Speculate about a cause of extremely slow downloads

[Craig234]

Issue: Never seen before. Having Steam download a game is extremely slow. Current example: In 40 hours, 9GB has been downloaded of 36GB. Normally 36GB would be a matter of minutes.

What's changed on the system: as far as I'm aware, just the installation of a new hard drive, that had no problem with Steam games for a couple days, so it wasn't the cause out of the box, but then this started.

It's remarkably consistent. I did a 1GB before this, it took a few hours IIRC. What's seen are spikes in Steam, where it shows some network/disk activity and then none.

The disk isn't showing errors from the utilities I've run, but I haven't run a read/write test yet.

The internet speed test shows 142 MB - normal (actually, upgraded a couple months ago).

Configuration: Windows 10 64, 512MB SSD boot drive, WD Black HD, Comcast cable modem.

Note: One member identified I'm using secondary SATA motherboard ports for drives. I haven't spent the time to change that yet, but doubt its being a central role because it's been that way for years, while the problem didn't happen.

Some things run fine or mostly fine; on the other hand, Elder Scrolls Online won't log in, getting the same error whether the right or wrong password is used. GOG Galaxy gets a connection error and exits. Epic Games client won't recognize my password.

I'd like to come up with plausible ideas to start to think of ways to diagnose and fix, better than 'replace everything one part at a time'.

 

[sdifox]

Brand new hdd? Where did you get it from? Your problem sounds like malware.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Note: One member identified I'm using secondary SATA motherboard ports for drives. I haven't spent the time to change that yet, but doubt its being a central role because it's been that way for years, while the problem didn't happen.

I'd like to come up with plausible ideas to start to think of ways to diagnose and fix, better than 'replace everything one part at a time'.

Swapping SATA ports should take 5 minutes, 10 tops, once you have your case opened (and powered-down). And it won't cost you any new / replacement parts.

Downloads sitting "idle" for long periods of time, with occasional "bursts" of activity, could indicate disk controller / cable problems.

 

[Craig234]

Brand new hdd? Where did you get it from? Your problem sounds like malware.

From Amazon (directly). I feel at low risk for malware, but you never know. I ran a Malwarebytes; it found one item, but a dubious one, in the setup file for IObit Driver Booster. I quarantined it, and ran IObIt Malware Fighter. It found no malware. Nothing changed on the problem from the one item being quarantined.

 

[sdifox]

I feel at low risk for malware, but you never know. I ran a Malwarebytes; it found one item, but a dubious one, in the setup file for IObit Driver Booster. I quarantined it, and ran IObIt Malware Fighter. It found no malware. Nothing changed on the problem from the one item being quarantined. After 1.5 days, it's at 19GB/37GB.

Reason I suspect malware is your login issues, slow hdd should not impact online interactions.

How old is the drive?

 

[Craig234]

Reason I suspect malware is your login issues, slow hdd should not impact online interactions.

How old is the drive?

Yes, all these connectivity issues - the Steam friends list says it can't connect - point me right at the internet connection, but the speed test being fine says otherwise.

The drive is 2 weeks old. As I said, this problem didn't happen the first 2 or 3 days it was installed, so that there was no 'our of the box' drive issue.

 

[sdifox]

Yes, all these connectivity issues - the Steam friends list says it can't connect - point me right at the internet connection, but the speed test being fine says otherwise.

The drive is 2 weeks old. As I said, this problem didn't happen the first 2 or 3 days it was installed, so that there was no 'our of the box' drive issue.

where did you get it from? did you try a different sata port/power cable?

 

[Craig234]

Another minor clue: starting World of Tanks, it automatically logs in, and gets an error 'invalid password'. I then re-enter the information, and it logs in. (I think this is about this problem, not that the automatic info is wrong). This is unlike the programs where re-trying doesn't work.

 

[Craig234]

where did you get it from? did you try a different sata port/power cable?

I edited the post above to add the answer that I bought it directly from Amazon (you replied very quickly, before I edited in about a minute). I have not yet changed the port I've been using for a couple years, and don't know that I have other cables to try. You think power cables fir these symptoms? That seems implausible to me, but are you suggesting it's plausible?

 

[sdifox]

I edited the post above to add the answer that I bought it directly from Amazon (you replied very quickly, before I edited in about a minute). I have not yet changed the port I've been using for a couple years, and don't know that I have other cables to try. You think power cables fir these symptoms? That seems implausible to me, but are you suggesting it's plausible?

well, when in doubt change something. you got hdd, port and cable.

 

[Craig234]

well, when in doubt change something. you got hdd, port and cable.

The new HDD came bare, no new cables etc. Do you think the power cables are a match to the symptoms?

 

[sdifox]

The new HDD came bare, no new cables etc. Do you think the power cables are a match to the symptoms?

You don't have spare sata cable, power cable lying around? I got dozens of them.

 

[Craig234]

Realized I hadn't updated this thread - I finally rebooted and installed Windows update, and it solved the problem. So something very strange had gone wrong there's little way to identify.

I'm currently updating the AMD driver, because one particular game black screens when started and that's what Epic advised to try. This should end well. Not sure why it takes this long - it's been hung on "3:00 remaining" for minutes now. There's no 'cancel' button, if I have to just kill it mid-update, that'll go well.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Has anyone considered that it is the OP's Internet service provider and throttling target IPs/domains? I have seen this with AT&T before. Google was being slow until I put on the VPN and then it was lightning fast.

 

[Craig234]

Has anyone considered that it is the OP's Internet service provider and throttling target IPs/domains? I have seen this with AT&T before. Google was being slow until I put on the VPN and then it was lightning fast.

I did post about that. Between their denial of doing so, an internet speed test being full speed, and some things working fast, it not seem to be the case, and since it's now fixed that seems to confirm it wasn't happening.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Craig, buy a few SATA cables, check Hot Deals for some current 40% off promo codes. try swapping cables, and put them on the native Intel chipset port(s). Trust me, try it. It shouldn't hurt anything. Make sure to fully shut down and cut power before doing so though.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Without my VPN being in use I also got very fast downloads in speed tests. And some websites loaded fast. But then again, those sites that were loading slowly or had slow downloads did not exhibit the behavior when I turned on the VPN. This is my personal experience with AT&T.

 

[Craig234]

Craig, buy a few SATA cables, check Hot Deals for some current 40% off promo codes. try swapping cables, and put them on the native Intel chipset port(s). Trust me, try it. It shouldn't hurt anything. Make sure to fully shut down and cut power before doing so though.

But everything is working fine now, so why?