Slow download

system · 11 July 2013 06:04

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_PCNetSp · 11 July 2013 10:24

How is it networked … wireless ?

Which adapter/driver:

sudo lshw -C network

?

is it a USB adapter ?

If wireless, also post the output from:

iwconfig

and

iwlist scanning

system · 11 July 2013 14:08

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

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

Without sudo

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 ~ $


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 ~ $

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 · 11 July 2013 16:38

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.

system · 11 July 2013 17:02

Hi SeZo

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

Many thanks

Graeme

system · 11 July 2013 20:25

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 · 11 July 2013 21:31

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

  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_PCNetSp · 12 July 2013 00:07

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:

and get some figure.

Mine-

Download = 5.73 Mb/s
Upload = 0.832 Mb/s

At least this will rule in/out wireless.

–

system · 12 July 2013 05:10

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_PCNetSp · 12 July 2013 11:02

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:

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:

sudo modprobe -r rt2800pci

then

sudo modprobe rt2800pci nohwcrypt=1

and see if the speeds improve … also check the “TX excessive retries” goes down when you run:

iwconfig

after having used it for a while.

–

system · 12 July 2013 20:11

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

system · 12 July 2013 20:29

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

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_PCNetSp · 12 July 2013 20:50

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

system · 12 July 2013 20:57

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_PCNetSp · 12 July 2013 20:59

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.

Mark_Greaves_PCNetSp · 12 July 2013 21:08

meanwhile … have you got a USB (or different PCI) wireless adapter you could try

system · 12 July 2013 21:18

meanwhile .. have you got a USB (or different PCI) wireless adapter you could try

I have a belkin wireless g usb adaptor I’ll connect it and see how it compares

system · 12 July 2013 21:58

I ran with the usb adaptor for a while and to begin with it seemed faster then it began to slow down then started dropping connection, so I’ve reverted back to the pci and it’s pretty much like it was at the beginning, anyway I’ve had the day from hell and I’m off to bed to put this day to rest, I’ll follow any instructions you may care to give in the morning

Goodnight

Graeme

Mark_Greaves_PCNetSp · 13 July 2013 00:18

There’s something weird going on here.

Was it like this with your old router … or has this only started since you got the superhub ?

Have you tried restarting the superhub ?

system · 13 July 2013 05:12

Was it like this with your old router .. or has this only started since you got the superhub ?

Difficult question to answer because the problem began when the wifes Windows PC packed up and I set up an account on Chloes PC (Linux2) for her as a temporary measure until we could get her another PC,

Linux2 and the Windows PC worked through a KVM box so they shared the same keyboard mouse & monitor, Linux2 always had a solid network connection and was relatively fast so she was happy with that meantime.

then after a week or so for some unknown reason the network on Linux2 suddenly became painfully slow to the point where it became unusable, so I had an old PC in the attic that I was going to build another NAS with when I had the time, so I decided to set up that machine for her and installed Peppermint 4 (Linux4),

To solve the sudden slow connection problem with Linux2 I wiped the drive and installed Peppermint 4, although that sorted the slow connection speed it created the new problem of the connection constantly dropping out, I didn’t report that problem on here because at that time I knew the Virgin Superhub would be arriving soon and I wanted to see if that would sort the problem first, which as it turned out didn’t.

The Superhub arrived a few days later and although I only noticed the slow download speed of Linux4 after that, it doesn’t mean it wasn’t there before it because the problem isn’t instantly noticeable, general browsing and communication with the NAS was OK although perhaps a bit sluggish.

So answering your question is difficult because so many different events occurred around the same time making it difficult to nail the problem down to any one particular thing, but I’d be reluctant to blame the problem on the Superhub because throughout all this the connection on my PC (Linux3) has been solid and lightening fast, before and after the new Superhub was installed

I’m sorry for the long winded post, I’ve probably given you a lot of pointless information you didn’t really need to know, but I just wanted to give you as clear and complete a picture of the situation as I could

Many thanks

Graeme