Slow wired upload speed vs Linux on same hardware

Dawid Oosthuizen 26 Reputation points
2020-09-09T05:18:31.053+00:00

Intel® Ethernet Controller X550-AT2, 10G network interface on ASRock Rack ROMED8-2T with AMD EPYC 7232P processor.
Windows 10 Pro for Workstations, 2004.
Latest Windows updates and Intel drivers installed as of 09/09/2020.

This machine is a dual boot, the above Windows version, and Ubuntu 20.04.
When doing a speed test, I get good performance from Ubuntu, but very poor uploads from Windows. This is on the same machine, the exact same hardware.

The WAN link is 1000Mbps down, 50Mbps up.

This is the Windows speedtest result:
23320-windows-10-speedtest.png

This is the Ubuntu speedtest result:
23325-ubuntu-2004-speedtest.png

I have tried to tweak the adapter's advanced driver settings in Windows, such as disabling LSO, etc. No luck, performance remains poor.

I've also noticed it on another PC running Windows 10 Pro, and a laptop running Windows 10 Pro for Workstations, both give the same poor upload performance. Whereas my other Ubuntu 20.04 Server machine, and also my phone connected via Wi-Fi, is getting good upload speeds.

I have even taken the Windows laptop and plugged it straight into my incoming WAN connection (bypassing router), and it still gets poor upload speeds.

Incidentally, when the speed test is running, I can see that the upload looks bursty on Windows, like it is only getting chunks of data here and there, while in Linux and on Android it looks the same as the download, the graph is drawn at a consistent high rate and with consistent high values.

Windows for business | Windows Client for IT Pros | Networking | Network connectivity and file sharing

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  1. mensa84 6 Reputation points
    2020-11-12T13:51:00.857+00:00

    Any news on this? @Dawid Oosthuizen

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  2. mensa84 6 Reputation points
    2020-11-12T00:20:05.913+00:00

    Here is the long version of my problem description and what all I have tried. That must be a Win 10 problem:

    Hello,

    for about one week I have a very mysterious problem on my Windows 10 PC.

    The PC is connected by Gigabit LAN to a Switch and reaches full Gigabit speeds for up- and download inside my LAN (for example when copying to or from my NAS).
    The upload speed at speedtest.net in the new Edge Browser (Version 86.0.622.63) reached around 1 week ago everytime the full 40 Mbit, but now only 4 Mbit.

    I did not change anything and still reach full 1 Gbit speed inside my LAN.
    The internet connection has constant 40 Mbit upload and varies only minimally. All other clients (MacBook Air, iPhones, Apple TV) are still reaching the full 40 Mbit, no matter if they are connected by LAN or WIFI.

    I think that the problem came because of a Windows 10 update or driver problem and will affect more users.

    The strange thing are the constant different speeds on the same PC in different browsers / apps:

    • Edge: 4 Mbit Upload
    • Firefox: 20 Mbit Upload
    • Speedtes.net App / CLI for Windows: 20 Mbit

    The results are the same if I connect the PC directly to the router or to the switch.

    If I boot the PC under Linux, I get the full 40 Mbit in every browser, even the new Edge for Linux.

    I tried all that things already and nothing helped:

    • New Beta- and Dev-Versions of Edge
    • Resetted Windows network and firewall settings
    • Replaced network cable and used another port on the switch
    • Resetted the router to factory defaults
    • Installed completely fresh Windows 10 and formatted the SSD completely. I tried version 1909 and 20H2.
    • New network cards: TP-Link TG-3368, Intel Gigabit CT Desktop Adapter, USB 3.0 to Gigabit-Ethernet-Adapter. The first one was an Intel I219-V OnBoard on the Asus Z170 Pro Gaming mainboard.

    Everywhere the same problem. Upload stucks at 4 Mbit in Edge. Even after re-installing a fresh Windows.
    I also installed Windows 10 with Bootcamp on the MacBook Air and have the same problems at an also completely fresh installation.

    I don't understand it anymore.
    I think that Microsoft produced a bad bug here anywhere, cause the same Hardware is working under Linux with full 40 Mbit upload and also all other non-Windows-clients do reach the full 40 Mbit everytime.

    I thought that maybe some Windows settings were screwed up, but the same problem appeared on completely fresh Windows installations.

    Do you have any idea how to solve that, or do you see similar problems?

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  3. mensa84 6 Reputation points
    2020-11-12T00:18:01.173+00:00

    I have absolutely the same problems!

    I am getting on all Win 10 clients only 4 Mbit upload, but all Linux and Apple devices get 45 Mbit.

    Did you find any solution how to fix that?

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  4. Avi Carmi 1 Reputation point
    2020-09-30T00:18:29.027+00:00

    few more things to add:

    my wife's laptop can reach full speeds down and up. my laptop under windows 10 only upload is limited/restricted/throttled. the same laptop under Linux Mint full speed uploads, same laptop, with an android emulator under windows 10, and uploads are also full speed. in all cases, downloads are full speed.

    therefore I can only assume it is a software/operating system/driver issue (all drivers are updated using the intel website on an ongoing basis)

    I've tried all the suggested settings, registry, etc, no change

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  5. Ben 1 Reputation point
    2020-09-29T21:25:29.047+00:00

    I am having the same problem as well. I have tried customer support but I was unable to get through to someone who had enough network knowledge to help. In the end the agent said I should get the hardware checked!

    I have tested it a number of different ways. I have an onboard Intel i211 nic, but I've also tested with a TP-Link USB 3.0 ethernet adapter and also going via my android phone. In all cases the download speed is equivalent to what I can get in Ubuntu on the same machine, but the upload speed is about 25% of available. I've even tested the speed via the phone and the PC whilst the PC is accessing the internet via the phone. The PC again has approximately 25% of the upload speed of the phone.

    I've tried updating drivers, adjusting all the suggested settings on the adapter, changing the reservation in the registry, using netsh to disable autotuning and even completely wiping the PC and reinstalling Win 10 Pro from scratch. Same results. What is really odd is that the performance on the LAN is superb. I get easily over 100MBps to my file server. This issue only hits internet uploads.

    It's not my network, I can get full upload speed on exactly the same PC if I boot into Linux. My best guess is that there is some behaviour within the Windows TCP/IP stack or maybe higher that is causing this problem. I'm fairly sure it's higher than the driver level. All I can hope for is that maybe someone in Microsoft who understands networking sees this and investigates...

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