Ethernet Computer Cannot Reach Gigabit Speeds, but Laptop Can

[Chairein]

Essentially, I am having trouble getting my hardwired computer to reach speeds above 180 mbps despite having 1200 mbps internet through Xfinity. Here are some test that I've done:

• Used the same ethernet cable (Cat6) with laptop which was able to reach expected speeds (~850-950 mbps download)
• Used a different cable (also Cat6), but no luck
• Used a different port on Unifi switch, but no luck
• Verified that the Intel(R) Ethernet Connection (2) I219-V driver is up to date (Driver Version is 12.19.2.45 with a driver date of 01/30/2022)
• Within Ethernet Advanced properties, tried to hard-code the 'Speed & Duplex' value to '1.0 Gbps Full Duplex', but with no luck
• Within Ethernet Advanced properties, turned 'Off' the Energy Efficient Ethernet property, but with no luck
• Verified that the mobo drivers are up to date (it's an Asrock B250M Pro4)

I'm really quite at a loss at what to try next . Any thoughts / advice is much appreciated!

[Oshino Shinobu]

Next thing I'd try is getting a cheap 1G PCIe NIC (or you can get USB ones) and try that. It may well be a faulty ethernet port on the board.

[Chairein]

8 minutes ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

Next thing I'd try is getting a cheap 1G PCIe NIC (or you can get USB ones) and try that. It may well be a faulty ethernet port on the board.

Ahh! Yes, so, I have a Gigabyte GC-WB867D-I REV Bluetooth 4.2 Wireless Expansion Card installed in order to get Wifi  on my computer(https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HF8K0O6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1). However, to that end, I also am not able to get the "high speed wireless connection up to 867 Mbps" advertised.

 

Could this be the issue for both wired and wireless speeds?

[Oshino Shinobu]

1 minute ago, Chairein said:

Ahh! Yes, so, I have a Gigabyte GC-WB867D-I REV Bluetooth 4.2 Wireless Expansion Card installed in order to get Wifi  on my computer(https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HF8K0O6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1). However, to that end, I also am not able to get the "high speed wireless connection up to 867 Mbps" advertised.

 

Could this be the issue for both wired and wireless speeds?

WiFi is dependant on so many different variables and basically never reaches the "advertised" speeds. Very unlikely to be the same issue for wireless and wired.

 

I'd advise picking up something like this to try: https://www.amazon.com/Realtek-Chipset-Ethernet-Interface-Software/dp/B007MWYCG2

[MichaelDiggs]

8 hours ago, Chairein said:

Essentially, I am having trouble getting my hardwired computer to reach speeds above 180 mbps despite having 1200 mbps internet through Xfinity. Here are some test that I've done:

• Used the same ethernet cable (Cat6) with laptop which was able to reach expected speeds (~850-950 mbps download)
• Used a different cable (also Cat6), but no luck
• Used a different port on Unifi switch, but no luck
• Verified that the Intel(R) Ethernet Connection (2) I219-V driver is up to date (Driver Version is 12.19.2.45 with a driver date of 01/30/2022)
• Within Ethernet Advanced properties, tried to hard-code the 'Speed & Duplex' value to '1.0 Gbps Full Duplex', but with no luck
• Within Ethernet Advanced properties, turned 'Off' the Energy Efficient Ethernet property, but with no luck
• Verified that the mobo drivers are up to date (it's an Asrock B250M Pro4)

I'm really quite at a loss at what to try next . Any thoughts / advice is much appreciated!

When you right click on the connected adapter in Windows network Ethernet cards and select STATUS, what does the speed say?

 

[Falcon1986]

11 hours ago, Chairein said:

Ahh! Yes, so, I have a Gigabyte GC-WB867D-I REV Bluetooth 4.2 Wireless Expansion Card installed in order to get Wifi  on my computer

So when you run your speed tests, you're sure you're not going through WiFi? Disable the WiFi adapter to be sure.

 

11 hours ago, Chairein said:

However, to that end, I also am not able to get the "high speed wireless connection up to 867 Mbps" advertised.

That's in ideal WiFi environments. Realistically, you'll never achieve that maximum in the majority of scenarios.

[Chairein]

10 hours ago, Falcon1986 said:

So when you run your speed tests, you're sure you're not going through WiFi? Disable the WiFi adapter to be sure.

 

That's in ideal WiFi environments. Realistically, you'll never achieve that maximum in the majority of scenarios.

I definitely was not going through WiFi (when I was, I got ~130Mbps download vs. ~180Mbps).

 

And thank you for clarification! Yes, I know figuring out real-life WiFi vs. ideal can be troublesome.

[Falcon1986]

On 10/25/2022 at 5:35 PM, Chairein said:

Verified that the mobo drivers are up to date (it's an Asrock B250M Pro4)

Download the NIC drivers for your OS from ASRock. Uninstall the NIC from Device Manager then install the drivers you downloaded.

 

If that doesn't work, try resetting the network connection.

 

On 10/25/2022 at 5:35 PM, Chairein said:

Used a different port on Unifi switch, but no luck

Which UniFi switch? Have you tried plugging directly into the ISP device and testing speed there?

[Chairein]

On 10/25/2022 at 7:34 PM, Oshino Shinobu said:

WiFi is dependant on so many different variables and basically never reaches the "advertised" speeds. Very unlikely to be the same issue for wireless and wired.

 

I'd advise picking up something like this to try: https://www.amazon.com/Realtek-Chipset-Ethernet-Interface-Software/dp/B007MWYCG2

Here's a quick update: I went slightly more ham and purchased this 2.5GBase-T PCIe Network Adapter which should handle speeds up to 2.5GBs (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08V1HG47H?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details). It was pretty much plug-and-play - it didn't ask for any drivers or configuration on the mobo or anything. But - alas - no change at all! Pretty much the exact same speeds I was seeing before (~180-220 MBs download, when we're paying for 1200 MBs download).

 

What does this mean? And what should be my next troubleshooting steps?

[NobleGamer]

Unless there something really weird with your PC, time to look at your networking device's config.

 

Smart Queue QoS can result in much slower throughput, like ~200mbps even with hardware offloading, as I found out with my Edgerouter X.

 

So I would disable QoS on your switch, see if that helps, then router. If all else fails, backup your switch and router's settings. Then you can reset the switch's settings, and see if the speed is better. If not, reset the router's settings, and check speed.

[Chairein]

10 minutes ago, NobleGamer said:

Unless there something really weird with your PC, time to look at your networking device's config.

 

Smart Queue QoS can result in much slower throughput, like ~200mbps even with hardware offloading, as I found out with my Edgerouter X.

 

So I would disable QoS on your switch, see if that helps, then router. If all else fails, backup your switch and router's settings. Then you can reset the switch's settings, and see if the speed is better. If not, reset the router's settings, and check speed.

I have a Ubiquiti US-8 Unifi switch (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MZ32B1B/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 - don't worry, I bought it three years ago and didn't pay the current price ) but I don't think it allows me to disable QoS in the Unifi Controller (? also, I had to look up what that was cause I don't really understand this stuff ). 

 

The router is a USG if that is helps with anything.

[NobleGamer]

9 minutes ago, Chairein said:

I have a Ubiquiti US-8 Unifi switch (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MZ32B1B/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 - don't worry, I bought it three years ago and didn't pay the current price ) but I don't think it allows me to disable QoS in the Unifi Controller (? also, I had to look up what that was cause I don't really understand this stuff ). 

 

The router is a USG if that is helps with anything.

I'm sorry, I dont have experience with those to know what their config looks like.

 

I just know you've written about looking at everything but the network devices (excluding PC/laptops), so that seems like the next logical thing to look at, and the first thing I can think of is QoS.

 

Any managed switch I've heard of has QoS of some kind. If someone else here doesn't have unifi experience to share, the ubiquiti forum may help.

[Bdavis]

Try a file transfer between two devices on the switch and see what speed you get. You could also plug the PC directly into the cable modem to check your speeds.

[Chairein]

UPDATE! Unfortunately this issue is still not resolved, but here is an updated list of things I have tried:

 

ISSUE: Hard-wired ethernet speeds on my PC are ~200 Mbps when it should be closer to ~900 Mbps (based on the internet package from ISP).

 

Tests Related to ISP:

• There are other devices in our house, such as my laptop and my wife's Dell Inspiron 620 which she purchased over decade ago, which are able to reach these speeds so it does not appear to be an issue with the speeds the ISP is providing.
• Tried hardwiring directly to router but still had the same speeds (~200 Mbps)

Tests Related to Network:

• Tried switching Cat6 cables
• Tried changing ports on switch
• Tried hardwiring directly to router (mentioned above)

Tests Related to Hardware:

• Purchased a 2.5GB PCIe network adapter (specifically this 2.5GBase-T PCIe Network Adapter RTL8125B from Amazon) in case there was an issue with mobo

Tests Related to Software:

• Verified that the Intel(R) Ethernet Connection (2) I219-V driver is up to date (Driver Version is 12.19.2.45 with a driver date of 01/30/2022)
• Verified that on 'Ethernet' within Network Connections that Speed read '1.0 Gbps' 
• Within Ethernet Advanced properties, tried to hard-code the 'Speed & Duplex' value to '1.0 Gbps Full Duplex'
• Within Ethernet Advanced properties, turned 'Off' the Energy Efficient Ethernet property
• Verified that the mobo drivers are up to date (it's an Asrock B250M Pro4)

 

I'm really quite at a loss at what to try next. I think it must have somethin to do with my PC, but not sure where to look. Any thoughts?

[Chairein]

I FIXED IT!!!!! God bless this article (https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000058667/ethernet-products/gigabit-ethernet-controllers-up-to-2-5gbe.html)

 

It was the last item that fixed it: Run netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=normal on command prompt to check if the issue is bug related to Windows Auto Tuning

 

Admittedly I have no idea what this means but....who cares!! It works!!! Thank you for everyone who contributed to helping me solve this!