Browsing Through Treacle today

[#1]

I've got them both enabled now. is that a problem. should I only run one?
P.

[#2]

I think the graphs demonstrate the treacle-effect you described. The connection takes about 8 seconds to wind up to decent transfer speed, then performs well. Unfortunately they don't suggest what to do about it.
I wonder if the tweak test knows something when it suggests checking for GlobalMaxTcpWindowSize in the registry and if present changing it to -1 (decimal); I'm guessing that probably means infinity in positive-binary. I've never seen that recommendation before. Of course, if you do plan to change the registry do a back-up first.
The MTU on the new NIC is fine (1500). However I think by trying your old NIC you've established the behaviour must be something to do with the new one. Have you tried searching on the Internet using the make and model of the new NIC and perhaps the words slow and start? Note that slow-start is a normal TCP protocol activity (for congestion avoidance) but not to that extreme.
It's unlikely to help with the slow-start problem but I suggest you download DrTCP from the DSLreports site and use it to increase RWIN to 116800.
As far as having two network cards enabled simultaneously, my inclination would be to avoid this; routers obviously do that but their operating system is written specially to support that - Windows probably isn't.

[#3]

Windows should be fine with two network cards, I've got a Windows 2000 machine in the other room with 5 network devices, although admittedly they all connect to different things (2 wired, 1 wireless, 1 bluetooth, 1 virtual).
That being said though it's still probably best to try and fix what's causing the speed issue than leave it, have you checked the manufacturer's site? There might be updated drivers or if they have a forum other people that have/had the same problem.

[#4]

I think at the moment I will leave well alone. best performance I've had for ages at the moment and old NIC doesn't seem to be  losing connection. don't know whats happened but been fine since enabled old card again and rebooted. Put the new NIC on a fixed IP that the old card was on and left old NIC to get auto IP. Fingers crossed
P.

[#5]

Well I thought it was too good to be true. today has been a bad day. both NIC's work for a while and then either the new one grinds to a halt or the old one loses its connection to the router. However, if i disable and then re-enable them from the network connection manager they work again for a while - sometimes a couple of hours or more. This happens whether both are enabled or just a single one is enabled. The ADSL connection remains solid and I can still browse the net wirelessly using other devices such as laptops or a PDA. I think its a bit odd that both NIC's are duff and I have reinstalled them bothy and thier settings from scratch. I now think I might be looking at a duff router that is working fine wirelessly but not wired. could this be possible and is there any way to test/check without buying a new one?
Cheers.
Jon

[#6]

Tried using a different cable?
B.

[#7]

yep

[#8]

Can you try connecting a laptop to the router using a wire and see if that suffers either of the other problems?
With two NICs on your computer they must go into different router ports, but have you tried swapping them over? And using different ports?

[#9]

Thanks for all the help and advice. It seems I was unlucky and things conspired to make the problem difficult to solve. after much experimentation I think the old NIC was dodgy, dying and dropping connections. Whereas the new NIC was in a dodgy router port. Switched things round and disable old NIC and everything is fine. Got a new speedtouch 585 V6 of ebay for £25 as back up in case router throws hand in completely!
PT

[#10]

Thanks for the feedback. Glad to hear you've solved the problem.