Hello Mich
After taking a look at Steve's suggestions.
Have you also checked each machines Nic card settings. Making sure the win2k
an xp has defaulted to 100Mbps.
Control Panel>System >Hardware Tab > Device Manager > Network Adapters >
- look for your 10/100 network card...double click or right click properties
-the-n look for <advanced tab> or depending on what nic cards are installed
it could be <settings>.
- look for Speed/Duplex and each nic card setting for this is FUll
Negotiation or Auto-Negotiation 100Mbps
You have an interesting setup. In networking you can have a massive array of
configurations. The key when gathering the technology is to make sure all
technology is in line with one another so no bottle necking occurs. To
eloborate on what Steve mentioned. It's not only cabling and router
capability that you have to look at when designing a network. Also an
important factor is how the entire network is going to be inter-connected.
Things to look at, is your network going to use all of one manufacturers type
of router.
Routers are the smart technology when an ip enters a port it knows exactly
which IP it to send packets to. Hubs/switches simply flood all ports /
computers on network looking for destination to send packets.
Could you not just use all routers and use the uplink port to communicate
from network to network ?
I Not saying your setup is wrong. The fun part is to make sure everything is
connected properly and configured just right. If improperly connected
...hiccups and headaches occur.
The way I look at a network configuration would be how some people in new
neighbourhoods whose homes and surveys are wired with fiber optic... Lucky
rascals. The down side is since with all that fiber it's full potential will
not be shown until entire cities are wired entirely with fiber optic. Bottle
necking occurs for the simple reason of new technology trying to push its way
over legacy copper cabling and all sorts of mediums in between..thus bottle
necking.
Same thing happens can happen with configuration of networks.
Hope one of these posts will help you get to full speed....beep..beep!