NIC traffic slow down mouse and keyboard

Asked by Torsten

When I download something or copy a file via network to my machine, it's nearly impossible to use mouse and keyboard anymore. Keyboard strokes will be ignored, mouse pointer hangs or moves pixel by pixel. In the past (until 3 weeks ago) I did not use wired LAN (that NIC), but I only used WLAN. So I cannot say if the problem is new.

Currently I am using Ubuntu 11.10 with kernel 3.2.
I also tried with previous kernel versions (3.0.0, 2.6.38) and there is same failure behaviour.

NIC details:
Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. Yukon Optima 88E8059 [PCIe Gigabit Ethernet Controller with AVB] (rev 11)

I don't know how to debug or which information could more helpfully.

Regards,
Torsten

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Revision history for this message
Squall (squall5668) said :
#1

Are you using a wireless mouse and keyboard?
If so:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/502296

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Torsten (thpost) said :
#2

Yes I am using wireless mouse and keyboard. Seems the bug also effects me. I've seen now #502296. But what's the solution?

>lsubs:
...
Bus 005 Device 002: ID 045e:00f9 Microsoft Corp. Wireless Desktop Receiver 3.1
...

Revision history for this message
mycae (mycae) said :
#3

If it is truly a range reduction, then you may have RF interference from crosstalk originating from your network card. That's always a hard problem to debug, and hard to prove. The key to RF problems are geometry and shielding.

 If the transmitter is mobile, try moving it. elsewhere, away from your system If it is a USB dongle, try placing it on an extension cable, or at least a different port. However, if the cross talk is truly the problem, this may be a hardware issue, even inside the PC.

If you have an alternate OS, does this also display the problem?

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Torsten (thpost) said :
#4

the NIC is a pci device. Is it possible to have interferences between USB and PCI?

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mycae (mycae) said :
#5

>Is it possible to have interferences between USB and PCI?

Yes. the NIC (and all electronic devices) when switching voltages generates RF signals, which are of widely varying frequency. The nic circuitry can act as an antenna, which can couple with your wireless receiver or transmitter.

The user on that bug reported that changing his keyboard transmitter geometry solved his problem. This would indicate either:
1) There is RF interference, causing signal attenuation
2) something changed on the user's setup, which they did not identify, and have misattributed the problem

It may be possible to elimitate, or replicate the former. I consider it unlikely, but possible, which is why I asked if you have this problem under another OS.

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Torsten (thpost) said :
#6

oh I missed the part with "another OS", sorry. I will try it somehow.

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Torsten (thpost) said :
#7

Tooks me a little bit. It seems there are the same problem with other operating systems too. I tested it with Windows 7, Linux Mint (sure, should be same behaviour), Puppy Linux. In Puppy there was no big influence probably because of the speed of that "in memory" OS.
I switched my machine to Linux Mint in the mean while. But since my problem persists: what can I do? Is there a whay to configure keyboard transmitter geometry? I have never done this before.

Revision history for this message
Torsten (thpost) said :
#8

Since I moved the "Microsoft wireless desktop receiver" near to my mouse/ keyboard and away from my PC, there is no/ less impact to mouse and keyboard speed during network traffic.