# Unexplained Network Sloth **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 14, 2003, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-network-sloth/175304 "2003-05-14T23:48:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Phage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a4c791/32.png) [@Phage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phage)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-network-sloth/175304/1 "2003-05-14T23:48:12Z")
Ok, so I know that this is not a tech-support board, but the community is so helpful I thought I would give it a shot. Besides, it is probably something pretty simple… Our family mostly uses Macs, but I have recently moved to a Windows machine so I can work with people in college. Having returned from a college T1 connection, I hooked into our home LAN (a Linksys hub connected to a cable modem), and after simply switching to DHCP to get my IP was happily surfing away. The problem lies in the speed difference between the Macs and my PC’s connection. A Mac can visit a site, say [divx.com](http://divx.com), and download a file at +100kb, while when I go there I get only about 15kb. Looking at my networking monitor in the task manager I can see that what should be an even data flow is actually made up of spikes of data separated by complete stops. I am suspecting that this is due to some sort of setup problem, but I cannot figure out what it might be. ---
**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2003, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-network-sloth/175304/2 "2003-05-15T00:03:12Z")
OK - wild guess - this sounds like some kind of MTU (minimum transmission unit) thing? Check out [www.dslreports.com](http://www.dslreports.com) - they have tools for measuring and tweaking this. ---
**Author:** ![Phage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a4c791/32.png) [@Phage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phage)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2003, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-network-sloth/175304/3 "2003-05-15T00:26:28Z")
Well… My MTU seems to be at 1492, and my router is not messing with it (the option is disabled, which is supposed to default to 1492 as well). That seems to be what I want, right? ---
**Author:** ![LordVor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90ced4/32.png) [@LordVor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LordVor)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2003, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-network-sloth/175304/4 "2003-05-15T01:07:45Z")
Check everything else on dlsreports, they’re a very good reference for windows boxes. What kind of speed do you get moving files between macs, between a mac and a pc, etc? If you can move a file between a mac and your pc at the same speed as between two macs, then you know that your pc is clashing with the router/cable modem (or it’s all in your head). If not, then you know that something is set up fundamentally wrong on your PC. (BTW, you should eventually post more info about your PC, version of windows, etc) -lv ---
**Author:** ![Phage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a4c791/32.png) [@Phage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phage)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2003, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-network-sloth/175304/5 "2003-05-15T01:18:24Z")
Moving files between the Macs is quite fast, as would be expected on a LAN. I have not transferred files directly between a Mac and the PC, as OSX and Windows XP are not easy to mesh… I am running a 2ghz pentium 4, 512 megs of ram, with a 100mb ethernet card. I am running Windows XP, which is fully updated. ---
**Author:** ![LordVor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90ced4/32.png) [@LordVor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LordVor)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2003, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-network-sloth/175304/6 "2003-05-15T01:40:56Z")
You can use AOL instant messenger to transfer files between Mac and PC. It’s a good experiment. Shot in the dark, there’s a network setting called “half duplex” verses “full duplex” which I don’t fully understand, but you can get some bad things happening if your whole network doesn’t match… -lv ---
**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2003, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-network-sloth/175304/7 "2003-05-15T02:00:37Z")
Also - try _ping_ing a couple of established websites from each machine - ping [yahoo.com](http://yahoo.com) for example, see if there is any difference in the roundtrip times. Long shot - faulty network card? ---
**Author:** ![Phage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a4c791/32.png) [@Phage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phage)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2003, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-network-sloth/175304/8 "2003-05-15T06:18:18Z")
Well, I know that my card is ok because it worked fine on the T1 I just left. **LordVor** , any idea how to check for the duplex settings? ---
**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2003, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-network-sloth/175304/9 "2003-05-15T06:20:15Z")
Are you having problems with the Macs or the PCs? ---
**Author:** ![Phage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a4c791/32.png) [@Phage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phage)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2003, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-network-sloth/175304/10 "2003-05-15T06:27:15Z")
It is my PC that is having the trouble. The Macs work just fine, and are getting good speed. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2003, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-network-sloth/175304/11 "2003-05-15T17:30:54Z")
I don’t have the information handy on how to do it, but I just saw how someone here had a similar problem on their development subnet. The solution was to delete the afflicted machines’ TCP/IP tables: > [@](#): > > Larry suggested simply removing/re-adding TCP/IP on both our desktops and servers, thereby flushing the IP stack and removing whatever was clogging things up and like magic - it worked beautifully. transfer rates went from 10-15 mins on the 54MB file down to between 10-30 secs for that same file transfer depending on the machine. I’m not a networking geek, but someone else here should know exactly how to do this on PCs and Macs. ---
**Author:** ![Phage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a4c791/32.png) [@Phage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phage)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2003, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-network-sloth/175304/12 "2003-05-15T17:41:10Z")
That sounds like a good bet… Anyone have instructions? ---
**Author:** ![Bongmaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Bongmaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bongmaster)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2003, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-network-sloth/175304/13 "2003-05-15T19:14:11Z")
As to the duplex thing, IIRC most setting like that can be configured using the card’s software which may be running in your system tray. Its easy to check that at least to start. Something else to try, swap places with a Mac and see if your PC is still slow. If so we know its on your machine and can eliminate the network. Also try the speed test as DSLREPORTS and see exactly what the difference is. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2003, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-network-sloth/175304/14 "2003-05-15T19:54:51Z")
Have you contacted your ISP? A lot of times, the problem is on their end, even if when you call first tier tech support they TELL you its not. Is anyone else in your area having similar problems?What are you using at home, DSL or broadband? The only thing that the duplex setting would effect is if its out of sync…i.e. if your switch/hub is set to full duplex and your NIC is set to half. If they are the same (usually modern switches have an auto detect setting as default) it shouldn’t be a problem. You wouldn’t see spikey start/stop in the data stream reguardless of if you are using full or half duplex (unless they are out of sync like I said). The other thing is perception. A T1 works a lot different than a Broadband connection, especially under load. Broadband is not very elegant under load. So if you are using Broadband at home, and if there is heavy usage on your local network segment (the damn ISPs are notorious for over-selling their segments to maximize profits) that MIGHT be part of your problem too. If you are configured correctly on your firewall/router, and your windows is configured correctly (mostly both of these are no brainers with modern home use network access equipment) then my suggestion is to get on the horn with your ISP and bust their balls…its almost a sure bet its THEIR problem. Take it from an old network engineer…when in doubt, blame the ISP. 🙂 -XT