Question Ethernet performing way below spec on mom's PC!

Dave3000 · Jun 17, 2024

My mom's PC at the lakehouse is performing way below spec with it's ethernet connection. In fact, most of the time on speedtest.net it's get between 400-470 Mbps while the upload is between 22-23 Mbps. I tried a different ethernet Cat 5e patch cable from PC to router but that made no difference. My mom even purchased a new router which is a Netgear Nighthawk AXE7800 and the older one was a Netgear Nighthawk R7000, but that only solved the weak signal that had dropouts upstairs but made did not fix the inconsistent performance of the ethernet connection for her PC. Her PC is a Dell Inspiron 580 desktop. The wireless on my phone is even more consistent and faster at the PC's locations than this PC's ethernet for the internet connection. Also with the Nighthawk app on my phone, the internet speed is between 570-580 Mbps consistantly and the wireless on my phone is the same room is around 550-560 Mbps on the speedtest app. We have a Spectrum 500 Mbps plan at this location. The ethernet port on this PC is a 1 Gbps port. Is something up with the ethernet port on this PC that is causing it to be way below what it should be and inconsistent on this PC's ethernet?

JackMDS · Jun 17, 2024

Try to run a util. like cCleaner to get rid of the Internet Junk that might accumulate during the years of use.

If it has old Mechanical Hard Drive replacing it with SSD would help too.

Dave3000 · Jun 17, 2024

This is even after a fresh reinstall of Windows 10 or Linux Mint. This is a dual boot system with each OS on it's own SSD. This PC originally came with Windows 7 but the activation code was scratched off the case. I attempted to reinstall Windows 7, thinking that maybe the Windows 10 ethernet driver is not optimized for this PC since this PC does not officially support Windows 10 according to Dell's drivers web page for this PC but it was eligible for the free Windows 10 upgrade. This PC no longer has the system factory restore partition and did not come with a system restore disk. We can't use Windows 7 anymore, at least in an activated state, since the activation key got scratched off the case and it asks to enter the key, and with Windows 7 in not an activated state we can't use the features we need, so we decided not to just go back to Windows 10 since this PC is now tied with a Windows 10 digital license.

In2Photos · Jun 17, 2024

Dell's manual for an Inspiron 580 shows a 2009 date on it. Getting 400-470 Mbps on a 15 year old machine seems reasonable to me. You could try adding a PCIe based network card and see if newer hardware gets you the 100+ Mbps you are after.

Dave3000 · Jun 17, 2024

It's an onboard 1000 Mbps ethernet port in this Dell 580. It should have no issue with 500 Mbps which is the download speed of my mom's internet plan, especially with a high-end router.

Hans Gruber · Jun 17, 2024

Just because all computers come with gigabit ethernet ports. This does not mean they can max out the bandwidth up or down. Some ethernet ports are on shared lanes on the motherboard, halving performance. Then there is the NIC card. That can be a cause of slower speeds on an old computer. Finally, ethernet ports which includes the hardware and chips of the NIC cards. Those can degrade and wear out over time. Even on newer technology such as routers, switches and mesh network hubs.

Dave3000 · Jun 17, 2024

Even if the onboard ethernet degraded to half it's advertised performance over the years, that would still leave this onboard ethernet with 500 mbps and enough to be better than the 400-470 mbps (wildy ranging each time and very slow to hit it's peak in speedtest) it usually gets on this PC, even with overhead.

Hans Gruber · Jun 17, 2024

Dave3000 said:
Even if the onboard ethernet degraded to half it's advertised performance over the years, that would still leave this onboard ethernet with 500 mbps and enough to be better than the 400-470 mbps (wildy ranging each time and very slow to hit it's peak in speedtest) it usually gets on this PC, even with overhead.

Technically, old stuff even when new (10 years or more) may never have been able to do gigabit up/down speeds. The gigabit was a standard port for a long time. Before that it was 100mbps but that was either very late 90's or early 2000's. It had to do with the PCI lanes and the NIC card capabilities. High end motherboards for DIY custom builds could do gigabit speeds.

JackMDS · Jun 17, 2024

Make sure that you have at least 8GB Memory.

If you use Rufus to make a Win 11 ISO Flash USB you probably can upgrade to Win 11. I have an Asus AIO with similar hardware and it works very well with Win 11.

Rufus - https://rufus.ie/en/

Dave3000 · Jun 17, 2024

I was using Firefox as the web browser and switched to Edge and now my download speeds are between 560 to 580 Mbps in Okla speedtest. I also installed the Edge browser in Linux Mint and it's showing the same thing in that this PC is getting better download speeds in Edge than in Firefox. I also ran the Xfinity speedtest and it is showing the same thing between these two browsers. On my PC at home, there's no difference in download speeds between Edge and Firefox and I wouldn't think a browser should affect download speeds.

mindless1 · Jun 17, 2024

Dave3000 said:
My mom's PC at the lakehouse

Tell her to get a jobby job and pay for the fix for her luxury retreat like everyone else does?

You are asking for IT help when the majority of IT people don't have a luxury lake house. That comes off to me as extremely selfish/greedy/sociopathic/arseholish.

I don't really care what the excuses are. If you can't, and she can't, sell the lakehouse. Reality 101.

Do you also expect free plumbing, air conditioning repair, gas, water, etc? Just being real. No patience for spoiled brats who want a free ride.

If this was her only residence and only connection to the internet, completely different situation. There is no hardship here, only greed and laziness to DIY. Even if the "lake house" is her only residence, it still applies.

Dave3000 · Jun 18, 2024

She's retired and doing fine financially. As long as the computer works, she's fine with that. I just thought I'd mention the internet connection is slower than it should be, especially that she's paying the internet bill. I told her that an internal ethernet adapter or a new PC should solve the issue, but she said she didn't want to buy a new PC and that I could try an internal ethernet card (PCI-E 1Gb ethernet card). However, I decided to leave it as it is, and she's fine with that as well.

If anyone one needs to get a job and get their life in order, it's me, as I'm unemployed, (was laid off last year) not to mention I'm still living with my parents at the age of 46.

mindless1 · Jun 18, 2024

Get invested in IT and solve this yourself then apply that knowledge to helping others for pay. There is no lack of networking tutorials online. Just sayin', it's a choice.

Dave3000 · Jun 18, 2024

mindless1 said:
Get invested in IT and solve this yourself then apply that knowledge to helping others for pay. There is no lack of networking tutorials online. Just sayin', it's a choice.

Actually, part of my job duties from my previous job was onsite IT. Also this is a very peculiar issue, as the only way to know is to run speedtest in Firefox. The issue doesn't show up on Edge. I also cleared out the data cache and cookies in Firefox and it still shows the issue in Firefox in Okla's and Xfinity's speedtests in both Linux Mint and Windows 10, so it's not an OS issue. I don't get what's selfish about my mom that has anything to do with this. She has no interest in computers and as long as it's useable, stable, and doesn't feel slow, she's fine with that. She will use that PC until it dies out or some part/parts of it break down that make it unusable that it will only make sense to buy a new PC to replace it (especially a PC that old).

Dave3000 · Jun 18, 2024

JackMDS said:
Try to run a util. like cCleaner to get rid of the Internet Junk that might accumulate during the years of use.

If it has old Mechanical Hard Drive replacing it with SSD would help too.

There are only SSDs installed in that system. I had to remove CCleaner from my mom's PC at home one time because she was complaining about a delay in loading web pages and it wasn't until I removed CCleaner that the delay was no longer there in loading web pages, besides Windows 10 was reinstalled a month ago and Linux Mint was installed 2 weeks ago on the other SSD. I don't know if it was a specific setting in CCleaner causing that delay or if it was because she was running CCleaner in the background, but I didn't bother finding out what in CCleaner would be causing that delay on that system, and simply just uninstalled it.

lantis3 · Jun 18, 2024

So what did she do that requires 500Mbps download speed?

Reality is watching 4K videos only requires 40Mbps

Dave3000 · Jun 18, 2024

JackMDS said:
Make sure that you have at least 8GB Memory.

If you use Rufus to make a Win 11 ISO Flash USB you probably can upgrade to Win 11. I have an Asus AIO with similar hardware and it works very well with Win 11.

Rufus - https://rufus.ie/en/

That system has 8GB RAM.

lantis3 · Jun 18, 2024

JackMDS said:
Make sure that you have at least 8GB Memory.

Speed has nothing to do with RAM size. You can have an OS with only 256MB or less still run at over 900Mbps.

Shmee · Jun 18, 2024

Seems like there may be something wrong with the FF install or config, or it could just be that version of FF for your setup. But it is definitely something related to software, particularly the FF browser. Are the FF browsers up to date in both the operating systems? What extensions / settings? Have you tried to reinstall FF?

JackMDS · Jun 18, 2024

cCleaner has a feature that shows and can control what is loaded at Start Up.

Use the freeware portable version of it and make sure and only what is realy needed comes in startup (cClear can be use when needed and not be on Startup).

In addition there is large collection of Network Freeware that can shows and measure mosst of Neworking varaiables.

freeware utilities: password recovery, system utilities, desktop utilities - For Windows

Unique collection of freeware desktop utilities, system utilities, password recovery tools, and more

www.nirsoft.net

Dave3000 · Jun 18, 2024

Shmee said:
Seems like there may be something wrong with the FF install or config, or it could just be that version of FF for your setup. But it is definitely something related to software, particularly the FF browser. Are the FF browsers up to date in both the operating systems? What extensions / settings? Have you tried to reinstall FF?

Firefox is up to date. It's the default settings of Firefox. No extensions added. Also the Okla Speedtest app from the Microsoft Store is showing the same issue. Also running speedtest from the terminal in Linux Mint is showing the same issue. I did a sudo apt install speedtest-cli to install inside the terminal to install the speedtest program in Linux. Only way it's not showing the issue is when running the Edge browser in both operating systems, and in this PC only I experienced this issue.

Dave3000 · Jun 18, 2024

Today I installed the Opera browser in Linux and the issue is not showing up there during speedtest. It just shows up in Firefox, running speedtest in the terminal in Linux, and the Windows Okla Speedtest app in Windows 10. In the Edge and Opera browser the issue does not show up.

Fallen Kell · Jun 18, 2024

lantis3 said:
Speed has nothing to do with RAM size. You can have an OS with only 256MB or less still run at over 900Mbps.

You are assuming that network card has internal hardware for handling cache and buffers (not all do and need RAM to do that).

I am surprised that you would have issue with the R7000 as it is still considered one of the best routers due to its extensive support by third party firmware like DD-WRT, OpenWRT, etc., but it seems like it was just a range thing, which is mainly affected by the antennas and location (to some extent transmit power and the ability for the router to discern noise).

Do you have another computer in the home that you can use "iperf3" with the system to perform your own internal speed tests between the hosts within your network? That would prove if there is a hardware issue or a software issue (seems like software, but could be an issue with different buffer sizes needed (ring buffer, tcp stack buffer, backlog queue size, etc) or interrupt handling).

Dave3000 · Jun 18, 2024

There is no other PC in this house with an ethernet port. There's my dad's laptop but it does not have an ethernet port. We have three Roku Ultras in this house but they have a 10/100 ethernet port, so there is not point testing one of those with the ethernet connection to the router.

Fallen Kell · Jun 19, 2024

If you havn't tossed the R7000 router and still still have it, you can load up DD-WRT on it and run iperf3 via command line (through ssh or if you enable it, telnet). You can then get a speed test between the router and the PC running the client on one side and the server on the other (I suggest going both ways since sometimes things are slower one direction vs the other).

Like I said, hopefully you didn't just toss the R7000 as it is still very popular for this reason and you could probably sell it used for as much (or more) than what was originally paid for it when it was new on ebay or the like....

Link to someone trying to do iperf3 on a R7000 using DD-WRT:

DD-WRT :: View topic - How to run iperf3

Question Ethernet performing way below spec on mom's PC!

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