Question Upload speed suddenly only 1/5 normal, with some odd behavior in email client and Wordpress ?

Mar 27, 2023
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HELP!, been working on this for days.

My internet connection is squirrely, mostly working and but having connection issues.

My internet plan is 500/500 mbs via fiber optic & ethernet and has been running fine. All of a sudden it only does 100 upload, and there are anomalies all over the place hinting that something is amiss.

It's not either the ONT or the router. That has been verified by ISP tech support, and the fact that a laptop plugged into the same network switch (same port/same cable) that the questionable computer is plugged into gets 500/500. I tried other ports and cables.

Runtime anomalies:

-Thunderbird (email client) twirls and twirls, and never downloads the latest email. I can do this fine on a laptop using the identical software (Thunderbird portable) via wi-fi. I copied the entire Thunderbird portable folder the questionable computer, so they are identical.

-WordPress, when working on a test site on the internet, cannot either delete a plug-in or download/install a backup from my local WordPress environment. I can successfully do the same things working on another computer.

-Oddly, web browsing is fine.

What I’ve done:

I've replaced the ethernet card and deleted and reinstalled the network driver. I've also disabled the ethernet connection and connected via a 2.4gHz USB wi-fi, and it tests out at 36/25. However, my cell-phone gets 46/47 on 2.4gHz and 226/286 on 5gHz. I true test needs a USB 5 GHz wi-fi, which I may purchase.

I've also tried different cables and different ethernet ports on the network switch which works fine with a laptop.

I'm going to try next reinstalling windows on a temp drive just so I can see if it's my Windows environment.

Sorry to be long-winded but I want to illustrate that it's got to be the computer, and avoid well-meaning comments like "try another wi-fi channel".

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700K CPU @ 4.00GHz 4.01 GHz
Installed RAM 64.0 GB
Windows 10 Pro
Version 22H2
OS build 19045.2788
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.4190.0
Other hardware:
NVIDIA GeForce GTX950
SSD boot device, 2 internal SCSI hard drives
Wacom tablet
Wireless keyboard & mouse

-- Thanks for any suggestions!
 

ubuysa

Distinguished
Jul 29, 2016
890
168
19,140
The first thing I think I would try is a network rest on the PC to ensure that everything is set to default values. To do that see here: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...ndows-10/699e8f07-0e0d-4be3-9da9-f4094ff9746d.

If that doesn't help then I would run the network troubleshooter at Settings > Update & Security > Troubleshoot > Additional Troubleshooters and then run first the Internet Connections troubleshooter and then the Network Adapter troubleshooter.
 

Cj-tech

Admirable
Jan 27, 2021
534
67
8,940
HELP!, been working on this for days.

My internet connection is squirrely, mostly working and but having connection issues.

My internet plan is 500/500 mbs via fiber optic & ethernet and has been running fine. All of a sudden it only does 100 upload, and there are anomalies all over the place hinting that something is amiss.

It's not either the ONT or the router. That has been verified by ISP tech support, and the fact that a laptop plugged into the same network switch (same port/same cable) that the questionable computer is plugged into gets 500/500. I tried other ports and cables.

Runtime anomalies:

-Thunderbird (email client) twirls and twirls, and never downloads the latest email. I can do this fine on a laptop using the identical software (Thunderbird portable) via wi-fi. I copied the entire Thunderbird portable folder the questionable computer, so they are identical.

-WordPress, when working on a test site on the internet, cannot either delete a plug-in or download/install a backup from my local WordPress environment. I can successfully do the same things working on another computer.

-Oddly, web browsing is fine.

What I’ve done:

I've replaced the ethernet card and deleted and reinstalled the network driver. I've also disabled the ethernet connection and connected via a 2.4gHz USB wi-fi, and it tests out at 36/25. However, my cell-phone gets 46/47 on 2.4gHz and 226/286 on 5gHz. I true test needs a USB 5 GHz wi-fi, which I may purchase.

I've also tried different cables and different ethernet ports on the network switch which works fine with a laptop.

I'm going to try next reinstalling windows on a temp drive just so I can see if it's my Windows environment.

Sorry to be long-winded but I want to illustrate that it's got to be the computer, and avoid well-meaning comments like "try another wi-fi channel".

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700K CPU @ 4.00GHz 4.01 GHz
Installed RAM 64.0 GB
Windows 10 Pro
Version 22H2
OS build 19045.2788
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.4190.0
Other hardware:
NVIDIA GeForce GTX950
SSD boot device, 2 internal SCSI hard drives
Wacom tablet
Wireless keyboard & mouse

-- Thanks for any suggestions!
What is the system’s motherboard? Or is it a manufacturer built system? If so, provide the brand/model. Are you using a USB to Ethernet adapter or a built-in wired connection? Are all your drivers up-to-date?
 
I would not go to the trouble of installing windows on a temp drive just to test it is easier to use a USB linux boot image. It runs 100% from the USB stick. It is somewhat limited because of that but most images have a web browser preinstalled so you can run speedtest and most other function. It gets tricky if you need to install other software because of the limited space and performance of a usb stick.

Are you getting fast download but only 100 upload or are both download and upload being limited to 100mbps. If you are getting a upload/download number around 92-96mbps then that tends to be a bad cable.

If it is just upload limits I would look for software that is limiting traffic. This tends to be that garbage "gamer" network stuff you see that comes with the bloatware on some motherboards and video cards. A very common name is cFosSpeed but anything that talks about QoS or favoring one kind of traffic over another should be uninstalled.

Lots of issues with 2.5g ports on motherboard lately but they don't have the exact symptoms you report. I would get the latest drivers from the chipset maker site.

Although it has not been as much a issue lately there has a been a history of various "offload" features in the drivers causing issues. This allows the ethernet chipset to do some of thing like calculating checksums etc rather than the cpu. You could try disabling these to see if they make any difference.
 
Mar 27, 2023
5
0
10
The first thing I think I would try is a network rest on the PC to ensure that everything is set to default values. To do that see here: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...ndows-10/699e8f07-0e0d-4be3-9da9-f4094ff9746d.

If that doesn't help then I would run the network troubleshooter at Settings > Update & Security > Troubleshoot > Additional Troubleshooters and then run first the Internet Connections troubleshooter and then the Network Adapter troubleshooter.

Ubuysa, thanks for the reply. I'd tried in the past trouble-shooting the adapter but didn't know about "internet connections" but I've now tried all three you suggested. Same problem after running them. My test environment has really come down to the two things I mentioned: thunderbird (constantly twirling and failing to connect), and Wordpress with WPvivid plugin trying to upload my local files to the server (the failure is in the zip file unzipping). I'm sure that other things are screwing up but these two chores reliably get the errors. The errors do not appear on my laptop and I can do these functions fine. If I were getting system error elsewhere I suppose I could look at MB issues including memory, but the fact that it's network related, and specific to something two programs are doing makes me think it's a packet issue that somehow is error corrected or ignored elsewhere but not in these two situations. I remember reading somewhere that ISP's ONTs can add extra length to packets that sometimes cause trouble. If these were happening, it's certainly being ignored by the laptop. Something very deep is amiss. Aside from the ethernet adapter (of which I have two), I now have a working USB wi-fi and a USB ethernet adapter, and the problem is the same on all interfaces. Each uses a different driver, so if it's a software issue, it's behind the driver somewhere in Windows. If it were a failing MB, I would think other things would screw up and they do not. I'm flummoxed.
 
Mar 27, 2023
5
0
10
What is the system’s motherboard? Or is it a manufacturer built system? If so, provide the brand/model. Are you using a USB to Ethernet adapter or a built-in wired connection? Are all your drivers up-to-date?

My motherboard is a MSI Z170A "GAMING M7". There's 64 GB on it, and an SSD and two SATA III drives. I've had MB failures before, and before they go entirely they act really wierd, which is what is going on here. As I remember, they would also be specific to certain tasks as they die, so I have my suspicions. Also, I should add that I've done a pre-boot level virus check, because past viruses I've gotten often would manifest themselves as hardware errors. If I were in Vegas, my money would be on the motherboard.
 
Mar 27, 2023
5
0
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I would not go to the trouble of installing windows on a temp drive just to test it is easier to use a USB linux boot image. It runs 100% from the USB stick. It is somewhat limited because of that but most images have a web browser preinstalled so you can run speedtest and most other function. It gets tricky if you need to install other software because of the limited space and performance of a usb stick.

Are you getting fast download but only 100 upload or are both download and upload being limited to 100mbps. If you are getting a upload/download number around 92-96mbps then that tends to be a bad cable.

If it is just upload limits I would look for software that is limiting traffic. This tends to be that garbage "gamer" network stuff you see that comes with the bloatware on some motherboards and video cards. A very common name is cFosSpeed but anything that talks about QoS or favoring one kind of traffic over another should be uninstalled.

Lots of issues with 2.5g ports on motherboard lately but they don't have the exact symptoms you report. I would get the latest drivers from the chipset maker site.

Although it has not been as much a issue lately there has a been a history of various "offload" features in the drivers causing issues. This allows the ethernet chipset to do some of thing like calculating checksums etc rather than the cpu. You could try disabling these to see if they make any difference.


As I know nothing about linux it might take me more time to figure that one out than install Windows on another drive. I was only going to install speedtest, and see what happens. The upload speed is a dead giveaway and I can install Windows on a junk drive pretty quickly just to test that out.

You're right about the bloatware, and I do suspect that could be the cause. It's my self--installed bloatware and all the crap I've put on this computer in the eight years I've owned it. Several times in the past I've uninstalled stuff I don't think I use and have inadvertently messed up other programs or system level functions, OR it was something I really used and didn't realize it, so I'm real cautious about doing this because some old useful apps are difficult to find again. But I do have a mess of junk I don't use or need, with drivers and auto-updaters that I can see hammering away (lightly) in task manager. That's why I think nothing beats a clean re-install of Windows on a temp drive as a quicker and safer test.

The other thought you had really intrigues me, and it's that hardware offloading to software various functions. I have tried another ethernet card as I mentioned, and the fact that I have two USB devices to connect with, each with different drivers, makes me think it's somewhere deeper in the system than the hardware itself and the drivers that run them.

The other thing, that someone else has mentioned, is to update all drivers in the hope that there's a harmful one somewhere. In my opinion this is kind of dangerous, and the last time I did that kind of thing, having some app go through and check them all, I ended up with a non-working sound card for a week as I tried to find the original drivers. I finally was forced to purchase a new sound card.
 
Mar 27, 2023
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Is it only those programs that do not work. Do you get proper values when you run speedtest for upload rates

As I mentioned, those programs reliably mess up. If other things are going wrong, I'm not seeing them. As a test, I can go to my laptop on wi-fi and see them working fine.

Speedtest always returns that lower value on the messed computer. For several years it's always been over 500/500 every single time I test it. Now it's always 500/80 or so—this on two different ethernet cards, using a variety of cables and ethernet ports (with a separate laptop working fine on those same cables and ports). I have two USB internet devices and it's slower, of course, but the upload speed is always slower than the download, though percentage-wise not as much, maybe 60-80%.

My thinking is starting to go towards either a bad motherboard, OR something deep within the Windows installation that only a new installation of Windows will reveal (or not, and that would be telling).
 
You can do some basic testing between machine in your house. There is a old line mode program called IPERF. It is extremely simple program that is not affected by much. It tends to only test the hardware and the nic drivers. Since it is a tiny program it is not affected by cpu or memory and does not use disk.

You should get 900+ mbps in both direction testing with both your machine connected via ethernet. Now some QoS software can actually limit even this program but in many cases it is too stupid to find a old program like this.