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General discussion

Puzzled over bandwidth

Mar 26, 2004 4:45AM PST

Hello....I hope some one here can help me find a solution to our question.

We have 2 Dell pcs in our household that sit within 5 feet of each other. Mine is a Dell Dimension XPS T700r, P3 128, with Win98 and a Linksys LNE 100TX Fast Ethernet Adapter and the other is a Dell XPS 8200 P4 1.7 with WinMe and a CNET PRO200WL PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter. We use a Linksys 4 port Etherfast Cable/DSL Router. Can anyone tell me why we get such drastic differences in bandwidth when I use the CNET Bandwidth Meter? My computer, the old one gets around 1500 with our cable modem and my hubby's pc is lucky to get 300. Both PC's connect to the net just fine but there is always this huge difference in Bandwidth speed according to the meter. The only other difference is that the RCA cable info(drivers or whatever) are installed on the old pc and not on the new. I've been told that this shouldn't make a difference.

Please help..........Thank you

Discussion is locked

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Re:Puzzled over bandwidth
Mar 26, 2004 10:33AM PST

if you both go to play a large media file, like some video, do his computer have problems with dropouts? if not, then the meter is wrong. if there is, then something is using up the bandwidth. the usual cause is a virus or spyware. have you enabled and configured the firewall in your Linksys Router? if you haven't, i suggest you contact Linksys or read the manual to do so. the router and the cable modem, by the way, should have status lights for each connection. if both of you are not doing anything on the Internet but the computers are powered on and you see lots of activity on the port connected to your husband's computer, it has been taken over by a virus or spyware.

Herb...

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Re:Re:Puzzled over bandwidth
Mar 26, 2004 9:36PM PST

Hello.....thank you for replying.

I don't know what a dropout is(I'm a greenhorn when it comes to pcs), sorry; but I can tell you that I have done an online virus scan and no virus detected. I have installed a spyware/adware (spybot) on both pcs and removed all of those unwanted programs. I removed all cookies except for the ones that pertain to the game itself. Both pcs go thru the router's firewall and there isn't any activity on his pc port status light when it is powered on but he isn't using it. That's something else I don't understand.....do you know why, when we turn our pcs off for the night, that my status light on the router goes out but his doesn't? His status light is always on.

I just can't believe that there could be that much difference in bandwidth and it's always been like that. I noticed that when I visit the same page on the web that my pc loads it really fast and his takes a lot longer. We both use IE. My cable connection was originally set up by my cable company, my hubby's wasn't. I can't call them as they will want to up my service fee for having 2 pcs.......even tho we never use the pcs at the same time. I stay off line(I shut down my pc completely) when he games so as to give him less lag in the game.

If you can think of anything else, please let me know.....thank you so much again.

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Re:Re:Re:Puzzled over bandwidth
Mar 28, 2004 7:39AM PST

the next possible thing is that the network card on the other computer is bad. try swapping the cards between computers and see what happens.

Herb...

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Re:Puzzled over bandwidth
Apr 15, 2004 9:33PM PDT

Hello. You need not be puzzled over this issue any longer. I can tell you exactly what to do. TRASH the CNet card! It's junk. I had the same problem with mine. I ordered a Dell Dimension 8200, and like yours, it came from the factory with the CNet Pro200WL PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter. I started having problems with mine when I installed a Microsoft wireless base station. The speeds on my notebook (which was running on the wireless network) were around 1,200 kbps. The desktop was getting speeds anywhere from 50 to 125 kbps. I called Microsoft's technical support line and spent two hours on the phone trying to figure it out. They ended up transferring me to their tier two support staff for assistance. After going through the same trouble shooting techniques with the tier two staff, they asked me what NIC I was using. I began to say, "CNet...". He told me to stop right there. There have been numerous issues with these cards, which cannot be fixed by a driver update. His recommendation was to trash the card and get a new one. In the meantime, however, he did offer a fix. He had me lower the duplex mode on the card to 10Mbps Full_Duplex. It was originally set at "Auto Sense". To do this, right click on "My Compter" and click "Properties". Go to the "Hardware" tab and click "Device Manager". Find "Network adapters" and click on the plus sign. Right click "CNet Pro200WL PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter" and select "Properties". Click on the "Advanced" tab. On the right side of the screen you should see something labeled "Value". Use the drop-down menu to change this to "10Mbps Full_Duplex". After you do this, try running your network speed test again. Hopefully you will see an improvement. I sure did. However, I still plan on upgrading my NIC. Hope this helps! Good luck.