New router needed?

[ChrisR]

We've had a Vigor2900G (Draytek?) in for a couple of years.
We're on Virgin Cable
At first it gave us wireless but that soon stopped and I was never able to get it going again. I never properly understood the instructions. Full of unexplained acronyms.

SO we have a desktop and a laptop both hard-wired to it. They can both see the net but not each other - we can't share files.

That hasn't been much of a problem, but now the internet speed on the laptop is really slow. Desktop is 9MB+, laptop 68k !

So, suggestions please on the way forward.??
I suppose I could slog through a load of boring bumph and try to get the Vigor doing better.
But if it would be easier to buy a modern plug-and-play replacement, that would appeal rather a lot.

 

[uzziel49]

You could get a new router, but since 1 pc is getting a decent speed and the other isn't then it suggests that the problem lies with the laptop. You could try re-installing the drivers for your ethernet card on the laptop, or rolling back to a previous driver. Sometimes if the driver has been updated (through Windows Update for instance) it can actually result in a degradation in performance. You could also try plugging the cable from the laptop into a different port on the router (if there's only 2 ports on the router then you could swap the cables over - if the desktop then gets a slow connection then it's the port on the router that's the cause). Also, have you checked the cables for any damage? A spot of basic troubleshooting can sometimes save a lot of time and money.

 

[joinerjohn]

Could be a faulty ethernet cable to the laptop.
I had similar with my g/friends comp. Both hers and mine hard wired via ethernet cables into the router. My speed was around 9 MB, hers went down to a few KB per decade .
Faulty ethernet cable,,,, Bought a new one from PC World.scam for £17.99. Worked a treat, then in Asda's the next day, saw a 3m ethernet cable for £3.99. Took me weeks to get over that (being Scots and that)

 

[Ricardus]

Step One - Confirm you really do have a problem with network speed to the laptop. Try a broadband speed test site such as http://www.speedtest.net/ on both Laptop and PC. Compare the performance of laptop and PC when doing some basic stuff like playing a movie, opening and editing a document etc. If the laptop is running like a sack of carp if might appear that downloads are slow.
Step Two - swap the network ports - PC on the laptop port and Laptop on the PC port. This will rule out a faulty port on the router.
Step Three - swap the cables between PC and Laptop to rule out a faulty cable.
Step Four - check the Network Card settings on your laptop. IP Protocol should probably be set to "Obtain Automatically". If you go into the Advanced settings you should a property of Speed &Duplex, the value of which should be AutoNegotiation. Try setting it to 100mb Full Duplex and test your network speed again. Then try it at 10mb Half Duplex. The results ought to be almost identical, but if 100mb Full Duplex stops working it would indicate a cable or network card fault, and as you've already checked the cable and Router it would indicate your Laptop.

Step Five - Having ruled out hardware by now, its time to start looking for viruses, malware, trojans, spyware and other nasty carp that might be sitting on your laptop using all your bandwidth. Update your AntiVirus/AntiSpyware software and run full scans.

Step Six - Download and install the latest driver for your laptop network card. Its best to get this from the manufacturers website, though Windows update is usually pretty decent it is possible (as others have said) for Windows to push a crappy driver to your system and make things worse.

Step Seven - You might want to call in the Pros from Dover, because next option would be reinstalling the OS rather than wasting more time burgering around with it.

 

[Mickymoody]

I rang cable, as I wasn't getting full speed, and they said, even though we upgraded you from 2mb to 10mb, you modem isn't capable of receiving that speed. So sent me a new modem (even thought my existing modem myteriously went up to 10mb!)..

Works fine, and got a refund.