Two computers, painfully slow file transfer?

[cubby1223]

I was out at a business earlier in the day, and not sure what the deal is yet.

Windows 7 computer has a shared folder.

The other Windows 7 machines in the office can pull files off of this shared drive at about 2mbps. The Win XP machine pulls files at ~0.3mbps. A simple pdf file takes about a full minute to load. All the machines connect to the same dlink 24 port 10/100mbps switch. And all the machines can pull files from the internet at the full 12mbps.

I'm heading back next week to try and figure out what the deal is. Will begin with trying a different switch.

Any suggestions? Thanks

 

[VirtualLarry]

check the physical layer first. Try using something like netcps or netperf between two machines on the lan to eliminate the hdd as a bottleneck.

Also check NIC settings, duplex mismatch, etc.

Is their switch a managed switch? Check the config.

Check for network loops too, although that would likely slow down the internet connection as well.

 

[Fardringle]

Test the speed between other machines as well to confirm that it's actually a problem with the one "server" computer and not the network itself.

 

[ch33zw1z]

I would use iperf between devices to test the network, like Far said.

 

[cubby1223]

check the physical layer first. Try using something like netcps or netperf between two machines on the lan to eliminate the hdd as a bottleneck.

The files open up lightening quick on the host machine, it's not a failing hard drive.

Also check NIC settings, duplex mismatch, etc.

They're all set to auto, connected at 100mbps, didn't check duplex.

Is their switch a managed switch? Check the config.

Unmanaged switch. When I return next week the first thing I plan to do is try another switch.

Check for network loops too, although that would likely slow down the internet connection as well.

Will do. Come to think of it, when I looked at the switch, two of the connection lights were flashing rapidly, and the remaining lights unusually steady solid. They have a voip phone system, and two ethernet cables out to each desk. A cable from the wall may be going into the phone's "lan" port, and the "pc" port on one of the phones may be connecting right back to the wall.

Test the speed between other machines as well to confirm that it's actually a problem with the one "server" computer and not the network itself.

Will do a thorough check when I get back. It was just weird that the internet didn't suffer speed slowdowns, or I should say at least not at the moment I saw the internet connection speed.

 

[azazel1024]

Probably also going to have to look in to the SMB protocol stuff. XP is rather ancient. You are likely looking at SMB1.0 here, which does not play well.

HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters

3.Add a new REG_DWORD key with the name of "Smb2" (without quotation mark)

Value name: Smb2

Value type: REG_DWORD

0 = disabled

1 = enabled

4.Set the value to 0 to disable SMB 2.0, or set it to 1 to re-enable SMB 2.0.
5.Reboot the server

 

[XLer8]

You might wanna try to disable QoS packet scheduler on all machines. I had a hectic time when I first got gigabit wired and this was the cause of the slow down.

Hope this helps.

 

[cubby1223]

Problem solved itself!

On Friday I took with me the pair of XP systems to wipe out and install Windows 7 on them. Network speed has been normal ever since they were disconnected. One of the systems was worse, a few bad capacitors on the motherboard, old outdated antivirus software, and that issue where XP keeps filling up the windows\installer directory with more and more files until the drive runs completely out of free drive space.

Possibly a virus too, not sure, I didn't investigate the software much since it was being completely erased.

It's solved, though don't know which issue in particular was the actual cause of the slow network transfers.