Dlink Slow LAN Speeds

On 14 Nov 2006 15:06:02 -0800, snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com wrote in :

Why not just replace it with something better?

Because I don't want to spend the money? Because it's new and I shouldn't have to? Because I may have the same problem with the next router? Because I'd like to understand the problem rather then just throw more money at it like you would?

John I remember you from about 2 months ago. It saddens me to see you still trolling here spewing forth your utterly useless responses which are purely designed to prop up your fragile ego and advertise yourself. Stop wasting internet bandwidth & people's time.

Any useful (aka: not from John) suggestions would be appreciated...

snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com hath wroth:

(...)

How slow? I can sometimes guess the problem from the numbers.

My guess(tm) is that it's an NWAY negotiation failure at the DLink WBR-1310. One end or the other is probably doing half duplex, while the other is doing full duplex. That results in lots of errors and problem. Another guess is a bad ethernet cable. Despite making all my own cables and doing it for years, my eyesight is going down the drain, resulting in creative wiring problems. So, I bought a tester and found that far too many of my home-made cables are defective. I've also seen some bogus RJ-45 connectors that don't quite make a connection in the RJ-45 jacks.

Also, look for mashed gold wire contacts inside the RJ-45 LAN jacks on the WBR-1310.

The easiest way to troubleshoot this is to replace key parts and see if it makes a difference. Actually, I would wire an ethernet cross over cable and replace literally everything. Just a cable between the two computahs. Check the error rate with: start -> run -> cmd netstat -es Look for errors and get some benchmark numbers using IPerf:

If that works, then try an ordinary ethernet switch, juggle cables, and tinker until the culprit is identified by substitution. It may also be one of the computahs involved so introducing a 3rd computer (preferably known working) would be useful.

If it turns out that it's NWAY negotiation failure, you can sorta work around the problem by setting the speed and protocol of the ethernet port in the network port advanced properties settings.

On 15 Nov 2006 07:54:02 -0800, snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com wrote in :

What I actually do is not waste time trying to fix things that don't have to be fixed, and not waste money buying the cheapest thing I can find. When I buy a product that doesn't perform properly, I promptly return it, and get something else. Saves me considerable time and grief, and money as well.

It's a somewhat different story, of course, when a client is paying me to fix a particular problem, but even there it often makes more sense for the client to cut losses and get something else, since that's less expensive than paying me to troubleshoot the problem, for which there may well be no good solution other than replacement.

I'll often temporarily replace problematic hardware with my own better gear, and when clients see how much better it works, they tend to see the merits in switching rather than fighting. It's a win-win: happier clients and less grief for me.

But as always, YMMV, so go with whatever floats your boat.

Does acting like a jerk come naturally, or do you have to work at it? I simply asked an honest question, which didn't warrant that kind of nastiness.

On Wed, 15 Nov 2006 09:30:34 -0800, Jeff Liebermann wrote in :

The latter is much more likely IMHO. Or mangled connectors. I can't remember the last time I saw a real negotiation failure.

John Navas hath wroth:

I get NWAY (now called Autonegotiation) failures with 3C905 rev A and B cards, Netgear FS-108 switches, and some real weirdness on some cheap gigabit switches and cards that don't seem to conform to Cisco's interpretation of 802.3u. I suspect they're really counterfeit hardware. However, you're correct, it's a rare problem that I keep running into (when I look for it):

discussion on why it screws up at: