[jester620]

Hey guys,

We have a frustrating problem. I'm a learning-as-I-go Network Admin at our small office. We are on a good DSL connection. (~5 Mbps) However, we are experiencing extreme fluctuations in our network speeds.

Our setup:

DSL Modem (Speedstream 5100) > Linksys Router (BEFSR41) > Encore 8-port Hub (ENH908-NWY) > 5 Desktops (Dell Dimensions Cat5 Wired)

These computers are all identical. As you can see from the speedtest results, their DL speeds are sporatic!

Here are 4 of the 5 computer internet speed tests (by Speedtest.net)

Comp 1 :
Comp 2 :
Comp 4 :
Comp 5 :

I know you are working blind on this issue, so let me know if you need any more info.

Thanks,

Edited by jester620, 10 April 2007 - 08:51 AM.

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Hello jester620 and welcome to G2G,

Have you tried isolating where the pc's are slowing down at....

Move as many of the pc's as you can to just the linksys router (without the encore hub connected) and check speeds

Move as many of the pc's as you can to just the encore hub (without the Linksys router connected) and check speeds

Move each pc directly to the modem one by one (without the linksys router and encore hub connected) checking speeds

Post back you speeds for each one as directed... you don't have to post the speedtest.net pics just put the download and upload speed and latency in text.

[SpaceCowboy706]

Hello jester620 and welcome to G2G,

Have you tried isolating where the pc's are slowing down at....

Move as many of the pc's as you can to just the linksys router (without the encore hub connected) and check speeds

Move as many of the pc's as you can to just the encore hub (without the Linksys router connected) and check speeds

Move each pc directly to the modem one by one (without the linksys router and encore hub connected) checking speeds

Post back you speeds for each one as directed... you don't have to post the speedtest.net pics just put the download and upload speed and latency in text.

[jester620]

SpaceCowboy,

thanks for taking on this problem...

I was only able to get one of the computers to connect in different ways. (Comp 4 from previous post as it had the worst connection).

Connected normally : (DSL>Router>Hub) DL: 52 kb/s UL: 527 kb/s Latency: 54ms

Bypass Hub: (DSL>Router) DL: 32 kb/s UL: 601 kb/s Latency: 66 ms

I didn't try to bypass the router as the router and modem are bridged so the router is handling DHCP.

I have also tried moving connection on the hub (moving from port 5 to port 7) to see if there is a bad port on the hub. Which there shouldn't be as it is a new hub.

Could there be malware infection causing this?

[jester620]

ok, this is weird...

I thought i would try something at the slow computer. I put a 4-port hub on the cat5 line to allow me to tap in my laptop as well as the desktop comp on the network.

Here's a drawing of our network setup:



When i added the hub, i did another speedtest. The speed was drastically different!

On the desktop behind the netgear hub (Comp 4 in drawing), DL: 2135 kb/s UL: 636 kb/s latency: 77ms
On the laptop behind the netgear hub, DL: 2100 kb/s UL: 629 kb/s latency: 166 ms

any ideas now?!

[SpaceCowboy706]

How consistent are these new speeds that your getting with the new temporary hub....

If they are consistent over a day or two....... then that rules out the ISP as the cause, a bad modem as the cause, a bad router as the cause, a bad hub as the cause, and all the cat5 cabling as being bad, and lastly the internal nic's as being bad on each pc...... which does away with all of my troubleshooting advice and you may want to visit the malware forum.

If they are not consistent over a day or two...... then post back and we will try to narrow down the cause from the above mentioned components.

[jester620]

I ran speedtests throughout the day yesterday to see if it changed yesterday. (It didn't)

I just ran another just now: DL: 1955 kb/s UL: 624 kb/s Latency: 77 ms

btw, these are all hitting the same server on speedtest (Norfolk, NE).

If i unplug the temp hub, speed on this computer drops to where speedtest nearly times out.

Side note:
we just upgraded our net hub a couple weeks ago. From a 3Com LinkBuilder TP/8 to the Encore Hub.
This made it to where all of our equipment could communicate on 100Mbps. However, I did notice that this computer ran extremely slow after the upgrade. As i said in previous posts I tried plugging this computer into different ports on the Encore hub with no change in performance.

I noticed yesterday that the temp hub is a 10Mbps hub, allows me to run at higher speeds than plugging direct into the encore 100Mbps hub.

I'm baffled on this... Let me know what you think. Thanks for your help!

Edited by jester620, 17 April 2007 - 08:36 AM.

[SpaceCowboy706]

Have you tried changing the hub you just upgraded (encore one) back to half duplex 10baseT (as it is most likely set to Full Duplex 100BaseT).... or changing the NIC's on all the pc's over to full duplex 100baseT.

[jester620]

How would i go about changing the NIC's to full duplex? I didn't realize I needed to, I assumed since they are 10/100's they would be able to automatically switch over to which ever protocol they are receiving.

[SpaceCowboy706]

they should if they are 10/100's but sometimes they dont or they are not really 10/100's.... is either in the device manager and then device properties or in the NIC's tcp/ip properties one of the two.

[jester620]

ok, i found in the device props for the NIC: Link Speed & Duplex with options:

100Mbps/Full Duplex : Times out on Speedtest.net Latency: 68ms
100Mbps/Half Duplex : Times Out on Speedtest.net Latency: 86ms
10Mbps/Full Duplex : DL: 2219 kbps UL: 621 kbps Latency: 70ms
10Mbps/Half Duplex : DL: 2222 kbps UL: 629 kbps Latency: 60ms

btw, the NIC is an "Intel Pro/100 VE Network Connection". I looked now on dell's site to see if i can find an updated driver. Would that help this NIC to work on 100Mbps?

I got Driver version: 7.0.26.0 It's the most current driver i can find.

Any ideas?

btw, ever notice how on speedtest.net, it looks like that little guys is urinating on the server?! there are days i feel like doing that!

[SpaceCowboy706]

try out intel's site since they are the manufacturer of the nic. that may help, but you can never be too sure till you try them out. I tried finding it for you, but its asking for a model number and i don't have that information, so just follow the link to where i left off.