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Slow network response.

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9 replies

by rhdyes

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I have a 4 node network consisting of 3 win98 clients and one nt server/client. I am using linksys hardware with cat5 cables run. Each machine has at least 64 meg of memory. The nt box has 128meg. The NT server has plenty of harddrive space left. It is running at servicepack 6. The problem I am having is one of the machines seems to have an intermittant problem with a slow network response. At first it would drop the connection all together but I re-terminated my cat 5 cable and intalledan IBM 10/100 pci nic. Now I will test it by copying files back and forth to the server anc client. Every once and a while, the copying animation will sit at "preparing to copy files" for about a minute or so. When I go over to the server, the cpuusage will go up to 100% and then go back down to 0% usage and at that point, it will copying regularly. There is no other users on the server when I run these tests and nothing else happening on the server. Sometimes it will just copy slow and most of the time, it will copy normally. I thought it might be a problem with the PCI bus in the client pc, which is a 233 PII with 64 meg of memory. Any ideas??

9 replies

by bhostmeyer

I have had very bad times using linksys hubs. They tend to have routing issues and dont resoulve names very well. I would switch your network to TCP/IP if its not already and run a ping to the server from that system and see the times.. if its over 10 ms then you have a cable issue a hub issue or a nic issue.

A good way to test the nics is to ping 127.0.0.1 if that comes out good i would make a cross over cable and plug it direct into the server nic if that fixes the issues then its probley a hub issue

Hope this helps
Brooke Hostmeyer
Net Admin
Vijon Labs Inc

by saihib

Changing the NIC was a good start. Some other things to check would be:
1. Make sure all nodes are not competing to be browse masters. Control Panel/Network/File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks/Properties. Make sure that "Browse Master" for each node is set to "Disabled".
2. Also check to make sure that the server is not trying to replicate to something that is not there.
3. Linksys equipment, in my experience, can be problematic. Have you tried changing ports on the hub for your problem machine and then checking the file transfer problem?

by lockout

There could be a few things going on here. First off, When you look at the CPU usage it jumps to 100% then down to 0% that is normal when you start the Task Manager. That means nothing except that it is opening and making sure that everything is responding as it should be. The 2nd is a more serious issue. Look and see what protocols you are using on all 4 machines. If you are running IPS/SPX, TCP/IP, and NetBEUI get rid of all of them except TCP/IP. These are all very chatty protocols and can really slow a network down. I'm assuming that you already have TCP/IP configured, and that the others were installed by mistake. Once you have these cleaned up, look at the cable. Swap it for one of the known good ones (1 that you aren't having the problem with). If the issue jumps machines, you probably have a broken wire int the cable. toss it and get a new one. If the issue persists in the original machine, check the NIC drivers, settings,just in general make sure there are no conflicts. If there are none, move the NIC to another PCI slot. If the hub is manageable look at the port settings. The next thing I would try is moving the cable to another port on the hub. If all else fails, backup the data on that machine, then wipe it clean, andthen reinstall Win98.

by agtcna

I have experienced problems with similar symptoms. I deleted the Client and all protocols (from within Network Neighborhood/Properties) re-booted the PC and re-installed CLient for Microsoft Networks and the TCP/IP Protocol and this cleared up my problem. The problem initially showed only when the LAN user was trying to access the Internet, giving the sympton that our T1 was down, but could see the servers, this then started to exhibit flaky conenction to the servers also. Hope this helps....
Graham

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