Slow network
 

Hi, I occasionally need to transfer files from one PC to another at
home. I recently attempted to transfer a 1.1gb file from an aging
win98 laptop to an XP one. They're both connected via the Netgear
router which I use for interenet access, the win98 one via ethernet
cable, the XP one usually via wifi. The file took around an hour and a
half to be copied, which seems ridiculous to me. I've no idea where to
start to see what the problem is. Both PCs seem fine at downloading
stuff from the internet (albeit the elderly one is a bit slower, but I
think this is just because it's ten years old rather than a connection
speed issue). In fact downloading 1.1gb from the internet would be
much quicker.

I've tried plugging both PCs into ethernet sockets to rule out any
problem with wireless and this made very little difference. I've also
tried turning off virus protection on the machine to which the file is
being transferred.

Any pointers or suggestions? I know I could use a crossover cable and
cut out the router, but I'd like to try to sort out the problem with
the existing setup if possible.

Slow network
 

In at
,
contemplated and posted:
| Hi, I occasionally need to transfer files from one PC to another at
| home. I recently attempted to transfer a 1.1gb file from an aging
| win98 laptop to an XP one. They're both connected via the Netgear
| router which I use for interenet access, the win98 one via ethernet
| cable, the XP one usually via wifi. The file took around an hour and a
| half to be copied, which seems ridiculous to me. I've no idea where to
| start to see what the problem is. Both PCs seem fine at downloading
| stuff from the internet (albeit the elderly one is a bit slower, but I
| think this is just because it's ten years old rather than a connection
| speed issue). In fact downloading 1.1gb from the internet would be
| much quicker.
|
| I've tried plugging both PCs into ethernet sockets to rule out any
| problem with wireless and this made very little difference. I've also
| tried turning off virus protection on the machine to which the file is
| being transferred.
|
| Any pointers or suggestions? I know I could use a crossover cable and
| cut out the router, but I'd like to try to sort out the problem with
| the existing setup if possible.

Could be several things:

Let's start he

What router and wireless [makes and models]?

You indicate Wi-Fi for the XP, did you try with the XP connected via cable
to the router?

Are you using mapped drives and transferring via Explorer? IF so which OS
is the transfer master?

Did you check for adapter settings such as:
Flow control;
Media Type, etc..

You said you disabled the firewall, was that on both machines?

Did you also try disabling Anti-Virus [both machines]?

--
MEB
http://peoplescounsel.orgfree.com
--
_________

Slow network
 

In at
,
contemplated and posted:
| Hi, I occasionally need to transfer files from one PC to another at
| home. I recently attempted to transfer a 1.1gb file from an aging
| win98 laptop to an XP one. They're both connected via the Netgear
| router which I use for interenet access, the win98 one via ethernet
| cable, the XP one usually via wifi. The file took around an hour and a
| half to be copied, which seems ridiculous to me. I've no idea where to
| start to see what the problem is. Both PCs seem fine at downloading
| stuff from the internet (albeit the elderly one is a bit slower, but I
| think this is just because it's ten years old rather than a connection
| speed issue). In fact downloading 1.1gb from the internet would be
| much quicker.
|
| I've tried plugging both PCs into ethernet sockets to rule out any
| problem with wireless and this made very little difference. I've also
| tried turning off virus protection on the machine to which the file is
| being transferred.
|
| Any pointers or suggestions? I know I could use a crossover cable and
| cut out the router, but I'd like to try to sort out the problem with
| the existing setup if possible.

Could be several things:

Let's start he

What router and wireless [makes and models]?

You indicate Wi-Fi for the XP, did you try with the XP connected via cable
to the router?

Are you using mapped drives and transferring via Explorer? IF so which OS
is the transfer master?

Did you check for adapter settings such as:
Flow control;
Media Type, etc..

You said you disabled the firewall, was that on both machines?

Did you also try disabling Anti-Virus [both machines]?

--
MEB
http://peoplescounsel.orgfree.com
--
_________

Slow network
 

Thanks for the reply. Answers as follows:

What router and wireless [makes and models]?

The router is a Netgear DG 834G. The wireless card in the newer model
I'm not sure about, but as I said in the first post I've eliminated
wireless from the problem by connecting both computers to the router
with ethernet cables.


*You indicate Wi-Fi for the XP, did you try with the XP connected via cable
to the router?

Yes


*Are you using mapped drives and transferring via Explorer? IF so which OS
is the transfer master?

I did the transfer by clicking on "My computer" on the XP machine and
dragging and the dropping the file from "my network place" to the
directory I wanted it in.

Did you check for adapter settings such as:
Flow control;
Media Type, etc..

No, I'll see if I can find these settings, although I don't know what
the best settings would be.


You said you disabled the firewall, was that on both machines?

I didn't disable any firewalls, only the antivirus on the XP machine.
The win98 machine doesn't have any antivirus software, nor to my
knowledge a firewall, unless firewalls were an integral part of win98?

Thanks for any further advice.

Slow network
 

Thanks for the reply. Answers as follows:

What router and wireless [makes and models]?

The router is a Netgear DG 834G. The wireless card in the newer model
I'm not sure about, but as I said in the first post I've eliminated
wireless from the problem by connecting both computers to the router
with ethernet cables.


*You indicate Wi-Fi for the XP, did you try with the XP connected via cable
to the router?

Yes


*Are you using mapped drives and transferring via Explorer? IF so which OS
is the transfer master?

I did the transfer by clicking on "My computer" on the XP machine and
dragging and the dropping the file from "my network place" to the
directory I wanted it in.

Did you check for adapter settings such as:
Flow control;
Media Type, etc..

No, I'll see if I can find these settings, although I don't know what
the best settings would be.


You said you disabled the firewall, was that on both machines?

I didn't disable any firewalls, only the antivirus on the XP machine.
The win98 machine doesn't have any antivirus software, nor to my
knowledge a firewall, unless firewalls were an integral part of win98?

Thanks for any further advice.

Slow network
 

Suggest you remove ALL networking components on the 98 machine, (Control
Panel Network), reboot and let them reinstall. If no change, do the same
on the XP machine (though I more suspect the 98 machine.) (Just remove all
adapters present in the Network applet.) I know this sounds drastic, but
it's relatively painless and often fixes a world of woes.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
http://grystmill.com

wrote in message
...
Hi, I occasionally need to transfer files from one PC to another at
home. I recently attempted to transfer a 1.1gb file from an aging
win98 laptop to an XP one. They're both connected via the Netgear
router which I use for interenet access, the win98 one via ethernet
cable, the XP one usually via wifi. The file took around an hour and a
half to be copied, which seems ridiculous to me. I've no idea where to
start to see what the problem is. Both PCs seem fine at downloading
stuff from the internet (albeit the elderly one is a bit slower, but I
think this is just because it's ten years old rather than a connection
speed issue). In fact downloading 1.1gb from the internet would be
much quicker.

I've tried plugging both PCs into ethernet sockets to rule out any
problem with wireless and this made very little difference. I've also
tried turning off virus protection on the machine to which the file is
being transferred.

Any pointers or suggestions? I know I could use a crossover cable and
cut out the router, but I'd like to try to sort out the problem with
the existing setup if possible.

Slow network
 

Suggest you remove ALL networking components on the 98 machine, (Control
Panel Network), reboot and let them reinstall. If no change, do the same
on the XP machine (though I more suspect the 98 machine.) (Just remove all
adapters present in the Network applet.) I know this sounds drastic, but
it's relatively painless and often fixes a world of woes.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
http://grystmill.com

wrote in message
...
Hi, I occasionally need to transfer files from one PC to another at
home. I recently attempted to transfer a 1.1gb file from an aging
win98 laptop to an XP one. They're both connected via the Netgear
router which I use for interenet access, the win98 one via ethernet
cable, the XP one usually via wifi. The file took around an hour and a
half to be copied, which seems ridiculous to me. I've no idea where to
start to see what the problem is. Both PCs seem fine at downloading
stuff from the internet (albeit the elderly one is a bit slower, but I
think this is just because it's ten years old rather than a connection
speed issue). In fact downloading 1.1gb from the internet would be
much quicker.

I've tried plugging both PCs into ethernet sockets to rule out any
problem with wireless and this made very little difference. I've also
tried turning off virus protection on the machine to which the file is
being transferred.

Any pointers or suggestions? I know I could use a crossover cable and
cut out the router, but I'd like to try to sort out the problem with
the existing setup if possible.

Slow network
 

In at
,
contemplated and posted:
| Thanks for the reply. Answers as follows:
|
| What router and wireless [makes and models]?
|
| The router is a Netgear DG 834G. The wireless card in the newer model
| I'm not sure about, but as I said in the first post I've eliminated
| wireless from the problem by connecting both computers to the router
| with ethernet cables.
|
|
| You indicate Wi-Fi for the XP, did you try with the XP connected via
| cable to the router?
|
| Yes
|
|
| Are you using mapped drives and transferring via Explorer? IF so
| which OS is the transfer master?
|
| I did the transfer by clicking on "My computer" on the XP machine and
| dragging and the dropping the file from "my network place" to the
| directory I wanted it in.

Okay, XP Win98{is it SE?}

This isn't likely going to help much, because it could be the router [too
many resends due to buffer size or other backups}, XP issues, or 9X. So this
is hit and miss, something you're going to have to work through.

|
| Did you check for adapter settings such as:
| Flow control;
| Media Type, etc..
|
| No, I'll see if I can find these settings, although I don't know what
| the best settings would be.

Try monitoring the local network to see how the connection speed is, and how
well it is mantained.
Depending upon the findings, you may want to adjust the duplex, flow
control, actual connection [10 or 100 or ---] in Control Panel Network
{adapter} Advanced. - Sometimes setting the max connect speed to 10 mbps
full duplex or half duplex seems to speed the network {the Internet is
generally only about 1 mbps or 2 mbps [cable or HSDSL] to your computer,
hence there are no buffer problems, fewer resends, etc, so it may SEEM
faster} ... another is manually setting MTU, packet size, and other registry
settings.

Here's an article which explains a few potential issues.
http://www.petri.co.il/speed_up_netw...windows_xp.htm -
In Windows XP, when I copy files from a network share to my computer, I get
a very slow transfer rate. How can I speed the copying of files?

|
|
| You said you disabled the firewall, was that on both machines?
|
| I didn't disable any firewalls, only the antivirus on the XP machine.
| The win98 machine doesn't have any antivirus software, nor to my
| knowledge a firewall, unless firewalls were an integral part of win98?

98 has no built-in firewall. Gary suggested something which might be what
you eventually do IF its the 9X computer causing the problem, however ...

What firewall are you using on the XP machine?

|
| Thanks for any further advice.

What is the update status of the XP computer?

Here's why [some of the XP updates related to networking issues]:

The Explorer.exe process stops responding when you use network shortcuts in
Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/841978/
User authentication may take one to two minutes when you log on to the
network in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/884862/
The network provider may not function as expected on your Windows XP-based
computer
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/885423/
Windows Firewall may drop ICMP packets on a Windows XP SP2-based computer
that has more than one network adapter
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/907717/
An update is available that lets Windows XP-based DNS client computers
accept packets of up to 64 KB
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/909390/
You may experience network connection problems on a Windows XP SP2-based
computer or a Windows Server 2003 SP1-based computer that has more than one
network adapter
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/913522/
Network Diagnostics for Windows XP is available to help identify and fix
network connection problems
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/914440/
You experience slow performance when you try to access shared resources by
using Windows Explorer on a client computer that is running Windows XP or
Windows Server 2003
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/915377/
You experience significant delays when you use network shortcuts on a
computer that is running Windows XP SP2
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918204/
A computer may use the Offline Files feature to access a shared network
resource even though the network connection has sufficient speed in Windows
XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927507/
When Internet Explorer 6 is installed on a Windows XP-based computer, it
takes longer than expected to browse the subfolders in the Favorites folder
and to open a network share that is mapped to a toolbar
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940277/

SP 3 corrects a number of networking issues with/in XP.

--
MEB
http://peoplescounsel.orgfree.com
--
_________

Slow network
 

In at
,
contemplated and posted:
| Thanks for the reply. Answers as follows:
|
| What router and wireless [makes and models]?
|
| The router is a Netgear DG 834G. The wireless card in the newer model
| I'm not sure about, but as I said in the first post I've eliminated
| wireless from the problem by connecting both computers to the router
| with ethernet cables.
|
|
| You indicate Wi-Fi for the XP, did you try with the XP connected via
| cable to the router?
|
| Yes
|
|
| Are you using mapped drives and transferring via Explorer? IF so
| which OS is the transfer master?
|
| I did the transfer by clicking on "My computer" on the XP machine and
| dragging and the dropping the file from "my network place" to the
| directory I wanted it in.

Okay, XP Win98{is it SE?}

This isn't likely going to help much, because it could be the router [too
many resends due to buffer size or other backups}, XP issues, or 9X. So this
is hit and miss, something you're going to have to work through.

|
| Did you check for adapter settings such as:
| Flow control;
| Media Type, etc..
|
| No, I'll see if I can find these settings, although I don't know what
| the best settings would be.

Try monitoring the local network to see how the connection speed is, and how
well it is mantained.
Depending upon the findings, you may want to adjust the duplex, flow
control, actual connection [10 or 100 or ---] in Control Panel Network
{adapter} Advanced. - Sometimes setting the max connect speed to 10 mbps
full duplex or half duplex seems to speed the network {the Internet is
generally only about 1 mbps or 2 mbps [cable or HSDSL] to your computer,
hence there are no buffer problems, fewer resends, etc, so it may SEEM
faster} ... another is manually setting MTU, packet size, and other registry
settings.

Here's an article which explains a few potential issues.
http://www.petri.co.il/speed_up_netw...windows_xp.htm -
In Windows XP, when I copy files from a network share to my computer, I get
a very slow transfer rate. How can I speed the copying of files?

|
|
| You said you disabled the firewall, was that on both machines?
|
| I didn't disable any firewalls, only the antivirus on the XP machine.
| The win98 machine doesn't have any antivirus software, nor to my
| knowledge a firewall, unless firewalls were an integral part of win98?

98 has no built-in firewall. Gary suggested something which might be what
you eventually do IF its the 9X computer causing the problem, however ...

What firewall are you using on the XP machine?

|
| Thanks for any further advice.

What is the update status of the XP computer?

Here's why [some of the XP updates related to networking issues]:

The Explorer.exe process stops responding when you use network shortcuts in
Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/841978/
User authentication may take one to two minutes when you log on to the
network in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/884862/
The network provider may not function as expected on your Windows XP-based
computer
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/885423/
Windows Firewall may drop ICMP packets on a Windows XP SP2-based computer
that has more than one network adapter
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/907717/
An update is available that lets Windows XP-based DNS client computers
accept packets of up to 64 KB
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/909390/
You may experience network connection problems on a Windows XP SP2-based
computer or a Windows Server 2003 SP1-based computer that has more than one
network adapter
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/913522/
Network Diagnostics for Windows XP is available to help identify and fix
network connection problems
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/914440/
You experience slow performance when you try to access shared resources by
using Windows Explorer on a client computer that is running Windows XP or
Windows Server 2003
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/915377/
You experience significant delays when you use network shortcuts on a
computer that is running Windows XP SP2
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918204/
A computer may use the Offline Files feature to access a shared network
resource even though the network connection has sufficient speed in Windows
XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927507/
When Internet Explorer 6 is installed on a Windows XP-based computer, it
takes longer than expected to browse the subfolders in the Favorites folder
and to open a network share that is mapped to a toolbar
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940277/

SP 3 corrects a number of networking issues with/in XP.

--
MEB
http://peoplescounsel.orgfree.com
--
_________

the pc speed depends on various factors and the thing and some fact that
the virus cab be removed by some antivirus installation..................