I have an IPCop server running at home, been doing just fine for ~5 months, but last week I suddenly started getting time-outs and slow downloads from the 'net. I first thought that this was my ISP acting up, then I thought it might be one of my 3 switches or some of my cabling. In due order I've tested everything above and found them all to be working as they should. The only factor remaining is my IPCop server.

Facts: I've got a 15/15 Mbit line (fiber) and I get ~15 Mbit upload, but only 0.5 Mbit download with the IPCop box as router (ISP router set in bridge mode). If I connect without the IPCop box (using the ISP router) I get ~12 Mbit upload and ~15 Mbit download. The load on the IPCop box appears to be light and it used to handle this traffic just fine 2 weeks ago. The memory usage is ~60%, I tried to restart it and test again, the memory fell to ~50% then (5 months of uptime).

I'm thinking that one of my nics are busted, but I'm sort of perplexed that this could be the outcome; slow download but full speed upload. Anybody ever seen that happening before? Could it just be one of the nics that needs to be replaced? Will try that as soon as I can get my hands on a couple of new ones.