
Ralston18 said:
The ipconfig/all results show that the PC is requesting a DHCP IP address from a router with the IP address of 192.168.50.1 (subnet 255.255.255.0) and being provided the DHCP IP address of 192.168.50.192.

192.168.50.1 likely being the Asus router. The modem may be 192.168.100.1

Most small networks use the following line diagram connectivity (where ---> represents an Ethernet cable):

ISP === (cable, DSL, fiber) ===> Modem LAN port ---> [WAN port] router [LAN ports] ----> wired devices and ~~~~ > wireless devices.

And the router is used to provide DHCP IP addresses, not the modem. If you reset modem and router then both may have returned to their default configuration settings and working as routers.

It could be that the modem's DHCP functions are enabled. Only one network device should be providing IP addresses. And that should be the router.

Disable the modem's DHCP functions and ensure that only the router is enabled to provide DHCP IP addresses to network devices.

= = = =

Initial requirement being to identify the devices by IP address.

The modem and the router's default IP address, default admin login name, and default password may be provided on the respective device lables.

This modem?

https://www.motorola.com/us/en/p/motoaccessories/motohome/modems---routers/mb8600

This router?

ASUS AC2900 (with Merlin software)

Use a browser and enter 191.168.50.1 does that take you to the modem or the router?

Hopefully a window will open prompting you for the admin login name and password.

Also try 192.168.100.1

No need to access and configure the router via the Asus website.

Two objectives: 1) Determine the IP addresses for modem and router, 2) determine if you can log into each device directly via a browser and the respective device default IP addresses and login information.
Click to expand...
The modem and router you've posted are the correct ones.

I've tried 192.168.50.1 and 191.168.50.1 and got "site cannot be reached; refused to connect"

192.168.100.1 was met with a "your connection is not private" warning.

However, when i bring up the ASUS router login, it shows the url as 192.168.50.1
 
That is strange event viewer but I am unsure if it is the issue. Generally if DHCP is not working you do not get a IP address. You would think after all this time microsoft could public a list of messages and what they actually mean.

Web browser being slow like you talk about does seem like DNS but it can be other things.

You tend to remember if you changed it but there is a way to change the DNS server in the browser. This allows you to over ride the dns and originally it was the only way to use a encrypted dns sever. Make sure this feature is off or the fields are blank. It depends which browser you use, I don't know if it exist on mac book or not. If you do not find it then we can assume its ok, again you would already know about this feature if you changed it.

Maybe some basic test.

Does speedtest seem to run ok. Do you get the numbers you expect. Do you see it seem to stall while it is running.

Try some simple line mode commands.

First try a ping to 8.8.8.8. You are looking for consistent response and no loss. Use the -t option so you get more than a couple second of data.

Now try dns directly.

You can try any site you like I used microsoft in this example
NSLOOKUP www.microsoft.com

What you first want to see is the dns server you think is being used really is. It should tell you the dns server it is using. If you are still using 8.8.8.8 then it should tell you than and in most cases it will tell you that ip you have set as well as the name of the server.

You can also try nslookup www.microsoft.com 1.1.1.1

This will test cloudflare without changing your pc config. 4.2.2.2 is another dns server I remember but their are a bunch.

What you are looking for is how responsive this command is. When it functions normally the results appear almost instantly. Don't worry too much about the actual results because of how everything is "virtual" now days the IP address of the servers can be different even though you use the same exact dns sever.
 
bill001g said:
That is strange event viewer but I am unsure if it is the issue. Generally if DHCP is not working you do not get a IP address. You would think after all this time microsoft could public a list of messages and what they actually mean.

Web browser being slow like you talk about does seem like DNS but it can be other things.

You tend to remember if you changed it but there is a way to change the DNS server in the browser. This allows you to over ride the dns and originally it was the only way to use a encrypted dns sever. Make sure this feature is off or the fields are blank. It depends which browser you use, I don't know if it exist on mac book or not. If you do not find it then we can assume its ok, again you would already know about this feature if you changed it.

Maybe some basic test.

Does speedtest seem to run ok. Do you get the numbers you expect. Do you see it seem to stall while it is running.

Try some simple line mode commands.

First try a ping to 8.8.8.8. You are looking for consistent response and no loss. Use the -t option so you get more than a couple second of data.

Now try dns directly.

You can try any site you like I used microsoft in this example
NSLOOKUP www.microsoft.com

What you first want to see is the dns server you think is being used really is. It should tell you the dns server it is using. If you are still using 8.8.8.8 then it should tell you than and in most cases it will tell you that ip you have set as well as the name of the server.

You can also try nslookup www.microsoft.com 1.1.1.1

This will test cloudflare without changing your pc config. 4.2.2.2 is another dns server I remember but their are a bunch.

What you are looking for is how responsive this command is. When it functions normally the results appear almost instantly. Don't worry too much about the actual results because of how everything is "virtual" now days the IP address of the servers can be different even though you use the same exact dns sever.
Click to expand...

I'm using Chrome currently, and under DNS settings its set to "Use OS default"

Speedtest is exactly where it should be for my service; low ping and jitter as well.

Pinging google over a couple minutes shows everything normal, nothing slow or missed.

Using NSlookup, it is using my ISPs default DNS, which in return gives the name of my router; and it returned very quick.
 
That is strange it shows the ISP dns, maybe you changed the config back to the default.

The attached image in the first post showed 8.8.8.8 as primary and 1.1.1.1 as secondary. It should have used 8.8.8.8

I tend to not recommend the ISP DNS they tend to not be as stable. In addition the default way it works is your router acts as a proxy for the DNS server. In theory it can cache data but in practice this causes issue a lot of the time.

I would always use fixed settings in your pc or at least configure the router dhcp to give out 8.8.8.8. In addition when you manually put the dns in you can also set the encrypted DNS option. Most ISP DNS do not support the encryption.
 
My mistake; ive changed the DNS in my LAN to 8.8.8.8 and re-ran the tests and results are the same (fast response, etc) but its showing the correct google DNS.
bill001g said:
That is strange it shows the ISP dns, maybe you changed the config back to the default.

The attached image in the first post showed 8.8.8.8 as primary and 1.1.1.1 as secondary. It should have used 8.8.8.8

I tend to not recommend the ISP DNS they tend to not be as stable. In addition the default way it works is your router acts as a proxy for the DNS server. In theory it can cache data but in practice this causes issue a lot of the time.

I would always use fixed settings in your pc or at least configure the router dhcp to give out 8.8.8.8. In addition when you manually put the dns in you can also set the encrypted DNS option. Most ISP DNS do not support the encryption.
Click to expand...
 
That would imply the dns is not the issue.

You have also verified that you have no packet loss and the bandwidth seem ok.

Now I guess there is a difference between testing to the google dns server and some actual web site but even if that were true this is something that is outside your house. All your data takes the single path you have from the ISP to your house so it all should be affected the same.

If I go back to your main post you say if you plug into the modem it all works fine which suggests it is the router doing this but you are now using DNS directly and everything except web browsing is fine.

Maybe to verify when you do have the router in the path you have still connected to the router with ethernet.

It would not be uncommon for data loss in wifi to cause poor performance in a web browser.

Pretty much the only function the router provides to a ethernet connected machine is the DHCP/DNS function which you have now bypassed. The only other things the router is really doing is the NAT function. This is done via hardware asic and routers can pass gigabit of traffic using it. Even if you were to disable the nat assist (which happens when you some other router features) it stil should not affect web browsing. What it does is limit the maximum download speeds to 300mbps which is still massively more than a web page will use.
 
cruisetung said:
It looks like you are connecting router's LAN port to the modem? It seems you already connect your PC directly to the modem and get a public IP from ISP yet it still wants to get a DHCP address from router's LAN DHCP server and being denied,
Click to expand...
Just checked, the modem only has 1 port; the cord runs to the WAN slot on the AC86u, and my PC is plugged into 1 of the 4 ports on the router.


It does seem a little better today, though i couldn't tell you why.
 
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