FIX: Windows Vista - Slow Internet Download/Connection Speeds

July 3rd, 2007 | by LocalTech |

Ever noticed how your Windows Vista’s download speed is slower than your Windows XP’s download speed? This most likely will occur if you have a RealTek Network Card installed on your computer. The reason why you have slow download speeds is because at the moment, there is a Vista driver that is out that is actually pointing to the date of 6-21-2006 when it should really be 1-26-2007. So that pretty much sums up why your speeds have dropped dramatically. You can fix this issue by either Rolling back your driver, updating your driver or reinstalling your network card. I haven’t really tested the last two methods, but the 1st one is a definate.

Here’s how you Roll Back a driver

  • Click on the Start menu
  • Right Click on My Computer and go to Properties
  • Click on the Hardware tab
  • Click on Device Manager
  • Expand Network Adapters
  • Double-Click your Network Card
  • Click on the Driver tab
  • Click on Roll Back Driver

    • If you have any questions feel free to post a comment and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible

    1. 24 Responses to “FIX: Windows Vista - Slow Internet Download/Connection Speeds”

    2. By D. Darby on Jul 7, 2007 | Reply

      For those of you using the Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC, and if your are having massive internet download slowdown and file transfer slowdown in Windows VISTA, your problems are over: One needs to update the driver. Basically very simple, it just took me two days to figure it out and find the right driver. All the blogs and websites talk about disabling this, and tweeking that. I tried all that crap and it didn’t work. No one suggested to install the following driver at least that I could find and if the folks who are trying to solve this problem are like me, I know, I know you want to throw your computer out the window, and you are sitting there saying, Why Why Why didn’t I wait to do this upgrade. Just Google —> “WinVista_6104_NIC_8139-20070620.zip” and you will find it.
      Install the new driver and just like magic your internet speeds and file transfer speeds should once again be smokin, of course your milage will vary dependent on the speed of your ISP and network. Whew!

    3. By LocalTech on Jul 16, 2007 | Reply

      Thank you for that D. Darby, Im sure many users will find that quite useful!

      Just to make it easier, I’ve found a link where you can download the file from so it saves you a lot of time.

      Here’s a link to the website.
      http://public.www.planetmirror.com/pub/majorgeeks/drivers/WinVista_6104_NIC_8139-20070620.zip

    4. By uRdoomd on Aug 20, 2007 | Reply

      I was having problems with the slow internet thing too, but I dont know about local transfer speeds because my router doesnt like my onboard NIC so I had to can it. Anyway my solution was my modem. I had it in bridge mode and since I didn’t have my router for PPPoE I needed to use my modem so I did the “10 second” reset thing to switch it back to factory settings and my slow internet speeds were gone. Some pages do load a bit slow but definately not the dial-up-like speeds that I was getting prior and that might even be caused by the “new” NIC drivers anyway. Since my speeds are relatively back to normal I’m not even gonna worry about rolling back. The modem I have is a speedstream 5200. Hope some of you can use this and hopefully fix things for yourselves.

    5. By David on Sep 11, 2007 | Reply

      I have the following under network adapters:
      1. Intel(R) 82566MM Gigabit Network Connection
      2. Intel (R) PRO/Wireless 3945 a/b/g Network Connection.

      Under #1 I have a Rollback option while under #2 I do not. I have a D Link DI-614+ Router and I am experiencing extremely slow download speeds, half the speed of my 4 year old dell xp. Since I do not have a roll back option under the PRO/Wireless does this mean #1 is my default network adapter?

    6. By LocalTech on Sep 11, 2007 | Reply

      Hi David,

      Just to make sure, are you using your wireless connection or the cable to connect to the internet?

      This article really relates to users who have a RealTek network cards.

      I could advise you to download the latest driver for both your network cards instead of rolling back the drivers.

      Also if you’re using Wireless to connect to the internet, try using the cable to see if the speed changes? Poor signal can cause slow connections as well…

    7. By David on Sep 11, 2007 | Reply

      I am using a wireless connection but I have also used an ethernet cable plugged into my notebook and wireless router. My download speeds are half to a little more than half the speed of my 4 year old dell XP notebook. A simple 1.5 to 3 minute youtube video is slow, stops several times in downloading while viewing. My dell never stops, you push play and it never stops.

    8. By LocalTech on Sep 11, 2007 | Reply

      Hmm… Check that you have no background services or application that consume a lot of bandwith.

      Also search the Intel website and download the latest drivers for your network cards - Don’t use the Update Driver feature on Vista. Go to the website directly.

    9. By David on Sep 11, 2007 | Reply

      Pcpitstop.com wireless is 230 kps, dell 800-1000kps. With ethernet cable 2000 kps while dell is 4500 kps. New notebook is lenovo t61 2 GB, 32 bit Vista Ultimate, Intel core duo 2Ghz. Called tech support, they wanted to change motherboard on 5 day old computer. I did not do it. Thinking about sending it back due to slow speeds.

    10. By LocalTech on Sep 24, 2007 | Reply

      Can you try to disable IPv6 on your Network Connection Properties?

      Go to Start -> Control Panel -> Network and Sharing Centre -> Manage Network Connections -> Right Click on Local Area Connection or Wirless Connection and Click on Properties -> Untick/Disable Internet Protocal Version 6

    11. By LocalTech on Oct 5, 2007 | Reply

      I have also just recently found out something new regarding this issue. If you are using Computer Associates (VET) Internet Security, there has been an issue found that it does slow down internet connection speeds.

      Please refer to the article on this website:
      http://crm.my-etrust.com/CIDocument.asp?KDId=3034&Preview=0&Return=0&GUID=B83FF2F2E5004149B78F4A901CC08682

    12. By Diana on Jan 4, 2008 | Reply

      I have been pulling my hair out trying to figure out why my internet connection was so slow. Tweaking this, tweaking that, short of throwing my new Dell out the window! FINALLY……after months, I tried that fix for CA Internet Security and it worked. My internet speed is where it should be and I am finally able to cook and clean for my family! Thanks

    13. By Kyle on Jan 11, 2008 | Reply

      Ok - joining in on this one….
      Brand New Dell - XPS420 - 4GB ram 2.66G Quad Core…
      SLOW internet. Best I can tell is the download is constantly stopping and starting. Almost as if it is constantly losing the internet connection. Sometimes the same page (dell home page) loads in 1/2 sec, sometimes it times out, sometimes it starts and does the old dialup thing (text no pics). Also trying to download some patches (not at same time). DL rate shows a peak of about 200kb/s for 1/2 sec then drops back to zero before trying to climb back up again (sometimes only making it back to 20/kbs).

      Already uninstalled Norton. This is a wired cable connection (not connecting router till I fix this).
      I have been downloading the same 600mb patch for 3 days (it times out after about 3hours).

      NIC is a Intel 82566DC-2 Gigabit connection

      Thank you for your time

    14. By John DeMarco on Feb 5, 2008 | Reply

      Thank you, thank you, thank you. My problem was with CA Internet Security and I didn’t know it. You rock.

    15. By Hotpants on Mar 1, 2008 | Reply

      D. Darby - man you rock!

      I was searching for solutions for a long time and couldn’t figure it out. Many thanks for the tip.

    16. By ray on Mar 22, 2008 | Reply

      Hi there, I have the same problem as David above with my lenovo 3000v200 vista, 32bit 2GB,5 months old, was working perfectly and download has gone down its like it doesnt almost exist. My gf-s lower spec dell xp is outrunning my newish notebook.Tryed everything youve said above and reset the comp to its factory settings, uploaded with newest drivers you can find on lenovo website.using intel wifi 4965 AGN. has anyone got anymore information about it??
      regards,
      ray.

    17. By Eli on Apr 2, 2008 | Reply

      I’ve been running vista for 1 month and everything worked smoothly. Suddenly my internet starts working in 30kb/s when it used to be at 120, and the worst part is that from 30 it usually drops to 10 or less.
      I have disabled the IPv6, uninstalled Norton Security Center, tried removing all the ad-ons, and nothing happens. I am totally clueless.
      Any suggestion will be apreciated.

    18. By Shishir on Apr 12, 2008 | Reply

      Hi,

      I am facing the same issue with a newly purchased machine, Kyle. I have the same card 82566DC-2 Gigabit. Did you get any solutions.

      Regards,
      Shishir

    19. By Josh on Apr 15, 2008 | Reply

      also having same issue as kyle..exact same system specs. any solutions?

    20. By Dan on May 7, 2008 | Reply

      My trial-version of Norton just ran out on my laptop, and when I had it installed it ran fine! I just got my CA Security Center installed (free download from Time Warner, my ISP) and now my Internet is at a CRAWL!! Any advice?

    21. By CW1982 on May 13, 2008 | Reply

      I am having the same exact problem as you guys, same specs and card. I used to download at 120+ kb/s now it is literally 7 kb/s. I don’t know what to do… its terrible. It just started one day, within the past week or so. I’ve had an engineer from my isp come to my house and literally tell me its my computer that is the problem. My wife’s laptop running xp and same connection is haulin’ arse. Any idea’s welcome.

    22. By Eoraptor on May 27, 2008 | Reply

      I’m having all the same issues discussed above. Unfortunately (or fortunately), I don’t have CA or Norton’s junky bloatware. After recently reinstalling my Acer laptop, my connection speeds for web pages and file transfers have dropped to a crawl. I have the latest drivers for my wireless and Enet. Disabling my ZoneAlarm firewall makes no difference.

      My Ping times show as normal and healthy for local IP, internet IP, and Internet Name(DNS), yet I have huge delays and timeouts in downloading pages, and my file transfers rarely exceed 800kbs (even with the lone USB adapter in my wireless network I ~should~ still be able to get at least 5-10 mbps).

      I’ve also disabled IPV6, and even gone so far as to open command prompt and run NETSH commands such as Delete Arpcache, (I I DE AR) and Reset the ResetLog.txt (I I R R) which always have fixed issues of slowness and lack of high-level connectivity while still having an TCP/IP level connection in the past.

      The problem persists across IE 7 for Vista and Firefox 3 rc1, so I can reasonably assume it’s not browser specific, and also is independent of my WRT54g 8.2 router, continuing when hooked directly to my DSL modem.

      Halp?

    23. By john pope on Jun 16, 2008 | Reply

      Hi,

      I’m having same problem with new Fujitsu Siemens Amilo running Vista - very very low download speeds via netgear router, but other two computer connected to the same router work fine, and transfer speeds across the LAN are fine. I was trying to download Open Office - time out at 3 hours on Vista machine, downloaded in under 4 minutes on XP machine (with McAffe and firewall). I have not yet installed anti-virus on new machine, so that cannot be the issue. Is Windows Defender the problem?

    24. By Jay G on Jun 19, 2008 | Reply

      Same problem…HOWEVER, it just depends on the network i am on. I have a lightning fast network at one of the places i work, and my old xp computer loved it. Now i have vista with a realtek lan card and its totally slow. i take it home and its lightning fast. it makes absolutely no sense. everyone else at work is zipping right along, while i can barely load a page.

    25. By SLOOWW!! speed - Fixed Now on Jun 19, 2008 | Reply

      Thank You so much, this blog was exactly my problem.

      Just a note, LocalTech’s one-click-direct- download-link is not working.

      Here is the new one:

      drivers.soft5000.com/dlf_12900.html

      Or aternatively:

      ftp://61.56.86.122/cn/nic/WinVista_6104_NIC_8139-20070620.zip

      Also, uRdoomd, that is what I have done previously and like you explained, evrything work well. I had the exact same problem, dial-up speeds for download and a speedstream router!!

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