Varine
And as the moon rises, we shall prepare for war
- Reaction score
- 808
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.
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.