Two laptops - one regularly slow?

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PhilANZ

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#220277 3-Aug-2017 10:23

In the six months since we got Fibre I've had an annoying anomoly. Early on we usually got close to 100/20 - within 10% or so. Then I started often getting a dl speed nearer to 60 or so. We worked on it with our ISP (Inspire) - they did some test and suggested testing on another machine - which got "normal" results. So the problem is either with the cabling (but the other machine is fine in my office), or my machine.

I bought an HP 470 ProBook G3 last year, and it generally works well. I suspect it is some software making a difference. I just ran a test after closing Skype, TeamViewer and Glasswire, and the results were actually worse than usual - about 50 or so. My wife also has the same software (including anti-virus, etc) loaded (and usually has FB open), but gets normal results.

If anyone has any ideas on tracking this down I'd appreciate hearing them.

Thanks

yitz

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#1836350 3-Aug-2017 10:41

So just to clarify both machines are connected over a wired network when testing?

freakngeek

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#1836369 3-Aug-2017 11:07

Make sure laptop is not running in low power mode
CPU will be stuck in slow mode and Interweb will be slow
My HP laptop has issue where i need to manually get it out of low power mode or same thing happens
No matter what power setting I'm on sometimes it just gets stuck

yitz

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#1836394 3-Aug-2017 11:24

Good suggestion above I would check for CPU throttling first.

In Windows 10 right click on the Windows button (lower left corner) and choose Power Options, set the laptop to the 'High Performance' profile and re-test.

PhilANZ

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#1836475 3-Aug-2017 11:57

Both machines are over a wired network - and behave the same whether plugged in normally or in swapped offices.

It was in balanced mode - but changed to high speed - dropped from 50 to 40 😧.

I assume this is not stuck - not sure how else to tell.

freakngeek

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#1836607 3-Aug-2017 14:52

Also try, CTRL+ALT+DEL, then Task manager

Click on 'More details' then 'Performance'

Keep an eye on Disk, if its 100% when downloading then that's your issue (get a SSD)

Also keep an eye on CPU speed, it should be around 2.8Ghz if you have a i7-6500u (as I have in my Envy 15)

HP use slow spindle speed HDD's in their laptops, my 1.5TB drive is a slug so I installed a m2.SATA SSD to boot from
And CPU does get stuck in low power mode on occasion for no reason, I use Throttlestop to fix it

wellygary

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#1836617 3-Aug-2017 15:02

What are you using to determine you download speeds?,

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PhilANZ

356 posts

Ultimate Geek
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#1836630 3-Aug-2017 15:17

generally 0 - 15% - usually 0 when running the speed test. Higher when dl'ing - but I don't often dl large files - backups of accounting files are the biggest. SSD's are still pricey - if you can even get large ones.

My CPU (same as yours) says 3.01 GHz.

Interestingly it's back to normal speeds for now. This happens sometimes. But this followed a time when i stopped various process to see if they affected anything. They didn't - but at some stage it wanted a reboot - and when it came up, was back to normal.

PhilANZ

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#1836631 3-Aug-2017 15:18

I use speedtest.net

Aredwood

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#1836847 3-Aug-2017 21:03

PhilANZ: I use speedtest.net

Are you using speedtest.net beta? Or the non beta version that uses Adobe flash? As my parents contacted me to say that they were getting slow speeds on their fibre connection. Even using Ethernet cable instead of wifi still got the slow speeds. Turned out that the beta version of speedtest was giving them slow speeds. Yet the original speedtest gave full speeds.

Neither Firefox or Chrome on their computer had flash installed. Edge browser was the only one that has Flash, and could use the original speedtest site.

Also check which speedtest server you are testing to. Don't assume that the default one is the closest. As Speedtest.net uses an IP gelocation database to tell where you live. And then uses that result to pick the closest server.

For me it sometimes thinks that I live in Timaru or Wellington instead of Auckland.

PhilANZ

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#1839120 4-Aug-2017 12:28

Sorry - just had an update to the lastest major Windows update that wasn't working properly - see if it works properly - lost so much time will have to wait till weekend.

I didn't even know there was a beta - now see it but still using the original.

The server I connnect with is my ISP in Palmerston North - I live in Hutt Valley. I choose that as my standard to simplify things - otherwise it comes up with different places (even across the ditch). haven't figured out what's what - but I figure it should be consistent.Not worried if it makes a small difference in speed.

Interested th hear that some AK'ers don't default to AK - usually everything defaults to AK.

Thnaks for your time everyone. System is still going fast today - beyond my simple skills.

PhilANZ

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#1841790 9-Aug-2017 12:23

An update - no answer - just more confusion / frustration. When my system gets slow download speeds I not try closing various programs and processes. None make a difference. However, when I restart (immediately or the following day) it usually seems to be back to normal. If I leave it slow it restarts slow until I do close may things and then on next restart it is fine.
My problem is the time to stop a program / process and restart and test and repeat until I'm blue in the face is just too time consuming - computer is an essential tool. If anyone has any suggestions on where to start that would be great - but of course that's like finding a needle in a haystack given you can't see what processes are running.So it's more what I can do to narrow the source.

Dell

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yitz

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#1841805 9-Aug-2017 12:42

What's the make/model of modem/router that you plug this laptop into? Some modems have low power modes on their Ethernet ports enabled by default. Also have a look for any advanced options relating to energy efficient / low power modes for your wired network adapter device in Device Manager.

PhilANZ

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#1841828 9-Aug-2017 13:19

I wouldn't have throught it was the router simply because our other laptop works fine. The router is a Netcomm - provided by our ISP and locked so we have to ask them to make changes. Didn't know that when we signed up for two years - considering moving our VOIP to another provider (maybe back to our old provider) so we can control the router - it's simply to restrict adjust VOIP they lock it.

Our adapter is the same as shown in your picture - and the energy efficient ethernet was on - now off. Did a test and it was marginally faster than I usually get - not significant as a one off but hopeful. I'll keep an eye on it and report back next week.

Thank you very much.