Oddball fix for slow network and Internet response under Vista

  • Thread starter Thread starter Michael Clifford
  • Start date Start date
M

Michael Clifford

I too am having problems integrating two new identical Vista machines into
my home network. All the XP machines run fine.

The two machines connect, but performance is ISDN speeds versus cable - one
hundreth of the anticipated speed of 6 Mbs.

I've searched and found over 30 remedies and have started on some of them
(turning off Statefull Packet Inspection and Autotune, install all upgrades,
etc etc etc - life should be simplier with this).

However, I've accidentally found a surefire fix: Plug an old hub between the
PC and the router. Speeds are instantly restored. Nothing else works.

This hub as Auto-Negotiation and I'm wondering if that somehow fixes Windows
Scaling or some of the other "improvements" that have made this a miserable
experience.

Any ideas? Somebody want to confirm the hub trick?

Regards,

Michael
 
There is a definite hardware correlation to the autotuning and rss
settings and the switches/routers you are connected to...
 
Here are two updates:

I put a Vista certified switch in line, replacing the hub. No go: Speed
decreased from 6 Mbs to 300 Kbs.

Just a moment ago, I heard about
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932134/en-us . There's an internet
connectivity tool you can download to test XP machines, Vista machines and,
more importantly, the router in the home network. I can't use it until later
today, since it may break my connection to work. Perhaps somebody else can
try it.

Michael Clifford
 
It's not only routers... I myself have distinct problems with W2K3 R2
boxen from any Vista laptop in any environment - my office or at home.
W2K3 or W2K8 beta boxes do not exhibit the same performance hit.

Disabling autotuning and rss made the speed difference negligible.
 
Thanks for your suggested. I've defeated rss. Here are the results:

Straight line to router: 20 Kbs down
Gig switch in middle 300 Kbs
Cheap hub in middle: 2200 Kbs

I've pulled all optimization from the onboard Intell Pro Ethernet chip, set
static IP, turned off Network discovery, disabled autotuning, upgraded all
drivers and patches, and all the other things that 2 weeks of searching has
turned up. Performance under Vista is lousy.

Any more ideas?

Michael
 
There's more to report.

In all cases, the problem is related to DOWNLOAD speeds. Upload speeds are
relatively unaffected after each change and match the baseline on other
equipment connected by the network to the cable modem (300 Kbs up).

So if a straight through cable is connected, the upload speed is ten times
the download - a truly bizarre circumstance in a cable modem environment.

Michael
 
That doesn't look very good.. My wireless is faster than that...

The ultimate solution I had to the network speed issues isn't
appropriate to the newsgroups yet - SP1. Everything else was a
band-aid...
 
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