Broadband on W98 seems very slow
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- Re: Broadband on W98 seems very slow
Broadband on W98 seems very slow
05-03-2008 2:57 PM
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I find that it is painfully slow when using the internet.
I've thought about why this might be happening and a few things spring to mind.
1) The Network card I installed may be inadequate but it's a standard PCI card
2) The CAt5e cable I am using may be faulty but then again it is definitely wired up correctly (I did it myself having cut a length from a 100mtr roll)
3) W98 just isn't good enough.
4) The Netgear router needs tro be configured for this PC or it just can't cope with it.
The reason I have this 3rd PC with W98 is because it's for my kids who have software that can only be run on a W98 machine.
The other 2 PCs are XP and work fine.
I did a speed test on all three and on average the 2 XP machines give a 6.5 speed but the W98 is around 2 if I'm lucky and is seriously slow when browsing etc.
Can anyone advise me as to what I have done wrong or should be doing to improve this.
Thanks
Re: Broadband on W98 seems very slow
05-03-2008 3:21 PM
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Kitz has a useful guide/tutorial here : http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/tweak2.htm
Since the other machines work fine, its possible that the W98 box is suffering from settings which aren't quite perfect.
However, this'll allow the kids to use bandwidth that'd be permanently 'reserved' for you if you didn't make the change!
Re: Broadband on W98 seems very slow
05-03-2008 5:43 PM
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Re: Broadband on W98 seems very slow
05-03-2008 6:21 PM
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Adding the client IP address to the router is unlikely to help too - its not a IP connectivity issue, as the OP states he can complete speedtests successfully on the W98 box.
Also in a default setup, the address visible in ipconfig is likely to be one assigned by the DHCP service on the router, thus it already knows what IP the W98 box is on.
Re: Broadband on W98 seems very slow
06-03-2008 12:03 AM
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Win98 shouldnt be slower than any other pc but its not very scientific to say it feels slow is it just webpages or just some webpages? What browser are you using? Can you copy files to the other pcs at a reasonable speed?
One of the main reason win98 is slow is that by default it adds netbui which floods the network if its installed remove it as this may make all the difference.
Re: Broadband on W98 seems very slow
06-03-2008 8:21 AM
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Win98 was "optimised" for a dial-up connection and has an MTU of 576* and an RWIN of 8512 set as default.
Changing these to something more suitable for a broadband connection should speed things up somewhat.
* Not strictly true - it's set to "Automatic" for PPP dial-up connections. Microsoft article here.
Re: Broadband on W98 seems very slow
06-03-2008 11:16 AM
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I downloaded DrTCp and changed the settings as you suggested.
There is a definite improvement and when running the speed tests on all 3 PCs the speed seems pretty much the same (around 6).
There still seems to be a struggle and slowness though when viewing web pages (more so on the ones that have graphics)
Do u think I should try tweaking the MTu & RWIN again or should I try somethimg else.
Re: Broadband on W98 seems very slow
06-03-2008 12:38 PM
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Re: Broadband on W98 seems very slow
06-03-2008 3:01 PM
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Re: Broadband on W98 seems very slow
06-03-2008 3:34 PM
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Can you please explain?
Do you think I should add more memory and change the graphics card? if so can you recommend one that would do the job.
Re: Broadband on W98 seems very slow
06-03-2008 6:49 PM
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To see if you can get more memory for your machine go here.
Re: Broadband on W98 seems very slow
06-03-2008 6:55 PM
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Re: Broadband on W98 seems very slow
06-03-2008 11:43 PM
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98 isnt much different so you should be able to find it if you have the 2 screens in the bottom right corner of the toolbar you can get at it that way.
It used to be the main protocol in 98 and blasts packets out all day long flooding the network and slowing it down.
Much more than 64 meg ram for 98 can make it worse as in those day 8 meg was the norm our if you were posh 32meg. so 98 was never written to use anymore as no one could use 64 meg of ram could they?
Re: Broadband on W98 seems very slow
07-03-2008 8:00 AM
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Quote Much more than 64 meg ram for 98 can make it worse
Not entirely true. Win 98 can handle large amounts of memory, see here - and, in general, the more memory you have in a system, the better. The minimum amount of memory quoted is required to run the operating system e.g. if Win 98 needs a minimum of 16MB to run then that 16MB is occupied by the OS. When you add a program that needs, say, 32MB of memory then an additional 32MB of memory is needed or the OS starts swapping things to disc (virtual memory) to free up space in RAM, slowing everything down.
However, there is a bug in Win98 that rears its head if you go above 512MB of RAM and it's documented in this article.
A couple of other articles on the subject of memory for Win98 can be found here and here.
Generally speaking though the more RAM the better, but, for most applications, 128MB of RAM should be more than adequate for Win98.
Re: Broadband on W98 seems very slow
07-03-2008 2:37 PM
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Can someone please advise as to whether I should definitely be doing this and if so how exactly.
I've tried to establish how much max memory I can add to my PC.
The link below was showing me the recommendations but I'm a little confused.
Can I go up to 1Gb and would this make a big difference or should I just add another 256 and not exceed 512
http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/listparts.aspx?model=GA-6BXE
I realise now I must have 256 installed (even though the system reports 192) I presume it's two seperate 128s.
I'm wondering whether it would be safe to fill up all 4 slots with 256 in each?
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