# Serious packet loss problem on wired desktop; wireless laptop runs fine.



## Furyguy (Mar 22, 2007)

Hey all,

I have spent the better part of a couple days trying to figure out why my wireless connection on my laptop is significantly better than my wired connection to my desktop. Internet ran just fine on the desktop at my old apartment; got to the new place, and now it's having serious issues.

After working on this problem for a while, I have come to the conclusion that for some reason, I am getting serious packet loss, consistently, at a particular "hop" on my desktop, which is not present on the laptop.

Here are the Line Quality tests that illustrate the problem better than I could ever describe it in words:

Laptop: Line quality test packet loss and latency | DSLReports.com, ISP Information
Desktop: Line quality test packet loss and latency | DSLReports.com, ISP Information
(and it appears they both fail the initial test, but the laptop connection runs just fine).

So at that one specific hop (ae-1-0.cr0.chi10.tbone.rr.com, I have no idea what that means), my desktop connection suffers serious packet loss while the laptop is more or less OK.

This discrepancy is evident in the quality of connection on my desktop, while the laptop runs just fine.

Here, in summary, is what I have tried:
-Going wired through laptop using same cables, ports, and router as desktop: laptop performs flawlessly.
-Updating router firmware, NIC card drivers, and Windows on the desktop
-Full virus disk scan and boot scan using Avast; full malware scan using Malwarebytes; Windows disk defrag
-Disabling QoS packet scheduler
-Performing netsh /flushdns; winsock reset; ipconfig release, renew
-(Temporarily) disabling Antivirus program

All of these actions together have made the desktop connection USABLE... however it is by no means an acceptable level of quality for a cable connection, and not nearly as good as any other in the apartment gets using the same connection, whether wired or wireless.

The only visible difference I can find between the laptop and the desktop is the packet loss that is present at that one hop in particular, which is extremely debilitating for the desktop's connection.

I don't know how to go about handling this problem, so any advice, suggestions, or words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated.

Further info:
Desktop specs:
Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller NIC (onboard on the mobo)
Windows XP Home Edition Version 2002 SP3
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400, 3GHz
2 GB Ram
Plenty of Disk space

Router:
Belkin F5D9230-4 Wireless G Plus MIMO Router 

Here is the previous thread that details my troubleshooting efforts thus far; as the question has now become something entirely different, I thought it more appropriate to make a new thread.
http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f31/wiresless-faster-than-wired-connection-581534.html


----------



## Wand3r3r (Sep 17, 2010)

There is nothing about your pc or laptop that has any influence on traffic beyond your router.

Nor is there any change you can make that will influence your traffic across the internet.

Looks like ae-1-0.cr0.chi10.tbone.rr.com is a saturated hop [too much traffic going thru there making a bottleneck]


----------



## Furyguy (Mar 22, 2007)

Thanks for the reply.

What could possibly be going on then?

I've recently realized the desktop has virtually zero upstream capacity. I can BARELY attach e-mail attachments up to about 20 kb, anything larger than that fails. I also almost always fail to run the upload portion of speedtest.net or the speakeasy speedtest - occasionally I will get a .01 Mbps upload ranking if it runs at all. Posting to these forums often requires 3 or 4 attempts when using the desktop.

Again, the laptop is still fine, wired or wireless.

Anything I can do to address this new problem specifically? Should I start a new thread?

I've seen other people posting with this problem many times but no one ever seems to get it resolved.


----------



## Wand3r3r (Sep 17, 2010)

I am not seeing anything from those tests that suggest what you describe. All the latency is beyond your network.

When running these kinds of tests its best to find a server as close to you as possible
Are you central or west coast?
Have you been to speedtest.com? Might try that service for comparison.

The next aspect of the tests is to bypass the router entirely and connect the pc to the modem directly. Run the tests again. Web browse while on the modem. Improvement?


----------



## Furyguy (Mar 22, 2007)

Update:

I tried what you said Wand3r3r. The desktop ran flawlessly when going straight into the modem, with no router involved. It ran well for about 3 minutes, then a new problem occurred: 

the LAN connection begins cycling through A Network Cable is Unplugged... Acquiring Network Address...A Network Cable is Unplugged... Acquiring Network Address...A Network Cable is Unplugged... Acquiring Network Address... and on and on until eventually it just rests on A Network Cable is Unplugged.

These messages pop up in the lower right and are visible on the Network Connections page.

When I go through the router, I get a local IP no problem, "Cable is unplugged" message never displays, but I get zero upload capacity which of course causes my browsing and everything else to slow to a crawl.

So it seems I have 2 problems: 
1) Going through my Belkin wireless + MIMO router, the desktop cannot send packets even though every other computer runs just fine through it
2) Going straight through the cable modem, the desktop connection runs for a minute or two and then starts doing the cycle described above, even though it resolves an IP and stays connected just fine when going through the router.

I don't know which of these problems to address first... I think I will start on the second one for now. In my old apartment, I have seen this happen before on this same computer when going through a different router, but the problem always just randomly resolved itself after a couple minutes without me doing anything to it. This time, not happening. 

Answering your other question, I have been running the speedtests as described above for a very long time. Results are consistent, all speeds in Mbps:

Laptop through wireless: 16 down / .98 up
Laptop wired through router, same ports and cable as desktop: 20 down / .98 up
Desktop wired through router, same ports and cable as laptop: 5-20 down (fluctuates wildly)/ Upload test fails 90% of time, .01 Mbps up otherwise.
Desktop wired directly through modem: 20 down / .98 up

I can't get the laptop to connect straight through the modem without a MAC address spoofer for the wired connection. I assume this is because of what I have read saying that the Cable connection (Time Warner) is linked to a specific MAC for some reason (that of my router) and the connection has to reset... which never happens even if I leave it unplugged for a long time. On the desktop, I can simply change the MAC address through Device Manager so it matches the router, but the laptop doesn't have this.


----------



## furyguy1 (Feb 19, 2010)

More info:

Router is a Belkin F5D9230-4 Wireless G Plus MIMO Router
Desktop card is a Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller (onboard on the motherboard)
Laptop card is a Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Controller
Laptop wireless card is a Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network connection

And the desktop was assembled by me a few years ago. Laptop is a Dell. Both on Win XP home edition. All drivers, software, and everything are most current version for both comps as well as the router (firmware included). Full virus scan, boot scan, malware scan and everything is covered.

Also, the desktop has been running for about 10 minutes through the modem now without doing that weird Unplugged cycle described in the previous post.


----------



## Jay_JWLH (Apr 30, 2008)

It could just be the cable. Substitute it with another known working one. Also consider the ethernet adapter, by first checking to make sure all the contacts are raised and in good condition.


----------



## Wand3r3r (Sep 17, 2010)

isps also can map the mac address of the original connected device. Set the pcs mac address to match the routers wan port mac address. You do this in advanced tab of the nic and locally administered address [if this option is available]

You should not be getting .98 both wired and wirelessly. That simply is not right.

Call your isp and have them troubleshoot this. I would request a new modem.


----------



## Furyguy (Mar 22, 2007)

Wand3r3r said:


> isps also can map the mac address of the original connected device. Set the pcs mac address to match the routers wan port mac address. You do this in advanced tab of the nic and locally administered address [if this option is available]


The laptop doesn't have this option. What would be the point of doing it at this point anyways?
Laptop -> Router -> Modem works fine
PC -> Modem works fine (aside from a known issue with my set-up that occurs regardless of what I connect to)
PC -> Router -> Modem = no upload (this is what I am trying to fix)



Wand3r3r said:


> You should not be getting .98 both wired and wirelessly. That simply is not right.


I would assume the service we are paying for is 20 down / 1 up, since that is what I consistently get on every working connection. That is probably what they cap us at. I think we pay $33.00 or so a month, does that sound unreasonable? 



> Call your isp and have them troubleshoot this. I would request a new modem.


I have a feeling the conversation would go something like this:
"Does the modem work just fine when you bypass the router and plug directly into the modem?"
"Yes"
"Then it's the router's fault, not our problem."
I can't see anything that seems to be wrong with the modem. It seems to me that everything I have done so far rules this out as being the source of my problem. Is there anything else I can do to rule it out as the problem?



Jay_JWLH said:


> It could just be the cable. Substitute it with another known working one.


The cable IS known working. I used the same cable to test both computers. The laptop works fine, the PC does not, using the same ethernet cable. I take the cable out of the PC, plug it into the laptop, everything runs fine. I take the cable out of laptop, plug it back into the PC, and I download fine but don't have any upload capacity.



Jay_JWLH said:


> Also consider the ethernet adapter, by first checking to make sure all the contacts are raised and in good condition.


After investigating this to the best of my abilities, I can't find anything wrong with it. What behavior would indicate there is a problem with it?


Thanks again guys, I know this must be difficult to work through since I am here experiencing the problem and you all are only reading my limited description of what is happening. I really appreciate all the help so far though.


----------



## furyguy1 (Feb 19, 2010)

Update cause it seemed relevant - a basic ping test to google looks like this:



Pinging Google [74.125.93.104] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 74.125.93.104: bytes=32 time=77ms TTL=48
Reply from 74.125.93.104: bytes=32 time=73ms TTL=48
Reply from 74.125.93.104: bytes=32 time=74ms TTL=48
Request timed out.
Reply from 74.125.93.104: bytes=32 time=76ms TTL=48
Reply from 74.125.93.104: bytes=32 time=73ms TTL=48
Reply from 74.125.93.104: bytes=32 time=72ms TTL=48
Reply from 74.125.93.104: bytes=32 time=79ms TTL=48
Reply from 74.125.93.104: bytes=32 time=72ms TTL=48
Reply from 74.125.93.104: bytes=32 time=73ms TTL=48
Reply from 74.125.93.104: bytes=32 time=76ms TTL=48
Reply from 74.125.93.104: bytes=32 time=73ms TTL=48
Reply from 74.125.93.104: bytes=32 time=92ms TTL=48
Reply from 74.125.93.104: bytes=32 time=78ms TTL=48
Reply from 74.125.93.104: bytes=32 time=73ms TTL=48
Reply from 74.125.93.104: bytes=32 time=76ms TTL=48
Reply from 74.125.93.104: bytes=32 time=74ms TTL=48
Request timed out.
Reply from 74.125.93.104: bytes=32 time=78ms TTL=48
Reply from 74.125.93.104: bytes=32 time=74ms TTL=48
Reply from 74.125.93.104: bytes=32 time=76ms TTL=48
Request timed out.
Reply from 74.125.93.104: bytes=32 time=112ms TTL=48
Request timed out.

Ping statistics for 74.125.93.104:
Packets: Sent = 24, Received = 20, Lost = 4 (16% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 72ms, Maximum = 112ms, Average = 77ms

Why am I losing a bunch of packets on a simple ping test? Again, the laptop works fine.

Seems to me like they're not getting past the router for some reason. As I up the packet size, more and more of them get dropped.

At a packet size of 1400, I get 75% packet loss with the ping test on the desktop, but the laptop has only 1% lost in 246 pings.

Any ideas?


----------



## 2xg (Aug 5, 2009)

Hello,

I can't find any mention in your Posts if you have also tried replacing the Network Adapter/NIC. If you have not, pls. give it a shot.


> Why am I losing a bunch of packets on a simple ping test? Again, the laptop works fine.


Post an update of your progress.


----------



## furyguy1 (Feb 19, 2010)

Hey everyone!

So, the connection is holding stable with my NIC set to 10 Mbps full duplex. Anything above 10 Mbps causes it to become unstable and slow again.

Another user in a different forums suggested, based on the evidence, that oftentimes certain NIC/Router combos have difficulty negotiating a packet transfer speed (something along those lines anyways) if you have the speed/duplex set to auto-negotiate. 

It seems he is correct, and 10 Mbps full duplex seems to be holding out for me. Of course it's not as fast as it could be, but as it stands I'm willing to consider this issue solved/closed. A halfway-decent connection is a huge step up at this point.

Thanks again to everyone who helped me figure this out, I truly appreciate all the help.


----------



## Jay_JWLH (Apr 30, 2008)

Are you using a Cat5, Cat5e, or Cat6 cable?



> Question: What are the transmission speed for Cat 5, Cat 5e, Cat 6 network cable?
> 
> Cat 5 and Cat 5e UTP cables can support 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet. Although Cat 5 cable may support to some degree in Gigabit Ethernet (1000 Mbps), it performs below standard during high-data transfer scenarios, so I do not recommend you to use Cat 5 cable in Gigabit Ethernet, use Cat 5e instead (of course Cat 6 is the best).
> Cat 6 UTP cable is manufactured targeting on Gigabit Ethernet and backward compatible with 10/100 Mbps Ethernet. It performs better then Cat 5 cable with higher transmission rate and lower transmission error. If you plan to have Gigabit network, look for Cat 5e or Cat 6 UTP cables.
> ...


Your cable might only have a certain level of ohm impedance and electrical characteristics for supporting the full transmission speed.


----------

