Wifi issue - newish PC slow, all other devices normal

[Thaleia]

Using Speedtest by ookla I see our PC is getting ~ 14 - 35 Mbps on our wifi network, while any other device ei mobile, tablet, iptv box in the same spot is getting ~73 Mbps on our plan that should allow us 75 Mbps.

I'm not the smartest when it comes to this stuff so with out getting too far into the weeds, is there anything I can be checking on the PC to troubleshoot this?

(this PC has been plagued by USB related issues, mainly USB not recognizing what's plugged into it. Doubt this is be related, but full disclosure)

[adrenalated]

My first guess is try updating the driver for your wifi controller.

[Thaleia]

Just updated drivers. No improvement. Something wild is going on, PC just got tested at 0.82 Mbps. Streaming HD video on the same network two feet away with no buffering issues.. Would a modern modem (Smart RG808 AC) automatically assign bandwidth priority for streaming video as a default?

[2FUNKY]

You’ve got a fuck load of shit running in the background. Go in and stop or delete unnecessary programs and that will fix it. See it all the time, I’m a broadband technician. Customers always complaining of slow speed, 8/10 times it’s their pc running at ton of bandwidth eating program’s in the background.

[riser4]

You’ve got a fuck load of shit running in the background. Go in and stop or delete unnecessary programs and that will fix it. See it all the time, I’m a broadband technician. Customers always complaining of slow speed, 8/10 times it’s their pc running at ton of bandwidth eating program’s in the background.

This, especially if it's an underpowered Windows PC. We have one and it sucks. In our case it's CPU bound. The Chromebooks we have are all much faster.

[riser4]

And log off any other users. Strictly one user logged in at a time.

[Thaleia]

Task Manager is showing Chrome is using ~ %50 of both CPU and Memory. If I close all instances of Chrome the CPU and Memory usage drops, not surprisingly.

Thought ok , maybe time to try a different browser. This PC came with Edge so with Chrome completely closed I did another speedtest on Edge, still getting 1 or 2 Mbps.

My Start Up programs seem pretty lean, only things enabled are Realtek HD Audio Manager, Delayed launcher (Intel) and Windows Security Notification icon. Should I disable any of these?

Have also done a Malware scan (nothing found), and used their AdwCleaner as well (found 4 items, but didn't affect internet speed)

For the rest of the background 'noise', there's tons of processes showing up in Task Manager, but I have no clue what the majority of them are - is the a program or tool that can help monitor these processes and advise if any can be disabled or managed differently?

Also would adding more RAM make much of a difference if the PC is borderline unusable when the CPU and Memory are at ~50%? And I guess hardwiring the network connection is going to make any difference in this case?

[skaredshtles]

<snip>

Also would adding more RAM make much of a difference if the PC is borderline unusable when the CPU and Memory are at ~50%? And I guess hardwiring the network connection is going to make any difference in this case?

Definitely test hardwired to your router - if you *still* see le shit throughput, it's not your wireless adpater.

Which is what I suspect at this point (your wireless adpater)...

[Flyoverland Captive]

You sure Win10 isn’t doing one of its stealth updates behind the scene?

[Thaleia]

^^ Huh just checked, nope. And riser3 we just have one log in on this pc, we're not nearly sophisticated enough to have separate ones. Will hardwire this thing over the weekend and report back.

Thanks all, this is greatly appreciated.

[riser4]

^^ Huh just checked, nope. And riser3 we just have one log in on this pc, we're not nearly sophisticated enough to have separate ones. Will hardwire this thing over the weekend and report back.

Thanks all, this is greatly appreciated.

Hardwire that bitch and see what's what.

[Thaleia]

Aight.

Pretty sure I purged most of the 'box of audio/video/various usb type/adapter/transformer/ethernet cables so large it lived in the garage' last summer since "gee whiz, just upgraded the network and the pc is lightning fast, won't need these anytime soon... lol .. so I'll buy one tomorrow.

[riser4]

Try forcing your connection to use a different channel.

[Thaleia]

I tried that in my ecstasy days but never really liked it.

[reckless toboggan]

Maybe you shouldn't have let your wifi touch the new computer.

[Thaleia]

Shit, it actually belongs to her.

[Thaleia]

riser3 yeah good call though, I'l try that.

[RShea]

I'd first check to see if you are connecting to the exact same network if you have what is common now a dual band router or wifi (both 2.4 Ghz and 5 Ghz)- ie on the phones and tablets you could very well be using the faster 5 Ghz network (channel number will be over 100) and the PC you are connecting to the slower 2.4 Ghz (channels are limited to 1-11 in USA) which is slower and does many times slow down with more than 1 device connected at the same time.

[Skidog]

Home spectrum connection wifi5g on my celly $69.99


Sent from my Pixel 2 using TGR Forums mobile app

[Thaleia]

RShea that's a good point, but in this area the PC and compared devices are on the 2.4G network. Our router supports 5G as well, but it doesn't reach this area.

Skidog that's ridiculous.

OK, hooked up with the ethernet cable and the difference is night and day. Tested at 40Mbps, wifi was 1.5Mbos just prior. Still not a great speed but certainly good enough for the use this PC sees.

So - does that absolutely prove it is the wireless adapter? Is that something a computer jong can swap out them selves?

[reckless toboggan]

Shit, it actually belongs to her.

This is why we can't have nice things.

[riser4]

RShea that's a good point, but in this area the PC and compared devices are on the 2.4G network. Our router supports 5G as well, but it doesn't reach this area.

Skidog that's ridiculous.

OK, hooked up with the ethernet cable and the difference is night and day. Tested at 40Mbps, wifi was 1.5Mbos just prior. Still not a great speed but certainly good enough for the use this PC sees.

So - does that absolutely prove it is the wireless adapter? Is that something a computer jong can swap out them selves?

It means the issue is related to the wifi. However, is it the physical adapter, or a driver, or a setting, or the system board? IDK.

[Thaleia]

Well with the wifi card being only 20 CAD I've got one en route today to play with, also maxxing out the ram for fun. We'll see how it goes.

TBH I'm kinda thinking it's software related though - I've noticed a couple times that the wifi speed is up ~40Mbps after disconnecting the ethernet, then after a few minutes goes back down to ~1Mbps. Really not sure how to interpret that.

[Skidog]

Well with the wifi card being only 20 CAD I've got one en route today to play with, also maxxing out the ram for fun. We'll see how it goes.

TBH I'm kinda thinking it's software related though - I've noticed a couple times that the wifi speed is up ~40Mbps after disconnecting the ethernet, then after a few minutes goes back down to ~1Mbps. Really not sure how to interpret that.

run a malware scan if not already done. Sure sounds like something is eating bandwidth. Can you test wifi from a phone connected to the network? Would love to see those results. I wonder if you got a big that mines shitcoins....when that machine is on the network are any others slowed down at all?

[uglymoney]

Using Speedtest by ookla I see our PC is getting ~ 14 - 35 Mbps on our wifi network, while any other device ei mobile, tablet, iptv box in the same spot is getting ~73 Mbps on our plan that should allow us 75 Mbps.

I'm not the smartest when it comes to this stuff so with out getting too far into the weeds, is there anything I can be checking on the PC to troubleshoot this?

(this PC has been plagued by USB related issues, mainly USB not recognizing what's plugged into it. Doubt this is be related, but full disclosure)

Is it an MSI motherboard with WiFi built into the board? I had those symptoms off and on till the MSI finally went tits up. Piece of shit. Driver updates helped with the USB stuff until it didn't. Threw the MSI in the recycle shit pile and bought an Asus Republic of Gamers motherboard and all of my troubles went away.

I think you are on track with the cheap Wifi adapter but the USB problems and Wifi issues could definitely be the motherboard.