Very very slow internet on only one computer (dns issue?)

Hi,

I just installed a sabrent wifi card into my desktop. I downloaded the latest drivers, it seemed to install without problems. The card picks up networks (sometimes slowly, though), and shows them as healthy connections and everything looks normal.

I can connect to my network, but the internet is so slow. It takes about 1-2 minutes to load google. I've checked the connection properties & also ipconfig /all and compared it to the settings on my laptop (which works fine), and everything looks pretty much the same.

If I use 'automatically obtain dns servers', it defaults to the same dns servers that my laptop uses, but when I diagnose the connection I get the 'Your computer appears to be correctly configured, but the device or resource (DNS server) is not responding.' If I change my DNS servers to 8.8.8.8 & 8.8.4.4, it gets rid of the error and everything looks good, but it doesn't help out the internet speed at all.

I've tried flushing and releasing and renewing my dns in the command prompt, I've reset and power cycled the router about a billion times, I've re-installed the hardware & driver a few times, nothing seems to work. Mini virtual wifi server thing doesn't show up in my device properties. Here's what ipconfig /all shows:

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : DS-PC
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Ralink RT61 Turbo Wireless LAN Card
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-13-14-00-0E-B9
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::2dc8:a31d:242f:590f%14(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.13(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : March-09-13 10:22:18 AM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : March-09-13 11:36:11 AM
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 369103636
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-17-CF-35-B1-BC-AE-C5-A8-C9-C5

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 64.71.255.204
64.71.255.198
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Tunnel adapter isatap.{F03E65B1-767A-4677-B766-9FB43A3120FE}:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 2001:0:9d38:953c:1449:1f0a:3f57:fff2(Pref
erred)
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::1449:1f0a:3f57:fff2%13(Preferred)
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : ::
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

the DNS servers are what I get if I automatically obtain them. As I mentioned, this works flawlessly on my laptop.

can anyone help me out with this?

With the Microsoft Virtual WiFi miniport adaptor not showing up it means that the drivers for the sabrent wifi card are not Windows 7 approved drivers which is most likely the problem.

Have you tried going to Windows update to see if they have new drivers for the sabrent wifi card?

You should try to update the drivers if possible. :)

hi chev,

thanks for the reply.. i'm pretty sure i have the latest drivers for this thing.. they installed with no problems, and the stupid card definitely says it's windows 7 compatible.. i'll see what else i can get.

the other issue i've noticed is that at my location, you should be able to find 20+ wifi access points at any given time.. my card usually recognizes like 4 or 5, and then will drop a bunch, and then load a bunch of other ones, and then finally find my own access point, and then drop it, etc etc. does that also sound like a driver issue?

dsec123 said:

hi chev,

thanks for the reply.. i'm pretty sure i have the latest drivers for this thing.. they installed with no problems, and the stupid card definitely says it's windows 7 compatible.. i'll see what else i can get.

the other issue i've noticed is that at my location, you should be able to find 20+ wifi access points at any given time.. my card usually recognizes like 4 or 5, and then will drop a bunch, and then load a bunch of other ones, and then finally find my own access point, and then drop it, etc etc. does that also sound like a driver issue?

If the errors go away when using Google's DNS then you should use Google's DNS.

With that many A/P's in your area channel selection can be very important, channel selection can have a large impact on wireless speed. There are also some router settings that can have a huge influence on wireless speed. We can make some adjustments there once I see which channels are in use.

The Xirrus WiFi inspector is good for helping to decide which channel to use. Please install Xirrus and post a screen shot of what it says. :)

Wi-Fi Inspector | Xirrus

quick update, i enabled the virtual wifi miniport adapter by using the following command:

netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=access point name key=password keyUsage=persistent

and now it shows up in device manager. basically i have the following adapters showing:

microsoft 6to4 adapter
microsoft ISATAP adapter
microsoft ISATAP adapter # 2
microsoft virtual miniport adapter
ralink rt61 turbo wireless LAN card (the card in question)
teredo tunneling pseudo-interface
WAN miniport (IKEv2)
WAN miniport (IP)
WAN miniport (IPv6)
WAN miniport (L2TP)
WAN miniport (Network Monitor)
WAN miniport (PPPOE)
WAN miniport (PPTP)
WAN miniport (SSTP)

if that helps anyone figure out what's going on.

grabbing xirrus right now, will post in a few minutes..

alright, so here's the screen xirrus is currently showing. note that '3rd degree' and 'sandzland' are not my access point, and even though xirrus is only showing those two at the moment (still only showing those two), my little wireless internet icon in the bottom right of my screen shows about 6 A/Ps. i'm also currently connected to my own access point, with exceptionally slow internet.. still takes about 2 full minutes to load google.com

changing my DNS to google's does remove the diagnosis error that my DNS server isn't responding, but it doesn't affect the speed of the connection whatsoever.

here's finally a xirrus screen while connected to my router:



let me know if this makes any sense to anybody. the connection was dropped shortly thereafter. everything's still way too slow.

is it possible that there's some issue with the fact that my network apparently is 802.11n but my card is apparently 802.11g? (Sabrent USA)

anyone?