Windows 8.1 does not maintain network throughput.

ashlee84 · 17 Nov 2015 at 18:23

I have an issue on my desktop pc which will not let me download files or stream online videos etc, also general web browsing is slow and unreliable.

When I click on a file to download it starts fine, but after a few seconds the throughput drops to 0. Sometimes it might increase again but it doesn't maintain it's speed. It does the same thing when streaming video and sometimes when browsing web pages I get 'page cannot be displayed' messages.

It might be worth noting that I had this exact problem with Windows 10, which caused me to revert back to 8.1 which was fine for a while but the issue seems to have filtered down, a windows update maybe? Previous to installing Windows 10 I was using 8.1 for over a year without any issues and I did a clean install of 8.1 so I can only assume this issue is caused by a recent update and/or fix?

I have ruled out any hardware issues and/or network faults I have done the following.

Tried to download the same file on the same network using my Surface Pro 3 - No issues.

Using the desktop PC, on the same network but downloading the file while running a Linux Live USB. - No issues.

I have tried the following with no improvement,

Rollback network adapter driver
Installed latest network adapter driver
Internet Explorer > Advanced settings > reset
ipconfig /flushdns
reset router to default settings

Any help would be welcome.

ashlee84 · 17 Nov 2015 at 18:25

I have also tried the following

Followed the Windows Network Troubleshooters - No problems found
Disabled Windows Defender real-time protection - No change
Latest drivers all ready installed, tried removing and reinstalling - No change

I did however try a USB WiFi stick and that works fine which leads me to think that the issue is with the LAN driver itself even though its the same driver that was installed when Windows was freshly installed and hasn't been updated since (it was and still is the most current)?

The only difference I could find between the LAN and WLAN properties was that the LAN had 'Microsoft LLDP Protocol Driver' selected and the WLAN did not, disabling that on the LAN properties made no difference however.

I have already ruled out any physical issues with the LAN connection by booting into another OS and it works fine there.

It might be worth noting that downloading via BitTorrent maintains maximum speed, I'm assuming this uses a different protocol?

ashlee84 · 19 Nov 2015 at 14:00

I have now tried the following.

Run Internet Explorer with no add-ons - No Change.
Created new local user account - No Change.
Disabled all non-Microsoft services in MsConfig - No change.
Disabled all startup programs - No Change
Booted into safe mode with networking - No change.
Reset winsock, ipv4 and ipv6 stacks - no change

At the moment I am using the USB WiFi adapter with no issues so it might be that I have to stick with that, alternatively gigabit NIC PCI-E cards are available at reasonable prices.

bledd · 19 Nov 2015 at 16:11

Any 3rd party AV/firewall software?

linktoinsanity · 19 Nov 2015 at 17:24

I know you say you have downloaded the latest drivers, but are these through Windows Update or the manufacturer's website?

ashlee84 · 19 Nov 2015 at 19:14

bledd. said:
Any 3rd party AV/firewall software?

No, just Windows Defender and Malwarebytes. I've tried diasabling Defenders realtime protection

I know you say you have downloaded the latest drivers, but are these through Windows Update or the manufacturer's website?

I have tried the latest drivers from both the motherboard manufacturer and the NIC manufacturer (both had the same revision number) but they both behave the same. The rollback driver was the one that was installed during Windows setup.

ecksmen · 19 Nov 2015 at 20:31

Your issue sounds like a duplex mismatch; default is auto-negotiate which can have side effects, in theory it should be the desired configuration.

I'm assuming physical lan connection, prob worth trying it set fairly low (100 Full). This can be done easily from the hardware properties of the card - looking for speed & duplex however some hardware drivers may rename the option but they all have it.

Clearly, if you have a gbps switch and nic then set it to that but to start off with and get a reliable connection I'd generally start off lower. A powershell administrator could set it via:

Code:

Set-NetAdapterAdvancedProperty -DisplayName "Speed & Duplex" -DisplayValue "100 Mbps Full Duplex"