Ethernet adapter problem? Slow browsing and downloading/ buffering vid

[supashaka]

PC developed slow browsing/downloading and buffering of video. Speed goes wildly up and down every minute, indicating a fault. All other devices (laptop, tablets, PS4 and PS3) work as normal with fast speeds even wirelessly. I tried the following:

1) Ran anti-virus/malware scan with avast and then malware bytes and in safe mode also.

2) Tested with spares (ethernet phone cable/micro filter/RJ11 from router to PC).
Connected the router to the micro filter/BT phone master socket and even tried direct without the micro filter into the test socket.

3) Tried 2 other browsers and with antivirus uninstalled.

4) Deleted the Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller driver and updated to the latest from the MSI website.

5) In Device Manager right clicked on ethernet/network adapter - Properties - Advanced tab; for the 'Speed & duplex' property tried changing to different values, beginning with 100 Mbps full duplex to 10 Mbps full duplex. IPv6 was enabled so I've disabled it and also in registry settings.

6) Bought a new SSD and did a fresh install of Windows 7



I custom built my PC and for the first three years it handled fast (for my area) broadband internet (12 MBPs) and 1080p video smoothly without any problems. Now all my other devices (laptop, tablets, PS4 and PS3) work as normal with fast speeds even wirelessly, so it seems my PC have developed NIC card (network interface controller)/ethernet adapter problems.

We mainly use the PC for browsing and BBC Iplayer. Then about a month ago video started buffering on sites extremely slowly (coincidentally after heavy rain). It would play for between 1-2 minutes for fine, and then pause to buffer for a minute or even longer, and it would do this continually, with the quality of the video changing to low and then changing back to HD. For some strange reason it didn't affect video sharing sites such as youtube/vimeo/dailymotion etc. We checked netflix and Prime video and the quality would change from HD to very fuzzy low resolution in a similar fashion, although the playback was smooth, it still had problems where as on PS4 and PS3 it is still flawless 1080p. We've since had to start experimenting on multiple unofficial websites to test the problem, and they all buffer the same as Iplayer. I've tried a different browser and that made no difference either.

I thought I would try testing if my spare cables would make a difference, but they didn't. Also when I unplugged and re-plugged the ethernet phone cable (connecting the router to the micro filter/BT phone
master socket and even tried without the micro filter directly plugged into the test socket) for some reason the PC wouldn't connect to the internet (the internet symbol showed a yellow exclamation mark instead of the PC symbol). I unplugged and re-plugged it again and at one point it even notified me that the ethernet cable wasn't plugged in! It took a few minutes after which it connected (without me doing anything).

But the buffering problem remained. Since then the problem has got a bit better occasionally (temporarily), and sometimes a lot worse, but it hasn't gone away.

I am with Origin Broadband and my average speeds are 9.3 Mbps, and in general since this problem has started the strange thing is that it hasn't affected the speeds recorded on speedtest.net, I do now get drastic drops to around 3 Mbps or even 1 Mbps occasionally but they only last a few moments-I re-do the tests and they are back to normal speeds, so I'm not sure if they're an error in the test.

The strangest thing is that it happens on PC, but not on other devices connected such as tablets and the laptop which all run at full speed as normal. I've never experienced this before! It even stops me downloading anything, if I try to download a 200MB file it will take hours and keep failing, stating network error. I think it's an ethernet issue (Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller) so I deleted the driver and updated to the latest from the MSI website but it made no difference. I also bought a new SSD and did a fresh install of Windows 7 on that but it hasn't changed anything.

I am now thinking the only solution is to buy another motherboard to get a new ethernet adapter, but am worried if even that doesn't fix the problem I would have wasted money. I contacted Scan and was told the motherboard was out of warranty, but buying a 3rd party external USB ethernet adapter wouldn't actually 'replace' the onboard one, so it would only provide a solution if the actual physical port to the onboard adapter is damaged (and not the adapter itself).

I can't see any damage on the actual physical port/connector where the ethernet cable plugs in. I'd love to be able to buy some cheap ethernet adapter that would fix the problem but am guessing that won't help so instead of possibly wasting money on something I'm thinking I should just look for a cheap motherboard compatible with my current build, unless someone can help diagnose/fix the problem with an alternative solution. Any ideas ?

My Build:
CPU: Intel - Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£230.77 @ PC World Business)
Motherboard: MSI - Z97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
On-board network interface controller: Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
Memory: Kingston - HyperX Fury Black 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£58.36 @ More Computers)
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£81.24 @ More Computers)
Video Card: MSI - Radeon R9 285 2GB Video Card
Case: Corsair - SPEC-03 Red ATX Mid Tower Case (£44.99 @ Novatech)
Power Supply: XFX - TS 650W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply (£101.38 @ Amazon UK)
Monitor: BenQ - GL2250HM 21.5" 1920x1080 60Hz Monitor (£89.99 @ Amazon UK)
Keyboard: Cooler Master - CM Storm Devastator Gaming Bundle Wired Gaming Keyboard w/Optical Mouse (£39.99 @ Amazon UK)
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate
Antivirus: Avast free

 

[samuria]

It's not clear were you plugged the network cable into the router network port or the phone socket? Can you remove the BT filter and plug the router directly into the master BT socket ( router doesn't need a filter)

 

[supashaka]

It's not clear were you plugged the network cable into the router network port or the phone socket? Can you remove the BT filter and plug the router directly into the master BT socket ( router doesn't need a filter)

Sorry yeah I already tried without micro filter and in the test socket, but the point is I get fast speeds on everything but my PC so surely that points to the PC NIC card (network interface controller)/Ethernet adapter?

 

[samuria]

Your speed at 9 msg is very bad that is ADSL speed ADSL 2 is 20+ and fibre or the new satalite is 30+ are you in a bad area? On your network card disable ipv6 unless your using home group set DNS to 1.1.1.1. & 1.0.0.1 check network card settings is it connecting at 100 msg and look for a settings full duplex and try other settings there they can effect it

 

[supashaka]

Your speed at 9 msg is very bad that is ADSL speed ADSL 2 is 20+ and fibre or the new satalite is 30+ are you in a bad area? On your network card disable ipv6 unless your using home group set DNS to 1.1.1.1. & 1.0.0.1 check network card settings is it connecting at 100 msg and look for a settings full duplex and try other settings there they can effect it

Hang on I didn't understand your instructions lol, could you break down for me exactly how to do what you mentioned?

I'm pretty sure I'm on ADSL (not ADSL 2) origin broadband who use the Openreach (BT) network in Canning Town, East London, with estimated speeds of up to 12MBPs (is that what you mean when you say msg?)

Whichever company I get estimates from the speeds are the same as they're all on Openreach, so I'm used to between 9-12MBPs on all my devices (laptop with wired connection, PS4, tablets, even the PC used to be the same). Will your instructions still help given this situation? I am willing to try if you give me the steps

 

[samuria]

Set dnshttps://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/15037-dns-addressing-how-change-windows-7-a.html untick the ipv6 while your there see network properties for duplex etc Wired Network: Speed and Duplex Settings for Windows 7 | IT@UMN


See if these give a faster cheap speed 4G Internet - 4G Broadband Above Beyond

 

[supashaka]

Set dnshttps://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/15037-dns-addressing-how-change-windows-7-a.html untick the ipv6 while your there see network properties for duplex etc Wired Network: Speed and Duplex Settings for Windows 7 | IT@UMN
See if these give a faster cheap speed 4G Internet - 4G Broadband Above Beyond

IPv6 was enabled so I've disabled it and also in registry settings. I've been playing around with the speed/duplex settings, hasn't fixed anything unfortunately. I've already signed up to virgin media fibre optic up to 100mbps which activates next month, but it seems like the above suggestions are all to improve the speed of the internet connection on my PC, and I'm not sure if my problem is that simple?

9-12Mbps is what I always used to get in the past and it's always been good enough for 1080p video streaming which is good enough for me. I just want to be able to fix whatever problem has caused my PC to develop these problems while all my other devices are running as they always did. So it's not just a general speed problem, the speed on my PC actually goes up and down wildly indicating some kind of fault surely?

Given that I'm switching ISP, is it still worth me changing to openDNS? And will this affect my router in general (thus speeding up all my devices) or just my PC connection? If it might help I'd like to try so pls let me know, I appreciate the help

 

[samuria]

The fast dns 1.1.1.1 or open dns will always be quicker than the isp and have built in protection for bad sites

 

[supashaka]

The fast dns 1.1.1.1 or open dns will always be quicker than the isp and have built in protection for bad sites

Will it be reset when I change ISP in 2 weeks time? And also does it only effect my PC or all devices?

 

[samuria]

It will remain with new router if the rest is set to dhcpit works best for all devices

 

[supashaka]

It will remain with new router if the rest is set to dhcpit works best for all devices

So I haven't yet played around with changing DNS but I wanted to update you since you helped me. I bought a new network card which arrived the same day as the virgin media installation. On the new 100MBPs virgin media connection I got 110 MBPs and....all the problems were completely solved (with the original built in network card)!

When I changed back to the old origin broadband connection I disabled the normal network adapter in device manager and installed the new one, and that also solved all the problems. The speed is now constant and doesn't jump up and down, the buffering is (mostly) gone and downloads are back to normal (original) fast speeds. I think the fact that some buffering does still occur (3 times in 15 min on Iplayer) reflects the only thing which hasn't changed: the max speed is still coming up as 8.9 MBPs (but at least it's now consistent).

So the big question: what actually caused all this? With the original NIC when I plug in the virgin ethernet the problems are gone, so at 1st I thought the culprit must be the Openreach connection (probably within my premises). Then the new NIC solved the problem also so I'm back to thinking it could still be the old NIC which somehow developed a fault (taking into consideration the fact that all other devices were always working fine)?

Before we had the torrential down-pour of rain that day, we used to get around 12 MBPs and immediately after that day and all the problems it brought (re-read the OP) it was 9 MBPs max and completely unstable. Now it's still 9, but stable. The problem is when my current Virgin contract expires the price will go way up and I'll have to go back to an openreach connection, so I really do want to try to figure out the solution. But Origin broadband (and any other company I'm guessing) say if they send out an openreach engineer and their equipment shows my PC to be at fault then I'll be charged £175 or whatever it was!