Cannot Resolve Slow and Fast Line Speed

[Charlie''s Word VBA questions]

I am trying to follow up on my post of November 20. I received two replies
that were quite helpful but my problem is still not resolved.

I have Windows XP, Home Edition, on a Dell 4700 with an Intel PRO/100 VE
NIC. My ISP supplied a Westell modem connected by ethernet. I am on a 756k
DSL. I have sent an email attachment of about 6.5 mb that takes nearly 30
minutes. When I look at networking under Task Manager, the Network
Utilization averages about 0.03%. As suggested, I have diasbled QoS Packet
Handler in Network Connections, and the Network Utilization goes up to about
0.50% (over 10 times faster) and the file is sent in under four minutes.

I have uninstalled QoS Packet Handler in Network Connection properties. I
have also disabled QoS RSVP in services.msc.

Jack (MVP Networking) suggested DrTCP201 that I downloaded from ezlan. In
the Adapter Settings, it lists four adapters including the Westell modem USB
and USB 2 (it is cabled by ethernet) and the Intel nic. When line speed is
slow, I have also selected the Intel nic in DrTCP adapter settings with no
other changes and saved it but did not reboot. Again the speed increases to
about 0.50 utilization. I have hesitated to change the other values since I
don’t understand what these settings might do, what the Intel “defaults†are
or if they are actually restored.

However, the problem returns, seemingly on a random basis, sometimes after
booting up. However, I have seen the faster speeds immediately after booting
up. I have sent emails with the same attachment (about 1Mb) and seen Network
Utilization of 0.03% and 0.50%. But, I don’t know which speed will be used
unless I send a “test†email to myself. If it is slow, I can again disable
Qos RSVP in services or select the Intel nic in DrTCP.

Thank you for any suggestions to resolve this.

 

[John Wunderlich]

=?Utf-8?B?Q2hhcmxpZScncyBXb3JkIFZCQSBxdWVzdGlvbnM=?=

I am trying to follow up on my post of November 20. I received
two replies that were quite helpful but my problem is still not
resolved.

I have Windows XP, Home Edition, on a Dell 4700 with an Intel
PRO/100 VE NIC. My ISP supplied a Westell modem connected by
ethernet. I am on a 756k DSL. I have sent an email attachment of
about 6.5 mb that takes nearly 30 minutes. When I look at
networking under Task Manager, the Network Utilization averages
about 0.03%. As suggested, I have diasbled QoS Packet Handler in
Network Connections, and the Network Utilization goes up to about
0.50% (over 10 times faster) and the file is sent in under four
minutes.

Jack (MVP Networking) suggested DrTCP201 that I downloaded from
ezlan. In the Adapter Settings, it lists four adapters including
the Westell modem USB and USB 2 (it is cabled by ethernet) and the
Intel nic. When line speed is slow, I have also selected the
Intel nic in DrTCP adapter settings with no other changes and
saved it but did not reboot. Again the speed increases to about
0.50 utilization. I have hesitated to change the other values
since I don’t understand what these settings might do, what the
Intel “defaults†are or if they are actually restored.

Jack usually gives good advice.
This really does sound like a MaxMTU issue. Run DrTCP once again.
Select each adapter one-at-a-time and write down what is currently in
the MaxMTU window (so that you can restore it should things not work
out). Then, for each adapter, change the MaxMTU to 1300. This is a
safe conservative setting that should work for everything except a
dial-up connection. Reboot and try again.

Another possible issue that may cause your problem is that your NIC is
not picking up the proper Speed/Duplex setting. Go to the Device
Manager (Start->Run->devmgmt.msc), find your Network Interface Card and
double-click on it. Then click on the "Advanced" tab and look for a
"Speed & Duplex" setting. It is usually set to "Auto" but sometimes it
doesn't sense properly. Try manually setting the speed and duplex to
what is appropriate for your Modem (usually 100 / Full).

Lastly, try a different cable.

HTH,
John

 

[Charlie''s Word VBA questions]

Yes, I believe Jack is quite knowledgeable and helpful.

In DrTCP, there is a input box for MTU. Is this the same as MaxMTU? There
are four adapters listed as listed in my post -- I have no idea what the
Westell USB 2 and Microsoft TV/Video are. The MTU is blank for all four. Is
that normal? Since it is blank, I don't know what to enter or, if there is a
problem, what to restore it to. And, if I might ask, what is an MTU.

I did go into device manager and changed "Link Sped and Duplex" from Auto
Detect to 100 / Full as you suggested. I ran two tests and and they were
successful. Because the problem is so random, I will need to run some more
tests.

Should this be combined with settings in DrTCP? I am willing to experiment,
but I really don't understand what I am doing, so I want to be very careful.

 

[John Wunderlich]

=?Utf-8?B?Q2hhcmxpZScncyBXb3JkIFZCQSBxdWVzdGlvbnM=?=

In DrTCP, there is a input box for MTU. Is this the same as
MaxMTU?

Yes. I was going from memory.

There are four adapters listed as listed in my post -- I
have no idea what the Westell USB 2 and Microsoft TV/Video are.
The MTU is blank for all four. Is that normal? Since it is
blank, I don't know what to enter or, if there is a problem, what
to restore it to. And, if I might ask, what is an MTU.

MTU is "Maximum Transmission Unit". When you send TCP/IP packets, each
packet can contain no more than this many bytes. _Usually_ networks
can handle a maximum of 1500 bytes per packet. That includes headers
which can vary in size. DSL works with PPPoE which adds even more
headers. If you create a packet bigger than the network can handle, it
tries to break it into smaller packets but with a large data transfer
it usually ends up failing. Setting this value to 1300 allows more
than enough extra space for PPPoe headers, VPN headers, and TCP/IP
headers simultaneously -- and while it is not a maximum efficiency
number, the degradation is not that noticable. A lot of good info on
setting MTU is here:

<http://www.dslreports.com/faq/tweaks/4._MTU>

Blank probably means default. You probably can ignore your USB & TV
ports for this purpose. Try setting the remaining to 1300 as a test.

I did go into device manager and changed "Link Sped and Duplex"
from Auto Detect to 100 / Full as you suggested. I ran two tests
and and they were successful. Because the problem is so random, I
will need to run some more tests.

Time will tell.

Should this be combined with settings in DrTCP? I am willing to
experiment, but I really don't understand what I am doing, so I
want to be very careful.

It wouldn't hurt. As long as you know what to do to get back to your
original configuration, don't be afraid to try.

-- John