Swapping ethernet ports

[ThWind81]

Hi,
I just acquired an older xw8000 workstation that has three ethernet ports. One built in and two on an additional card. The built in port allows me to access the internet and communicate with the other computers on my network but my speedtest.net results fluctuate terribly and are usually very slow. If I swap the same cable to another computer I get 55Mb down 10up consistently.

I would like to try one of the two ports on the adapter card but when I plug into either of those ports they do not behave the same as the built-in, in that neither will allow me access to the internet or to my network. All three ports show up as connected and gigabit when the cable is plugged.

So, I am wondering how to make the ports on the adapter card behave like the built in port and communicate with my network and internet. Once done, I still may have a fluctuating connection and I will move on from there.
HPxw8000 Windows xp sp3, 4Gb Ram, single Xeon 3GHz

Thanks very much for any help you can provide to this networking noob.
-Dustin

 

[ch33zw1z]

plug into one of the expansion ports, run ipconfig /all, post results

 

[ThWind81]

Thank you very much for your help,
The one I plugged is named "10".


Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : DustinHPXW8000
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/1000 MT Network Connect
ion
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0D-9D-FF-57-B5

Ethernet adapter 10:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/1000 MT Dual Port Serve
r Adapter #4
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1B-21-0A-31-77
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.10.209
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.10.2

Ethernet adapter VLAN 20:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/1000 MT Dual Port Serve
r Adapter #3
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1B-21-0A-31-76

C:\Documents and Settings\Admin>

 

[ThWind81]

Okay thank you for leading me in the right direction... I just happened to notice "dhcp enabled - no". I investigated dhcp and then turned it on. So I got the ports working now but still fluctuating and very slow speedtest.net results. 4-5mb/sec vs 55mb/sec download speeds when same cable plugged to a different pc. Now I know this probably gets less specific than my first question but any ideas on why this might be happening? I tried updating all ethernet adapter drivers but they seemed to all be up to date.
Thanks again!

 

[ch33zw1z]

Try installing latest Intel Drivers, these weren't the easiest to find:

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/De...PRO/1000+MT+Dual+Port+Server+Adapter&lang=eng

Has support for PRO/1000 MT dual port server adapter.

 

[Fardringle]

After updating the drivers on the workstation (which is a good idea), try a different ethernet cable since you're getting the same speed issues with a different computer.

 

[ThWind81]

Thanks Cheez Wiz, I will try those drivers. Fardringle, you must have misread. I have no issues when plugging the same cable to a different computer.
Thanks guys, will let you know how it goes.

 

[ThWind81]

Ok so I might be having trouble getting the drivers installed. At first it was telling me that the current version of Intel Network.... was unsupported for uninstall. I was able to get it to uninstall after a few tries... it kept reinstalling itself after just a few moments. The installer finally went through it's paces but I'm still experiencing the connection speed problem. When I check the driver it says version 8.10.3.0 Date - 8/20/2008. From the link you provided it seems like it should be version 18.3 5/15/2013?

 

[Fardringle]

I did misread. I thought you said you had the same results with a different computer.

The date on that downloads page is the date that the file was put there (or last updated). It doesn't necessarily mean that the driver for your specific card is that new, since the download is actually a compilation of many different drivers and the installer chooses which driver(s) to use based on the hardware it detects when you run it.

 

[ThWind81]

Ah ok thank you. I'm pretty sure it worked. I'm not really sure where to go from here since I am still experiencing the issue. This is older hardware on an older system, could there be compatibility issues?

 

[Fardringle]

If all three ports (one onboard and two on the card) get the same speed issues on a connection where another computer works normally, then we can eliminate the connection itself, the adapter, the PCI slot (since the onboard doesn't use one), and the cables. It's very unlikely to be a compatibility issue or you wouldn't see the problem with both adapters, especially not the one built into the board.

It's starting to look like a problem with the networking components of Windows itself. Try resetting the TCI/IP stack. To do this, open a Command Prompt and type netsh int ip reset then try the connection test again.

If that doesn't help, try testing the transfer speed on the local network using a program like iPerf to see if it happens with all network traffic or just the Internet. iPerf will also take the local hard drive out of the equation since it does all transfers from RAM and not from the hard drive. A slow hard drive can slow transfers down even if the connection itself is working.

 

[ThWind81]

This is what resulted...

C:\Documents and Settings\Admin>netsh int ip reset
One or more essential parameters were not entered.
Verify the required parameters, and reenter them.
The syntax supplied for this command is not valid. Check help for the correct sy
ntax.

Usage: reset [name=]<string>

Parameters:

Tag Value
name - The name of a file to which to append information
regarding what settings were reset.

Remarks: Resets TCP/IP and related components to a clean state.

Examples:

reset resetlog.txt

 

[Fardringle]

Oh, sorry. I left out part of the command.

[b]netsh int ip reset c:\resetlog.txt[/b]
(you can replace c:\ with any other place you want to use for the log file)

 

[ThWind81]

I get a 2 second pause and then the same "C:\Documents and Settings\Admin>" prompt. Nothing seems to change. Now... the hard drives in this xw8000 are PATA.. not SATA so it may just be a hard drive speed thing. I was unable to get that utility to work as far as testing the connection without the hard drive. I'm not familiar with linux yet unfortunately.

 

[Fardringle]

If you just get the prompt again, that's fine. That means it ran without errors.

PATA drives are slower, but not slow enough to cause the transfer speeds you are seeing.

To use the iperf program, you run it on one computer and tell that one to be the "server". Then go to a second computer and run the program and tell it to be a client with the server address as the IP address of the other machine. You might have to set your Windows firewall on the "server" to allow the server port number selected in the program on the server computer.

 

[ThWind81]

Thank you all very much for your time and effort. I found a pair of 3.2GHz Xeons locally here in Chicago for $10. I replaced the original single 3.06GHz processor with the pair of new ones and enabled hyperthreading. Now I get a consistent 30mb down and 10mb up on speedtest.net. Hyperthreading seems to get me 2-3mb faster download but that may be a fluke. So it seems that a single 3.06GHz socket 604 Xeon just cant allow for fast internet! I would not have imagined that. Even with the two new ones in there I'm not seeing the 55Mb down that I get on my newer computers but I am still very happy to have this computer in usable condition after a $10 upgrade. Oh the newer units also have 1mb cache vs the old unit's 512kb so that might also be helping.

Thanks again guys!
-Dustin

 

[Fardringle]

A 3.06 Ghz is more than adequate for fast ethernet. A 15ish year old Celeron 2ghz can do it just fine. If you really did see a boost by swapping the CPU, then it's possible that the old CPU was defective or failing. Regardless, I'm glad you got it working.

 

[ThWind81]

Hmm, the computer seemed to be running okay with that old 3.06GHz Xeon other than the internet speed issue. Another strange thing is that now, for reasons unknown to me, I am getting my full 55down and 10up. This may have happened after some updates to something? It had been a couple weeks and I just decided to run another speedtest and it was like that. One note is that when I run speedtest on that computer, it doesn't seem as smooth, like the speed wants to jitter up and down a bit. Still, no complaints that it's at full speed now and browser is running well. Upgraded graphics card to GeForce 7600 GS (AGP) which was a huge improvement. Allows me to run my widescreen monitors at native res., 720p YouTube playback, and it can play games like left for dead at better than expected settings, plus all of the less power hungry indie games I like to play like Super Meat Boy etc...(the original card was crap and fan didn't work).
Computer was free...

2 x 3.2 GHz Xeons with HT -$10
Going from 1GB to 4GB ECC RAM -$10
Additional 160gb Ultra ATA HD -$20
GeForce 7600 GS - Free
10 replacement capacitors to fix free graphics card -$17 (plus half a day of trying to unsolder/solder on an ROHS board)
Total = $57
Computer is complete and I think it was worth it, it actually runs great.

 

[Mushkins]

Hmm, the computer seemed to be running okay with that old 3.06GHz Xeon other than the internet speed issue. Another strange thing is that now, for reasons unknown to me, I am getting my full 55down and 10up. This may have happened after some updates to something? It had been a couple weeks and I just decided to run another speedtest and it was like that. One note is that when I run speedtest on that computer, it doesn't seem as smooth, like the speed wants to jitter up and down a bit. Still, no complaints that it's at full speed now and browser is running well. Upgraded graphics card to GeForce 7600 GS (AGP) which was a huge improvement. Allows me to run my widescreen monitors at native res., 720p YouTube playback, and it can play games like left for dead at better than expected settings, plus all of the less power hungry indie games I like to play like Super Meat Boy etc...(the original card was crap and fan didn't work).
Computer was free...

2 x 3.2 GHz Xeons with HT -$10
Going from 1GB to 4GB ECC RAM -$10
Additional 160gb Ultra ATA HD -$20
GeForce 7600 GS - Free
10 replacement capacitors to fix free graphics card -$17 (plus half a day of trying to unsolder/solder on an ROHS board)
Total = $57
Computer is complete and I think it was worth it, it actually runs great.

Speedtest is written in Flash. I get that jittery thing all the time on my laptop while it runs smooth on all my desktops and my server, either way the results are the same.

As for the speed discrepancies, 50/10 sounds like a residential cable internet plan, specifically Comcast Blast! Those are not guaranteed speeds, cable is not a dedicated line. You share aggregate bandwidth with everyone on your node, and what you actually get at any given moment can fluctuate considerably. I have a 50/10 plan myself in a condo, and Friday-Sunday I dont think i'll ever see those speeds. I've had it dip down to things like 2/.5 during peak hours. Conversely, i've seen it jump up to 75/15 in the middle of the night, which is way more than im paying for.

Anyone on the absolute basic cable internet plans are totally hosed due to traffic shaping/QoS. It didn't used to be as bad, but all the customers paying for higher tiers of internet speeds are literally having their traffic prioritized by the cable company, which takes that available bandwidth away from the people paying less. With streaming services like Netflix and all these cloud picture and video sharing sites becoming more popular, a lot more people are shelling out the extra money for the extra speed and getting the benefit of more stable speed as well, at the expense of the people who arent.

Your initial fluctuations definitely looked like some sort of problem. The jump from 30/10 to 55/10 sounds more like natural cable internet bandwidth fluctuation. Glad you got it sorted.

 

[ThWind81]

Good call sleuthing out my comcast blast! I will specifically test during peak times as a test. The thing is, I always tested against my modern system and would get the 55/10 on the modern system while getting the 30/10 on the system in question. Now it's getting the 55/10 so not sure what was happening but I'm happy. Recently, however (and maybe due to increased usage on my node), I have been getting momentary drops in web performance. I will go to load a different web page and Firefox will say "connecting" for much longer than usual. I opened both explorer and firefox next to each other and started bouncing around pages until it happened and it happened exactly the same on both. I sat there looking at white screens for oh 7 seconds and then they both loaded their pages at the exact same time, telling me that there was something wrong with my connection momentarily(not a browser issue). I also ran consecutive speedtests and occasionally one would turn up crap, like only run for a split second and spit out a terrible result.