Windows 10 Slow Internet Problem

[Varine]

So, this began when I upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10, with all drivers up to date and Windows updates applied. At this point, I have used Windows 7, 8, and 10 - the problem is persistent across 8 and 10. The only solution so far has been to use 7, which has immediately solved the issue without problem.

While using Windows 7, I had no problem with Internet speeds. Generally, speed tests will run 20+ Mbps for download, during periods of high use it is sometimes down to around 5 Mbps at the lowest (I have always just associated this with peak times, usually 2 - 5 or 6 in the afternoon, plus my home network itself is under high use at that point).

Normally, Steam downloads would run around 2-3 Mbps at a minimum, however upon upgrading to Windows 10, it immediately dropped to less than 500 Kbps. I believe I was averaging around 250 Kbps, regardless of time, with the worst being unable to even just browse the Internet normally, with frequent disconnects. During this time, my Chromebook and Phone had no problems, and my Windows tablet also ran at regular speeds (currently downloading a Windows 7 boot disk at around 2 Mpbs during the time noted above when my download rate general throttles down).

I have a Netgear Wireless Adapater WN311B, which is an old device, and I initially assumed that it might just be incompatible with Windows 10, though I installed an update from the manufacturer that, to my understanding, improved compatibility with Windows 10. This did not work.

For the record, my router is an Arris modem/router DG860. I have no done anything with this, as I have not had a significant problem with any other device connecting to it. I also do not know anything about modems/routers and figured that would not be a good idea. I had thought, for a while, that maybe the adapters I have were not compatible with this particular router, but it does work fine in 7.

So, I got a USB adapter (as I have limited options on short notice, I live in a small town and I couldn't find a network card) - a Netgear A6100 - however, the problem persisted with Windows 10. Again, none of my other devices have had a similar issue with as slow of connectivity.

At this point, I opted to just reinstall Windows 10, assuming I had done something wrong. This also did not work. So, I opted to re-install 7, which immediately solved the issue, and connectivity and Internet speeds returned to normal. It was here where I broke 7, which I believe is more associated to me doing something wrong and not related to the problem (posted info at end for reference if anyone wants to enlighten me to what I potentially did).

Because I couldn't not solve the problem, and was getting multiple errors attempting to re-install 7 from my boot drive now, I opted to just use 8 for the time being and just install 7 from there (this has generally been my solution to this particular error, CD/DVD driver is missing; this doesn't matter, my problems with the OS are not related to the Internet speeds), as I do not have a boot disk for 10. I got 8 installed without a problem, and then the same issues began again that I had with 10 - disconnection problems and extremely slow speeds. At this point, I have not attempted to use my USB adapter with 8, as I personally hate 8, and only intended to use it as a way to get onto the computer and install 7 again. I am associating this to probably out of date drivers again, but did not attempt to do anything with 8 installed.

At this point in time, I am running Windows 7 using my PCI adapter, and have no connectivity or speed issues that were present in Windows 8 and 10, even with currently outdated drivers.

I did not use a hard connection through the Ethernet port, as I do not have a cable long enough, and really just don't want to. Currently, I am satisfied with using 7 for the time being, and have come to the conclusion that the problem is OS-related, but have no idea why it would be. I am assuming that the problem is still relating to drivers not being compatible with Windows 10, as further research found that the A6100 drivers do not seem to support 10.

At this point, I believe the easiest method would be to get a new network adapter that has native drivers for Windows 10 and try again?



When I broke Windows 7 somehow, and I believe I corrupted the USB drivers using an automatic driver update thing: I got a notice that a driver failed to properly install, and my mouse and keyboard powered off. I could still boot to Windows, just without USB support after BIOS; so I fucked around and it eventually would not boot, nor enter recovery, with error code 0x00000f boot/BCD Error. I am pretty confident this is unrelated to the connectivity problems with Windows 10 and more associated to me doing stupid shit. I tried to do a repair install with my USB boot drive, but it failed to recognize an OS, thus I could not get into the recovery console, safe mode, nor use the USB drive to use system restore. I was able to use the command prompt, and could access the hard drive files without problem, and attempted to use bootrec.exe to rebuild the BCR and MBR, but this did not work.

When I tried to just reinstall Windows, I ran into the same problem I frequently have with 7, which is upon starting to install, I get an error saying a CD/DVD driver is missing and cannot continue. Sometimes, I am able to get around this by switching USB ports, or using a DVD to boot from, but this desktop does not have an optical drive installed. This did not work, thus I opted to install Windows 8, since it has USB3.0 supported, and was able to install just fine - but then encountered the same slow speed and connectivity issues, as stated above. However, from the Windows 8 environment, I was able to run the Windows 7 installation just fine, leading me being where I am - with Windows 7 operating just fine with the PCI adapter.

 

[Sevion]

I have a Netgear Wireless Adapater WN311B, which is an old device, and I initially assumed that it might just be incompatible with Windows 10, though I installed an update from the manufacturer that, to my understanding, improved compatibility with Windows 10. This did not work.

Which driver did you download? I'm seeing the latest driver here as version 7.1. It appears according to this forum post, the issue had appeared as early as November, 2015 and that Windows 10 would not allow the driver to install without some user intervention. Did your driver install without issue? The forum post shows that you would have had to navigate to C:\Program Files\NETGEAR\WN311B\Driver and install the drivers manually. From your post, it doesn't sound like you had this trouble?

At this point, I opted to just reinstall Windows 10, assuming I had done something wrong. This also did not work. So, I opted to re-install 7, which immediately solved the issue, and connectivity and Internet speeds returned to normal. It was here where I broke 7, which I believe is more associated to me doing something wrong and not related to the problem (posted info at end for reference if anyone wants to enlighten me to what I potentially did).

It sounds like it is most definitely some type of driver issue.

At this point in time, I am running Windows 7 using my PCI adapter, and have no connectivity or speed issues that were present in Windows 8 and 10, even with currently outdated drivers.

I did not use a hard connection through the Ethernet port, as I do not have a cable long enough, and really just don't want to. Currently, I am satisfied with using 7 for the time being, and have come to the conclusion that the problem is OS-related, but have no idea why it would be. I am assuming that the problem is still relating to drivers not being compatible with Windows 10, as further research found that the A6100 drivers do not seem to support 10.

At this point, I believe the easiest method would be to get a new network adapter that has native drivers for Windows 10 and try again?

I would try out the driver installation found in the Microsoft forum post. If that does not work, I would most definitely try out a different, newer network adapter. Just curious, why do you not want to run an Ethernet cable for wired internet connectivity? It's faster and more stable than WiFi. For a desktop, I see no reason why not.

When I broke Windows 7 somehow, and I believe I corrupted the USB drivers using an automatic driver update thing: I got a notice that a driver failed to properly install, and my mouse and keyboard powered off. I could still boot to Windows, just without USB support after BIOS; so I fucked around and it eventually would not boot, nor enter recovery, with error code 0x00000f boot/BCD Error. I am pretty confident this is unrelated to the connectivity problems with Windows 10 and more associated to me doing stupid shit. I tried to do a repair install with my USB boot drive, but it failed to recognize an OS, thus I could not get into the recovery console, safe mode, nor use the USB drive to use system restore. I was able to use the command prompt, and could access the hard drive files without problem, and attempted to use bootrec.exe to rebuild the BCR and MBR, but this did not work.

Likely, something messed up the BCD boot store. If the built-in tools didn't work, reinstalling would fix it.

When I tried to just reinstall Windows, I ran into the same problem I frequently have with 7, which is upon starting to install, I get an error saying a CD/DVD driver is missing and cannot continue. Sometimes, I am able to get around this by switching USB ports, or using a DVD to boot from, but this desktop does not have an optical drive installed. This did not work, thus I opted to install Windows 8, since it has USB3.0 supported, and was able to install just fine - but then encountered the same slow speed and connectivity issues, as stated above. However, from the Windows 8 environment, I was able to run the Windows 7 installation just fine, leading me being where I am - with Windows 7 operating just fine with the PCI adapter.

Again, I recommend installing the latest driver for that wireless card. If that doesn't fix it, try a newer one with current support for Windows 10.

I have used this card with great success in the past on Windows 10. The drivers that Windows 10 installs by itself work just fine with that card.

 

[Varine]

Which driver did you download? I'm seeing the latest driver here as version 7.1. It appears according to this forum post, the issue had appeared as early as November, 2015 and that Windows 10 would not allow the driver to install without some user intervention. Did your driver install without issue? The forum post shows that you would have had to navigate to C:\Program Files\NETGEAR\WN311B\Driver and install the drivers manually. From your post, it doesn't sound like you had this trouble?

No, it installed automatically. I did read about the problems with it, but the Device Manager acknowledged it to be updated to 7.1 as I recall.

I would try out the driver installation found in the Microsoft forum post. If that does not work, I would most definitely try out a different, newer network adapter. Just curious, why do you not want to run an Ethernet cable for wired internet connectivity? It's faster and more stable than WiFi. For a desktop, I see no reason why not.

It's a logistics issue mostly. The router is about sixty feet away and my longest cable is about thirty. There is only one phone connection in my house, so moving it is not a great option, and so as a result I would have to run it from my room, down the stairs, and through the living room - it's just a pain in the ass, and I would prefer to not have cables strapped all around the house.

And I think you're right, I think the best option at this point is to get a newer adapter that works out of the box with Windows 10. I'm going to install it alongside 7 when I get more time, and see if I can figure it out later.

Likely, something messed up the BCD boot store. If the built-in tools didn't work, reinstalling would fix it.

That was what I initially tried to do. Windows 7 does not seem to like being installed from USB boot - I would get a CD/DVD driver missing error every time with it, and without it being able to recognize an operating system to repair I couldn't get very far. I worked around it by installing and booting into 8, then just running the set up for Windows 7 from there, rather than booting straight from the USB. I'm guessing that if I slipstreamed the drivers onto the USB drive, then I might have avoided the problem?

As far as the tools not working, when I ran scanos and rebuildbcd, it seemed to recognize that an OS was present, but was unable to fix it. But the recovery console didn't acknowledge anything on C:, though I could access it from the command prompt options. How exactly does on affect the BCD in such a way that bootrec wouldn't be able to repair it with clear access to the directory?

EDIT: That was a card I was looking at earlier after I bought the USB adapter. I was hoping that I could get it to work yesterday when I started this whole thing, so I opted to just go to the store and they had limited selections. I'll order a new one soon and try to update again later.

Thank you!

 

[Walter Boyd]

There are a few simple ways you can make to fix your slow internet on Windows 10: Close the Peer to Peer Update Process on Your Computer.
Step 1: To start off, Click Start and then go ahead type Settings to open it.
Step 2: Next select Update and Security
Step 3: Now click on Advanced Options
Step 4: You’re almost there! Click on Choose How Updates are Delivered.
Step 5: Finally, go ahead and turn off the On button.
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