Downloading reduces performance

[Nikolay]

Downloading anything will make Windows 7 really slow and makes the audio distorted. This happens on my computer and my sisters laptop. I'm using x64 and she's using x86. This happens to her laptop when she's connected under my network. A clean install didn't fix the problem.

My router's model is WRT54G v. 6 and I'm using the latest firmware. My ISP is comcast.

ipconfig /release ipconfig /renew ipconfig /flushdns

did not fix the problem. This seems to be a Windows 7 issue as Windows XP seems to be unaffected.

Update: Yep, Windows XP definitely works fine. Downloading multiple files and no problems.

 

[aem]

I don't think it's W7. I have the same router and me download is what it is.

 

[Nikolay]

Then maybe it's my modem? Anything I can do to test and diagnose the problem?

 

[aem]

I'm not sure about the audio sound getting distorted when you're downloading. I didnt know downloading, makes sound?? As for the slowness of the downloads, are connected wirelessly or wired? Try both and see if it's the same?

 

[Nikolay]

It happens both on wired and wireless. When I download my computer gets really slow and my audio gets really choppy and I can hear "static".

 

[acurasd]

lets narrow this down...

Try download something witha different browser....

Google Chrome, Firefox

 

[Nikolay]

Good idea, haven't really thought of that before. I've been using firefox on both the computer and laptop.

 

[Nikolay]

Same problem under chrome

 

[aem]

The audio, is it only during downloading...like could you hear it during reboot/startup? Check for drivers updates, i doubt if it's loose cable/wireing?

 

[Nikolay]

I have the latest drivers and it doesn't have to be downloading for the audio to be distorted, it happens when CPU usage is at like 50% or more. Something was eating up my CPU usage but everything seemed to be normal. Like I said earlier, a clean install didn't fix the problem and that was a full format too.

 

[aem]

I know you said you have installed the right driver, but let see how right it is. check the file you've downloaded with this guide.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/49350-driver-selection-your-hardware-devices.html?ltr=D

 

[Nikolay]

Pretty sure that's the right driver, everything matched.

[Manufacturer]
%Marvell% = Marvell, NTamd64.6.1, NTx86.6.1,NTamd64.6.0, NTx86.6.0, NTamd64.5.2, NTx86.5.1

 

[aem]

If that's the case, then it cannot have been due to W7 or your adapter.

 

[Flubb]

I haven't found the solution, but I have identified the culprit.

It's definitely Windows 7 networking services, I have the same problem when using torrents. It's not high bandwith that causes it, but multiple connections. I'm not getting anywhere near my router's 4048 max IP connection limit, nor my connection's 3MBps down/300KBps up max bandwith. As a matter of fact I have uTorrent at 500 global connections, down from 4000 which I used in Windows XP 32. XP could take all that and more.

I've noticed that there is a brief (1/100 second) CPU usage burst for the three Network/Firewall services in Windows 7 x64 every second or so. It is not exactly every second, sometimes the gaps are 1/2 second apart, sometimes as much as 10 seconds. It's enough to lock up every other program for just that instant, making audio skip and making frames per second stutter in games. If I shut down torrents completely, the problem fades away over about 5 seconds. If I start torrents again, it takes another minute or so to build up to a point where it's noticeable.

I haven't found a solution yet, just identified the problem. I noticed it all the way back with the early betas of Windows 7, and I'm very disappointed to see it made it to my retail copy.

You can see it happening by opening the Processes tab in your task manager, showing processes from all users and sorting by CPU usage. You will see one instance of svchost.exe pop up to 1% usage every second or so. I'm guessing Explorer averages out CPU usage, and since it's being maxed out so briefly, it displays as 1% instead of 100%. If you can click it quickly enough before it goes back down the list, you can then sort by name again to stop it moving, then right click and Go to Services, where you can see it is made up of three or four networking-related services:

NlaSvc (Network Location Awareness)
LanmanWorkstation (Workstation)
Dnscache (DNS Client)
CryptSvc (Cryptographic Services)

I don't know which of these is the culprit, because I don't know where to go from here. I can't see which of these 4 is making use of the CPU so much, so I'm at a dead end.

 

[Flubb]

Bump for any new info?