Inexplicable Ethernet Speed Difference Betweeen 2 Devices?

Thenin · 31 Mar 2017

I've got a gigabit Ethernet switch with a few different gigabit-capable devices attached, one of which is a 64-bit Win 10 Pro (1511) and the other that matters is an Amazon Fire TV 2. Running a couple of different internet speed tests on the Fire TV consistently shows about 90 Mb/s speeds (never lower than 80), while the Win 10 box shows a max of only 14 Mb/s, and usually less! I used TestMy.Net & speedof.me under Windows.

The two devices are only 4 feet apart. I've not only tried several different Cat 6 Ethernet cables, but I've tried the most relevant test of all: I've connected the very same cable serving the Fire TV to the Win 10 box. But no matter what, I never get more than 14 Mb/s under Windows!!

I've disabled all firewalls and AVs, but this makes no difference. The Windows 10 box is based on an ASUS Z-87A mobo that definitely's using a gigabit Ethernet port.

What could reasonably explain this utterly ludicrous difference and what can I do about it?

bro67 · 31 Mar 2017

Make sure that you have up to date drivers for the ASUS for network and no issues with that connection with Ethernet. If wireless, you can see issues.

Thenin · 01 Apr 2017

bro67 said:

Make sure that you have up to date drivers for the ASUS for network and no issues with that connection with Ethernet. If wireless, you can see issues.

Thanks for your reply! I used the device manager to try to update the Ethernet driver, but it stated that the "best driver" was already installed. And there are no reported issues at all.

Here is the Win 10 results of ipconfig /all; it might be helpful...

Code:


Windows IP Configuration

   Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Beta
   Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . :
   Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
   IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
   WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 2:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : E4-33-47-4A-9B-FF
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.110(Preferred)
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.100
   DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 208.67.222.222
                                       208.67.220.220
   NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Ethernet adapter MyTAP:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : TAP-Windows Adapter V9
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-FF-36-F7-8C-99
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 3:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft Teredo Tunneling Adapter
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter isatap.{291120B0-7654-463F-86E8-0F0A97FA2B65}:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #2
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

ArazelEternal · 01 Apr 2017

Check out your settings for your network adapter in your device manager. Open your device manager, expand the network adapters, right click on the Ethernet adapter and click properties. As you have a different ethernet controller than I do (im running an Intel) your settings may look a bit different than mine. You should have an Advanced tab. Open that tab and look for a setting that says something along the lines of Speed & Duplex. See what the setting is at the moment. It should be something like Auto Negotiate. Try setting this value to 1.0 Gbps Full Duplex and see if that makes a difference. If its set as auto, it may not be negotiating as a gigabit capable card.

bro67 · 02 Apr 2017

Really need netsh wlan show all, not ipconfig.

Thenin · 02 Apr 2017

I solved the problem last night, when after making the changes I'm about to describe, I got 90-95 Mbps several times in a row, and I'm still getting that now!

I feel pretty damn stupid for not thinking of this much earlier, but I fortuitously noticed the icon on my crowded desktop for TCPOptimizer v4.0, ran it, chose the optimized settings and over-rode a few of them, applied the changes, then rebooted, then ran TestMy.net again, and got 95 Mb/sec!!

Here are the latest TCP Optimizer 4.0 settings I'm now using:

AutoTuningLevelLocal=normal
ScalingHeuristics=disabled
CongestionProvider=ctcp
MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server=20
MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server=20
MaxConnectionsPerServer=20
MaxConnectionsPerServer=20
LocalPriority=4
HostsPriority=5
DnsPriority=6
NetbtPriority=7
NonBestEffortLimit=0
Do not use NLA=1
NetworkThrottlingIndex=-1
SystemResponsiveness=10
Size=3
LargeSystemCache=1
MaxUserPort=65534
TcpTimedWaitDelay=30
TCPNoDelay=1
DefaultTTL=64
EcnCapability=enabled
Chimney=disabled
Timestamps=disabled
EnableDCA=disabled
MaxSynRetransmissions=4
NonSackRttResiliency=enabled
InitialRto(ms)=
MinRto(ms)=
[Local Area Connection]
MTU=1500
MTU=1500
TcpAckFrequency=1
TcpDelAckTicks=-1
TCPNoDelay=1
Receive-Side Scaling State=1
NetAdapterRsc=2
Large Send Offload=2
Checksum Offload=-5

Now, I'm no expert on these settings, so if anyone sees any setting that's a poor choice, please let me know, but I'm delighted with the high speeds I'm getting now!

Thanks to all who responded!

bro67 · 04 Apr 2017

Since Windows 7, the OS automatically adapts to the speeds. Now to say that does not always happen, since every adapter driver is different. Keep a backup of your current state and remember also that everyone's setup is different that some may not need to make the changes that you did.

Inexplicable Ethernet Speed Difference Betweeen 2 Devices?

[SOLVED]Inexplicable Ethernet Speed Difference Betweeen 2 Devices?