Question Internet Slow on Only One PC in Home???

[ascendant]

I have a computer I built a LONG time ago, and did a few upgrades here and there over the years. For some reason, the internet on it has been HORRIBLE lately. Every other computer in my home works fine; I can run my phone on a speedtest right next to it, and it hits an average of 500Mbps. Meanwhile, my PC is typically running anywhere between 25-175Mbps at any given time, but about an hour ago, it was barely hitting 1Mbps! I ran two tests a half hour ago, and they both averaged 25. I just ran two now, and they both averaged about 160. Nothing changed at all - that half hour was mostly me texting someone while my computer just sat here being a POS...

When I first hooked up new internet service at my home, my internet was pretty fast. Even then, the speedtest only capped out at about 250Mbps, while the other computers were hitting the 500 on average. It seems like over the last week or two though, it may have slowed down even more. Not sure if it's one of the troubleshooting things I've tried that I found on the net, but I'm at a complete loss as to what's going on here???

I have run every single troubleshooting I could find online. I reset ip config and all other settings they recommend to type into cmd.exe for troubleshooting this type of problem (as an administrator to ensure it applied everything), I disabled all other items outside of Windows that I have boot up normally (couldn't do safe mode, as I'm not hard-wired to the internet, and don't have a cable long enough to do so right now), I have tried another wi-fi adapter (have a second one handy, same exact speeds), tried different browsers, of course restarted countless times, tried to update drivers (there were no updates), tried different USB ports, and overall, I'm at a complete loss as to what else I could do?

I feel like it might be something crapping out in my PC, which is why it seems like it has decreased more over the last couple weeks (I'm not 100% sure on that, only ran it once when the net internet was first hooked up, and that's when I got that 250 speed), but what confuses me is everything else on my computer runs fine - games, software, etc. The internet is literally the one and only thing that is being sluggish.

If anyone has any suggestions other than what I did above, I'm all ears. I'm going to try to pick up a long cable for my computer tomorrow so I can hard wire it to the net, but I don't know what else I can do other than that???

 

[Tech Junky]

Funny idea....how much free space do you have on the drive? I found in my thunderbolt testing allocating some more free space increased the speed between disk copies significantly.

Ruling out windows is easy as well with a USB boot to Linux.

 

[ascendant]

Funny idea....how much free space do you have on the drive? I found in my thunderbolt testing allocating some more free space increased the speed between disk copies significantly.

Ruling out windows is easy as well with a USB boot to Linux.

Oh, I hadn't thought of Linux! Thank you! My hard drive space is 75GB, so I think I'm good there. Been so long since I've used Linux that I hadn't thought of it. It's late here right now, but I'm going to give that a try tomorrow. I really appreciate the help, thanks again! If not anything else, it at least rules one more thing out.

 

[sdifox]

Try to reset tcpip stack

Windows 10: Reset TCP / IP Stack - GROK Knowledge Base

GROK Knowledgebase is Louisiana State University's online support environment.

grok.lsu.edu

 

[ascendant]

Try to reset tcpip stack

Windows 10: Reset TCP / IP Stack - GROK Knowledge Base

GROK Knowledgebase is Louisiana State University's online support environment.

grok.lsu.edu

Thanks, but already tried that, as well as resetting a few other things in command prompt

As far as the Linux boot, I don't have extra flash drives lying around with enough space to run that, so I'm still stuck getting random internet speeds all day and night. It's driving me nuts. If I didn't need a new car, I'd buy parts and make a new PC. Trying to keep this one going for at least another 6mos

 

[JackMDS]

What is the computer's Network setting (type of connection unit) ?.

If it is Wireless what, is its physical relation to its Router/AP.

 

[lantis3]

As far as the Linux boot, I don't have extra flash drives lying around with enough space to run that

You don't have to install Linux if the distro can recognize your wifi adapter natively.

 

[ascendant]

What is the computer's Network setting (type of connection unit) ?.

If it is Wireless what, is its physical relation to its Router/AP.

Hopefully this information has what you're asking for:

SSID: Ya Momma
Protocol: Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac)
Security type: WPA2-Personal
Network band: 5 GHz
Network channel: 64
Link speed (Receive/Transmit): 325/325 (Mbps)
IPv6 address: fd88:679a:2bf0:1:2250:be7c:f512:b2c4
Link-local IPv6 address: fe80::165f:2599:7d31:2883%15
IPv4 address: 192.168.4.28
IPv4 DNS servers: 192.168.4.1
Manufacturer: Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
Description: TP-Link Wireless Nano USB Adapter
Driver version: 1030.38.712.2019
Physical address (MAC): 6C-5A-B0-40-30-77

That's copied from the Network Settings window

As far as the physical relation, that's irrelevant. I can use my laptop and my phone here as well, and they work great. The laptop gets about 500Mbps, my phone about 350Mbps, and I've tested it literally inches away from where my wifi adapter is on my desktop. Location is not the issue, it's something else.

It's just odd with my desktop. Most the day today, it was averaging about 25Mbps during about 8 tests I ran. Ran it just now in the evening, same settings, same everything, now it's averaging 168Mbps. Every single thing I had on earlier is still running on it, and I brought it out of sleep mode, so it wasn't restarted (although I've tried that and makes no difference at all any time I've tried). I'm really at a loss here

 

[ascendant]

You don't have to install Linux if the distro can recognize your wifi adapter natively.

Thank you, but I have no idea how to do that, lol

 

[VirtualLarry]

Manufacturer: Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
Description: TP-Link Wireless Nano USB Adapter

"Nano" dongle? Those suck. One week worth of Windows updates will burn out or degrade on significantly.

get a decent wireless dongle (rated more-or-less for continuous duty, with slots in thde plastic casing, and at least a small heatsink on the chip).

I'm a fan of Comfast adapters with realtek usb AC/AX chipsets, that have drivers for Win64 built in, and a separate antenna (may not be completely removable, but it's a "real" posable antenna).

 

[Tech Junky]

Link speed (Receive/Transmit): 325/325 (Mbps)

This is why it's slow.

You can get an ax210 Intel card pretty cheap that will max out your link speed. If you can't install internally then there are other options.

 

[JackMDS]

Use this type of USB Wireless. Make sure that the Device with its Antennae is above the Computer Freely exposed to the enviroment.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B5YPK9L1/?th=1

 

[ascendant]

"Nano" dongle? Those suck. One week worth of Windows updates will burn out or degrade on significantly.

get a decent wireless dongle (rated more-or-less for continuous duty, with slots in thde plastic casing, and at least a small heatsink on the chip).

I'm a fan of Comfast adapters with realtek usb AC/AX chipsets, that have drivers for Win64 built in, and a separate antenna (may not be completely removable, but it's a "real" posable antenna).

Thank you for the feedback, but I do actually have another wifi adapter that I tested. The other one starts to get funky after running for a few hours, but works fine at the start. Tested the speeds vs this Nano one I have. Same comparable speeds at any given time with both, so that doesn't seem to be the culprit of the extreme limits at times

 

[ascendant]

This is why it's slow.

You can get an ax210 Intel card pretty cheap that will max out your link speed. If you can't install internally then there are other options.

Oh, thank you! At the same time though, I'm not getting even close to those speeds at this point. I mean at least when we first hooked up this new internet, my speeds were around 250Mbps.

It is so odd. For hours, the speed might be horrible, like 20-25Mbps. But then later that day, with no changes at all, it will then be 150Mbps or so. Few hours later, back down again. But, if I test it multiple times within say 10mins, it's usually pretty consistent with whatever it feels like giving me at that point.

I think something in my PC is starting to crap out, that's my best guess. I mean some parts are at least 10yrs old, so it wouldn't be a surprise.

 

[VirtualLarry]

How old is the router? Does every device lose wireless performance, or just this pc?

 

[Tech Junky]

PC is starting to crap out, that's my best guess. I mean some parts aeast 10yrs old, so it wouldn't be a surprise.

It's a possibility but, if you grab a card now you get better speeds and it's a cheap investment. When you build just move it over to the new machine.

The Intel BE200 is under $20. If you want a kit with a PCI adapter and antennas it's about $40. Check mouser.com for the card only and Amazon for the kit with antennas.

Mine links at 2400 and the fastest it goes on AX is about 1.7gbps on the lan.

 

[ascendant]

How old is the router? Does every device lose wireless performance, or just this pc?

The router is new (at least we were just given it by a new ISP a couple weeks ago). Only this device. I can run my laptop and phone literally right next to the wifi adapter on my PC. No issues with them at all. It's definitely related to my specific PC

 

[VirtualLarry]

The router is new (at least we were just given it by a new ISP a couple weeks ago).

When did you notice wifi performance problems with this PC? Could the start of them corresspond with when you got the new router?

Wifi device/router (in)-compatibility is unfortunately, still a thing in this day and age.

 

[ascendant]

It's a possibility but, if you grab a card now you get better speeds and it's a cheap investment. When you build just move it over to the new machine.

The Intel BE200 is under $20. If you want a kit with a PCI adapter and antennas it's about $40. Check mouser.com for the card only and Amazon for the kit with antennas.

Mine links at 2400 and the fastest it goes on AX is about 1.7gbps on the lan.

Thank you for that. I'm not sure exactly what BE200 would be good to go for, as I see multiple different ones on mouser.com. I have free shipping with Amazon Prime though, so that might make more sense for me. Cheapest I see the BE200 there though is $28, and even there, multiple options that I don't know to choose from.

So that card, it's the same thing as the plug-in wifi adapter I have in my USB port to connect to the internet, just works much better, right? I mean even though both the USB ones are having the same speeds, who knows, maybe plugging one in that way will bypass whatever the issue is. Might as well give it a shot since I'm going to upgrade within the next 6mos anyway.

Is there really any reason to get the one with the antennas if you're not far away from the router? I'm on a real tight budget right now, so I'd rather not spend money if I don't have to, and even with these little POS USB ones, never used to have an issue with losing the connection or speed issues until the last couple weeks

 

[ascendant]

When did you notice wifi performance problems with this PC? Could the start of them corresspond with when you got the new router?

Wifi device/router (in)-compatibility is unfortunately, still a thing in this day and age.

Yes, it was around the same time. The thing is, when they first hooked the new one up, I tested my speeds. They were pretty good, got about 250Mbps on two tests at that time. But then somewhere around 5-8 days later or so, that is when the connection issues started happening, and that's when I noticed the significant speed decreases and unpredictable speeds randomly changing

 

[VirtualLarry]

so I'd rather not spend money if I don't have to, and even with these little POS USB ones, never used to have an issue with losing the connection or speed issues until the last couple weeks

Let's just say my personal experience (copying files, longer downloads and updates) with those little (and generally overheating) "nano" dongles, isn't positive. I found that they would "burn out" (and then report connection speeds of 1Mbit/sec) after extensive usage, sometimes within an hour or two span from unpackaging a brand new one.

 

[ascendant]

Let's just say my personal experience (copying files, longer downloads and updates) with those little (and generally overheating) "nano" dongles, isn't positive. I found that they would "burn out" (and then report connection speeds of 1Mbit/sec) after extensive usage, sometimes within an hour or two span from unpackaging a brand new one.

Good to know, thanks. I will replace it next paycheck.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Is there a reason you're not using wired for a desktop? Is it's current location only temporary?

 

[Tech Junky]

any reason to get the one with the antennas

It won't work well without antennas. Again, it's a cheap investment and can be used for years. If it doesn't work well in the problem PC it can be put into your laptop to upgrade it as well.

 

[VirtualLarry]

If it doesn't work well in the problem PC it can be put into your laptop to upgrade it as well.

Does OP realize that your solution is an on-board m.2 PCI-E wifi card, and not a USB dongle like he's currently using? I don't think that he realizes those aren't USB plug-ins.