2.4Ghz / 5Ghz problems..

Conor Royston · 22 Jun 2017 at 23:15

So I've been having a bit of computer trouble over the last few days (check my history if you need)

in short, I built a pc last January, has had zero problems until about 5/6 days ago where I kept getting multiple BSODs each with different error codes.

I managed to finally, after it not allowing me because it error'd and crashed during, reinstall windows and updated all drivers on pc.

I seem to have it at a stableish state but I noticed a few days ago after the reinstall of win10 and drivers, that I was getting... horrific internet speeds.
(Got VM - 150MB down package)

Before any pc problems I was getting ALWAYS atleast 120 download on any speed testers I tried (I always used 5Ghz)

Checked 3 days ago and I was barely getting 4 download...(on either wired or wireless)
so I reinstalled drivers for USB as I mostly use wireless and reinstalled the adapter again, still getting the same connections (yet the 3 other pcs in the house and phones were getting 120/130+ download as normal)

So I ordered a new adapter thinking it'd help. Arrived today and nope, didn't help other than going from 4 down to about 4.4 down lol.

So I tried resetting router completely - no change.
But then I tested 2.4Ghz channel in connections and rather than 4MB download I was on around ..60-70down. Half what I had before but still much better than 4.
So tested again in 5GHz ..... 4 again.

I'm a bit confused and lost at what it may be... any help?

Conor Royston · 23 Jun 2017 at 09:02

Avalon said:
Simple test: Turn PC off (ideally turn off anythingbusing bandwidth on the network) and run a Speedtest from a phone/tablet on each frequency. This will indicate if it's a router problem, or a PC problem.

As mentioned above I've already tested each frequency with other computers and phones (even testing old and new wireless adapter incase they had randomly broken over the last few days. The same. (5Ghz working on all other devices aswell as 2.4 Ghz but only semi 2.4 works on my pc) so it's something definitely to do with the pc.

bledd said:
Describe house layout.
Has the pc been moved or any new obstructions in the way?
Has router been moved?

5ghz WiFi hates walls.

Ideally you want to use network cables for all PCs, then use WiFi for mobile devices.

Everything the exact same I'm afraid.
Living room directly below me has the router, bedroom has the affected pc above, less than 3m distance in reality.
I have however even tried moving the router about an inch from it. - doesn't change anything.

I was wondering if it's the motherboard due to after I reinstalled windows and redid all drivers this has only happened.

Conor Royston · 23 Jun 2017 at 22:13

Any luck finding post ? =)

Conor Royston · 24 Jun 2017 at 10:18

Shivy011 said:
We unplugged and replugged all the ethernet and it magically went back to 150/160mbps

Unfortunately that didn't work for me :/

Conor Royston · 24 Jun 2017 at 10:58

Shivy011 said:
Have you contacted VM? With us they sent us the new upgraded super hub thing for free even though it was our cabling at fault

I've phoned them up and they've done every check they can do.
The thing is, if you read my first post, I "Know" it's my pc.

Since I've reinstalled windows and bios and moved ram around + updated all drivers the internet hasn't been working, however it's working perfectly the same on every other device.

I'm tempted to RMA my motherboard, and if that doesn't work, RMA my CPU, and in worst case just buy new parts but I'd rather not considering my MB and CPU totalled when I got them last year over a grand.
I'm just awaiting a reply from one of the OCers from support on what to do next ^^.

Conor Royston · 24 Jun 2017 at 12:07

Avalon said:
You have at no point in this thread prior to that mentioned you tested on other devices or the results obtained.

So now we know it's not the connection, did you identify the actual cause(es) of the BSOD? Start by resetting the bios to stock values, does it still have the same issue? Roll back the drivers to previous versions, same issue? Have a look for BIOS updates and see what - if any - fixes relate to the network side. Disable wifi and run wired and see what netstat shows as well as network activity. Are other devices using the connection at the same time? Another device maxing your uplink will affect down link etc. RMA'ing things blindly is just an admission that you're massively out of your depth in basic fault finding and usually ends up in a poor supplier relationship and potential charges.

Conor Royston said:
so I reinstalled drivers for USB as I mostly use wireless and reinstalled the adapter again, still getting the same connections (yet the 3 other pcs in the house and phones were getting 120/130+ download as normal)

As you can see, I did ^.

And there was multiple error messages, each BSOD gave a different one, but the main ones were "BAD_POOL_HEADER", "SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION", "IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL". from the help of a tech at OC and looking around internet we thought it was the RAM. But since running mem86 to over 20 passes, no fails and multiple other tests he concluded it wasn't the ram.
I managed to finally reinstall windows and those BSOD have gone away since (although Dram, and boot device LED light up 3 times each then go off on each start up).... just this internet problem seems I'm stuck with atm.

Tried each bios update seperately, same connection. Tried rolling back drivers, updating them all, uninstalling and testing without some, same connection. Get the same connection with wired, aswell as disconnecting all other devices (which doesn't actually weirdly change any connection if I test this on my other devices), still same.

bledd said:
Download LinuxMint, burn it to a cd or usb drive, boot from this.

Test the speed in that.

I shall try that now.

Conor Royston · 24 Jun 2017 at 12:55

bledd said:
Test the speed in that.

Downloaded, activated, installed to USB, booted and tested for 15 minutes swapping between 2.4 Ghz and 5Ghz. Completely the same as on Windows.

Guessing you had a theroy that it was the OS stopping it? Either way, no progression

Conor Royston · 25 Jun 2017 at 16:30

Avalon said:
My inner cynic notes you edited your post at 11:48 and replied quoting it at 12:07.

As above check new drivers don't require a later bios/firmware as it's unusual for an issue to affect wired and wifi considering it's a different chipset/driver/firmware for each which suggests an external factor such as management software as suggested by bledd, thing is I can't see it not affecting 2.4Ghz so that also makes no sense.

It was actually the spelling of adapter I changed

and I've tried the last 3 bios's and upgraded/downgraded firmware seeing if they would change but it doesn't.

Thing is, to my knowledge, everything now to do with hardware and drivers etc are the exact same before the problems with my pc started a week ago, and not even with the original adapter that I was using connected to 5Ghz before is downloading more than 3/4MB on it. It's so weird. - This is even with no extra programs. Completely fresh windows install other than browser. :/

Conor Royston · 26 Jun 2017 at 11:43

Not at home till later.
However, the adapter that came with the 99xpro is pretty crap. Always was. When I first got the pc built I was getting about 30 down on it (2.4ghz was the only frequency it could pick up)

So did some looking around and bought a
"TP-Link Archer AC1200 Dual Band Wireless USB Adapter ".
Installed the drivers to it, plugged it in one of the 3.0 USB slots in the back of the pc and boom. 5ghz appeared. Connected, tested (back when I only had a 100m download package from VM) and got around 85+ every test (on wired usually got around 90+). Even 2.4Ghz frequency on the link archer was over 75+.

But as wired was a bit of a ball ache considering I was upstairs mostly and didn't want to keep the wires going all over I kept using the adapter. And until last week never changed.

When I did all the reinstall of windows, I did the same again, reinstalled the adapter drivers, have tested in all the USB slots, with and without other devices plugged in - encase there was some interference, but sadly nothing worked. It was like 5ghz was stuck on 3-4 MB download.

So few days ago I bought
" ASUS USB-AC56 Wireless USB Network Interface Card - Dongle - 867Mbps - Dual-Band ".
Installed and apart from going from 3-4 download it went to about 3.8-5 download. That's it.
I will say I've tested both the old and new adapters on my other 3 desktops and two laptops in the same room as problemed pc.
I have tested also the connection on my phone, 3 other desktops and the two laptops whether next to the router or upstairs.
Whether next to the adapters in the problemed pc or not. (No I don't get dramatically improved performance when pc is off and testing on another device. I maybe gain or lose about 0.5 of a MB).
Everything but the pc having Internet problems get almost identical results. (All working and connecting perfectly).

Motherboard - 99x pro
CPU - 5960x (tried OC and default- had it OC at 4.6ghz for the last 1.5 years. Never an issue).

Hope this helps a bit ^^

Conor Royston · 26 Jun 2017 at 21:28

Haha, don't worry Rotor, yes I have. I've tried them all with both adapters since the problems started. Doesn't change any speeds :/. Should say if it also helps, when testing before with the Archer adapter in any USB 3.0 port would give the same speed.

But yeah, it seems to all boil back to SOMETHING to do with the board. Every USB slot works for everything else (tested them all), and the actual adapters are completely recognised by the board, but it's like... just something is limiting it?

Speaking with an OC dev, I'm going to try over the next few days to completely take apart my pc, double check cleaning on each part. Take out Cmos battery for a complete restart of the board, and start from them, if that doesn't work, he said send them the board and they can progress from there

!

Conor Royston · 27 Jun 2017 at 21:29

Shall do. Doing the dismantle tomorrow.

Conor Royston · 3 Jul 2017 at 19:30

Sorry been away for a few days. Had a wedding etc.

So I did a complete rebuild and reinstall. I started completely from scratch.

So pc doesn't seem to have any random errors or blue screens (yet, touch wood)
However the 5Ghz hasn't changed. Having said that, the 2.4Ghz has massively increased from around only 70Mb download to a stable 145ish download out of 150. I'll keep this on unless something else goes wrong. Can live with that.