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I am trying to transfer files large video files for my Plex server between two Windows 7 machines and it is very slow. Both are wired in, and have gigabit capabilities. I am getting 12.5 Mb/s over homegroup connection and about ?? Mb/s over workgroup connection. My Server (Windows 7 machine, repurposed) is wired into my router. From my router I go to a switch then into my laptop. I know I can only go as fast as my hard drive can go. I should be getting at least 80Mb/s - 120Mb/s. Here are the makes and models of my NIC cards, switch and router. I have switched both ethernet controllers to 1gb full duplex but I still have slow transfers. I have tried going from computer to router to server, and tried going from computer to switch to server. Nothing I do makes a difference. I have tried different computers also.
Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
Intel Gigabit CT PCI-E Network Adapter
Netgear GS608 Switch
Netgear Genie WNDR3800CH Router
Ryan
Posted 2016-04-08T23:54:12.907
Reputation: 1
Do the router and switch support gigabit?? – Moab – 2016-04-08T23:55:52.170
I can't tell when you're talking about bits and when you're talking about Bytes. Can you go back and edit your question to have a capital B whenever you mean Bytes? – Spiff – 2016-04-08T23:59:00.137
@Moab Yes they do support gigabit – Ryan – 2016-04-09T00:02:14.117
Also, have you checked to make sure you're actually negotiating 1gbps? I know you have it enabled, but do your cards and switches report actually negotiating gigabit, or are they falling back to 100Mbit. Have you checked your cable pinouts and twisted pairings? Screwing up a twisted pair can render a cable unsuitable for gigabit. – Spiff – 2016-04-09T00:03:11.457
@Spiff I have tried different cables. How do i check if cards and switch are actually negotiating it? – Ryan – 2016-04-09T00:05:13.177
@DavidPostill I read the post a little while ago. That one seems to be stuck getting slow speeds due to only being able to keep up with what their hard drive can do. I would love to have their speed problems lol. I would be happy with 80MB/s or so. I am getting only around 12. – Ryan – 2016-04-09T00:09:06.053
@Ryan Are you sure you don't have a bunch of old 2-pair (4-conductor) 10/100 cables? Gigabit Ethernet requires all 4 pairs (all 8 conductors), and requires specific pairs to be twisted together. As for checking what was negotiated, switches usually have different per-port LEDs or different colored LEDs or flashing patterns to tell you whether the link on each port is 100 or gigabit. I'm not a Windows guy, but surely Windows's networking UI has some way to tell you what link speed was negotiated. – Spiff – 2016-04-09T00:13:35.683
@Ryan By the way, what protocol are you using to transfer the files? SMB? If you run
iperf(open source simple command-line performance test tool) between the two machines, what speed does it get? What window size does it default to? If you runping -s 1472 -c 100 …, what's the average RTT (ping time) and packet loss rate? – Spiff – 2016-04-09T00:25:27.447Are you copying and pasting these files, or using plex to transfer the files. If plex is trying to transcode the video files speed are going to be much sloower. However, the interesting thing is 100mbit/8 = 12.5mb/s which is exactly what your getting. which would suggest something in your network is not gigabit either a bad cable or one of your routers in 100mbps mode, or some other misconfiguration. – cybernard – 2016-04-09T00:44:12.157
@Spiff nah the cables are cat5e straight through cables. I went to 192.168.1.1 and checked the ports on the router. Server going to LAN is 1000M/Full. Switch going to router is 1000M/Full. When I unplugged the server though and plugged it into my laptop it dropped to 100M/Full. So atleast now I know the problem is my laptop but I am not sure why. The settings on the adapter is for 1000M/Full. I am not sure why it is reverting to 100M. – Ryan – 2016-04-09T01:06:25.193
@cybernard I am copying and pasting the files. The processor on my laptop is a lot better than on my server so i convert the files with handbrake on my laptop since it is a lot faster then i transfer to the server. I just found out though that for some reason my network adapter on my laptop is reverting back to 100M/Full. It is set for 1000M so I am not sure why it is going back to 100. – Ryan – 2016-04-09T01:09:11.567
A possibility exists that your network cable is faulty and the network card detects it and sets you back. Maybe update your network card drivers. Either that or the device it connects to is forcing it to down throttle. – cybernard – 2016-04-09T01:14:05.150
I think I found the answer. under Network Activity it showed 100% network utilization at 92Mbps. I read that Realtek nic card is cpu limited so once my cpu performance hits 100% then my network performance is capped. So to fix the issue I would think would be to upgrade my cpu? What do you guys think? Also thank you for all of your input. It has really been helpful. – Ryan – 2016-04-09T01:19:01.273
@Ryan, If your network connection is 100Mbit (probably because of a cabling problem), then 92Mbps is basically 100% utilization (protocol overhead accounts for the last few %). I think you have a cabling problem, but one NIC is just more sensitive to the problem than the other. BTW, you don't want a truly straight-through cable, you want pins 3&6 to be a twisted pair, and you want pins 4&5 to be a twisted pair (and of course 1&2 and 7&8 are pairs, just like they would be in a true straight-through cable). – Spiff – 2016-04-09T04:21:50.907
@Ryan Please read Can I answer my own question?. You might want to convert your comment into an answer ;)
– DavidPostill – 2016-04-09T11:01:49.837