Linksys BEFSR41 Router slooooooow and file copy fails

[Cecelia Kizziah]

I recently installed the BEFSR41 therFast Cable/DSL Router. Everything
seems to run ok, except my upstairs computer is very slow when copying files
of my downstairs computer's drive. I usually get the error message
"specfied network name is no longer available". Customer SVC told me to
call Microsoft for technical support....so I did.

MS tech support told me to uninstall MS internet firewall and uninstall
Zonealarm Plus and see if this would solve the problem. It did not. He
told me to buy another nic card as the card might be bad. So I go to Best
Buys and purchase a Linksys nic, installed the card, pc recognizes the new
hardware but notification keeps toggling from "network cable unplugged" to
"Network Connected". I cannot get on the internet at all with the new nic.
So, I have reinstalled my old nic and can surf. I can also see the files on
the downstairs pc.

My main goal in networking these pc was to have an internet connection
upstairs (and I have it now), but I also wanted to use the 80 gig drive
upstairs as a backup drive. Networking the two pc's has not provided me
with a reliable solution.

Can anyone assist me..........................
Both pc running winxp home edition fully updated.
downstairs pc HP 80gig drive, realteck nic 1gig ram 80 gig drive, P4 2.4
mhz
upstairs pc Emachine with 256 ram 80gig drive (unknown nic but says it is a
linksys, but I think I renamed it.) AMD k6-2 500mhz processor.

Thanks in advance

 

[CJT]

I recently installed the BEFSR41 therFast Cable/DSL Router. Everything
seems to run ok, except my upstairs computer is very slow when copying files
of my downstairs computer's drive. I usually get the error message
"specfied network name is no longer available". Customer SVC told me to
call Microsoft for technical support....so I did.

MS tech support told me to uninstall MS internet firewall and uninstall
Zonealarm Plus and see if this would solve the problem. It did not. He
told me to buy another nic card as the card might be bad. So I go to Best
Buys and purchase a Linksys nic, installed the card, pc recognizes the new
hardware but notification keeps toggling from "network cable unplugged" to
"Network Connected". I cannot get on the internet at all with the new nic.
So, I have reinstalled my old nic and can surf. I can also see the files on
the downstairs pc.

My main goal in networking these pc was to have an internet connection
upstairs (and I have it now), but I also wanted to use the 80 gig drive
upstairs as a backup drive. Networking the two pc's has not provided me
with a reliable solution.

Can anyone assist me..........................
Both pc running winxp home edition fully updated.
downstairs pc HP 80gig drive, realteck nic 1gig ram 80 gig drive, P4 2.4
mhz
upstairs pc Emachine with 256 ram 80gig drive (unknown nic but says it is a
linksys, but I think I renamed it.) AMD k6-2 500mhz processor.

Thanks in advance

That sounds like a cabling problem to me. Did whoever ran the Cat5 know
what (s)he was doing?

 

[Cecelia Kizziah]

That sounds like a cabling problem to me. Did whoever ran the Cat5 know
what (s)he was doing?

Yes, my brother. BTW I was logged on my wife's account thus her name
appeared on this posting.

While I was reading some of the newsgroups on networking, one poster
suggested switching the NIC cards from auto sense speed to a locked 10baseT
half duplex. This solved my problem. It only takes about a minute more to
copy 160 megs from 1 pc to the other pc vs a copy of the same 160 megs to a
different folder on the same pc.

Hmmmm....since 10baseT syncs with my downstairs 10baseT setting and I now
experience great throughput, I wonder if changing to 100BaseT would give me
a 10 fold (approx) gain.
Thanks for responding

Larry

 

[Cheeta]

test

 

[CJT]

Yes, my brother. BTW I was logged on my wife's account thus her name
appeared on this posting.

While I was reading some of the newsgroups on networking, one poster
suggested switching the NIC cards from auto sense speed to a locked 10baseT
half duplex. This solved my problem. It only takes about a minute more to
copy 160 megs from 1 pc to the other pc vs a copy of the same 160 megs to a
different folder on the same pc.

Hmmmm....since 10baseT syncs with my downstairs 10baseT setting and I now
experience great throughput, I wonder if changing to 100BaseT would give me
a 10 fold (approx) gain.
Thanks for responding

Larry

It still sounds like a cabling problem to me.

 

[Bob Troll]

Go around to all the machines and set them manually to 100 full duplex to
get the best performance. Don't trust the auto crap. The linky will love it,
your wife will love it and so will you.

Bob Troll

 

[Larry Kizziah]

Go around to all the machines and set them manually to 100 full duplex to
get the best performance. Don't trust the auto crap. The linky will love it,
your wife will love it and so will you.

Ok....I will try to set them to 100 full duplex. BTW.....I only have 2
pc's. Yet, when I turn the PC downstairs off, even though I have the NIC
set to 10 half duplex when I power up windows display area tells me I have
connected at 100mpbs and the linksys cable/router shows a 100 connection
speed. Even though these settings are different from the NIC the upstairs
PC still screams compared to the AUTO settings.

Thanks for the advise.

be back soon...

 

[Larry Kizziah]

I tried 100 full duplex. The system ran just as slow as before. I switched
back to 10 half duplex and file copying is extremely fast. Oh well........I
may get someone out to the site and look at my cabling but I think it is
alright.

Larry

 

[Bob Troll]

That is really bizarre to say the least. The network should be much faster
in 100 full than 10 half. Very strange indeed.

You may want to take a look at www.dslreports.com and see if you can grab a
little program called drtcp.exe . It is a good thing for setting up your nic
cards in peak form. there is an incredible amount of knowledge floating
around over there in the forums if you look around.

Best of luck

Regards, Bob Troll

 

[Larry Kizziah]

That is really bizarre to say the least. The network should be much faster
in 100 full than 10 half. Very strange indeed.

Thanks Bob for the link to dslreports.com and I will check it out. My
son-in-law is an electrician and was in charge of a large battery of
communications equipment while serving in the Navy. He understands
networking and should certainly know how to splice a cat5 connection.

Yes.......with any setting other than 10half, the performance is horrific.
But with 10half duplex, one would be hard pressed to know a network exist,
especificially if I Identified it with a Mapped drive.

I have been wondering........do I need the IPX/SPX protocols? Wouldn't
Microsoft for Windwos and tcp/ip be all I need for my small network? What
would be the effects of eliminating these protocols? Trial and error
huh........<g>

tia

Larry
Birmingham Al.

 

[Bob Troll]

You don't need the ipx protocols to do what you want to do.

 

[Larry Kizziah]

It still sounds like a cabling problem to me.

I suppose I could purchase a 50 ft cat5 cable already made up....I saw one
in Tiger Direct catagolgue for less than 20 dollars.

Larry

 

[Larry Kizziah]

You don't need the ipx protocols to do what you want to do.

Ok..i will disable these protocols.

Thanks

Larry