NIC help

[whatthe?]

All. I have been having ethernet issues for some time now. Recently it got so bad I could not finish a simple speed test online. I had the cable company come out and check things out. One by one, they narrowed everything out except for my computer. They used my internet - and did a speed test - with their laptops and it worked just fine. I dusted off my older laptop and it works just fine as well. My older laptop uses wireless and the cable company laptops used a wired connection. There were no changes between them. When I went back to the desktop PC that is having problems, I reinstalled drivers for the onboard NIC, and that did not solve the problem. I purchased an ethernet card from newegg (Intel Gigabit CT Desktop Adapter). That did not solve the problem either. The computer that is having problems came with a wireless card as well as the onboard NIC. Both of them experience the same issues. I cannot use either wired internet or wireless internet on my desktop, with very much luck. So in summary:

1. The desktop PC has some problem with the internet such that I can barely access any webpages. It feels like I get bursts of activity, followed by times of silence and then more bursts. It's like a 56k dial up...
2. Neither the wireless card or on board NIC work.
3. A replacement wired card, in place of the wireless card, will not work either, even though it is new.

What else is in the computer that I can fix? The BIOS is up to date according to HP. The computer itself is the HP Pavilion Elite e9220y. I installed the latest Intel drivers for the new NIC card, but no luck. I'd really rather not replace the motherboard, so if I can find out what the problem is or what I need to buy and replace, that would be very helpful. Thanks in advance.

[JorgeM]

Sorry for the stupid question, but I must ask.... This desktop computer... You mentioned that neither the wireless nor wired card worked as expected.. Let's focus on the wired ethernet card. Did you try another cable? Did you try to plug this computer with another cable directly into the internet router to bypass any other cabling you have in your home?

Asuming that you answered yes to the above and still not resolved, my next suggestion is to peform a clean install of Windows to ensure its not some funky issue with the OS that a driver installation doesnt resolve.

If a clean install doesnt resolve and the above suggestions with regard to cabling doesnt help either, the next place to focus is the mainboard. There is nothing else to look at at this point. By now you have cleared that your internet is fine since other computers work as expected. Changed out cabling, NICs, and OS.

[whatthe?]

Yeah, sorry I know it's a little confusing.

1. When the cable company arrived, we swapped out everything. The ethernet cables were swapped out. The cable company inspected their own lines up to the modem, and the signal was strong with very few errors. The coax cables were swapped as well. The modem is very new by the way. After the modem a wired/wireless router is normally connected, but that was taken out to rule it out. (I have placed it back in, and no different results occur with the wireless card vs. the onboard NIC). With only the modem in the loop, my computer does not perform well. The laptop I own does just fine (wirelessly after the router is placed back into the loop) and the laptop the cable company brought with them worked just fine (wired into the modem).

2. I'll use an install disk of Ubuntu and boot from the disk, then try the internet through the disk to see if it's a software issue. If the internet is still slow after trying Ubuntu, then we'll know it's not an operating system problem.

3. It appears to me that since neither the onboard NIC, as well as the wireless card or new NIC card, work very well in the computer, it must be something downstream in the PC. What could that be? Any ideas??

I'll get back to you with the OS test. Thanks.

[whatthe?]

Okay I just burned a new Ubuntu image to a CD, and booted the desktop computer off of the Ubuntu CD. To my amazement, the internet speed tests all come out very well using the Ubuntu CD!! And this isn't just one speed test, it's many different speed tests including the one from my cable company. The Desktop has not had its hard drive formatted and a fresh install put on in a couple of years. I guess that will be my next step, and I'll post later what the results turn out to be. I don't understand how the operating system has anything to do with this, but I'm glad you pointed me in the right direction. Thanks.

[JorgeM]

Yeah, unfortunately, the OS seems to get "complicated" with issues that are not easily resolved or explained. Sometimes, its just easier to format and reinstall. I am sure that your computer will most likely be blazing fast when you reinstall the OS and your NIC issues will disappear.

post back the results, interested in what happens.

[whatthe?]

Okay I finally have the computer back up and running. The internet is blazing fast (20MB download, 8-9MB upload), just like it once was. Thanks for the help. This can be considered solved.

[JorgeM]

Good to hear.