Dell OptiPlex 7020 slow

[Chuckster]

I have a few Dell OptiPlex 7020 workstations, with either Windows 10 Enterprise 64-bit 1803 or 1809 installed, and the common issue I have encountered is serious network performances.

 

These machines have an onboard Intel I217-LM network card and no matter how old or new the drivers I use, they are just painstakingly slow, have network performance issues with large ping times, slow boot up times and slow logging in times.

 

If I use a USB to Ethernet Adapter the issues disappear, e.g. logging in takes approx. 30 seconds as opposed to 1+ hour(s) or just simply never logging on at all.

 

What's there that I can do do eliminate the issues am experiencing?

 

P.S. I've updated the 7020 workstations to the latest BIOS version but still no dice.

Edited February 17, 2019 by Chuckster

[6Foot2]

I saw a performance hit on my Optiplex 9020's when I had left the BIOS setting for the SATA HDD operation set, as supplied, with RAID ON. When I adjusted it to AHCI the performance picked up.

 

HTH.

[Chuckster]

The SATA operation is already set to AHCI.

 

I just tried logging on with the ethernet cable plugged into the onboard NIC and it was completely unresponsive, i.e. freezing applications, unresponsive start menu etc.

The second I plugged in the ethernet cable into the USB-to-Ethernet adapter the issues disappeared instantaneously and everything was working as normal.

[6Foot2]

A thought (unlikely)

 

Port speed mismatch between the Ethernet card and the switch that the USB adaptor eliminates?

 

I have had printers where I had to turn off auto-negotiation and set it to 100 mb on the switch port because the printer's Ethernet card didn't understand/couldn't cope with what the switch was sending out.

 

I would have thought the PC's network card would be up to the job though...

[PotNoodleTech]

That's a weird one, I have not got 7020 but do have plenty of 3020 and not had that problem. Mind you, still on Windows 7 here.

[Chuckster]

A thought (unlikely)

 

Port speed mismatch between the Ethernet card and the switch that the USB adaptor eliminates?

 

I have had printers where I had to turn off auto-negotiation and set it to 100 mb on the switch port because the printer's Ethernet card didn't understand/couldn't cope with what the switch was sending out.

 

I would have thought the PC's network card would be up to the job though...

 

I've turned the auto negotiation off and set it to 100MB to no avail.

 

I disabled the power management features, which also proved to be fruitless.

[jthompson]

Might be worth seeing if they perform okay under a different OS. Boot into a Linux Live USB, maybe, and see what the network performance is like with the same cabling in place. You could also try Win10 into some different switch hardware if you have anything spare available, just to rule out something funky with the switches that they're currently running back to.

[DrBeaker]

I have a few Dell OptiPlex 7020 workstations, with either Windows 10 Enterprise 64-bit 1803 or 1809 installed, and the common issue I have encountered is serious network performances.

 

These machines have an onboard Intel I217-LM network card and no matter how old or new the drivers I use, they are just painstakingly slow, have network performance issues with large ping times, slow boot up times and slow logging in times.

 

If I use a USB to Ethernet Adapter the issues disappear, e.g. logging in takes approx. 30 seconds as opposed to 1+ hour(s) or just simply never logging on at all.

 

What's there that I can do do eliminate the issues am experiencing?

 

P.S. I've updated the 7020 workstations to the latest BIOS version but still no dice.

 

How have you narrowed it down to network performance issues?

 

Is it a certain batch of PCs?

Is it PCs in certain areas?

Is it PCs connected to the same switches?/edge cab?

When did the problem start to occur?

[Chuckster]

How have you narrowed it down to network performance issues?

 

Is it a certain batch of PCs?

Is it PCs in certain areas?

Is it PCs connected to the same switches?/edge cab?

When did the problem start to occur?

 

 

The problem began when I took delivery of the OptiPlex 7020. Currently, I have 2 of them on a trial basis, with the view of purchasing these along with additional machines as part of the refresh cycle.

The workstations are usually connected to a HP 5406zl switch that is one of the school's core switch. I have also plugged it into a HP 2530 edge switch and a Netgear 5-port desktop switch, which didn't help at all.

 

I simply narrowed it down to being a network performance issue when I unplugged the ethernet cable form the onboard NIC to a USB-to-Ehternet adapter which completely eliminated all the problems I had been experiencing.

Edited February 18, 2019 by Chuckster

[DrBeaker]

The problem began when I took delivery of the OptiPlex 7020. Currently, I have 2 of them on a trial basis, with the view of purchasing these along with additional machines as part of the refresh cycle.

The workstations are usually connected to a HP 5406zl switch that is one of the school's core switch. I have also plugged it into a HP 2530 edge switch and a Netgear 5-port desktop switch, which didn't help at all.

 

I simply narrowed it down to being a network performance issue when I unplugged the ethernet cable form the onboard NIC to a USB-to-Ehternet adapter which completely eliminated all the problems I had been experiencing.

 

Surely that means it could be a NIC driver issue though? I've had similar with wifi drivers on some laptops and it turned out to be a dodgy wifi driver.

[Chuckster]

Surely that means it could be a NIC driver issue though? I've had similar with wifi drivers on some laptops and it turned out to be a dodgy wifi driver.

 

I initially thought that myself, that it could be a NIC driver issue. However, having tried so many different drivers from old to the latest dated 24/01/2019 I am getting nowhere with it.

 

I am short of calling it a hardware issue, but since the same is happening on the other machine I don't really know what to make of it.

[Arthur]

having tried so many different drivers from old to the latest dated 24/01/2019 I am getting nowhere with it.

Are all of the drivers from the Dell website or Intel's (or a mixture of both)?

[DrBeaker]

I initially thought that myself, that it could be a NIC driver issue. However, having tried so many different drivers from old to the latest dated 24/01/2019 I am getting nowhere with it.

 

I am short of calling it a hardware issue, but since the same is happening on the other machine I don't really know what to make of it.

 

Have you got the version numbers or could you post a screenshot of the driver version etc here?

[Chuckster]

Are all of the drivers from the Dell website or Intel's (or a mixture of both)?

 

I am using a mixture and both have failed.

 

Have you got the version numbers or could you post a screenshot of the driver version etc here?

 

The first screenshot is without using the supplied Dell or Intel driver.

The second screenshot is using the very latest drivers from the Intel website.

 

[Arthur]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]52307[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]52306[/ATTACH]

Would it be worth trying the NIC driver from Dell's OptiPlex 7020 driver pack?

 

www.dell.com/support/article/uk/en/ukdhs1/how13360/optiplex-7020-windows-10-driver-pack?lang=en

 

https://downloads.dell.com/FOLDER04898481M/1/7020-WIN10-A04-KXG7W.CAB

[MartinByard]

Have you checked to see if there are any BIOS updates available for the machines (bit of a long shot, but you never know ..)??

[steveg]

Have you tried turning off Energy Efficient Ethernet, in the advanced settings tab of the network card properties?

 

Steve

[Chuckster]

Would it be worth trying the NIC driver from Dell's OptiPlex 7020 driver pack?

 

www.dell.com/support/article/uk/en/ukdhs1/how13360/optiplex-7020-windows-10-driver-pack?lang=en

 

https://downloads.dell.com/FOLDER04898481M/1/7020-WIN10-A04-KXG7W.CAB

@Arthur, I tried all the different WinPE Packs (4.0, 5.0 and 10) to no avail. The problem still persists.

 

 

Have you checked to see if there are any BIOS updates available for the machines (bit of a long shot, but you never know ..)??

@MartinByard, the first thing I did was update to the latest available version.

 

 

 

Have you tried turning off Energy Efficient Ethernet, in the advanced settings tab of the network card properties?

 

Steve

@steveg, I tried that and it didn't work.

 

I remember the long gone days of Windows Server 2003 whereby you had to disable Large Send Offload to regain any network performance. I disabled that along with turning off the Energy Efficient Ethernet setting and Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6) to no avail.

[Chuckster]

I am going to give this one last go....

 

I am going to rebuild the machine each and every time, with every available driver from Dell and Intel for this particular model.

 

With each driver I am going to do the following...

 

• Disable Large Offload Send
  
• Disable Energy Efficient Ethernet
  
• Disable Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6)
  

 

I will post later whether it's been a success or not.

[Arthur]

I tried all the different WinPE Packs (4.0, 5.0 and 10) to no avail. The problem still persists.

The .cab file I linked to isn't for Windows PE so it might still be worth trying. They are the standard Windows 10 drivers.

 

Apparently there are some differences.

 

Intel I217, I218 and I219 NIC drivers in Windows PE

Back to the issue with the NIC drivers. The problem is that the computer vendor only ships drivers for Windows 10 and these drivers are not compatible with Windows PE, even though Windows PE is based on Windows 10.

 

^ The opposite may be true as well?

[Chuckster]

So, I have made some very good progress on this.

 

The only driver that works very well is indeed the latest version from the Intel website (12.18.8.9), not Dell or from its supplied WinPE CAB Pack.

 

However, the twist is I need to disable a few settings and enable another as a combination, otherwise simply disabling one setting doesn't alleviate the network performance issues.

 

The following that needs to be disabled/switched off are:

 

• Large Send Offload V2 (IPv4)
  
• TCP Checksum Offload (IPv4)
  
• Energy Efficient Ethernet
  

 

And the following that needs to be enabled/switched on is:

• Power Management Event
  

 

The above settings make the system responsive and the performance issues disappear altogether.

 

I got nowhere with other driver versions despite toggling with the settings.

 

I am going to see if I can rustle up a script to perform the settings mentioned above.

[Ditto]

I'm impressed by your perseverance and no doubt all the more rewarding for it!

[mavhc]

Does it still go slow on an isolated network? On a different switch? Do you have VPN software installed?

[Chuckster]

I'm impressed by your perseverance and no doubt all the more rewarding for it!

 

Thank you. Had it not been the half-term week, then I would've called it quits a very long time ago and simply returned the machines.

 

Does it still go slow on an isolated network? On a different switch? Do you have VPN software installed?

 

Prior to working out a solution there was no VPN software installed. I mentioned earlier in the thread that I did try different switches, and whether the machine was isolated or not didn't make a blind bit of difference. The second the network cable was plugged in the performance of the machine nosedived and it was absolutely abysmal.

 

I know the integrated Intel I217-LM network connection is also available on other brands such as the HP EliteDesk 800 G1. However, I have no reason to suspect there would also be a problem with this machine, but I can't help but wonder give my circumstance surrounding this particular onboard network connection.

[mavhc]

Prior to working out a solution there was no VPN software installed. I mentioned earlier in the thread that I did try different switches, and whether the machine was isolated or not didn't make a blind bit of difference. The second the network cable was plugged in the performance of the machine nosedived and it was absolutely abysmal.

 

I know the integrated Intel I217-LM network connection is also available on other brands such as the HP EliteDesk 800 G1. However, I have no reason to suspect there would also be a problem with this machine, but I can't help but wonder give my circumstance surrounding this particular onboard network connection.

 

Bug in the drivers then? Weird that reports aren't more common, did you ask Dell about it?