Category Archives: ASUS

Slow Network or Internet Download and Read Speeds using Intel Network Adapter

You may find that Network and/or Internet speeds are very slow when using an Intel Network Adapter.

This appears to be an issue with the Speed and Duplex settings, after a Driver update or installation you may notice that the Speed and Duplex is set to 100 Mbps Full Duplex.

100 Mbps Full Duplex

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When running a LAN Speed Test it only reports a Read speed of 5 Mbps and Internet Speed tests also report terrible Download rates.

LANSpeedTestSlow

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Upon changing the Speed and Duplex setting to Auto Negotiation the issue is resolved

Auto Negotiation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LAN speed test and www.speedtest.net results after making this change both indicate the issue is resolved

LANSpeedTestFixed

speedtestresult

Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 and SBS 2008 with Service Pack 2 – You may find that applications stop responding, delays occur during resume from standby and/or files may become corrupt when the computer goes to sleep/hibernate and/or poor AMD processor/chipset performance

A variety of issue exist post service pack 2 with Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 and Small Business Server 2008, a variety of hotfixes have been released since 2008 to address these issues but you only need to apply the latest to ensure that all subsequent issues are addressed.

 

You should only need to apply the hotfix from KB 980080 to ensure that all the issues below are addressed as this contains the latest versions of the affected files, this can be obtained from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/980080

 

KB 980080 – Files may be corrupted when a computer that is running Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 enters the sleep mode or the hibernate mode

Info: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/980080

KB 977323 – After you change the SATA mode of disk devices to use the AHCI specification on a Windows Server 2008-based or Windows Vista-based computer, the computer or certain applications randomly stop responding for 60 seconds or longer

Info: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/977323

KB 974073 – An update for the Msahci.sys driver has been released for AMD chipsets

Info: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/974073

KB 971390 – A minor delay occurs when Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 resumes from sleep if the hard disk is attached to a secondary ATA port

Info: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971390

Windows will not boot with a Stop Error 0x0000007B

A very common BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) is a STOP error 0x0000007B and may indicate either a hardware, software or driver issue.

Please see the great troubleshooting guide put together by Tim Fisher on about.com

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/findbyerrormessage/a/stop0x0000007b.htm

One thing that Tim does not mention is that sometimes it is necessary to slipstream the AHCI SATA Controller Drivers into your Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 installation media.  This can easily be done by downloading and using nLite to slipstream drivers and updates into your Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 CD Media, you can get the application from http://www.nliteos.com/

Common AHCI Sata Drivers include:

Intel – http://downloadcenter.intel.com (Look under Chipset, Chipset Software and then Intel Rapid Storage Technology.  You will need the F6 Drivers for either x86 or x64 depending on you using 32bit or 64bit windows)

Nvidia – http://www.nvidia.co.uk/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-uk or http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

AMD/ATI – http://support.amd.com/us/Pages/AMDSupportHub.aspx

Verify the Health and Operation of your Intel® Processor with the Intel® Processor Diagnostic Tool

A 32 and 64 bit version of the IPDT or Intel Processor Diagnostic Tool can be downloaded from here: http://www.intel.com/support/processors/sb/CS-031726.htm

You can also see a video on how to use it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpPOqh_Bq78

You can use the diagnostic tool to test the various features of your Intel Processor and perform a stress test to ensure that it is operating in a  stable manner.