Slow internet

[Synyster Shadows]

Ok so I've been noticing performance issues with my PC when surfing the internet, mainly downloading files and trying to watch YouTube videos. I've scanned my computer for malware many times and have found nothing malicious. I have defrag software running in the background constantly as long as the computer is not in standby so I doubt the HDD is fragged enough to cause significant slowdown. Just surfing pages like VT aren't a problem though. I've tried Firefox, Internet explorer, chrome, and opera and same result

Here are my specs:

Acer revo 70
Windows 7 home premium 64-bit
AMD e450 APU
2 GB RAM, 1.73 usable

[Plane And Simple]

What's your ISP provided speed?

[Synyster Shadows]

It's 54 Mbps

[Plane And Simple]

Well, does it usually get interrupted? If not, it may be your WLAN card.

[Synyster Shadows]

Well, I tried re-downloading Firefox not too long ago (I'm using Opera now). I tried twice and both times, it was interrupted and the download was not completed. But I don't think that it's the network. I can browse perfectly fine on my phone, even watch YouTube videos fine. It's only on my PC that I notice the issues

[Plane And Simple]

I'd say your WLAN Card on your PC is failing. Can you take it to a technician to get it checked?

[Synyster Shadows]

Possibly. My father denies anything is wrong.

[Plane And Simple]

Give a go at updating the card's drivers first. Maybe that fixes something.

[Synyster Shadows]

Alright, I'll try that and see what happens.
And just a side note, if there was in fact a virus on my computer, I'd already know it, right?
They're all up to date.

[The37thElement]

If you have it on, try turning off UTorrent.

[phuckphace]

"defrag software" is that some third party thing or the Windows defrag service? either way it most definitely doesn't need to be running constantly (since I assume you're not running Windows 95). turn that shit off and run it manually every couple of months.

run a test on Speedtest.net and post results

[Synyster Shadows]

It's Diskeeper defrag. I'll try turning it off. Thanks

[The37thElement]

Looking at your computer specs, you need an upgrade anyway. That might fix your problem.

[Synyster Shadows]

Looking at your computer specs, you need an upgrade anyway. That might fix your problem.

Yeah, it's a crappy machine. I realize that. It sometimes freezes up just with media player and word open

[phuckphace]

the specs aren't the greatest but you still shouldn't be having those issues. I used to have a netbook with similar parts (same CPU even) and didn't have any problems like that. did turning off that defragger thing help at all?

[Synyster Shadows]

Just turned off the defragger. We'll see what happens

It didn't result in much of an improvement

Does anyone think I should just ask for an upgrade? I'm trying to download a browser to fix yet another issue I'm having with a certain website and it won't download.


Posts merged. -Albert/Hypers

[Typhlosion]

NO, you should not upgrade yet. To check if it's any hardware problem, run a Linux Distro (such as Ubuntu or Mint) on a live CD and check the speed there. If there's no problem than surely it's not anything to consider changing computer (parts).

[Hyper]

Just because your ISP says it's 54mbps doesn't mean it's not their cock-up

http://www.pingtest.net/

Test your net different times of the day, morning, peak times 5-9 PM. And 1 late night.

If you have no packet loss/jitter then yeah it could be hardware. Are your DNS servers automatically assigned?

[Synyster Shadows]

If you have no packet loss/jitter then yeah it could be hardware. Are your DNS servers automatically assigned?

How do I check the DNS servers?

[Kacey]

You say it is whenever you are viewing media, correct? If that is the case, it might not be your internet provider... It would be your graphics card. Try turning down the resolution on the media and see if that helps.

[Synyster Shadows]

Well usually when viewing media, but not exclusively.

[Kacey]

Well usually when viewing media, but not exclusively.

Well then, try turning down the resolution on the media. That may be the problem...

[Synyster Shadows]

Sometimes YouTube won't even load the videos...

[Typhlosion]

I will reinstate, try running Linux on a CD (without installing) and see if your problem persists.

[Synyster Shadows]

I'll see. Depends on whether or not I can convince my dad to get a Linux CD...Like I said earlier, my dad denies anything's that wrong, that a hardware - RAM - upgrade will fix the problem. I used to think he was right; not so sure anymore...

[phuckphace]

I'll see. Depends on whether or not I can convince my dad to get a Linux CD...Like I said earlier, my dad denies anything's that wrong, that a hardware - RAM - upgrade will fix the problem. I used to think he was right; not so sure anymore...

you can make a Linux disc yourself, all you need is a computer with a disc burner and one blank DVD or CD. download an ISO image of a Linux distro like Crunchbang (from here (http://crunchbang.org/download)), right-click on the ISO file and select "Burn disc image", and bam, you have a Linux disc.

[Typhlosion]

you can make a Linux disc yourself, all you need is a computer with a disc burner and one blank DVD or CD. download an ISO image of a Linux distro like Crunchbang (from here (http://crunchbang.org/download)), right-click on the ISO file and select "Burn disc image", and bam, you have a Linux disc. Problem, he can't download files. Linux CDs are usually 5$ so it's definitely worth a try.

[Rallo]

Try a few different things.

Firstly post a result from http://www.speedtest.net (do a test, and reply with speeds)
Secondly, open CMD (start, type CMD in search bar and click to open it) and ping google.com any site will actually work, though google will redirect the request to a local server, ensuring it's a close server you're testing the ping time to. Once finished, it will come up with a min, average and max ping time, reply with those numbers so we can get an idea of the situation.


Edit: Side note, those specs are quite low. That CPU is about as slow as a laptop I had 7-8 years ago; extremely out dated. This may be partly the cause of the problem. The RAM shouldn't be overly a problem as 2GB isn't the smallest amount ever, that should be enough for just firefox. Either way, try opening task manager and checking the amount of used CPU and RAM while doing certain things. If the CPU is sitting on 100% or RAM above about ~80%, that will be part of the problem.

[phuckphace]

Problem, he can't download files. Linux CDs are usually 5$ so it's definitely worth a try.

he could always borrow someone else's computer though.

[Synyster Shadows]

CMD ping results:
Min: 15 ms
Max: 36 ms
Avg: 20 ms

I can't even take the speed test. :?

CPU usage generally around 15-20% unless I load a page, which takes more like 50-60 for a while. RAM sits at ~60% most of the time.

Also just tried pingtest.net

ping: 20 ms
jitter: 5 ms
distance to nearest server: ~200 miles

[Hyper]

Well that jitter is a bit high but if there is no packet loss then that's still good.


If you have a system restore point try it. Earliest one you can find.

Make sure Flash is up to date and anything that uses it.

And here's a few more things to try...

Disable hardware graphics acceleration in your browsers. And in flash

See this to disable it for flash http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/video-playback-issues.html#main_Solve_video_playback_issues

You could also try this http://forums.adobe.com/message/4468493#TemporaryWorkaround

Would at least rule flash itself out as a problem.

[Synyster Shadows]

Ok. I'll try that next and see what happens

[Rallo]

CMD ping results:
Min: 15 ms
Max: 36 ms
Avg: 20 ms

I can't even take the speed test. :?

CPU usage generally around 15-20% unless I load a page, which takes more like 50-60 for a while. RAM sits at ~60% most of the time.

Also just tried pingtest.net

ping: 20 ms
jitter: 5 ms
distance to nearest server: ~200 miles

Your internet (based on ping) is great!
It could however still be the speed that's the problem though. All I can recommend is check settings in your router. Mainly you'll be looking for your internet sync speed, this is in different places depending on internet type. Look up your router/modem model and work out how you access it's admin panel and see if you can find anything in there.
In my case (sadly) despite being signed up to a 24mbps plan, our sync speed is only just over 4mb, so it's actually impossible for us to get the extra 20 here.

Sitting on 50-60% cpu and ~60% RAM is usually not overly bad.

[Synyster Shadows]

Well there are actually several home networks (dunno why) so I tried connecting to a better one (144 Mbps as opposed to the other 50-whatever). That didn't really change anything :?

So any new ideas?

[Synyster Shadows]

Can't even update flash. Downloads fail. WTF???? Tried a system restore to a state from last month. No difference :/