Windows 8 Slow internet connection with Windows 8

[Jim1944]

I recently purchased a new machine with Windows 8.1 on it and an Intel Ethernet Connection 1218-V adapter with a rated speed of 100 Mbps. I have connected it to my home network. The layout is as shown In attachment.

All of the computers get, according to speed test (I'd provide a link but that appears to be something I can't do yet.) about 29 Mbps download speed except the new computer (labeled "New Computer Windows 8" in the diagram). The new computer gets about 1.9 Mbps.

Here's what I have done to try to diagnose this issue:
1. Connected the wire from Switch to Ancient Computer to be from Switch to New Computer and from Switch to New Computer to be from Switch to Ancient Computer. There is no change in speed test results. To me this indicates that there is no problem with the switch port or the wire from the switch to the computer.
2. Verified that the driver for the Ethernet Connection is up to date.
3. Configured Old Computer's Fedora 21 to have an sftp server on it. Then used sftp from both Ancient Computer and New Computer (I have Cygwin installed and it has an sftp client) to download a 1+ GB file. The download speed to Ancient Computer was around 50-60 Mbps. The download speed to New Computer was 70-80 Mbps. This indicates to me that there is nothing wrong with the hardware. It can handle speeds greater than 30 Mbps.
4. I booted up a live Lubuntu DVD on New Computer and tried to run speed test from there but it requires a flash plugin and I could not get the flash plugin to install. I did download a 981 MB file and it took about 5 1/2 minutes which translates to a speed of nearly 24 Mbps. This is another indicator that there is nothing wrong with the hardware.
5. Rebooted New Computer to Windows 8 and tried to down load the same file. It took 42 minutes.
6. I tried turning off the anti-virus (Norton Suite supplied by Comcast. It is installed on all of my Windows OS's). There was no improvement in speed.
7. I also tried the fix noted somewhere to flush dns
8. I fixed the time zone setting in Windows 8. It was incorrectly set to Pacific time and I live in Maryland. That did not help.

Any other ideas about how to fix this?

Thanks
Jim

 

[Trouble]

My first suggestion would be to remove the Norton / Symantec software completely.
First by running the Programs and Features applet in the Control Panel and follow that up by running the vendor specific proprietary removal tool from here..... https://support.norton.com/sp/en/us/home/current/solutions/kb20080710133834EN_EndUserProfile_en_us
After which confirm that the native "Defender" product is running and the Windows Firewall is started and then.....
Check your download speeds.

 

[Jim1944]

Tried removing Norton Security Suite. No change in internet speed.

Norton Security Suite is installed on the other Windows OS's and I checked the settings and they seemed to be the same on Windows 8 machine as on the Windows 7 machines. But I'll admit that the number of settings is mind bogglingly large so there may be something I missed. But since uninstalling Norton did not improve things I don't think that is the issue.

So still looking for ideas.

Thanks
Jim

 

[Jim1944]

Tried removing Norton Security Suite. No change in internet speed.

Norton Security Suite is installed on the other Windows OS's and I checked the settings and they seemed to be the same on Windows 8 machine as on the Windows 7 machines. But I'll admit that the number of settings is mind bogglingly large so there may be something I missed. But since uninstalling Norton did not improve things I don't think that is the issue.

So still looking for ideas.

Thanks
Jim

I also watched Task Manager during the running of speed test and the network performance matched what speed test was showing. This indicates to me that there is nothing else running on the machine that is competing for the network.

 

[Trouble]

Try clean booting it and see if that results in any speed difference.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135/

 

[Trouble]

Additionally, can you check this page Link Removed
Confirm, in fact, that that is the adapter you are using and that you do have the latest Software / Drivers installed for you version of Windows 8 (32 or 64 bit)
AND
You may want to check the properties of that NIC and under the "Advanced" tab look for something called Speed & Duplex. You may want to experiment with changing it from Auto Negotiate to something like
100 half
and then to
100 full
and see if that has any impact on the issue.
Sometimes certain hardware seems to have more problems with an Auto Negotiate setting.
Link Removed

 

[Jim1944]

Try clean booting it and see if that results in any speed difference.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135/

OK, after the clean boot, speed was what it should be. But when I reverted back to normal start up, slow internet speed returned. What should I do to try to isolate which of the things turned off is(are) causing the slow down?

Thanks
Jim

 

[Jim1944]

Additionally, can you check this page Link Removed
Confirm, in fact, that that is the adapter you are using and that you do have the latest Software / Drivers installed for you version of Windows 8 (32 or 64 bit)
AND
You may want to check the properties of that NIC and under the "Advanced" tab look for something called Speed & Duplex. You may want to experiment with changing it from Auto Negotiate to something like
100 half
and then to
100 full
and see if that has any impact on the issue.
Sometimes certain hardware seems to have more problems with an Auto Negotiate setting.
Link Removed

I tried toggling among Auto Negotiate, 100 half duplex, and 100 full duplex with no impact on speed. My adapter's setting for this was in a separate tab called "Link Speed" and it shows what was negotiated. When in Auto Negotiate it gets 100 full duplex.

I do not understand what I am supposed to check at the link.

I do not know what you mean by "confirm, in fact that that is the adapter you are using". It is the only adapter I have and that is how it is identified in device manager. Well, actually it is identified as "Intel(R) Ethernet Connection (2) 1218-V". Don't know what the "(2)" means.

When I try to update driver it says I have the most up to date driver.

Does any of this matter since with a clean boot speed is normal?

Thanks
Jim

 

[Trouble]

If the clean boot speed is normal, then you have some serious investigating to perform.

Link Removed
Link Removed

1. Log on to the computer by using an account that has administrator rights.
2. Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, and then tap Search. Or, if you are using a mouse, point to the lower-right corner of the screen, and then click Search.
3. Type msconfig in the search box, and then tap or click msconfig.
4. Tap or click the Services tab, and then tap or click to select the Hide all Microsoft services check box.
5. Tap or click to select the upper half of the check boxes in the Service list.
6. Tap or click OK, and then tap or click Restart.
7. After the computer finishes restarting, determine whether the problem still occurs.
   • If the problem still occurs, repeat steps 1 through 6, but clear the lower half of the check boxes in the Service list that you originally selected.
   • If the problem does not occur, repeat steps 1 through 6, and select only the upper half of the remaining check boxes that are cleared in the Service list. Repeat these steps until you have selected all the check boxes.
   • If you still experience the problem when only one service is selected in the Service list, this means that the selected service causes the problem, and you should go to step 11. If no service causes the problem, go to step 8.
8. Repeat steps 1 and 3 in this section.
9. Tap or click the Startup tab, and then tap or click to select the upper half of the check boxes in the Startup Item list.
10. Click OK, and then click Restart.
    • If the problem still occurs, repeat steps 8 and 9, but clear the lower half of the checked boxes in the Startup Item list that you originally selected.
    • If the problem does not occur, repeat steps 8 and 9, and select only the upper half of the remaining check boxes that are cleared in the Startup Item list. Repeat these steps until you have selected all the check boxes.
    • If you still experience the problem after only one Startup Item is selected in the Startup Item list, this means that the selected Startup Item causes the problem, and you should go to step 11. If no Startup Item causes this problem, a Microsoft service probably causes the problem. To determine which Microsoft service may be causing the problem, repeat steps 1 through 7 without selecting the Hide all Microsoft services check box in each step.
11. After you determine the startup item or the service that causes the problem, contact the program manufacturer to determine whether the problem can be resolved. Or, run the System Configuration utility, and then tap or click to clear the check box for the problem item.

Generally I just start with clean booting the startup items first leaving the non-Microsoft services alone.
However this can produced varied results as a service that corresponds with a startup item may very well be related and fail to prove beneficial in the diagnosis.
It's generally a lot of trial and error and some sophisticated manipulation of the two combined with some understanding of a particular startup item and whether or not there is an associated service as well.

 

[Jim1944]

If the clean boot speed is normal, then you have some serious investigating to perform.

Generally I just start with clean booting the startup items first leaving the non-Microsoft services alone.
However this can produced varied results as a service that corresponds with a startup item may very well be related and fail to prove beneficial in the diagnosis.
It's generally a lot of trial and error and some sophisticated manipulation of the two combined with some understanding of a particular startup item and whether or not there is an associated service as well.

Well it looks like a service called "cFosSpeed System Service" is the culprit. Disable that one service and internet speed is normal. It cuts download speeds by a factor of about 15 and upload speeds by a factor of about 100.

I did not install this thing. It seems, according to Wikipedia, that it is bundled with some ASRock motherboards as "XFast LAN" and I have an ASRock motherboard and "XFast LAN" is one of the items in "Programs and Features". It is supposed to actually help with internet speeds.

Anyway, thanks much for helping me figure this out.
Jim

 

[Trouble]

Excellent news. Glad you managed to find the culprit and resolve your issue.
Thanks so much for posting back and updating your thread with that information. It may very well help others with similar issues.
Those types of problems can be a serious pain to diagnose so any tips and pointers like this can always help.
Regards
Randy