Slower internet speed limited to a small number of sites
Slower internet speed limited to a small number of sites
Hi there. I recently got a new computer, but my old Windows setup was crucial, so I made a copy to an M.2 drive on the new machine and began using it. There are some minor issues that seem like updates are resolving—like missing right-click icons and reinstalling software fixing things. My old hardware also faced similar problems. Certain websites I manage are slow only on this computer. I have an iMac, my wife’s PC, a home Windows server, an ASUS laptop, all of which download a 150MB file from one of my servers at around 5 or more Mbps. On this machine, FTP, HTTP, HTTPS downloads, and uploads don’t reach 480kbps, whereas on other computers they do. My previous setup had the same issue with the same Windows version and same servers. I ran a cleanup tool, checked for adware and antivirus interference, and inspected my hosts file, but I’m running out of ideas. This server is extremely important to me because I regularly download, upload, and perform backups from it. It’s not a network problem—I have a 200Mbps internet connection, and other devices can download at over 5Mbps. My computer scores good speedspeedtest results, and other sites manage downloads above 20Mbps. There’s no firewall concern since my home IP is whitelisted on the server, and the Ethernet cable is fresh. The network speed tests show it operates near the 1Gbps standard, and the cable is a Cat6A. By the way, the machine specs are: Asus Prime Z370-A (BIOS updated yesterday), 32GB RAM DDR4, 3000-core i7-8700K, M.2 drive plus two SSDs plus a few extra drives. Any suggestions? Thanks ahead.
It seems this server isn't physically present, which would explain the slower Gigabit speeds. Diagnosing network problems can be tricky, especially when only one client is affected. I’d start by checking if you’ve reinstalled or updated the Ethernet driver—though the built-in Windows 10 driver often works well, some motherboard Ethernet chips may need a proper replacement.
Hi, everything looks good on your end. I’m in Portugal, and the server runs on OVH in the USA. Other devices at home connect via Mbps links, which gives me around 400kbps—unusual. I can boot into a live USB Linux system to run tests; I expect full speeds, but I’d prefer confirming 100% safety before assuming everything works perfectly.
Consider running a small experiment next. Set up a homegroup on two machines and move a big file around. With a gigabit switch you should get about 115MB/s. If it remains near 400KB, there’s probably a driver or setup conflict. When it reaches 115MB/s, the issue is likely network-related. Test again later to see if it improves.
The driver conflict seems likely. Your old motherboard was from MSI, and even after updating drivers, Windows might still be using it. You may want to remove unnecessary network drivers—tools like Device Manager or third-party utilities can help.
Begin by opening the Control Panel and uninstalling programs, especially those related to NIC drivers. You might also access Device Manager, find the NIC, go to its properties, and click Uninstall Driver. That approach didn’t seem to resolve the problem for me. I’d suggest visiting the manufacturer’s site to download the newest NIC driver first. If you don’t have internet, the Windows NIC driver might activate automatically afterward. After that, try installing the new driver and see if anything improves. If not, it could be a configuration issue. Remember, Windows 10 often installs drivers and updates without consent—this might have affected something critical. Alternatively, check whether the device is using metered connection settings to intentionally restrict speeds.
It seems the issue began on my previous computer after switching to Windows 10. I'm not entirely sure, but it appears this might be accurate. Even with another motherboard and network device from time to time, I encountered this problem. If I wanted to transfer a large file to my server, I would just move it to any other PC in my home and run it on the server—it would function. Not the best approach, but I opted not to reinstall Windows. On the new hardware, the same issue exists, so it's likely a driver problem tied to Windows 10.
Personally I've never liked the built in upgrade method. I'd much rather boot a USB with the Windows.ISO completely wipe the boot drive and install the new OS fresh because there's not really a way to tell if one driver is going to corrupt an old driver fail to properly install or any other weirdness. Fresh installs avoid complications like these. However you'd need your product key. I don't know if you reinstalled the OS if you can activate it with your old Windows 7 key.