Puzzling home network problem, need help!

Hello,
This is an issue with a computer upstairs in my bedroom. The Modem/Router is downstairs so I am using wifi. The issue is that the wifi is very very very slow and the weird thing is, I went out and bought a 50ft cat5e and its still the same issue! Very slow internet and anything I download it seems like it stops a few seconds after it starts. Another weird thing is that the computer downstairs that is directly plugged into the router has great speeds and works perfectly.

I went into resource manager and I see the network graph hovering around 1Kbps 100Kbps and 1Mbps. I have never seen anything higher. My TP-Link 450 wifi adapter is updated also and full signal strength.

I was think it would be the adapter but since I bought a cat5e and plugged directly into my modem.router im puzzled on what it could be.

I have 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz set to N mode only too with non overlapping channels.

Does anyone have any ideas? This is driving me insane!

Running Windows 7 home for my OS and have a 300Mbps plan with my ISP. On speedtest.net my upload is about 10Mbps and download is around 50Mbps.

I also went to device manager->network adapters->Properites on my wifi adapter->advanced and it shows 802.11b preamble. Does this mean the wifi adapter is running on 802.11b? If so I dont see another option to change this to G or N

Thanks.

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rob42

To me it sounds like an issue with your PC, rather than the ISP. Can you login to your Router/Modem? It's usually the first IP on the Network. i.e for a 192.168.1.0 network, http://192.168.1.1

If so, does the html interface have any kind of 'status' page that shows the DSL connection speeds?

Something like this...

The RX/TX is the bit that you're interested with: the connection speed you're getting.

If that's up to your expectations, then you need to find out what apps on your PC may be consuming the internal network bandwidth. If not, contact your ISP and explain the issue.

To find out what apps on your PC may be consuming the internal network band width, use tools such as SmartSniff, CurrPorts and AdapterWatch [ NirSoft - freeware utilities: password recovery, system utilities, desktop utilities ] to analyse your network traffic. You may find some app or other is consuming most of your bandwidth.

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mgeoffriau

What happens if you boot up that PC in safe mode w/ networking?

TechnicalJay

rob42 wrote: »

To me it sounds like an issue with your PC, rather than the ISP. Can you login to your Router/Modem? It's usually the first IP on the Network. i.e for a 192.168.1.0 network, http://192.168.1.1

If so, does the html interface have any kind of 'status' page that shows the DSL connection speeds?

Something like this...

The RX/TX is the bit that you're interested with: the connection speed you're getting.

If that's up to your expectations, then you need to find out what apps on your PC may be consuming the internal network bandwidth. If not, contact your ISP and explain the issue.

To find out what apps on your PC may be consuming the internal network band width, use tools such as SmartSniff, CurrPorts and AdapterWatch [ NirSoft - freeware utilities: password recovery, system utilities, desktop utilities ] to analyse your network traffic. You may find some app or other is consuming most of your bandwidth.

I have tried going into msconfig and hiding all MS services and then disabling everything else, same with startup. This did nothing also. I went to the html page and I have 4 lan ports listed but not my wifi for some reason. I also booted in safe mode with networking and same issue. I tested these by downloading random things, JRE 8, google chrome etc. They all freeze downloading after the first second or two.

TheFORCE

Have you tested the upstairs PC by moving it down and connecting it directly to the router with no other PC connected? If it works fine then there is an issue with your network. Also, check your ISP speeds, what are you paying for vs what you are actually getting. I had a similar problem where my speed was at 10 megs but I was paying for 50 megs, it ended up being a cable srew up at the outlet coming in to my home and ISP had to send a tech to fix the cables.

Try downloading with different browsers too, look at your network monitoring traffic to see what happens right when you experience the issue.

rob42

TechnicalJay wrote: »

I have tried going into msconfig and hiding all MS services and then disabling everything else, same with startup. This did nothing also. I went to the html page and I have 4 lan ports listed but not my wifi for some reason. I also booted in safe mode with networking and same issue. I tested these by downloading random things, JRE 8, google chrome etc. They all freeze downloading after the first second or two.

Have you checked your Firewall? It could be that it's blocking some connections. Easiest way is to shut the Firewall down and then see if the issue goes away. Don't forget to bring it back up again.

TechnicalJay

Turned the routers and windows firewall off and same thing

mikeybinec

Long shot: Check properties on NIC (network interface card) Maybe it switched itself into half duplex or a set speed

Mike7

Wifi signals tend to travel down better than up. Move your PC downstairs and check signal as @TheForce suggested. Is it possible to move your modem upstairs? Someone I knew had a similar problem where his modem is downstairs while his PC is upstairs. He resolved it by using PowerLine adapters. Since you are using TP-Link, you can check out their range, they also have Wifi extender models.

TechnicalJay

I have tried power line adapters too. Its still the same issue when I'm directly plugged into the modem/router so i doubt moving my PC downstairs would do anything and I have 100% signal strength. Another weird thing is I can watch youtube videos fine in 720p, no buffering or anything but when i download a small pdf file it takes forever... This is confusing

Mike7

Are you downloading the pdf via http or https? Can try downloading via both? Some ISPs tunnel all http but not https traffic transparently though their caching web proxy servers and sonetimes the proxies are just slow. Youtube is usually https.

rob42

TechnicalJay wrote: »

... Another weird thing is I can watch youtube videos fine in 720p, no buffering or anything but when i download a small pdf file it takes forever... This is confusing

Confusing indeed... It may be a long shot, but have you any Anti Virus software that could be having an effect on the files that you're trying to D/load? My thinking is, Video, fine let it pass, D/load, could be bad, filter it...

TechnicalJay

rob42 wrote: »

Confusing indeed... It may be a long shot, but have you any Anti Virus software that could be having an effect on the files that you're trying to D/load? My thinking is, Video, fine let it pass, D/load, could be bad, filter it...

I do but i went to msconfig and disabled all non MS services so that they wouldn't load and the same thing happens. The document was probably http, but would it make a difference to try https as the computer downstairs and my 2nd computer which is a laptop can download it fine?

rob42

TechnicalJay wrote: »

I do but i went to msconfig and disabled all non MS services...

But, Win7 has M.S Propitiatory A.V and will run as a MS Service... It's just a thought...

GeekyChick

Have you tried taking the slow PC and plugging it into the same exact cable as the fast PC? If it's slow then it's the PC, it's its fast then it's something else.

Depending on on what you find out from that you could proceed to add wifi, individually to each PC. Maybe then you could find out when/where the speed decreases. Just a thought. Good luck.

TechnicalJay

GeekyChick wrote: »

Have you tried taking the slow PC and plugging it into the same exact cable as the fast PC? If it's slow then it's the PC, it's its fast then it's something else.

Depending on on what you find out from that you could proceed to add wifi, individually to each PC. Maybe then you could find out when/where the speed decreases. Just a thought. Good luck.

Yes i have and i called my ISP and replaced the modem/router 2 times

Priston

When you bought the 50ft cable and tested the connection did you disable wifi on the PC? It could have shown the exact same results because it wasn't even trying to use the cable connection.

On the Wireless Network Connection Status page, what speed does it say your wireless is?
What can I do if the TP-Link Wireless Adapter is not achieving desired speed? - TP-Link

GeekyChick

TechnicalJay wrote: »

Yes i have and i called my ISP and replaced the modem/router 2 times

Oh, that is frustrating. It sounds like you have it narrowed down to your computer and not your router. I wasn't sure when I posted before.

TechnicalJay

Priston wrote: »

When you bought the 50ft cable and tested the connection did you disable wifi on the PC? It could have shown the exact same results because it wasn't even trying to use the cable connection.

On the Wireless Network Connection Status page, what speed does it say your wireless is?
What can I do if the TP-Link Wireless Adapter is not achieving desired speed? - TP-Link

Yes I have disabled the wifi also

MAC_Addy

Reset NIC/Wifi NIC to default. How old is the PC? Are you experiencing the same issues through all browsers?

Hondabuff

Run Malwarebytes then once its finished I would open a command line and run "netsh winsock reset" to reset the tcp/ip stack. Reboot the computer and see if the problem still exists. Sounds like malware redirecting through a proxy.

TechnicalJay

Thanks for all the reply guys, I ran malwarebytes and nada! Also did the netsh cmd. When I get home I'm just going to reformat my computer and see if that makes a difference.

TechnicalJay

Hondabuff wrote: »

Run Malwarebytes then once its finished I would open a command line and run "netsh winsock reset" to reset the tcp/ip stack. Reboot the computer and see if the problem still exists. Sounds like malware redirecting through a proxy.

I have found a huge clue! I went to proxysite.com and went to virtual box to download the software. It downloads awesome! I went to the site again without the proxy and it goes so slow like 0.1Kbps. Is this definitely malware redirecting through a proxy?

MAC_Addy

Sounds like it. Boot into Safe Mode and run Malwarebytes again. You might want to get CCleaner, too.

TechnicalJay

Wow I just reformatted my computer and did a fresh install of windows 7 and same issue. I tried to download steam and it downloaded maybe 500Kbs and stopped. Went to a proxy site, went to steam and it downloaded in a second.

TechnicalJay

Does this even make sense what is happening?

MAC_Addy

That is a bit confusing. When you plugged directly into your switch/router, you experienced the same issue, right?