B
Bruce Waldie
I have posted a reply to a message that was originally posted in November,
but since it is so hard to find anything in this group, I thought I would
repost it today on its own.
We had very similar experiences - slug slow network response under Windows
XP. I have found a solution that works for us, but first some history:
Prior to last summer we had a mix of Windows 95 and 98 clients accessing a
Win NT 4 Server. All was well with the world. Then we added our first XP
client and noticed that its access times were MUCH slower than 9x.
Example, one folder on the server with 3600+ files took less than 1 second
for the 9x clients to open, but XP was taking almost 15 seconds.
Thinking that our Pentium 100 (yes 100) with 96 meg of ram might be the
cause, I decided to upgrade the hardware to AMD 2600+ and 512 Meg ram. Of
course, NT 4 did not like the transplant so I had to reinstall it. Then I
discovered that we had an Upgrade disc and the 3.5 disc cannot be found.
Rats! Bite the bullet and purchase Server 2003. No difference - 9x could
still thumb its nose at XP.
I tried all sorts of combinations and permutations to test it all, and the
final conclusion is only one: XP TCP/IP is slug slow! Since the problem
happened under both NT4 and 2003, and ONLY to XP, the server and its
software was not the problem.
I tried adding the NWLINK/NETBIOS combination and it sometimes worked.
That is, it seemed that as long as netbios was the "default" things were
fine, but inevitably, after a couple of days, or a reboot, TCP/IP took over
and performance was down the drain again. I could fix it temporarily by
unclicking TCP/IP in the connection properties, try to access the server,
and then rechecking TCP/IP. This seemed to make NWLINK/NETBIOS the
"default" again for a while, but only for a while.
THE SOLUTION!
Add NETBEUI to all XP clients, and Server 2003, and make it the "default".
1) from the XP cd from \valueadd\msft\net\netbeui copy nbf.sys to
%systemroot%\system32\drivers and copy netnbf.inf to %systemroot\inf (you
will not find these files on the 2003 disc, use the files from the XP disc
instead).
2) open my network places/view network connections, and open properties on
your network connection. Use Install to add the NETBEUI protocol that now
appears. Click OK to close the properties dialog.
3) On the top menu, click on Advanced and Advanced Settings. NETBEUI
should be the top (first) protocol listed. If it isn't click on it and use
the up arrow (to the right) to move it to the top, in both locations.
DONE! Our performance is now sparkling and stable. Of course, NETBEUI is
no longer supported by Microsloth, so we will have to wait until they
acknowledge this TCP/IP speed problem and fix it. Until then, at least my
users can get a days' work in almost 1 day.
Please, all who try this, let me know how it worked for you.
Bruce Waldie, P.Ag.
PhotoComp Systems Inc.
but since it is so hard to find anything in this group, I thought I would
repost it today on its own.
We had very similar experiences - slug slow network response under Windows
XP. I have found a solution that works for us, but first some history:
Prior to last summer we had a mix of Windows 95 and 98 clients accessing a
Win NT 4 Server. All was well with the world. Then we added our first XP
client and noticed that its access times were MUCH slower than 9x.
Example, one folder on the server with 3600+ files took less than 1 second
for the 9x clients to open, but XP was taking almost 15 seconds.
Thinking that our Pentium 100 (yes 100) with 96 meg of ram might be the
cause, I decided to upgrade the hardware to AMD 2600+ and 512 Meg ram. Of
course, NT 4 did not like the transplant so I had to reinstall it. Then I
discovered that we had an Upgrade disc and the 3.5 disc cannot be found.
Rats! Bite the bullet and purchase Server 2003. No difference - 9x could
still thumb its nose at XP.
I tried all sorts of combinations and permutations to test it all, and the
final conclusion is only one: XP TCP/IP is slug slow! Since the problem
happened under both NT4 and 2003, and ONLY to XP, the server and its
software was not the problem.
I tried adding the NWLINK/NETBIOS combination and it sometimes worked.
That is, it seemed that as long as netbios was the "default" things were
fine, but inevitably, after a couple of days, or a reboot, TCP/IP took over
and performance was down the drain again. I could fix it temporarily by
unclicking TCP/IP in the connection properties, try to access the server,
and then rechecking TCP/IP. This seemed to make NWLINK/NETBIOS the
"default" again for a while, but only for a while.
THE SOLUTION!
Add NETBEUI to all XP clients, and Server 2003, and make it the "default".
1) from the XP cd from \valueadd\msft\net\netbeui copy nbf.sys to
%systemroot%\system32\drivers and copy netnbf.inf to %systemroot\inf (you
will not find these files on the 2003 disc, use the files from the XP disc
instead).
2) open my network places/view network connections, and open properties on
your network connection. Use Install to add the NETBEUI protocol that now
appears. Click OK to close the properties dialog.
3) On the top menu, click on Advanced and Advanced Settings. NETBEUI
should be the top (first) protocol listed. If it isn't click on it and use
the up arrow (to the right) to move it to the top, in both locations.
DONE! Our performance is now sparkling and stable. Of course, NETBEUI is
no longer supported by Microsloth, so we will have to wait until they
acknowledge this TCP/IP speed problem and fix it. Until then, at least my
users can get a days' work in almost 1 day.
Please, all who try this, let me know how it worked for you.
Bruce Waldie, P.Ag.
PhotoComp Systems Inc.
