# Atheros L1 Gigabit ...



## Centigrade (Jan 13, 2008)

System: XP SP2
Atheros L1 Gigabit Ethernet 10/100/1000Base-T Controller

Connection: DSL modem, Wireless Router (wired connection).
Setup: Wall-to-Modem Cable; Modem; Modem-to-Router Cable; Modem-to-Desktop Cable, Modem to PS3 Cable & Modem-to-Laptop Wireless connection.

Problem and Troubleshooting:
The last 3 days, latency to World of Warcraft has been very high (in the thousands of ms latency when it's usually ~100ms) and my loading time on webpages has been significantly longer. During the course of trying to investigate the cause of this, I tried removing the Wireless Router from the loop and going direction from Wall-to-Modem-to-Desktop. I was unable to establish an Internet connection. I came to this forum and saw a thread with a title similar to this one, and followed the steps to reset the Winsock catalog and reboot. I did that, and the problem remains. What can I do now to further isolate and troubleshoot?

Thanks in advance.


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

While connected directly to the modem, do this.

Register at DSLReports and run their Line Quality Tests. Post a link to the results here.


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## Centigrade (Jan 13, 2008)

When connected directly to the modem I cannot access the Internet at all. I have tried restarting the modem and the computer, using windows 'repair' function from the network places menu, etc.


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

Please supply the following info, *exact make and models* of the equipment please.

Make *and* exact model of the broadband modem.
Make *and* exact model of the router.
_Model numbers can usually be obtained from the label on the device._
Connection type, wired or wireless.
If wireless, encryption used, (none, WEP, WPA, or WPA2)
Make and model of your computer.
Version and patch level of Windows on all affected machines, i.e. XP-Home (or XP-Pro), SP1-SP2, Vista, etc.

Also, please give an exact description of your problem symptoms, including the exact text of any error messages.




On any problem computer, I'd also like to see this:

Hold the *Windows* key and press *R*, then type *CMD* to open a command prompt:

Type the following command:

*IPCONFIG /ALL*

Right click in the command window and choose *Select All*, then hit *Enter*.
Paste the results in a message here.

If you are on a machine with no network connection, use a floppy, USB disk, or a CD-RW disk to transfer a text file with the information to allow pasting it here.


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## Centigrade (Jan 13, 2008)

Modem: Netopia Cayman 3300 Series
Router: Belkin model no F5D8233-4v3
Wired connection from Modem-to-Router-to-Desktop, or Modem-to-Desktop

My computer was built myself, as such it has no exact make and model number. What exact device information do you need?

XP-Home, SP2 on this machine. I previously ran this connection directly from Modem-to-Laptop (via wired connection) on Vista Ultimate with no problem.

The exact problem is two-fold:

- Problem One, High Latency.
I experience high latency connection to World of Warcraft measured at 1000ms to 5000ms during peak hours as of this past week. Prior to this past week, I was running ~100ms during peak hours to the same server of World of Warcraft. This is not localized to World of Warcraft; load-times for webpages and connection ping to other services are proportionately affected.

- Problem Two, Lack of Modem-to-Desktop Wired Connectivity.
When connected directly from Modem-to-Desktop via an Ethernet cable, I am unable to establish an Internet connection to my Desktop computer that runs XP-Home, SP2. Webpages read "Unable to Find Server," and World of Warcraft and other Online services are Unable to Connect; however, Windows reports nothing wrong with the connection. In the Network Connections window, the connection reads "Connected, Firewalled" as always. Neither using the "Repair" option for the connection, cycling Disable/Enable on the connection, cycling power on the modem, rebooting my machine, nor any combination of these changes the above symptoms. I do not know if this is a new issue or pre-existing, as I never tried to connect this machine directly from Modem-to-Desktop until the High Latency problem arose.


ipConfig /all logs:

-- 1. While Connected Via Router:
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\User>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : blue
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : Belkin

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Belkin
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Atheros L1 Gigabit Ethernet 10/100/1
000Base-T Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1E-8C-74-45-67
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.11
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Saturday, January 12, 2008 10:57:26
PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Monday, January 18, 2038 7:14:07 PM

C:\Documents and Settings\User>


-- 2. While Connected Directly to Modem:
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\User>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : blue
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Atheros L1 Gigabit Ethernet 10/100/1
000Base-T Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1E-8C-74-45-67
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 207.14.11.207
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.252.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 207.14.8.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 206.61.133.2
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 204.117.214.10
199.2.252.10
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Monday, January 14, 2008 1:25:04 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Tuesday, January 15, 2008 1:25:04 PM


C:\Documents and Settings\User>ipconfig /all













Thank you so much for time and effort already spent. I look forward to seeing how this issue can be resolved.


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

That makes almost no sense! The connection to the modem looks proper, you have obviously connected to the ISP.

On each of these connections, one with the router, and the other with the straight modem connection, do this.

Try these simple tests.

Hold the *Windows* key and press *R*, then type *CMD* to open a command prompt:

PING 216.109.112.135

PING yahoo.com

Right click in the command window and choose *Select All*, then hit *Enter*.
Paste the results in a message here.

If you are on a machine with no network connection, use a floppy, USB disk, or a CD-RW disk to transfer a text file with the information to allow pasting it here.


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## Centigrade (Jan 13, 2008)

With Router:
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\User>PING 216.109.112.135

Pinging 216.109.112.135 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 216.109.112.135: bytes=32 time=144ms TTL=47
Reply from 216.109.112.135: bytes=32 time=149ms TTL=47
Reply from 216.109.112.135: bytes=32 time=152ms TTL=47
Reply from 216.109.112.135: bytes=32 time=162ms TTL=47

Ping statistics for 216.109.112.135:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 144ms, Maximum = 162ms, Average = 151ms

C:\Documents and Settings\User>PING yahoo.com

Pinging yahoo.com [216.109.112.135] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 216.109.112.135: bytes=32 time=157ms TTL=47
Reply from 216.109.112.135: bytes=32 time=142ms TTL=47
Reply from 216.109.112.135: bytes=32 time=154ms TTL=48
Reply from 216.109.112.135: bytes=32 time=141ms TTL=48

Ping statistics for 216.109.112.135:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 141ms, Maximum = 157ms, Average = 148ms

C:\Documents and Settings\User>





Without Router:
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\User>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : blue
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Atheros L1 Gigabit Ethernet 10/100/1
000Base-T Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1E-8C-74-45-67
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 207.14.11.207
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.252.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 207.14.8.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 206.61.133.2
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 204.117.214.10
199.2.252.10
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Tuesday, January 15, 2008 3:08:10 AM

Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, January 16, 2008 3:08:10
AM

C:\Documents and Settings\User>ping yahoo.com
Ping request could not find host yahoo.com. Please check the name and try again.


C:\Documents and Settings\User>ping 216.109.112.135

Pinging 216.109.112.135 with 32 bytes of data:

Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.

Ping statistics for 216.109.112.135:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

C:\Documents and Settings\User>


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

Well, that's as odd as it gets. I presume you've tried a new cable?

I suppose a mis-configure firewall could do this, have you disabled ALL firewalls as a test? When connect directly to the modem, boot up in safe mode with networking and try the PING tests there.


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## mumbojumbo (Aug 11, 2008)

I have only 3 suggestions: 
1. Of cause, improperly configures firewall can do it. But you probably already disabled it.
2. Some ISP fix mac address of the device for connection, so any other device connected to the link will not work. You can try to set MAC of NIC to the same as on router, if it is the case, it must help in this case. You can see MAC address of router WAN interface usually on a status page, and you can set MAC address in advanced properties of LAN adapter for most card (including Atheros/Attansic cards). Name of setting is something similar to "Administrator set address".
3. Try to replace NIC. It sounds stupid, but Atheros L1 card is known to work bad in some cases, not clear why, probably bad design of driver or hardware. It doesn't work at all in some cases with most network devices from different manufacturs, sometimes faults are really surprising with very unclear simptoms, except bad connectivity. I would recommend replacement of NIC actually as a first step -- you can get cheap card for 5$, any card will suit your needs actually, and it can save you days of experiments...
Wish you luck,
EP


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

I'd disable ALL firewalls, this looks like you have a firewall blocking anything but the router's subnet.


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## garde (Oct 1, 2008)

Simply buy a new NIC and make your life easier.
The Atheros L1 trash is problematic by nature.

I work as tech support and recently recieved 71 new machines with
onboard Atheros L1 crap. With identical equipment and settings
(i use a ghost console to apply the same image file to every single PC wich means there is no difference in settings), 6 out of 10 machines have a malfunctioning NIC. For no apparent reason, the NIC's of these stations seem to work fine (no XP complaints about anything) but they simply cannot accept a single byte of data. 

Avoid ASUS, avoid Atheros/Attansic, live happier and longer.


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