Massive Drop in Down Speed

So Hi Everyone, this is my first post here, but hopefully I can become an active member of these forums from now on!

Well, I installed the last RC of 7, just for fun, and found that my down speeds on the internet tanked. In Vista (slow as it was), I could achieve 13Mb/s on speedtest/speakeasy/etc. Now, I've upgraded to 7 for a bit, dual-booting, and the second I boot into 7, I can barely make 768Kb/s.

I have a sneaking suspicion that its a driver related issue, as 7 asked me to install an "optional" Windows update for Broadcom card drivers. Now, on Vista, I've stuck with the driver Dell provided the entire time, and there I get the 13Mb/s down. The strange thing is that up speed has not been affected, 2Mb/s in both Vista and 7.

I've disabled IPv6, as I don't have an IPv6 network, and I heard that caused problems with previous Windows installs (Vista).

Any ideas or solutions? (System Details at bottom)

Thanks,

Ian

Dell XPS 1530
2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Nvidia 8600M GT
"Dell Mini Wireless-N Adapter"
320GB 5200RPM Seagate
Windows 7 x64 RC

SupLegolas said:

So Hi Everyone, this is my first post here, but hopefully I can become an active member of these forums from now on!

Well, I installed the last RC of 7, just for fun, and found that my down speeds on the internet tanked. In Vista (slow as it was), I could achieve 13Mb/s on speedtest/speakeasy/etc. Now, I've upgraded to 7 for a bit, dual-booting, and the second I boot into 7, I can barely make 768Kb/s.

I have a sneaking suspicion that its a driver related issue, as 7 asked me to install an "optional" Windows update for Broadcom card drivers. Now, on Vista, I've stuck with the driver Dell provided the entire time, and there I get the 13Mb/s down. The strange thing is that up speed has not been affected, 2Mb/s in both Vista and 7.

I've disabled IPv6, as I don't have an IPv6 network, and I heard that caused problems with previous Windows installs (Vista).

Any ideas or solutions? (System Details at bottom)

Thanks,

Ian

Dell XPS 1530
2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Nvidia 8600M GT
"Dell Mini Wireless-N Adapter"
320GB 5200RPM Seagate
Windows 7 x64 RC

what does it say in device manager (type device manager in search) and go to network/wifi is your mini listed and does it have a yellow triangle on it? or is it missing?

ken

It's listed exactly as it should be "Dell Mini-N Wireless Network Adapter". Not warning triangle or anything, and I'm still thinking it may be a driver issue, Win7 simply thought that it was the proper driver... Because Dell (Manufacturer) has not issued an update for the drivers in quite a while >1 year.

Do you think this could be?

Thanks for your help!

SupLegolas said:

It's listed exactly as it should be "Dell Mini-N Wireless Network Adapter". Not warning triangle or anything, and I'm still thinking it may be a driver issue, Win7 simply thought that it was the proper driver... Because Dell (Manufacturer) has not issued an update for the drivers in quite a while >1 year.

Do you think this could be?

Thanks for your help!

was the driver a vista or win 7 driver?

The Dell one I used for the longest time on Vista was obviously a Vista x64 driver. However, the Win7 driver that was recommended by 7 was simply listed as "Broadcom Driver Update for Dell Mini Wireless-N... for Windows 7".

Vista x64 Driver: Good 13Mb/s down, 2Mb/s Up
Win7 "Update" Driver: Bad 768Kb/s down, 2Mb/s Up

SupLegolas said:

The Dell one I used for the longest time on Vista was obviously a Vista x64 driver. However, the Win7 driver that was recommended by 7 was simply listed as "Broadcom Driver Update for Dell Mini Wireless-N... for Windows 7".

Vista x64 Driver: Good 13Mb/s down, 2Mb/s Up
Win7 "Update" Driver: Bad 768Kb/s down, 2Mb/s Up

why dont you un-install the current driver and install the vista driver in compatibility mode?

Here is something you can try, sometimes it works, and sometimes it. . .

1. Shutdown your computer.
2. Unplug and then plug back in your internet modem.
3. Check to see that all the lights on the modem come back up.
4. Once all the lights are up and indicating no problems restart your computer.

Again this doesn't always work, however, it just might.

Wasn't aware I could do that. I'm going to do that exact thing right now!

If it'll be the same driver as the Vista install, I should experience no further problems, because it'll essentially be the same.

Thanks a lot!

Lee: I'm going to do that also, before I install the driver, just to check for network problems. I'll see what happens!

I get three times the throughput with my Linksys Wireless N usb using their XP driver in Win7 instead of the recommended driver from Win Update. And didn't need to run it in compatability mode. Moral of the story: try various drivers until you find one that works successfully.

I just tried the Windows Vista x64 driver provided, the one I use on my other boot partition (vista), and my down speed is still slow and my up speed remains unchanged...? 2Mb/s up across the board, yet my DL speed is still 768 Kb/s, so I wonder if I should try the XP x64 Driver.