I've got a Dell 4300S series desktop running WinXP and a Dell Inspiron 1501 laptop. I just bought a NETGEAR wirelss router so that I can use the laptop in different rooms around the house, I am not using wireless to run the desktop. Ever since I hooked everything is moving so slow. It's slower than dial up!! I've tried all the normal things, disk cleanup, defrag - I even tried re-setting the modem thinking that might be the problem but nothing works!!
How can I speed things up? Please help me before I throw the whole works out the window !
Hi,
The probelm that you have mentioned is very common. The first thing that you need to check if the security is enabled on your wireless router or not. Do you have to enter any passkey when you try to connect the notebook wirelessley? If not then the security is not enabled and there is every possibility that there are other system's on your network who are eating up your bandwith. Because if security is not enabled then anyone who is in that wireless range can connect his system to your network and access internet on your cost! This causes your system to run slow because there are other system's accesing your internet connection at the same time.
So get the security enabled and then check the performance.
The second issue could be the router, reset the router ( call the router company and they will help you with that) and if that dosen't work then you will have to update the firmware of the router.
There could be a problem with the system's itself. The best thing to check if the system's is to individually connect the system to the network cable ( remove the router from the picture) and then check their performance one by one.
If the system's work fine when they are directly connected to the network cable then the issue is definately with router and security.
For any further help and tips, feel free to post and I will be glad to answer them.
Any BTW, if you plan to throw the PC then contact me!!
Are both of the computers internet connection slow?
Did you turn on internet connection sharing (you don't want this)
What equiptment do you have? If you have DSL, they sometimes they give you a modem/router in one device.
What does the connection properties/signal on the wireless one say? Good, poor, 54Mbps, 11Mbps?
I've got cable/DSL.
Yes, both are slow, the desktop is not set-up as wireless and there is a connection thru the router to my son's desktop upstairs, which is also not wireless. His is not as slow as my desktop or wirelss laptop, but it is slow.
Not sure if internet connection sharing is turned on - where do I check that?
I have comcast cab.e
My connection properties are fair.
Thanks a lot!! I really appreciate any help.
I know just enough about computers to be dangerous!!
Hi,
The probelm that you have mentioned is very common. The first thing that you need to check if the security is enabled on your wireless router or not. Do you have to enter any passkey when you try to connect the notebook wirelessley? I think I had to enter a passkey when I initially set-up the wirelss laptop. That was a month or so ago, I'm just not sure.
If not then the security is not enabled and there is every possibility that there are other system's on your network who are eating up your bandwith. Because if security is not enabled then anyone who is in that wireless range can connect his system to your network and access internet on your cost! I see at the bottom of the screen that the Protected Mode is OFF.
This causes your system to run slow because there are other system's accesing your internet connection at the same time.
So get the security enabled and then check the performance.
The second issue could be the router, reset the router ( call the router company and they will help you with that) and if that dosen't work then you will have to update the firmware of the router. I've reset the router in the past. Isn't that where I just unplug the modem and router for a minute and then plug them in again? I know that resets the IP address, is that what you mean?
There could be a problem with the system's itself. The best thing to check if the system's is to individually connect the system to the network cable ( remove the router from the picture) and then check their performance one by one. I'm definitely going to try that later today when I have a little more time. I'll let you know about that one. I should tell you that I download torrents for music. WITH the router hooked up I can download but I can't upload files to share them. I have just hooked up the modem to see if that helps with my uploading and it does. Does that help you know the answer to this one?
If the system's work fine when they are directly connected to the network cable then the issue is definately with router and security.
For any further help and tips, feel free to post and I will be glad to answer them.
Any BTW, if you plan to throw the PC then contact me!!
Thanks! I won't throw it out just yet But I'll keep you in mind!
Hi,
Resetting the router means to set the router back to its factory settings, there is a reset button at the rear of the router. Do not try it yourlself. Call the router company and ask them to walk you through the process. Also tell them that you need to update the firmware of the router. Updating the firmware improves the performance of the device. Do mention that you need to enable the security on the router. Once the security is enabled then you can be sure that no one else is using your wireless network.
This should make a lot of difference if the problem lies with the networking part, I mean the router and the security etc.
If still the problem persists then we need to check all the system's for any virus or spyware infection and probably would need to do a clean up job and adjust some settings to improve the performance of the system's. I will tell you how to do that in the next post.
I am a former Dell technicall support specialist and all I want to say that this is a very common issue and very easy to fix. We just to follow a systematic approach to isolate the root cause.
Good Luck!!
The previous suggestions are good.
Also turn off 2 of the three, and see if that makes a difference. Also turn off 2 of the three and see if there is an improvement. Especially with your son's. If he is running programs, like a torrent client, it may eat up almost all of your available bandwidth. Also if he downloads free or free trial software, it's likely there is some spyware that may be slowing you down also.
Hi,
Resetting the router means to set the router back to its factory settings, there is a reset button at the rear of the router. Do not try it yourlself. Call the router company and ask them to walk you through the process. Also tell them that you need to update the firmware of the router. Updating the firmware improves the performance of the device. Do mention that you need to enable the security on the router. I didn't talk to router tech support but, the router is resest and there was no firmware update right now.
Once the security is enabled then you can be sure that no one else is using your wireless network. The security for the router is on
This should make a lot of difference if the problem lies with the networking part, I mean the router and the security etc.
If still the problem persists then we need to check all the system's for any virus or spyware infection and probably would need to do a clean up job and adjust some settings to improve the performance of the system's. I will tell you how to do that in the next post. I think this is what I need to try at this point.
I am a former Dell technicall support specialist and all I want to say that this is a very common issue and very easy to fix. We just to follow a systematic approach to isolate the root cause.
Good Luck!!
The previous suggestions are good.
Also turn off 2 of the three, and see if that makes a difference. Also turn off 2 of the three and see if there is an improvement. Especially with your son's. If he is running programs, like a torrent client, it may eat up almost all of your available bandwidth. It's not my son running torrent clients, it's me. But I haven't got anything running right now. HOWEVER, when I do download something it won't upload to share. Tells me there's a firewall. I turn off all the firewalls and still can't upload. I have to disconnect the wireless router to allow for that.
Also if he downloads free or free trial software, it's likely there is some spyware that may be slowing you down also. I know he does this, I'll run a spyware program on his, I know he doesn't think that's an issue.
To upload the torrents you need to forward a port on your router(look at your help documenstation for your torrent client). For the port forward to work after a reboot, you should also set a static IP on the machine running the torrent client.
You would also need to allow traffic on that port through your firewall.
This will keep you protected while allowing torrent traffic.
I've found the link to the speed test I posted very accurate, I would encourage trying it.
I'm throwing it out the window!!
!
But I'll keep you in mind!
