Slow download

[Emegra]

Hi Guys

I recently installed Peppermint 4 on an oldish PC for the missus as hers packed up, anyway this is her first time using Linux and she's very happy with it so far, the internet is working fine and network seems stable but the download speed is painfully slow, downloading from synaptic shows download speeds of less than a kb/s, even downloading a theme into Chromium took about 5 mins (no exageration) something that would normally be done in seconds.

this is an oldish PC we've set up untill we can get her a new one but it was an opportunity to introduce her to Linux as I couldn't be bothered to install Windows on it, it has a 1.2 ghz amd single core processor and 2.2 gb ram, other PC's on the network don't have this problem so it seems the problem is with this PC.

Any help or advice would be much appreciated


Many thanks



Graeme

[Mark Greaves (PCNetSpec)]

How is it networked .. wireless ?

Which adapter/driver:

Code: [Select]

sudo lshw -C network

?

is it a USB adapter ?

If wireless, also post the output from:

Code: [Select]

iwconfig

and

Code: [Select]

iwlist scanning

[Emegra]

How is it networked .. wireless ?

Yes wireless PCI card

For some odd reason it wont list hardware with sudo when I put in the command then password it comes up with PCI (sysfs) then shifts to SCSI and sits there endlessly I tried a few times and left it for a considerable time, as follow

Code: [Select]

pat@Linux4 ~ $ sudo lshw -C network
[sudo] password for pat: 
SCSI                      

Without sudo

Code: [Select]

pat@Linux4 ~ $ lshw -C network
WARNING: you should run this program as super-user.
  *-network:0             
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+
       vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
       physical id: 9
       bus info: pci@0000:00:09.0
       logical name: eth0
       version: 10
       serial: 00:e0:4c:39:22:53
       size: 10Mbit/s
       capacity: 100Mbit/s
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=8139too driverversion=0.9.28 duplex=half latency=32 link=no maxlatency=64 mingnt=32 multicast=yes port=MII speed=10Mbit/s
       resources: irq:17 ioport:ec00(size=256) memory:e6010000-e60100ff
  *-network:1
       description: Wireless interface
       product: RT3062 Wireless 802.11n 2T/2R
       vendor: Ralink corp.
       physical id: a
       bus info: pci@0000:00:0a.0
       logical name: wlan1
       version: 00
       serial: c8:3a:35:c0:6d:57
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=rt2800pci driverversion=3.8.0-26-generic firmware=0.34 ip=192.168.2.7 latency=32 link=yes maxlatency=4 mingnt=2 multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bgn
       resources: irq:18 memory:e6000000-e600ffff
WARNING: output may be incomplete or inaccurate, you should run this program as super-user.
pat@Linux4 ~ $ 

Code: [Select]

pat@Linux4 ~ $ iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

wlan1     IEEE 802.11bgn  ESSID:"Network Emegra"  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.437 GHz  Access Point: 74:44:01:FA:1A:B8   
          Bit Rate=14.4 Mb/s   Tx-Power=20 dBm   
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=45/70  Signal level=-65 dBm  
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:2243  Invalid misc:706   Missed beacon:0

pat@Linux4 ~ $ 

Code: [Select]

pat@Linux4 ~ $ iwlist scanning
lo        Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth0      Interface doesn't support scanning.

wlan1     Scan completed :
          Cell 01 - Address: 74:44:01:FA:1A:B8
                    Channel:6
                    Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
                    Quality=45/70  Signal level=-65 dBm  
                    Encryption key:on
                    ESSID:"Network Emegra"
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
                              24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Bit Rates:6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s
                    Mode:Master
                    Extra:tsf=0000007167ad9731
                    Extra: Last beacon: 18964ms ago
                    IE: Unknown: 000E4E6574776F726B20456D65677261
                    IE: Unknown: 010882848B962430486C
                    IE: Unknown: 030106
                    IE: Unknown: 2A0104
                    IE: Unknown: 2F0104
                    IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1
                        Group Cipher : TKIP
                        Pairwise Ciphers (2) : CCMP TKIP
                        Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
                    IE: Unknown: 32040C121860
                    IE: Unknown: 2D1AFC181BFFFF000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
                    IE: Unknown: 3D1606001F00000000000000000000000000000000000000
                    IE: Unknown: DD7E0050F204104A0001101044000102103B000103104700107D70BC53E951030A126C5E8F3C161C26102100074E657467656172102300074E6574676561721024000631323334353610420007303030303030311054000800060050F204000110110007564D4447343835100800022008103C0001011049000600372A000120
                    IE: Unknown: DD090010180204F02C0000
                    IE: WPA Version 1
                        Group Cipher : TKIP
                        Pairwise Ciphers (2) : CCMP TKIP
                        Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
                    IE: Unknown: DD180050F2020101800003A4000027A4000042435E0062322F00

pat@Linux4 ~ $ 

[SeZo]

Have you compared the speed of moving a fixed size file between your pc and nas?
This would test the local network speed. Compare this with other machines on your network.

If it is comparable then your wireless card is working OK except the internet access is questionable.

[Emegra]

Hi SeZo

Thanks for your input, I'm still at work but will try your suggestion later when I get home




Many thanks



Graeme

[Emegra]

Ok I carried out SeZo's suggestion involving 3 PC's Linux 2 (chloe), Linux3 (graeme), Linux4 (pat), Linux 4 is the PC in question

I attempted to copy a music album from the NAS to each PC with a file size of 535mb

Linux2 failed to copy as the network connection constantly drops out, which is an issue I was gonna deal with later

Linux3 copied 8% of the file in 3 minutes with 22 mins reported time remaining

Linux4 copied 3% of the file in 3 minutes with 1hr: 15mins reported time remaining



I also done a internet speed test comparison between Linux3 & Linux4

Linux3

Download:   303 kb/s
Upload:       340.5 kb/s

Linux4

Download: 140.5 kb/s
Upload:     296.6 kb/s

of the 3 machines Linux3 has the highest spec but I'm not sure if that's the reason for the faster download speed or if there is a network issue affecting the other 2 PC's

Many thanks

Graeme

[SeZo]

I do not have a solution for you, but number of things seems odd to me:

The folder download from your NAS could be hampered by slow writing disks. It would be better to copy something to the NAS instead.

The internet speed seems odd, Usually the download is faster than upload or is this a Virgin feature?
I get with WifI connection (in the garden):
Bit Rate=54 Mb/s   Tx-Power=20 dBm
http://www.broadbandspeedchecker.co.uk/

      Download speed   2246 Kbps
      Upload speed    350 Kbps

On the data you provided previously it shows
Tx excessive retries:2243  Invalid misc:706   Missed beacon:0

contrast that with mine (AA1)
Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:4   Missed beacon:0

According to Iwconfig man page:
Tx excessive retries
    Number of packets that the hardware failed to deliver. Most MAC protocols will retry the packet a number of times before giving up.

Could you please post the contents of /etc/network/interfaces file

[Mark Greaves (PCNetSpec)]

Those download speeds are atrocious,

As all the PC's seem to have a rubbish download speed, I think the first thing you need to do is take wireless out of the picture and see if it's a problem with the router/filters (if adsl)/line/ISP.

Can you connect a PC to your router with an ethernet cable .. then (preferably with all other kit including NAS switched off) go to SeZo's speedcheck link:
http://www.broadbandspeedchecker.co.uk/

and get some figure.

Mine-

Download = 5.73 Mb/s
Upload = 0.832 Mb/s
 
At least this will rule in/out wireless.

--

[Emegra]

Hi Mark
Thanks for you input

I have a laptop I can connect to the router via ethernet and I'll do that as soon as have time

The download & upload figures I posted were from this web app http://speedtest.appsmaster.co/ which seem vastly different from the link SeZo posted here's a comparison



Linux2

speedtest. appmaster: Download= 146.0 k/s    Upload=180.2 k/s

broadband speedchecker: Download=0.957 mb/s   Upload=2.72 mb/s


Linux3

speedtest. appmaster: Download= 523.6 k/s    Upload=340 k/s

broadband speedchecker: Download=6.75 mb/s   Upload=2.90 mb/s


Linux4

speedtest. appmaster: Download= 265.6 k/s    Upload=323.0 k/s

broadband speedchecker: Download=1.21 mb/s   Upload=2.06 mb/s

I don't understand why the results from the 2 apps are so vastly different ( unless I'm misinterperating the results) but 2 things are consistent,  one is that Linux3 is much faster than the other 2 PC's and that in all cases the upload speed is faster than the download speed which from what I'm led to believe is unusual

In addition to the slow download speed of Linux 2 & 4, Linux2 (Chloes PC) constantly drops internet connection and as she uses a few web app such as uptoten & istorybook etc, renders her PC pretty much unusable



Confused



Graeme

[Mark Greaves (PCNetSpec)]

Just goes to show that non of the speedtest sites figures should be trusted for anything more than comparison.

OK, I suspect the issue on Linux 2 and 4 are driver related (or possibly house position), they appear to be having issues receiving/understanding the signal from the router .. but the router is understanding them just fine.

So unless Linux 2 and 4 are further away from the router than Linux 3.....

So let's look into drivers.

Let's do this one at a time so things don't get confused .. above you posted the output from "lshw", so let's stick with this machine first.

That box is using the open source rt2800pci drivers, so let's try the one from staging instead .. from that machine can you post the output from:

Code: [Select]

lspci -vnn | grep -i net

[EDIT]

Be sure to do this on the one you posted the lshw output from above

Actually there's something you  can try on that machine before we look into the staging drivers .. disable hardware encryption in the rt2800pci driver.

run:

Code: [Select]

sudo modprobe -r rt2800pci

then

Code: [Select]

sudo modprobe rt2800pci nohwcrypt=1

and see if the speeds improve .. also check the "TX excessive retries" goes down when you run:

Code: [Select]

iwconfig

after having used it for a while.

--

[Emegra]

Code: [Select]

pat@Linux4 ~ $ lspci -vnn | grep -i net
00:09.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ [10ec:8139] (rev 10)
00:0a.0 Network controller [0280]: Ralink corp. RT3062 Wireless 802.11n 2T/2R [1814:3062]
pat@Linux4 ~ $ 

I ran the other commands you posted during which the network disconnected the reconnected again I assume that's what's supposed to happen ?

anyway I'll run it for a while and post back


Many thanks



Graeme

[Emegra]

ok I ran it for a while and tried the speed test from the same sites as before and it's now way slower so much so that I had to stop speedtest.appmaster as it didn't look like it would finish the test, with broadband speedchecker the download speed is down to .486.0 mb/s from 265.6 mb/s, I also tried running a you tube video because i was having trouble with stuttering but now it just freezes completely

Code: [Select]

pat@Linux4 ~ $ iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

wlan1     IEEE 802.11bgn  ESSID:"Network Emegra"  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.437 GHz  Access Point: 74:44:01:FA:1A:B8   
          Bit Rate=39 Mb/s   Tx-Power=20 dBm   
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=33/70  Signal level=-77 dBm  
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:684  Invalid misc:47   Missed beacon:0

pat@Linux4 ~ $ 

[Mark Greaves (PCNetSpec)]

OK, gimme a bit (helping someone else) and I'll look for the SAT drivers for your card and post instructions.

[Emegra]

OK, gimme a bit (helping someone else) and I'll look for the SAT drivers for your card and post instructions.

No problem take your time

[Mark Greaves (PCNetSpec)]

This may not be possible .. the only STA drivers are from 2010, and they don't want to compile in kernel 3.8

I'll see if I can figure out why.