Windows 8.1 Slow Gigabit Networking

Question

I think I'm going mad, my recently reformatted computer (from Windows 7 64bit to Windows 8.1 64bit) will no longer transfer any files to my NAS at more than a 100mbit connection speed.

Whilst on W7 the computer could connect to my NAS and transfer files at 30-50 MB/s (300-500 mbit/s), which was perfect. However now it's on Windows 8.1, the file transfer speed is exactly 11.3 MB/s all the time (100ish mbit/s). I must stress that absolutely NOTHING had physically changed on my network on the day of the reformat and install of Windows 8.1, but you'll see below that I've subsequently replaced a few things to try and find the bottleneck, to no avail!

My current network looks like this:

Asus RT-N66U -> TP-Link Gigabit Switch -> NAS/Computers/Xbox/Raspberry Pi (with Cat6 cables between everything).

My Specs:

• Intel Core i5 2500k (stock clocks)
• 16gb DDR3 Ram
• 256gb SSD and a few multi-TB hard drives.
• MSI P67A-GD53 motherboard
• MSI 560ti Twin Frozr II (stock clocks)
• Windows 8.1 64bit
• Current Network Driver Version: Realtek 8.20.815.2013

List of things that thus far have had no affect:

• Verified nothing is/was using the network besides the NAS and my computer.

• Boot into safemode and reinstalled all drivers one at a time (chipset, nic, gfx, sound etc..). Boot -> Uninstall -> Reboot -> Install -> Reboot (for each driver)

• Verified (and replaced) the CAT6 between each device

• Replaced the TP-Link Gigabit Switch with a new one (had it lying around)

• Configured the cononection within windows and tweaked all the following options (nothing made it better or worse - current settings are in brackets next to each option - after changing each option I would restart the network connection and transfer the same 3gb file from my SSD to the NAS).

  • APR Offload (Enabled)
  • Auto Disable Gigabit (Disabled)
  • Energy Efficient Ethernet (Disabled)
  • Flow Control (Rx & Tx Enabled)
  • Green Ethernet (Disabled)
  • Interrupt Moderation (Enabled)
  • IPv4 Checksum Offload (Rx & Tx Enabled)
  • Jumbo Frame (Disabled)
  • Large Send Offload v2 IPv4 (Enabled)
  • Large Send Offload v2 IPv6 (Enabled)
  • Maximum Number of RSS Queues (4 Queues)
  • NS Offload (Enabled)
  • Priority & VLAN (Priority & VLAN Enabled)
  • Receive Buffers (512)
  • Receive Side Scaling (Enabled)
  • Shutdown Wake-On-Lan (Disabled)
  • Speed & Duplex (1.0 Gbps Full Duplex)
  • TCP Checksum Offload IPv4 (Rx & Tx Enabled)
  • TCP Checksum Offload IPv6 (Rx & Tx Enabled)
  • Transmit Buffers (128)
  • UDP Checksum Offload IPv4 (Rx & Tx Enabled)
  • UDP Checksum Offload IPv6 (Rx & Tx Enabled)
  • Wake on Magic Packet (Enabled)
  • Wake on pattern match (Enabled)
  • WOL & Shutdown Link Speed (10 Mbps)

I'm at a loss, I don't know what to do next besides reinstalling Windows 7 again (I'm not averse to this, but I'd rather adopt Windows 8). Does anyone have any final suggestions?

If I have forgot to provide any details, let me know.

Solution

I recently had a similar problem with my configuration: Upgraded from Windows 7 to 8.1 with the following new hardware:

• Asus 990fx Sabertooth (latest drivers)
• AMD 8350 CPU Buffalo
• Terastation live NAS box computer<-->NAS connected via a 100/1000 5 port unmanaged switch

I was getting periodic timeouts to the NAS. When I set a continuous ping from the computer to the NAS it would drops pings every few seconds. I suspect I have a similar NIC configuration to yours. I disabled many of the parameters you listed above but the timeouts only disappeared after I updated the Flow Control (Rx & Tx to DISABLED)

BTW I'm not sure many of those offload functions are useful and I've seen from a work perspective them causing problems on a network. The problem lies in the OS not cleanly offloading the respective functions when returning/going to sleep. Anyway, hope this helps. Dave

Comments

[cybernard]

Did you re-install the old/existing version of your drivers or did you go to the manufacturers website and get the new version?

[user1221488]

The latter mate.

[Nullpointer42]

Does the connection actually show as a gigabit connection at the switch? For both the NAS and the Win8.1 system?

[user1221488]

Yes. Also, plugging in another gigabit capable device (another PC) into the cable that goes to my Win 8.1 PC works fully and has the faster gigabit speeds, which rules out any fault with the network, and instead means the problem lies only on the Windows 8.1 OS, I think.

[Nullpointer42]

I'm not sure how you're verifying the connection at the switch - at this point, it sounds like the problem could be either the OS/driver or the actual NIC.

[user1221488]

Hey mate. The switch is fine from what I can tell, I tested it using another computer (windows 7) to the same NAS and I'm getting gigabit speeds. However when I try with my Win 8.1 pc I get 100mbit speeds, despite it achieving gigabit speeds when it used to be in Win 7. I wonder if I could rule out NIC problems by using an ubuntu live CD?

[immortal squish]

Although I can't help your issue, let me just recommend that you set your Speed & Duplex back to "Negotiate" or "Automatic", as Gigabit Ethernet uses that initial negotiate to set some important connection attributes.

[Psycogeek]

User Bernard said "dmol_irl, Flow Control (Rx & Tx to DISABLED) finally fixed it. It seems that there are numerous possible causes in different systems. Thank you for your solution! "