A little PC advice....

[dfariswheel]

I'm having an odd problem with my Win 7 PC.

It randomly drops my internet connection down to so slow it's unusable. It doesn't appear to be totally off line, just super slow and unusable.
If I reboot, it connects properly.
This happens totally random, it may happen 3-4 times in a day, or not for several days.

My internet connection has been checked twice by my provider, so it looks like it's my PC.
My buddy is an electrical engineer in another city and he says it's a software problem.

I have no idea how to troubleshoot this, and I was wondering if I restored my PC to the original condition and reloaded everything if that might solve it.
Since I run a bare bones system with very little software and I keep all files backed up on DVD's, reloading and restoring everything isn't a big problem.
I'd just rather not have to do this unless it might fix the problem.

Any advice?????

[5.56NATO]

I recently had hdd(s) go fail on a win7 system and reloaded after a format. I too had several instances of innernet and program freezes, etc that had been building for a few weeks. So after determining disks were on their way out it was time to get new disks and a fresh os install. The mem/mobo/psu/cpu were tested with several different memory test apps such as the one built in to windows, and memtest86 found at this link as a bootable cd;
https://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

Best part is the win7 install media had every driver save for the gpu, after installing the gpu driver it runs far better than the previous install.

Then looked for any updates that were desirable and found these primary win7 updates;
windows-7-sp1-ru-ar-jp-cn-it-de-fr-pt-en-es.exe
Windows6.1-KB3020369-x86.msu
windows6.1-kb3125574-v4-x86_ba1ff5537312561795cc04db0b02fbb0a74b2cbd.msu
Install these in the order they are above.
Google them and get them from M$ to be sure you get clean code. Your system might be 64bit, mine is 32bit so the updates kbxxxxxx will be the same but for a 64b os and won't have x86 in the name.

It runs noticeably faster than it has in years, while there was a loss of disks, a fresh os improved performance.

[imanaknut]

having similar issues with suddenly slow internet and pages slow to load. Wonder if Microsoft put some bug into Win7 to force us to update? Funny that they said they will no longer support Win7 yet Microsoft Edge showed up and is constantly updated. Don't have the gonads to see if Edge works better than Google Chrome.

[5.56NATO]

having similar issues with suddenly slow internet and pages slow to load. Wonder if Microsoft put some bug into Win7 to force us to update? Funny that they said they will no longer support Win7 yet Microsoft Edge showed up and is constantly updated. Don't have the gonads to see if Edge works better than Google Chrome.

Mozilla works fine but uses more mem. I run edge too but it has its own quirks, like sometimes the net seems to freeze.

[dfariswheel]

I'm not having program freezes or slowdowns..... only the internet connection slows almost to a halt, and does so totally at random.

It's been many years (1980's) since I was involved in any kind of software troubleshooting and I have no idea what to do with modern systems.

I'm running Win 7 and Brave browser.

[1 Patriot-of-many]

I'm not having program freezes or slowdowns..... only the internet connection slows almost to a halt, and does so totally at random.

It's been many years (1980's) since I was involved in any kind of software troubleshooting and I have no idea what to do with modern systems.

I'm running Win 7 and Brave browser.

I would start by trying another browser before I reinstalled, maybe it's just that browser? Run a virus scan of course, I'm assuming you already have though.

[Oswald Bastable]

I'm not having program freezes or slowdowns..... only the internet connection slows almost to a halt, and does so totally at random.

It's been many years (1980's) since I was involved in any kind of software troubleshooting and I have no idea what to do with modern systems.

I'm running Win 7 and Brave browser.

Who's your provider? They've been known to lie about whether the problem is on your end or theirs...

Also, what's your setup? Modem and wireless router, combined modem/router, dsl/cable, connected via ethernet or wireless?

Could be something as simple as an ethernet cable or wireless card that needs to be replaced. Router problems can also cause what you're experiencing if your router is on its way to going tets up.

1Pat...Brave is a newer browser, still under development, trying to be the duckduckgo of browsing, so to speak, in helping to protect your search/click habits being tracked across the interwebz. I've been testing it for a while now...that's not the problem. But check it out: https://brave.com

[5.56NATO]

For strictly networking issues a tracert app can be helpful.
https://visualtraceroute.net/
https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/det...raceroute.html

With tracert or one of the apps linked above you would select any given ip address (8.8.8.8 is often used since it's google) to check net performance, the app sends pings from your pc to the ip address and tallies the time taken between each hop in the net, indicating where the/a slowdown is taking place. This info you then send to your isp if it is in their domain, they should then address it.

[dfariswheel]

I've been using Brave for several years, never any problems.

I've got a wireless connection to the Spectrum router and modem, again, never any problems for years.
The Spectrum techs checked the router and replaced the modem, and ran a good check on everything.
They replaced the modem because my wife insisted !!!!
They came out twice because we just figured a sudden problem was on their end, but they found nothing.

My buddy is an electrical engineer and he said it sounded like software. He had a similar problem and it was malware.
I have Spectrum Security and it checks for malware.
Just in case I downloaded Avast and ran a scan....nothing found.

I guess this leaves the possibility of a PC hardware problem.

When I got the PC it had a tiny plug in "dongle"?? plugged into a USB port in the back that gave me a wireless connection to the router.
I was moving the PC to clean it last year and bumped it, the little plug was damaged and I had to remove it.
So I plugged in the Cisco corded antenna and it's been good ever since.

So, do I need to buy a new "dongle" plug in, or do I need to buy a new card to plug inside the PC?

[Oswald Bastable]

If it was last year that the dongle was bumped, and it's recent for the slowdowns, it's not the dongle. Rule #1 of problem solving...if something's changed then something's changed.

Are the router and modem one and the same, or separate?

Try running a cat cable directly from the computer to the modem (if it's separate from the router) or to the router if they are combined. Does the problem persist? If the problem persists it is not related to your wireless connection, you can rule out the wireless portion of your router or router/modem connection.

If you have a separate router and modem, connect that same Cat cable to the router (with the router connected to the modem of course). Does the problem persist?

[dfariswheel]

The modem and router are separate and both are from the provider.

I'll have to buy a long cable because the PC and the router are at least 30 feet away.
However, I've had PC's working at that distance for at least 20 years with no connection issues.

I was hoping for a simpler solution, like returning the PC to the factory settings and reloading everything.
The problem with having a professional look at it is that it's a very intermittent problem, and I'd have to take the PC to a store, where the problem may not appear.
This is like going to the doctors office.... it doesn't hurt there.

The problem is VERY intermittent and it may go a week and not happen, or can happen 2-3 times in one day.

When the problem first appeared I attempted to run a upload-download speed check using the Spectrum system.
It would give excellent speeds, then when it went out it was able to connect to the Spectrum web site, but would be unable to run the test.
This was of no help, other then that there was a problem.
I assumed it was Spectrum, but two different techs came out and found nothing wrong.

[Oswald Bastable]

Ahhh...Spectrum...one of the great liars among service providers.

So a complete reinstall is easier than buying a $20 cable to troubleshoot? And if the problem persists after the reinstall?

Another question...do you have only the one computer? Or does the problem present for all computers in the house? If so, it's not your computer and it's not software related...it's hardware (modem/router) or provider...

Since the modem has been replaced (and if the problem affects more than one computer) I would suspect the router or Spectrum.

[dfariswheel]

I'll dig out an old portable and run it to see if the problem repeats.

I'll report back in a few days.

Thanks to all for the help and advice

[JTHunter]

Reading all your posts makes me wonder when this might hit me. This is a W7 system (64) that I have been using for over 10 years. I still get "security updates" from MS but that is all. The only problem I have noticed is with my 2-Wire modem and that may be because I am so far from the phone company's "central office" (I'm on DSL). Quite frequently after rainstorms, the lights on the modem indicate that it has lost its connection to the internet. There are even time when it will lose the DSL signal as well as the internet.
But these are the modem's and AT&T's problem, not the computer's.

[dfariswheel]

The strangeness continues.
My EE buddy suggested plugging the internet wireless adapter into another USB port. I did so.

I set up my wife's old laptop, a Win 7 right next to my desktop.
I got a drop off in connection on the desktop this morning and immediately checked the laptop....... it was connected with no problems.

So, apparently not a problem with Spectrum or the router or modem .
Looks like it's something with the desktop.
I have no idea.

Trouble shooting is going to be a bear because it's so intermittent.

[Oswald Bastable]

Try removing the wireless card software, reboot, reinstall it, then reboot again. Be sure to have the software to reinstall available, before uninstalling it, of course.

[dfariswheel]

Done.
I'll see how it does.

Thanks for the help.

[Oswald Bastable]

Done.
I'll see how it does.

Thanks for the help.

DFW...it's been a few days...did reinstalling the wireless card drivers help at all?

[dfariswheel]

Maybe.........

It was fine until this morning when it may have done it again.
My Electrical engineer buddy told me last night that I should unplug the wireless connection, turn the PC all the way off (complete power off), reinstall the device and turn it off again.
He says that doing a soft boot or restart may not purge everything.

So I did that today after the possible fault.

My Cisco wireless adapter has firmware...... when you plug it into a USB port it starts the setup.

Again, we'll see.

Thanks for all the advice.