SatSig topic:

Xplornet - slow PC, IE7 ? and Safe mode

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Jan 18^th, 2007 at 2:36am

Ok. I just got xplornet a few days ago. On the 10th. Nothing but headache. So I got the free upgrade for 24hours to the fastest speeds. Still nothing but time outs and droped pages and e-mail time outs etc. etc. I finally get to a level 2 tech and he has me run in safe mode. This thing runs awsome in safe mode. Fast fast fast. I go back to regular mode and garbage. Barely usable if that. I go back to safe mode and it is incredible. I tried disableing all my start ups and processes but can not get it figured. Anyone have any Ideas. I do not want to run in safe mode.
I hooked up my laptop and it is running explorer 7 and even in safe mode that sucked. I talked to a tech support and they said they have been having trouble with ie 7
Anyways anyone know how I can fix this problem.

Brown

Jan 18^th, 2007 at 5:08am

Quote:

he has me run in safe mode. This thing runs awsome in safe mode. Fast fast fast. I go back to regular mode and garbage. Barely usable if that. I go back to safe mode and it is incredible.

Well, Safe Mode falls back to Windows default device drivers - including those for the Ethernet port. So my first guess is that your current NIC driver may incompatible with the XplorNet IDU. First thing I'd recommend is an updated NIC driver. If the Ethernet port is not native, you may also consider moving the NIC to another PCI slot.

//greg//

Jan 18^th, 2007 at 5:20am

So I get this right I will find this in my device manager right under network adapters. Download some new drivers and update from there. Would that be correct?

Thanks

Jan 18^th, 2007 at 11:55am

Yes. If you don't already know the manufacturer and model number, that info should be available in the Device Manager under Network Adapters. Highlight your NIC, right click, select Properties. They should contain enough info for you to check the internet for (a) more current driver(s). Note also that the NIC options can

Note also that the Advanced tab has some user options. Could be they differ in and out of Safe Mode. A more complete list of NIC properties can be found at Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Accessories. Open the Components dropdown, open the Network dropdown, open Adapter. It might become necessary to consult Xplornet tech support for settings/values that are compatible with normal IDU operation

One other thing to check - completely unrelated to the NIC. It's been reported that HughesNet is not completely IE7 compatible yet, specifically as applicable to the new browsers phishing filter option. See if your normal mode performance improves if/when you disable it.

//greg//

Jan 20^th, 2007 at 12:58am

This is onboard. I ubdated the driver and to no avial. Still the same is safe mode it works great but regular it sucks worse then dial up. Anyone have anymore suggestions the might help. Maybe getting router might help.
Brown

Jan 20^th, 2007 at 6:23pm

Just a guess...

Your PC MTU may be different in SAFE mode and normal mode.

To find out what is your maxMTU in SAFE mode test like this:
Go to the command prompt C:\>
ping -f -l 1500 www.satsig.net
(note the second parameter is a minus hyphen and lower case letter L)
Keep trying, using progressively lower values like 1490 etc until you no longer get a message saying "packet needs to be fragmented" Then adjust upwards in steps of 1 or 2 until it just fails again. Write down the last good value "SAFE MODE max good MTU=xxxx"

You may find the answer is some number like 1500, 1492, 1472, 1460, 1464, 1452 etc.

Repeat the whole test in NORMAL operating mode.

If the results are the same, you have wasted your time with this testing.

If the results are different, consider changing the value in your PC for normal mode operation to the same value as was in use in the good SAFE mode.

Search Google also, using words like set packet length mtu broadband

Best regards, Eric.

Jan 23^rd, 2007 at 1:00am

it works either needs to be fragmented or request timed out. My safe mode test was 1780

Jan 23^rd, 2007 at 1:40am

ok. This is what I have done. Messing around I totaly uninstalled my 3gcom network then I restarted my computer. Then I ran the driver update I downloaded from asus website. I am now running in normal mode.
But my safe mode test was 1780 and my normal mode test is 1400 should I change it.
And in order to change it if you go to the link you gave me above follow to the end how do I recognize the <id for network interface> This is in the option where I want to set it manually.

ty brown

Jan 23^rd, 2007 at 8:47am

It is the opposite of what I was expecting. I thought you might have too high a value in normal mode and have to reduce it.

Your high MTU value of 1780 in safe mode seems improbably high. I thought an MTU of 1500 was the upper end of the range of possible values.

A normal mode MTU of 1400 sounds OK to me.

Search Google for MTU and read up more articles. I don't think you need to change your normal mode 1400 MTU. What value MTU do Wildblue/Xplornet recommend ?

Best regards, Eric.

Jan 23^rd, 2007 at 12:22pm

Quote:

But my safe mode test was 1780 and my normal mode test is 1400 should I change it.

I understand your numbers to represent speed, and that you have not yet altered any MTU values. Microsoft makes changing MTU sound difficult, because they can't be seen endorsing any aftermarket "tweaking" utilities.

The improvement to 1400kb shows the NIC driver update was obviously necessary. But attempting to achieve the normal mode speed may equate to chasing a ghost. Before you expend further effort in the quest, it would help to know what rate plan you've purchased from XplorNet. Specifically is it Ka-band or Ku-band, and what upload/download speeds are advertised for the plan to which you pay monthly?

Also - now that you have a more suitable NIC driver - have you bypassed the router yet - and tried your speed tests with the PC connected directly to the XplorNet IDU?

//greg//

Jan 23^rd, 2007 at 1:56pm

The MTU is the maximum packet length the PC sends out. If a big file needs sending then it is broken into many packets. Packets vary in length, many are quite short, like for mouse clicks for url page requests.

If you have a long packet length set, like 1500 and your satellite modem, router or whatever has a limit of say 1460 then the modem or router may try to fragment your packets and forward two packets instead. This may fail to work properly and make your service erratic. Short packets will get through fine but protocols and applications making use of packets longer than 1460 may fail.

I've just tried ping -f -l 1500 www.satsig.net and it fails so there is some restriction in the network between me and my server that won't let through packets 1500 bytes long. So if my MTU was 1500, then I would have problems.

My MTU works fine at 1472

Best regards, Eric.