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powerline problem--attached to switch connected to cable internet access

i work from home and have a hard wired network-with netgear switch that delivers internet access to the pcs in my office and through a wireless smc router. I have a small office on the opposite end of my house--which is not hard wired--so i bought a seimens powerline adapter-plugged into the switch--with usp adapters in the small office. 2 pcs are in this powerline access. my question and problem--is i just added the second pc in this office-a new dell--and installed the drivers for the powerline usb--and the net came up--but for some reason i cant seem to drill down on some web pages. what is also strange is the other pc--with its own usb-plugged into a separate power plug==works perfectly at very fast speed. My question is why would i not get full speed and lack of access on the new pc--any ideas or suggestions appreciated. thinking i may just need to hard wire this and eliminate the powerline----but i have it and if this can be fixed will save the work. thanks

Fatal_Exception

I assume you have loaded the SpeedStream configuration software. What kind of throughput is it monitoring?

waltermb

ASKER

yes i did--what is funny is when i go into the software--and click on connect or refresh---at first it comes up with a poor rating on connection---a few seconds later it jumps to about the 3/4 mark at excellent. even with this it is radically slower than the unit sitting right next to it with the same usb adapter. any suggestions appreciated. this is a brand new pc-dont know if that matters--dell xps p4

Fatal_Exception

I have never used one of these devices, but am familiar with them. This specific device usually gets a very high rating from the newsgroups, so it must be something with the PC. There are a couple of things you can try. \

First reset the Winsock stack using this utility:

http://www.spychecker.com/program/winsockxpfix.html

Also, try updating drivers for the motherboard. Since this is USB driven, it may be using the old USB 1.0 which is slower. Check your BIOS for any information on the USB ports. Then go to Dell and see if they have any recent firmware upgrades.

And, you can try configuring your MTU settings using the steps I outline in a paper on my website. Look under Cable and DSL in the left hand table:

www.doverproductions.com

FE

waltermb

ASKER

went ahead and upgraded the bios for the entire machine. no change. then i thought i would just test the two pc's for speed. Identical Pc's-both are attached via usb cable -to a siemens usb powerline adapter. this goes to one of siemens speedstream ethernet adapter-----to a smc router---to a netgear switch --to the comcast cable modem====so identical hardware and cabling. the result of the speed test is my first pc-was at 1.7 megabits--which it rated amazing--the new pc came through at 390 kilobits---dramatically slower. Any suggestions appreciated--and am i not correct--shouldnt these two systems be at identical speed?

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Fatal_Exception

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waltermb

ASKER

thanks for your ideas--put both usbs on the same electric line--and speed went up to very nice rates--so it turned out to not be the pc. thanks for the help

Fatal_Exception

Great.. glad you finally got it.. and that makes sense since they should be on the same circuit.

and thank you..

FE