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[snadge]

Im having serious issues with my laptop and wifi - im using uTorrent to download files and it maxes out my connection just fine at 1.8MB/s .. but after 10-15 seconds at 1.8MB/s it drops to 20-30k for a short period then goes back up to 1.8MB/s for 10-15 seconds...during this "low speed" period my internet is just about non-responsive, i also get 502 errors from mediafire when trying to upload to them too.. especially larger files as they are uploading for longer..

I dont know if its my wifi card or uTorrent too blame, i have been having BSOD's caused by athrx.sys which is the wifi driver, i noticed it was running on microsoft default driver so I upgraded it via the update button in devmgnt, it was then i remembered that I downgraded back to microsoft driver to stop this from happening (speed spikes - although i recall them happening last night on that driver too)

the wifi card is Atheros AR5005G

Ive noticed on mine and other peoples laptops with windows 7 installed and Atheros wifi cards that there are lot of DPC/IR errors when downloading at high speeds and even more when copying files in/out to USB drives - if I copy a file out to USB drive i get 15-20% CPU usage just on DPC/IR errors, if I download a file at 1.8MB/s and copy a large file to usb hard-drive I get DPC/IR usage of up to 40% of total CPU power... this is on a dual-core 1.8Ghz CPU (you can only see DPC/IR errors using Resource Monitor in win7 or Process Explorer - they do not show in normal task manager) ive checked a few laptops with Atheros and win7 and they all tested the same for me... anyway I could live with that, i just mentioned it because I am certain its related.

ive noticed too that my internet speed/latency can be sloppy afterwards.

can anyone help with this? - has anyone else had this sort of problem with utorrent?

[razpag]

I can speak English & Spanish, but am not sure what tongue that is written in, Snadge ??

Hopefully somebody else does.

[roseway]

I would say that the first thing to do is connect your laptop via a wired connection and see if you get the same symptoms. If not, the problem is your wireless connection, otherwise it's something else.

[snadge]

yeah im trying to find my patch cables to check, ive tried a few different wireless drivers, the latest 9.0 one doesnt work well at all... so im on the one before 8.0.0.366 (still the same problems)

to be honest ive recently moved the router and master socket into the hallway, now there is no clear line of sight to the router as before, the signal has to go through two walls and about 14ft - windows reports full 54Mbps sync but it shows 4 out of 5 bars and its been since i moved the phone line in there (at her request) that ive started having problems...could be coincidence aswell...

looks like im gunna have to beg those Powerline Adapters back of my sister lol... she gave me them for nowt, she got em off BT for free & didnt know what they were, so i took em but gave her them back for the PC downstairs... her mouse is broken & they are not using the PC so i thnk i will (ahem) "take them back" haha (until she buys a new mouse )

RE DPC/IR usage: I know one thing when i tested for DPC/IR errors in windows previously it was much less on LAN but still there (1-5%), ive been told that DPC/IR should never venture beyond 1% CPU usage... dunno if its true though. it seems the DPC/IR error is related to NDIS.SYS and a Windows 7 bug that they dont seem to know about...plenty other people have suffered with it with different network cards too... users with high spec CPU's would not notice this as much as those like me with sub 2Ghz Athlons/Turions etc - I know its two different subjects im on about here but Ive a feeling they may be related.

will keep you posted once find LAN cable

[oldfogy]

Sounds like you have already solved your problem or at least now know what is causing it, but one thing you should never do is to have uTorrent's settings set to use 100% of either your UL or DL BW, if you are DLing at the same time as ULing, then you will actually start throttling yourself resulting in extremely slow DLs

[snadge]

yeah I have uTorrent set correctly...been using it for years

ok I tested the LAN and its fine on that - 1.8MB/s all way end too torrent, but soon as I go wifi (right next too router too) its goes up and down like a yo-yo...

ive got latest drivers installed..

trying older ones now, microsofts default driver seems to work best but gives the odd BSOD (which seemed to be everyday recently, hence the upgrade then facing these problems)

[oldfogy]

yeah I have uTorrent set correctly...been using it for years

ok I tested the LAN and its fine on that - 1.8MB/s all way end too torrent, but soon as I go wifi (right next too router too) its goes up and down like a yo-yo...

ive got latest drivers installed..

trying older ones now, microsofts default driver seems to work best but gives the odd BSOD (which seemed to be everyday recently, hence the upgrade then facing these problems)

BSOD is the last thing you want happening.

Sorry but I can't help, but it certainly sounds like a WiFi problem.

[snadge]

well ive dropped back two revisions on version 8 of the driver and got better results , it was still happening but would go much longer before doing its thing - now ive changed the channel my wifi was on from 11 to 1 and changed it from G only to B & G and since doing that and restarting the torrent it seems to be running non-stop now (without dipping and freezing out he internet when it does) - early days though but things are looking better

EDIT: 10 mins on @ 1.8MB/s and only just had one dip now but it only dipped to 0.8MB/s and went straight back up and during that the web browser was still responsive so I think that was a 'natural' dip for whatever reason - looking good

[snadge]

Iam HAPPY to report since making those changes the wifi has been spot on

Thing is I set channel from 11 to 1, since checking its on channel 6... I'm not sure how thats happened but its working swell on that now - I also changed from |G Only mode| to |B & G Mode|

- the DPC/IR issue still persists but that is totally unrelated to the wifi connection itself and is more windows 7 having an un-diagnosed 'bug' - im tempted to revert back to XP as I do a lot of file transfer and downloads and thats when these CPU usage spikes on DPC/IR occur as much as 40% on a dual-core 1.8Ghz CPU , windows becomes sluggish, icons slow to refresh, windows unresponsive/slow- DPC/IR should not even use 1% of your CPU so im told, many others have same issue in windows 7 (especially those on sub 2Ghz laptops where its more noticeable) and i believe that most people have this problem and are unaware.

anyway... alls good for now