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New Vista machine - v slow connection

duncs
Grafter
Posts: 34
Registered: ‎18-08-2007

New Vista machine - v slow connection

Bought a new Vista laptop last weekend.  Struggling with VERY slow internet connection.  From googling the problem, seems to be a common issue in Vista.  However, Ive tried most things (disable phishing check, disable autotuning, uninstal Avast & Zonealarm, updating wireless card and ethernet card drivers).
Anyone come across a magic-wan solution for this?  Getting to the end of my patience now.
System:  HP Pavilion dv9590ea notebook.
Wireless router:  BT 1800HG
Oh, and my old XP desktop runs fine on the wireless network.
28 REPLIES 28
James
Grafter
Posts: 21,036
Thanks: 5
Registered: ‎04-04-2007

Re: New Vista machine - v slow connection

Hi there,
Have you tried hardwiring your computer into your router via ethernet?  Are the speed issues present when this is done?
astarsolutions
Grafter
Posts: 393
Registered: ‎26-07-2007

Re: New Vista machine - v slow connection

Quote
From googling the problem, seems to be a common issue in Vista

I have never come accross this before.
Some obvious things.
Did you un-install the pre-installed internet security software before you installed your own?
Are you running or have you been running any P2P filesharing sofware?
Have you installed any software or hardware that isn't compatible with Vista, i.e. did you check it before you installed it?
If you haven't set much up yet you can try re-mastering the machine and see what the speeds are like before anything goes on.
Loombucket
Grafter
Posts: 314
Registered: ‎09-06-2007

Re: New Vista machine - v slow connection

I second astarsolutions on this - I've been called to several Vista laptops and the common problem seems to be a combination of the awful preinstalled Norton or Macafee internet security software (often half-installed and unconfigured) and the general underspec. nature of Vista machines currently on the market, especially as regards RAM.
Double-check that all vestiges of the preinstalled A/V are removed before installing something decent (Avast or AVG are good) and restart the machine before trying to access the 'Net.  This normally cures it.
If it has anything less than 2GB RAM, consider an upgrade.  If it has less than 1GB (I've seen Vista machines supplied with 512MB and shared graphics, God help us!), definitely fit more RAM before trying to do anything with it.
(Edited to remove colourful but accurate descriptions of Norton and Macafee that the censor objected to)  Wink
duncs
Grafter
Posts: 34
Registered: ‎18-08-2007

Re: New Vista machine - v slow connection

Thanks for comments.
Will try using ethernet when I get home tonight and let you know how I get on.  However, as I say, old XP desktop working fine.
I had heard about the McAffee/Norton problems before and uninstalled pre-loaded antivirus software before installing Avast.
Not running any P2P software.  Dont really go in for this.
Spec is fine I think:  2.2Ghz dual core, 2Gb DDR2 RAM, 256Mb Nvidea 8600.
Finally, what do you mean by re-mastering?  Idiots guide instructions would be good - not much installed yet so tempted to do this.  Anyway to keep all my old documents & photos Ive already taken ages transferring over??  Would like to avoid doing that again.
Thx again
Peter_Vaughan
Grafter
Posts: 14,469
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: New Vista machine - v slow connection

Remastering or using the recovery CD to reinstall back to the factory config  - note this normally loses all user settings and data and is often a 'last resort' activity when things go wrong.
astarsolutions
Grafter
Posts: 393
Registered: ‎26-07-2007

Re: New Vista machine - v slow connection

Quote
and is often a 'last resort' activity when things go wrong

True, but if its only a week old there's not much to loose.
Quote
If it has anything less than 2GB RAM, consider an upgrade.  If it has less than 1GB (I've seen Vista machines supplied with 512MB and shared graphics, God help us!), definitely fit more RAM before trying to do anything with it.

The 512Mb machines are quite common, they come with Vista Basic and a Celeron processor and appeal to those people that set out to but a laptop with £300 in their pocket.
puddy
Grafter
Posts: 1,571
Registered: ‎10-06-2007

Re: New Vista machine - v slow connection

I am running vista ultimate on a dell laptop with 512mb what tends to slow vista down is the graphics card and the ram.
Have been told if you try to put 4mg ram only 3 or 3.50 ram will show up in a vista 32bit
whats your vista score? mines 2 on this laptop
puddy
2 year old dell inspiron 5160 3.2ghz HT mobile intel pentinum chip
astarsolutions
Grafter
Posts: 393
Registered: ‎26-07-2007

Re: New Vista machine - v slow connection

512Mb of RAM is barely enough for Vista Basic, you need to turn off the Aero interface (if it even works on your machine) or upgrade to 1Gb of RAM.
duncs
Grafter
Posts: 34
Registered: ‎18-08-2007

Re: New Vista machine - v slow connection

My vista score is 4.3.  Vista runs fine, apart from this browsing issue.  Nevertheless, get the feeling that there's some serious fine-tuning required to really get the most out of vista.  Whilst it runs fine, its no faster than my 6 year old AMD1600 desktop running XP (apart from in games obviously).
duncs
Grafter
Posts: 34
Registered: ‎18-08-2007

Re: New Vista machine - v slow connection

OK - tried using ethernet cable and same issue.  Seems to be certain websites, mainly those with many graphics/images.  I get the impression windows is trying to scan each image before loading it.
Another problem Ive just encountered is that  I cant access some secure websites (eg my Bank of Scotland account).  Ive read that this may be an IE7 issue - any ideas?  Ive added the website to my trusted sites etc.  This enabled me to get to the point of logging in but when I try to load a bank statement up, for example, it just loads up a duplicate home login screen.  V weird.
Any suggestions on these two issues (slow browsing and secure website problems) would be much appreciated.  Dont know what Id do without these forums  Smiley
kreynolds
Grafter
Posts: 433
Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: New Vista machine - v slow connection

Have you tried changing the MTU and RWIN settings?
When I upgraded to Vista Ultimate 64, internet was painfully slow so changed the MTU and RWIN and now I get a nice fast connection
http://www.dslreports.com/tweakr/block:52ce85e?service=dsl&speed=8156&os=Vista&via=pppoA
Base score for my machine is 5.0.  Highest subscore is 5.9 for windows graphics.  CPU and RAM scored at 5.0.  Vista uses a lot of RAM, have 4 Gb physical RAM installed and Vista is  reporting 65% utilization
duncs
Grafter
Posts: 34
Registered: ‎18-08-2007

Re: New Vista machine - v slow connection

Thanks for suggestion.  Can you be a bit more specific on how to do this?  Sorry, bit of a noob  Embarrassed
kreynolds
Grafter
Posts: 433
Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: New Vista machine - v slow connection

You can either use TCP Optimizer
http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php
or Dr TCP
http://www.dslreports.com/drtcp
To edit the MTU and RWIN settings.
It is possible to do this through the registry editor, but is not recommended for most people due to the nature of the system registry and the potential to corrupt the registry to the point of being useless
Peter_Vaughan
Grafter
Posts: 14,469
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: New Vista machine - v slow connection

Those tools don't work on Vista.
The RWIN value is 'auto-tuned' and there is no way to set it.
The MTU value is also auto-tuned and will normally set itself to be the same as your router through auto-discovery or to a default value if it cannot determine it, but you can change it with the following DOS command
netsh interface ipv4 set subinterface "Local Area Connection" mtu=xxxx store=persistent

Note: "Local Area Connection" is the name of the interface you want to change, use ipconfig/all to get the actual name of your interface or the following command.
To check what your current settings are use
netsh interface ipv4 show subinterfaces